Overview
Route and travel style
Lake Eyasi sits below the Ngorongoro highlands, a two-hour drive past Karatu, and it is where the Hadzabe still hunt with handmade bows and forage for tubers, berries and wild honey. You join a small group of Hadza men on a sunrise walk at their pace, then spend time at a Datoga homestead where the arrowheads are forged and the beadwork is made. Visits are arranged in advance with the families themselves through the district cultural office, and the community fee is part of your package price rather than something you negotiate on the day. Your guide translates, explains what is and is not appropriate to photograph, and keeps the group small. The route pairs naturally with Ngorongoro or the Serengeti, so most travelers add it to the start or end of a safari.
Day by day
Full itinerary
Arusha to Lake Eyasi and the Datoga
Leave Arusha after breakfast and drive through Karatu and the coffee farms on the rim of the highlands, dropping to the Rift Valley floor at Lake Eyasi. After lunch you visit a Datoga homestead: cattle herders and skilled metalworkers who melt down scrap brass and steel into arrowheads, bracelets and bells over a goatskin bellows. Evening at your camp above the lake.
Lunch, dinnerSunrise with the Hadzabe
You leave camp before six to meet the Hadza men as they set out, and walk with them while they track birds and small game and dig for tubers. Later the women show the berries and baobab fruit they gather, and there is time to try a bow at the camp. The afternoon is unhurried: a walk along the lakeshore, or a rest before an early dinner.
Breakfast, lunch, dinnerLake Eyasi to Arusha or onward
A last morning at the lake, then the drive back up the escarpment to Karatu and on to Arusha, arriving mid-afternoon. Travelers continuing on safari branch off at Karatu for Ngorongoro instead.
Breakfast, lunchIncluded
What's included
- Private 4x4 with pop-up roof and English-speaking driver-guide
- Lake Eyasi cultural permits and community visit fees
- Two nights accommodation on full board
- Meals listed in the itinerary
- 1.5 litres of bottled water per person per day
- Arusha hotel or airport transfers
Excluded
What's not included
- International flights and visas
- Travel insurance
- Alcoholic and soft drinks
- Tips for guides and drivers
- Personal purchases, including beadwork bought directly
- Ngorongoro or Serengeti extension
