Program: "Land & People"
Maasai Walking Safaris - Tansania
Guided camping and hiking trip through Maasailand
Itinerary "Land & People": Hiking with the Maasai, Hadzabe, Tatoga and Batemi
Arusha - Lake Eyasi - Ngorongoro Crater - Serengeti National Park - Wasso - Lake Natron - Arusha
More than 130 different ethnic groups live in Tanzania. Each of them speaks their own language and lives their own traditions. There is a great diversity of culture in it. The ethnic groups respect one another and have lived peacefully with one another for many decades. Come with us and get to know the country and the people of Tanzania!
Our walking safari takes you through northern Tanzania. On your trip you will meet some ethnic groups. You have the unique opportunity to get to know the residents and their homeland personally when visiting villages and families. It is important to us to make tourism sustainable and gentle. All visits and encounters happen without staging and always fair, i.e. with the focus on bringing added value for the region and our people.
Day 1 - Our Maasai friends and tour guides will pick you up from Kilimanjaro Airport and drive you to Arusha, where you will stay one night in the guest house before the tour starts. Overnight in the guest house, - / - / A, S
Day 2 - The next morning you drive by car past Lake Manyara to Lake Eyasi. There you will meet the Hadzabe ethnic group and get to know life as a hunter and gatherer in the forests around Lake Eyasi. Then you come to see a Tatoga family. They are the most famous blacksmiths in northern Tanzania. Afterwards you will drive to the famous Ngorongoro Crater, where you will spend the night in a camp at the edge of the crater. Overnight in a tent,F / M / A, S.
Day 3 - Early in the morning you drive 600 meters down by car into the Ngorongoro Crater, where you go on a wonderful safari to discover many different wild animals. The sunken volcano is a UNESCO cultural heritage and one of the most important nature parks on the continent. Lunch will be unpacked at the hippopotamus pool. In the afternoon you drive on to the Serengeti National Park. Overnight in tent, B / L / D, S.
Day 4 - Today you will spend the whole day in the Serengeti, which is one of the largest nature reserves in the world with an area of almost 15,000 km². From the car you will see lions, elephants, buffalo, wildebeest, gazelles and many other wild animals. Let the vastness of the savannah and the beautiful landscapes affect you. The national park is also world-famous for the annually recurring natural spectacle, animal migration. With a little luck you will have millions of wildebeest and zebras who come to the Serengeti from Kenya especially to give birth to their babies. In the evening you drive back to the camp. Overnight in a tent,F / M / A, S.
Day 5 - On the way to the north of the national park you will see different landscapes and their animal worlds. You leave the Serengeti via the Kleins Gate and then drive through the Maasailand to Wasso. The Maasai are one of the most famous ethnic groups in East Africa. They are known for their semi-nomadic way of life, their flashy clothing and their residential area near the national parks.
Wasso is a bigger town near the Kenyan border. The Upper Austrian missionary doctor Dr. Herbert Watschinger founded a hospital for the Maasai in 1964. Lemayan Ole Sitoy (founder and main guide of Maasai-Tours) got to know his friend Heini Staudinger (GEA Waldviertler) there, who visited and supported the hospital for many years. Overnight in the hospital guest house,F / M / A, S.
Day 6 - Today you walk comfortably to the Lemayan's family, who live in a typical Maasai village, a boma. You will meet the village elders, the grandmothers of the family, many women and children. You also have the opportunity to see a mud hut from the inside and, if you want, drink a milk tea with the house owner. You get lunch as a lunch box in the shade of the trees in the village. In the afternoon you hike back to Wasso, where there is always market day on Fridays. You can stroll through the stalls where groceries and all other things a Maasai needs to live are sold. A visit to the largest cattle market in the region is also very impressive. Overnight in the hospital guest house,
(Walking time: 2 hours, distance: 8 km) B / L / D, S.
