Lake Manyara is the seventh largest lake in Tanzania with an area of 470 square kilometres. It is a flat, alkaline lake in the branch of the East African Rift in the Manyara region of Tanzania.

Lake Manyara is the seventh largest lake in Tanzania with an area of 470 square kilometres.

It is a flat, alkaline lake in the branch of the East African Rift in the Manyara region of Tanzania. The northwestern section of the lake is part of Lake Manyara National Park and is part of the Lake Manyara Biosphere Reserve, which was established in 1981 by UNESCO as part of its Man and the Biosphere Programme.

There are various explanations for how Lake Manyara got its name. The name Manyara could come from the Maasai word emanyara, which is the spiky, protective enclosure around a family home (boma). Possibly it is also the 600 m high steep slope of the lake, which, like the enclosure, is lined around a Maasai boma. Another theory suggests that the Mbugwe tribe living in the area of Lake Manyara may have given the lake its name, based on the Mbugwe word manyero, meaning a trough or place where animals drink water.

The water becomes increasingly brackish in the dry season as water evaporates and salts accumulate. During the dry season, large areas of the mudflats along the shore are exposed. These alkaline mudflats lead to grassland and attract grazing animals, including large herds of buffalo, wildebeest and zebra.

Lake Manyara National Park is famous for the flocks of thousands of flamingos that feed on the lake shore during the rainy season. At times there were over 2 million individuals of various water bird species.