Destination
There's no official seasonal guide for Lake Eyasi. The months marked follow TANAPA's June to October peak dry season for the neighbouring northern parks. The lake is shallow and can dry to a soda crust in low-rainfall years, so birdlife varies year to year.
Written by the Africa Bound Tours team in Arusha · checked · 6 sources
Lake Eyasi is a shallow, alkaline lake in a Rift Valley trough, with the Ngorongoro Highlands to the north and north-west and the Mbulu Highlands to the east. People don't come here for game drives. They come to meet the communities who live around it: the Hadzabe, who hunt and gather, and the Datoga, who herd livestock and include a group of blacksmiths.
It depends on the rain. The Key Biodiversity Areas factsheet describes a lake about 80 km long, at roughly 1,030 m, that shrinks to a dry soda crust in years of low rainfall. When there's water it holds large numbers of waterbirds, especially greater and lesser flamingos, along with yellow-billed storks and African spoonbills. Most of the basin has no formal protection, and the same factsheet lists deforestation, overgrazing and farming as pressures.
Most northern parks are about wildlife. Eyasi is about people. Anthropologist Haruna Yatsuka notes that visitors have come to Mang'ola, near the lake, since the 1990s to watch birds and to meet the Hadza, and that it's within easy reach of Ngorongoro and the Serengeti. Come for the communities and the birds, not for big game.
The Hadza, also called Hadzabe, have lived around Lake Eyasi for thousands of years, according to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA). Researchers on a University of Sheffield project put the number who identify as Hadza at about 1,000, across some 4,000 km² around the lake. About 300 live nomadically and get most of their food by hunting and gathering. The rest live in more settled camps near villages and add bought food to what they forage.
Their language, Hadzane, uses click consonants and is often classed as a language isolate. Most Hadza also speak Swahili. Colonial and later government attempts to settle them, in 1927, 1939, 1965 and the mid-1970s, all failed, and people went back to the bush. The NCAA notes that they are the only hunter-gatherers in Tanzania still allowed to hunt wild animals for food.
The Datoga are Nilotic pastoralists. The NCAA records that they settled in the southern Lake Eyasi basin about two centuries ago. There are two groups: herders who keep cattle, goats, sheep and donkeys, and blacksmith families who make arrowheads, knives, spears and jewellery. The Hadzabe are important trading partners for the smiths.
Anthropologist Haruna Yatsuka, writing in 2018, describes how it usually works. The Lake Eyasi Cultural Tourism Programme, a government-registered office set up in Mang'ola in 2011, acts as the gateway. Visitors arrive early with one of its registered local guides, who interprets. You might watch fire being made with sticks, then follow the men on a hunt for two or three hours.
Set your expectations honestly. Yatsuka found that most hunts with tourists are for small animals such as birds and squirrels. The same study found that many Hadza tire of the steady flow of visitors and move away for a while. You're a guest in someone's working day, so follow your guide's lead.
There's no official seasonal guide for Eyasi. For the nearby northern parks, TANAPA calls June to October the peak dry season. The lake itself can dry to a soda crust when the rains are poor, so the birdlife depends on how wet the year has been.
One of our published trips goes here, the 10-Day Active Safari. On day eight you spend the morning in Ngorongoro Crater, have a picnic lunch and drive down to the lake in the afternoon. There, Datoga smiths show how they turn iron into tools and ornaments. Day nine starts early with a Hadzabe group, and joining the hunt with a bow and arrow is up to you. Afterwards you drive back to Arusha, stopping for lunch at Mto wa Mbu.
If you'd like Eyasi on a different route, tell us on plan your trip.
Lake Eyasi lies in a Rift Valley trough in northern Tanzania. The Key Biodiversity Areas factsheet places the Ngorongoro Highlands to its north and north-west and the Mbulu Highlands to the east and south-east. Mang'ola, near the lake, is the main site for visits to the Hadza. On our 10-Day Active Safari you drive down after a morning in Ngorongoro Crater.
You can walk with Hadza men on a hunt if you'd like to, and our 10-Day Active Safari includes an early morning with a Hadzabe group. Anthropologist Haruna Yatsuka describes these hunts lasting two or three hours, led by a registered local guide who interprets. Yatsuka found the quarry is usually small, such as birds or squirrels, so go to watch and learn, not for big game.
The Hadzabe are hunter-gatherers who, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority says, have lived around Lake Eyasi for thousands of years; about 1,000 people identify as Hadza. The Datoga are Nilotic pastoralists who settled in the southern Eyasi basin about two centuries ago. One Datoga group are blacksmiths who make arrowheads, knives and jewellery and trade with the Hadzabe.
There's no official seasonal guide for Lake Eyasi. For the neighbouring northern parks, TANAPA names June to October as the peak dry season. The lake is shallow and, according to the Key Biodiversity Areas factsheet, shrinks to a dry soda crust in low-rainfall years, so the birds depend on how wet the year has been. Ask us about your dates.
For waterbirds, yes, when the lake holds water. The Key Biodiversity Areas factsheet lists large numbers of greater and lesser flamingos, plus yellow-billed storks and African spoonbills. It isn't a big-game area, though. Most people come for the Hadzabe and Datoga communities, and see their big game in Ngorongoro and the Serengeti.
According to anthropologist Haruna Yatsuka, the Lake Eyasi Cultural Tourism Programme in Mang'ola, a government-registered office set up in 2011, is the gateway for visits. Visitors arrive early with one of its registered local guides, who interprets. A morning can include fire-making, a hunt and the chance to buy handmade crafts, with the money from crafts going to the maker.
10days
Private · Active
This Safari is everything you would ever want to see and experience! Great for families or the inner child in you that wants to learn about everything and do it all – Active. Highlights include Materuni water falls & cof…
Conservation area · Northern circuit
Park · Northern circuit
Park · Northern circuit
Park · Northern circuit
Arusha 3.37° S · 36.68° E
Who is coming, roughly when, and what you would love to see. Someone from our Arusha team reads every request and replies with ideas and a first itinerary.
