Parks activities and cultural tour
The parks of Northern Tanzania offer the possibility to enhance and complete your holiday in the best way by different excursions and activities. The latter will give you the opportunity to experience the savannah outside the jeep with an unusual point of view on it.
Parks activities: Balloon safari
A hot air balloon safari is a magnificent and unforgettable experience. During the flight, of around 1 hour, you will understand the reason why Serengeti is nicknamed “endless plain”.
The flights follow the seasonality of the great migration and will give you the opportunity to see the immense herds of wildebeests and zebras from on high.
This is a unique experience to do at least once in a lifetime, but with a single drawback … the price: approximately $ 600 per person.
Parks activietes: Walking safari
Most of the activities can be done either in the morning or at sunset, especially in Lake Manyara, Arusha National Park, Tarangire and Ndutu.
You will admire both fauna and flora of these parks, always guided by a park ranger or a local guide. 2 hours walking in close contact with wild nature can be considered a very special experience.
During the walking safari, the guide will take you always in the safe areas, away from large dangerous animals. The real beauty of this activity is to enjoy the sounds of nature without being disturbed by anything or anyone.
You can carry out this experience only during the dry season; during the rainy season there is the risk of meeting snakes as well as mud.
Parks activities: Cultural tour
Visit to a Masai village
The knowledge of the local culture is very important in order to fully appreciate this type of trip. Along the road between Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti , you will have the opportunity to visit a Masai village (Masai Boma) and take a close look at the lifestyle and habits of these people. Over the time this experience has attracted more and more tourists and consequently the original spirit was lost. In order to enter into the village, you will need to pay a “contribution” of about $ 20 per person. This payment will make you able to visit their typical houses and dance together with Masai people
Hunting with the Hadzabe
Not far from Karatu, close to Lake Eyasi, there is the chance to spend 1 day together with the Hadzabe tribe, the last primitive hunters and gatherers.
You will be able to get in touch with this tribe and go hunting with them. This experience will let you understand how a man stripped of technological progress and cultural conditioning lives and thinks. Another peculiarity of the Hadzabe is that they communicate with each other in an archaic language made of tongue snaps, clicks and whistles that do not alarm their prey during the hunt.
Below a video of IWCS showing how the Hadzabe still live today.
Cultural tour to Mto wa Mbu
Mto wa Mbu is a village near Lake Manyara where more than 120 tribes peacefully coexist and this is why it is one of the most suitable places to experience the real culture of Tanzania. You will have the opportunity to visit farms, banana plantations that they use also for the production of beer, local markets for fruit and vegetables. A local guide will conduct you in this tour all the time. You will also learn the secrets of local cuisine and TingaTinga painting.
Another option is to spend a forenoon cycling up to the Lake Manyara area.
