Lake Manyara | |
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Location | Monduli District, Arusha Region, Tanzania |
Coordinates | 3°35′S 35°50′E / 3.583°S 35.833°E |
Lake type | Saline, alkaline, endorheic |
Primary inflows | Simba River (from the north), Makayuni River (from the east) |
Max. length | 40 km (25 mi) max |
Max. width | 15 km (9.3 mi) max |
Surface area | 181.5 sq mi (470 km2)[1] |
Max. depth | 3.7 m (12 ft) |
Surface elevation | 1,045 m (3,428 ft) |
Lake Manyara also known as Lake Moya among the Iraqw people is a lake located in Monduli District of Arusha Region, Tanzania and is the seventh-largest lake of Tanzania by surface area, at 470-square-kilometre (180 sq mi).[1] It is a shallow, alkaline lake in the Natron-Manyara-Balangida branch of the East African Rift.[2] The northwest quadrant of the lake (about 200 sq, km.) [3] is included within Lake Manyara National Park and it is part of the Lake Manyara Biosphere Reserve, established in 1981 by UNESCO as part of its Man and the Biosphere Programme.[4]
There are differing explanations for how Lake Manyara got its name. The name Manyara may come from the Maasai word "emanyara", which is the spiky, protective enclosure around a family homestead (boma). Possibly the 600 m high rift escarpment hems in the lake, like the enclosure around a Maasai boma.[5] Another theory is that the Mbugwe tribe, who live in the Lake Manyara area, may have given the lake its name based on the Mbugwe word manyero, meaning a trough or place where animals drink water.[6]