AVT 1.4 WALKING SAFARI – 9 Days
Ngorongoro Crater is spectacular, and understandably one of the best destinations among the National Parks. This trip includes cultural visits while walking, where you can find out about the way of life of the Maasai, Datoga, and Wahadzabe (Bushmen) who live on the Ngorongoro Highland and Lake Eyasi. We will visit some of the local initiative (Africa VIP Travel) projects which enrich your experience of this part of Africa, and ensure that more of the benefits of tourism reach the locals directly.
Lake Eyasi is a salt lake lying at an altitude of about 1000m, between the Eyasi escarpment in the north (an ancient fault line that is part of the Rift Valley system) and the Kidero Mountains in the south. It’s a hot, dry area, around which live the Hadzabe people (also known as Watindiga), who are believed to have lived here for nearly 10,000 years. Today there are only a few hundred left. The lifestyle of the Hadzabe still centers on hunting and gathering traditions. Also in the area are the Datoga (Mang’ati), the Iraqw (Mbulu), and various other groups.
Day 1 — Arrival/Arusha
Upon your arrival at Kilimanjaro Airport you will be met by your driver/guide, and driven to the Kibo Palace Hotel in nearby Arusha for overnight.
DAY 2: Arusha to Ngorongoro
After breakfast, drive to Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area. On the way you will see the small villages of Mto, Wa, and Mbu, as well as the Great Rift Valley and Karatu, with unique views of the high altitude rain forest surrounding the Ngorongoro crater rim. After a picnic lunch, drive to a Maasai village for a visit and spend several hours with this unique tribe, which is considered native to the Ngorongoro area. In the evening, drive to the hotel on the crater rim, where you will enjoy dinner and overnight.
DAY 3: Ngorongoro
In the morning enjoy breakfast, and afterwards depart and descend into the crater floor for a full-day tour, including a picnic lunch. You will see the Ngorongoro Crater, a collapsed, extinct volcano which has created an incredible natural amphitheater teeming with all of the African big game. That evening we enjoy our dinner and overnight at a hotel on the rim.
Day 4: Oldeani Mountain
On this day we will drive from the hotel to the starting point for the walking safari. Before taking off from there, your guide will show you where you will be passing. It takes us approximately 4 hours to hike to the summit of Oldeani Mountain. Oldeani is an old volcano, reaching 10,520 feet above sea level. We reach the summit in time for lunch. From atop Oldeani, we have an excellent view of all of the Ngorongoro highlands and the Lake Eyasi basin below. From the summit we follow the old volcanic crater rim around to a point that allows us to descend directly to the Oldeani Mountain Camp, where we have dinner and overnight.
Day 5: Mti Mkubwa Camp
From our camp on the flank of Oldeani, we contour across grassy slopes and through a very rare protea forest. After holding this traverse for 4-5 hours, we descend about 1000 feet to our camp for the night. From this camp we can do an evening hike in search of game and look into the remains of Oldeani’s ancient volcanic crater. Dinner and overnight at Mti Mkubwa Camp.
Day 6: Endabaga River Camp
Today’s hike takes us across open grass slopes mixed with Ballanite woodland and a number of riverine forests. About 3 hours of walking is required before reaching the Endabaga River. Once in the Endabaga River forest, we will follow the river to the camp. Dinner and overnight at Endabaga River Camp.
Day 7: Endabaga Tank to Chem Chem Camp
This area is home to Wadatoga, tribes that are nomadic like Maasai and Wahadzabe (bushmen). The area is a year-round grazing for elephants, elands and all sorts of antelope. Lions and leopards are also in the area. You arrive in the late afternoon with time to have a hot water shower. Early evening we go for a short hike. After dinner we can go to either a Wadatoga or Wahadzabe village/camp for an evening of cultural exchange. If the choice is Wahadzabe, you will find the Hadzbe (Bushmen) exceptional. The remaining few hundred that form this tribe don’t practice agriculture or own cattle. Their society is based simply on hunting and gathering food. Dinner and overnight at Chem Chem Camp.
Day 8: Endabaga Tank/Chem Chem Camp
Today we travel the short distance to Lake Eyasi. Here we can check the lake edge for signs of the night’s activities. We might be able to see large number of flamingos and other water birds. Much of our time can be spent with local Wahadzabe families. We can spend as much time with the family and neighbors as we want. This is a good time to observe at close range the uniqueness of this very traditional hunter-gatherer society. We will also try to meet with a Datoga pastoral family in the evening hours. Dinner and overnight at Chem Chem Camp.
Day 9: Chem Chem Camp/Arusha/Departure
Breakfast at the Camp and leave for Arusha. At the Kibo Palace Hotel you will lunch and have a dayroom for the afternoon to relax and pack. Later, a dinner will be prepared for you before being transported to the airport for your flight home, or extend your trip experience with one of there available options.
Optional extensions include: photo safari to Serengeti National Park; mountain trekking; walking safari; chimpanzee tracking; Zanzibar adventure
Price quote includes
• All ground transportation with a driver/guide – 4WD safari vehicles; guarantee of window-seating
• Accommodations, as detailed, in comfortable and roomy lodges/hotels and luxury tented lodges
• All national park entrance fees
• All food – breakfasts, (packed) lunches, and dinners
• Flying doctor evacuation service
• Accommodations, as detailed, in comfortable and roomy lodges/hotels and luxury tented lodges
• All national park entrance fees
• All food – breakfasts, (packed) lunches, and dinners
• Flying doctor evacuation service
Price quote excludes
• International flights
• Travel and personal accident insurance
• Visa, passport, vaccinations, medicines
• Tips/gratuities
• Expenditure on alcoholic drinks or soda at lodge/hotels or luxury tented lodges, as well as souvenirs and personal items
• Optional excursions/activities not detailed in itinerary
• Any additional services requested
• Travel and personal accident insurance
• Visa, passport, vaccinations, medicines
• Tips/gratuities
• Expenditure on alcoholic drinks or soda at lodge/hotels or luxury tented lodges, as well as souvenirs and personal items
• Optional excursions/activities not detailed in itinerary
• Any additional services requested
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