Mto wa Mbu
The market town at the foot of the escarpment
Mto wa Mbu sits at the foot of the Rift Valley escarpment, beside the entrance to Lake Manyara National Park. The name means "river of mosquitoes" in Swahili. Irrigation from the escarpment streams makes it unusually fertile for the region, and that fertility drew people from across Tanzania: the town is home to communities from a very wide range of the country's ethnic groups, which is unusual enough that it's one of the things it's known for.
Why visit Mto wa Mbu
Almost every northern circuit itinerary drives through Mto wa Mbu, and many stop. A cultural walking or cycling tour typically takes in the irrigated banana plantations and rice fields, a local market, and small workshops for woodcarving, painting and banana beer.
It is an easy, low-key half-day and a useful break from a week of game drives, particularly for travellers who want some contact with ordinary Tanzanian life, not only with wildlife and lodges. It also sits at a natural break in the drive between Tarangire and the climb up the escarpment toward Ngorongoro.
Like any organised cultural visit, quality depends on how it's run. Ask for a small group and a guide from the town itself.
Practical notes
Wildlife
None to speak of. This is a town. Lake Manyara National Park, immediately adjacent, is where the wildlife is.
What to do there
Cultural walking and cycling tours, the market, banana plantations and irrigation channels, local craft workshops.
Getting there
On the main road west from Arusha, at the Lake Manyara park entrance and directly below the escarpment road that climbs toward Ngorongoro.
Best time to visit
Year-round. It sits directly on the main northern circuit road.
A village built on water from the escarpment
Mto wa Mbu means "river of mosquitoes" in Swahili. The village sits at the foot of the Rift Valley escarpment, right where the springs come out of the base of the wall, just outside the Lake Manyara gate.
Almost everyone on the northern circuit drives through it. Very few people stop. That is a small waste, because it is one of the more interesting hours on the whole route.
The village exists because of water. Springs and streams off the escarpment feed a network of hand-dug irrigation channels, and those turned a dry stretch of the Rift floor into good farmland. Bananas are the main crop, in dozens of varieties, grown for cooking, for eating raw and for brewing. They also grow rice, maize and vegetables.
Because the land was productive, people came here from all over Tanzania. The village is usually described as having more than a hundred ethnic groups living in it. For a settlement this size that is genuinely unusual, and you can hear it in the market and taste it in the food.
A visit is a walk or a cycle through the irrigated plots, the market, a rice paddy, and a brewery where the local banana beer, mbege, is made. You usually also visit a woodcarving cooperative where Makonde carvers from the far south of the country work. The programme has been running since the 1990s and is one of the oldest of its kind in Tanzania.
How to use half a day here
Give Mto wa Mbu two to four hours. Pair it with a half day at Lake Manyara, or drop it into the drive between Tarangire and the Ngorongoro highlands. It does not need a night of its own, and there is no reason to build a trip around it.
The walking tour and the cycling tour cover much the same ground. The bicycles make the distances between the farm plots and the market easier, so choose those if it is hot. Guides from the village lead both.
Eat lunch in the village instead of carrying a packed lunch from your lodge. A plate of local food eaten where it was cooked is the whole point of stopping. As anywhere, ask before you photograph people in the market.
If you have any interest in farming, the irrigation network is the real attraction. It is hand-built and managed by the community, and everything else in the village depends on it. A guide who can explain how the water is shared between plots will teach you more about how rural Tanzania works than a week of game drives.
Carvings are cheaper here than in any lodge shop, and more of the money stays with the person who made them. Bargaining is expected. Keep it good-natured.
What sits within twenty minutes
Mto wa Mbu sits in a very useful spot.
The Lake Manyara National Park gate is minutes away, which is why the two are so often done together. The escarpment road up to Karatu and the Ngorongoro highlands starts just west of the village. And the rough northern road to Lake Natron and Ol Doinyo Lengai begins here too.
The escarpment above the village has viewpoints looking back over the lake and the Rift floor. Take the ten-minute detour, especially late in the afternoon when the light comes across the wall.
Balloon flights over Lake Manyara take off from near the village. They are shorter and much cheaper than the Serengeti flights.
There is a Maasai market in the village on a rotating schedule. It is a working livestock and goods market, not a tourist attraction. Ask whether your visit falls on a market day.
Because everything on the northern circuit passes through here, Mto wa Mbu is also the practical place to stop for fuel, cash and a decent phone signal between Arusha and the Serengeti. It has the last reliable ATM before the parks.
Visiting responsibly, and what it costs you
The cultural tourism programme here is run by the community and has been going since the 1990s. Part of the fee goes to village development projects. Ask your operator what is paid and to whom before the day, not afterwards.
Ask before you photograph people, especially in the market, and accept it when someone says no. This is a working village, not an exhibit.
Please do not hand out sweets, pens or money to children. It is kindly meant, and it reliably creates begging that the community then has to live with.
If you want a carving, buy it from the woodcarving cooperative, not a lodge shop. It is cheaper, and more of the money stays with the person who made it. Bargaining is expected. Keep it good-natured.
Eat in the village instead of carrying a packed lunch from your lodge. A plate of local food eaten where it was cooked is most of the point of stopping.
Allow two to four hours. You do not need a night here, and it works best paired with a half day at Lake Manyara.
A short summary
A two-to-four hour walking or cycling tour of an irrigated farming village at the foot of the Rift escarpment, immediately outside the Lake Manyara gate and directly on the main northern-circuit road.
What you see: hand-dug irrigation channels feeding banana and rice plots, the market, a banana-beer brewery, and a woodcarving cooperative where Makonde carvers from southern Tanzania work.
It doesn't need a night and works best paired with a half day at Lake Manyara or slotted into the drive between Tarangire and the highlands.
It is also the practical stopping point on the circuit for fuel, cash and a phone signal. It has the last reliable ATM before the parks.
The short version
Two to four hours, on foot or by bicycle, through irrigated banana and rice plots, a market, a brewery and a carving cooperative. No overnight needed. Best paired with Lake Manyara, and the last reliable ATM before the parks.
Reasons to stop
Almost everybody on the northern circuit drives through Mto wa Mbu and very few stop, which is a small waste.
The reason to stop is that it explains the region in a way the parks can't. The irrigation channels running off the escarpment are hand-built and community-managed, and they're the reason a dry stretch of Rift floor became productive farmland and drew people from across Tanzania. Understanding how the water is allocated between plots tells you more about how rural Tanzania actually works than a week of game drives will.
It is also the best-value shopping on the circuit. The woodcarving cooperative sells at a fraction of lodge-shop prices and the money stays with the maker.
Two to four hours, no overnight, and it sits directly on a road you're driving anyway.
Visiting Mto wa Mbu
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