Northern Tanzania is a land of extremes—from the snow atop Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain, to the caustic, boiling waters of Lake Natron, and from the dramatic landscapes of the Nice Rift Valley to the molten lava of Ol Doinyo Lengai, East Africa’s solely energetic volcano. Right here, you’ll discover breeding grounds for greater than one million flamingos, in addition to the wild, broad, uncultivated plains the place the Maasai tribe graze their cattle and sheep.
For energetic varieties who love the outside, this a part of Tanzania has loads to supply. Come trekking with me as I spotlight a few of my private favorites.
Lake Natron and Fabulous Flamingos
Sundown at Lake Natron is a magical time of day. The warmth of the day begins to wane and the wind begins to die down. Lake Natron, simply 10 toes deep however 13 miles broad, is the primary breeding website in East Africa for two.5 million lesser flamingos. Actually 75% of the world’s inhabitants of those birds are born right here, and it’s the algae, cyanobacteria, and different salt-loving organisms that they feed on that offers them their pinkish coloration.
Strolling out throughout the mud flats, because the solar sinks nearer to the horizon, the lake is a flurry of exercise. The flamingos tramp via the shallows. Heads down, payments underwater, stirring up natural matter with their webbed toes. Swinging their heads backwards and forwards, filter-feeding as they let the water move via their payments. When the flamingos tire of feeding, they march in teams, heads held excessive and in tight formation. The easiest time of day to see these magnificent birds is at sundown, when the warmth is just not so ferocious, and it’s only a quick stroll from Lake Natron Camp.
Not removed from the southern shores of Lake Natron, a half-hour stroll from Lake Natron Camp, is a cluster of spectacularly uncommon and well-preserved, fossilized hominid footprints. Greater than 400 footprints in complete crisscross the mudflats, overlaying an space barely bigger than a tennis courtroom. It’s an historic treasure trove left right here within the mud, someplace between 5,000 and 19,000 years in the past. No different website in Africa has so many historic Homo sapien footprints.
A number of the footprints seem to have been left by individuals working via contemporary volcanic mud and ash. Others appear to be from a bunch of round a dozen individuals, principally girls and kids, who have been touring throughout the mudflats collectively. One set of prints is so properly preserved that it’s doable to inform that they have been most likely left by an individual strolling with a damaged massive toe. The mud recorded all of it—drying out inside hours of the footprints being made, earlier than they have been buried in one other layer of mud and ash, entombing them for millennia.
The ‘Mountain of God’
Lake Natron is backdropped by the magnificent Ol Doinyo Lengai, a 9,718-foot volcano, sacred to the Maasai and identified to them because the “Mountain of God.” That is East Africa’s solely energetic volcano, the one energetic carbonatite volcano on the planet, and it’s most likely the hardest day hike in the entire area.
The bottom of the mountain is about an hour’s drive from Lake Natron Camp, and the ascent takes someplace between 4-6 hours (and one other 3-4 hours down), relying in your degree of health. This can be a difficult ascent. It’s chilly, it’s darkish, and it’s steep. The highest third of the volcano has some slippery, rocky stretches, so that you’ll have to be ready to do some scrambling and perhaps even some crawling on all fours. When you attain the highest, although, you’ll be rewarded with infinite, unbelievable views. An in a single day ascent of Ol Doinyo Lengai is an unforgettable expertise.
One of many highlights of this a part of Tanzania is The Footsteps of Mankind trek, a three-day hike, tracing the millennia of evolution. Ranging from these fossilized hominid footprints close to Lake Natron Camp and ending at Olduvai Gorge. Olduvai, referred to as the Cradle of Mankind, is likely one of the most necessary paleoanthropological websites on the planet and residential to proof of a few of our earliest ancestors. It was right here, within the early twentieth century, that archaeologist Dr. Louis Leakey uncovered a few of the earliest hominid fossils, and the fossil-rich deposits right here cowl a time span from 2,100,000-15,000 years in the past. It’s definitely a window into the distant historical past of mankind. Passing via timeless landscapes that span thousands and thousands years of geography, the path follows the migration routes the Maasai herdsmen and their livestock use as they transfer their herds to contemporary pastures.
Mountain climbing roughly 7 miles a day, you go via conventional Maasai lands and witness untouched Maasai tradition. Immersed in locations and sights which can be far off the crushed monitor, however with a snug campsite to sit up for on the finish of the day, that is an absolute journey. Passing native villages, encircled by fences constituted of the branches of thorn bushes, you’ll have the chance to cease and chat with native individuals. There’s wildlife to be seen—gazelles, zebras, golden jackals, and extra—in addition to some nice fowl recognizing, together with nesting websites of the superb Rüppell’s vultures.
Different Hikes within the Space
There are a number of different hikes you’ll be able to take within the space of Lake Natron and Ol Doinyo Lengai, if an ascent of the volcano or a multi-day trek isn’t for you. An excellent various is a full-day Rift Valley Hike, an adventurous hike the place you allow camp earlier than daybreak and begin on the base of the Rift Valley wall, which you scale on foot, ascending near Ngare Sero Gorge in time for dawn. One other chance is a full-day hike (4-6 hours) deep into the Ngare Sero Gorge to the supply of the river. If all that’s an excessive amount of to ponder, then a 2-3-hour stroll into the gorge to see the spectacular waterfalls is a extra laid-back possibility. The surroundings is a novel mix of arid volcanic rocks and plush tropical palms, and a picnic completes the expertise.
Extra Ideas for Trekking in Tanzania
With a lot journey at your fingertips, trekking in northern Tanzania ought to be on the journey bucket checklist for any energetic traveler. Hold these extra ideas in thoughts.
The place to Keep
With the lake proper in your doorstep and a pure spring to swim in, Lake Natron Camp is a novel eco-camp, designed in order that if it have been dismantled, there could be no hint of it and the panorama may very well be completely restored. With composting bathrooms and water coming from a pure spring (with an osmosis filter system making it protected for consuming), the camp could be very acutely aware of preserving the setting through which it’s positioned.
Tips on how to Journey in Northern Tanzania
Mahlatini ready an epic Northern Tanzania itinerary for my travels that included mountaineering, climbing, and trekking within the Lake Natron space. You’ll be able to comply with my itinerary above or ask them to customise one for you, together with every little thing in your want checklist—from safaris to off-the-beaten-track experiences and unbelievable adventures.
