People of Africa - Overland Trip

Itineraries

Arrival day.

Visit the Engaruka Ruins in the rift valley, on foot with an expert guide, before driving to Lake Natron, one of the best places to see flamingos in Tanzania – a veritable sea of pink. This area is known as the Ngorongoro Highlands, home to the Maasai people, and provides startling contrasts of scenery with the green highlands (abundant in wildlife), barren landscapes of the Rift Valley, salt lakes and waterfalls plus the volcanoes.  We drive to Oldoinyo Lengai (2878m), the Maasai holy mountain where our Maasai guide will explain the pilgrimage tradition, rain dances and fertility rituals that take place there. Those who wish can hike overnight to the summit to see sunrise - tough but utterly memorable. (BLD)

Visit a genuine Maasai homestead to meet the elders and share a mug of traditional herbal tea.  We then continue to the sacred forest retreat site by the Engaruka River to meet the warriors and join in with their singing and dancing, before heading to Mto Wa Mbu. (BLD)

Drive to the Serengeti, Tanzania’s premier national park and one of the best places for spotting Africa’s superb wildlife including the Big Five. We take an afternoon safari. (BLD)

A full day of game drives. (BLD)

Drive from the Serengeti to Ngorongoro Crater via Olduvai Gorge, where fossil hominid remains dating back millions of years were unearthed. Descend into Ngorongoro Crater and enjoy a game drive with picnic lunch by the lake. (BLD)

Drive to Yaeda Chini, where we receive an introduction to Hadza culture and customs, and try to get our tongues around a few basic greetings in the click-based Hadzane language!  (BLD)

Drive to Arusha. (BL)

We have a choice of optional cultural workshops in Arusha: Tanzanian cookery, drum and dance, Tinga Tinga painting, or batik making. (B)

Drive to Nkuu Ndoo village, in the foothills of Kilimanjaro, for a full day Chagga cultural program.  After an orientation session and introduction to village leaders, we visit an elderly Chagga herbalist at her home for a tour of her medicinal garden, followed by a picnic lunch in the garden.  In the afternoon we can meet a local midwife and chat to her, and other women, about ‘indigenous’ versus ‘modern’ midwifery knowledge and the challenges of pregnancy and childbirth in rural Tanzania.  There follows a gentle hike to the Weruweru waterfalls, through tropical montane forest, banana plantations and coffee farms. We then drive to the Pare Mountains for an evening of traditional singing, dancing and storytelling. (BLD)

Travel by bus to Dar es Salaam where the rest of the day is free. (B)

Take the ferry across to Zanzibar and drive to Paje, on the idyllic and unspoilt east coast of the island.  The rest of the day is free to relax on the beach (B).

After an early breakfast, we take a trip out on a fishing boat to try and catch our lunch!  Assuming that we manage it, we’ll come back to the village and clean our catch, before helping our hosts to prepare a traditional meal of fish in coconut sauce.  In the afternoon we meet a local healer and learn about the Swahili traditions of herbal, ritual and spiritual healing, as well as visiting a sacred limestone cave.  (BL).

In the morning, we take a tour of a spice plantation, to see how vanilla, cloves, cinnamon and many other spices are grown. We return to Dar es Salaam on the 1pm ferry where the tour ends on arrival. (B)