It is a small village located 130km west o Arusha Town (2 hours drive) and situated under the Great East African Rift Valley escarpment. It is the entry point to Lake Manyara National Park.

The area around Mto wa Mbu was rather dry and hardly populated till the early fifties, when the first steps were made to irrigate the area. Within a few years, hundreds of acres of newly cultivatable land became available.

The rapid population growth also turned Mto wa Mbu in a melting pot of cultures. Various Traditional modes of production stand as an example of this culture diversity.

Chagga people are producing their banana beer, a farmer from Kigoma makes palm oil from palm trees that he brought from the shores of Lake Tanganyika, the Sandawe are making bow and arrow for hunting and the Rangi people are using the papyrus from the lakes and rives for making the most beautiful mats and a baskets. On the surrounding gplains Massai families live in traditional Bomas and the warriors wander with their cattle looking for pasture and water.

NOTE: Mto wa Mbu is the host town at Manyara National Park.