Day 7 - Hiking day # 1 from Wasso to Osupuko - You hike along the Wasso River and on the way will certainly meet many Maasai who go to the village. Then it goes up a gentle range of hills. Today there are always beautiful views of villages, fields and hills up to the Kenyan border. On the way you take your lunch break in the middle of the Maasai bush. During the hike, Lemayan will tell you a lot about his people and life as a cattle farmer. You will discover the trees and plants of the Maasailand learn how they are traditionally used as medicine or tea. In the afternoon you will reach the tent camp where you will spend the night. After a short break, you have the opportunity to take a short hike through the adjacent forests. This is where the Colabus monkeys hide, and if you are very quiet you can watch them swing through the trees. On the way back you can say hello to the family from the neighboring Maasai village. (Walking time: 5-6 hours, distance: 16 km) Overnight in a tent,F / M / A
Day 8 - Hiking day # 2 from Osupuko to Sonjo Valley - After breakfast you start hiking through the woods and bushes. You will have lunch in a beautiful place where you have a good view of the Sonjo Valley. The Batemi (also Sonjo) ethnic group live there. Strengthened, it goes relatively steeply down into the valley. The path continues through smaller forests, over steppes and past various settlements. The Batemi are experts in agriculture with complex irrigation systems. You walk through the fields and reach a village where you will find the tent camp near the round huts. The children and their families will give you a warm welcome here.(Walking time: 5-6 hours, distance: 19 km) Overnight in a tent, B / L / D
Day 9 - Hiking day # 3 to Digodigo - in the morning we continue on a flat path. The play of colors in the morning with the typical red earth of the valley is also very impressive today. The path leads through a rainforest with a river. Here you can spot a variety of birds, butterflies and tropical plants. After the lunch break and crossing a small river, we continue to the village of Digodigo. There is also the next tent camp, on the area of a small clinic, the Digodigo Dispensary. In the afternoon you have the chance to visit the small hospital and take a walk through the village. There are also smaller shops and bars here, so a bit of "village life" after the last few days in the bush.(Walking time: 3-4 hours, distance: 9 km) Overnight in a tent, B / L / D, S
Day 10 - Hiking day # 4 from Digodigo to Masusu - Your hiking day starts early in the morning in the dry and warmer climes towards Lake Natron. You leave the hilly landscape behind and walk very flat through the bushes and acacia forests. A multitude of colorful birds and herons hide there. Again and again you will pass settlements, first the Batemi villages, but soon you will enter the Maasai country again. On the way you will fetch children with their herds of goats, women on the way to the firewood or water and maybe with a little luck you will also meet the proud Maasai warriors, the youth of the people. After lunch in the shade of an acacia tree, you will see Lake Natron in the distance at the foot of the Oldoinyo Lengai volcano for the first time. The "holy mountain of the Maasai" is the goal of the hiking days. Today you stay at a school in Masusu. The headmaster is waiting for you and will tell you about his work, his school and everyday school life.
(Walking time: 5-6 hours, distance: 17 km) Overnight in a tent, B / L / D
Day 11 - Hiking day # 5 from Masusu to Lake Natron - Today is your last hiking day. You start your day early so that you arrive at your destination, Lake Natron, before the afternoon heat. After a while along a gravel road, it goes relatively steeply down the rock face into the East African rift valley. You have a wonderful view of Lake Natron and the active volcano Oldoinyo Lengai. You can enjoy your lunch down near the "beaches" of Lake Natron. The lake is fed, among other things, by the thermal springs. With a water temperature of up to 60 degrees you cannot bathe in it, but flamingos and pelicans love the water that contains soda. This lake is one of the few breeding grounds for the Lesser Flamingos.
With cars you will cover the last kilometers to Engaresero. There you can rest in the evergreen Lengai Camp and enjoy the view of the volcano. In the afternoon there is still the chance to hike a via ferrata to the Engaresero waterfalls, which serve as a source of fresh water for the surrounding villages.
(Walking time: 4-5 hours, distance: 21 km) Overnight in a tent, B / L / D, S
Day 12 - Today you leave the volcano behind you and drive to Ketumbeine in the safari cars. The route is very bumpy and offers the famous "African Massage". In the small town of Ketumbeine you visit the Maasai women and their pearl jewelry project “Naapok”. You will eat lunch boxes together there. Then it's back to Arusha for about 2.5 hours. Back in town, there is then time to rest and slowly arrive. Overnight in the guest house. F / M / A, S.
Day 13 - In the city of Arusha there is enough time, depending on the time of departure, to visit some aid projects that are supported by "Heini für Afrika". There is also time to shop or for other activities. At noon or in the afternoon we will drive you to the airport, from where you can start your journey home or onward. Here it says for us: "Ole Sere! (Goodbye!), Have a good trip and see you soon!" F / - / -, S.
F ... breakfast
M ... lunch / lunch box
A ... dinner
S ... Simple sanitary facilities
