8 days
Serengeti River Crossings
July to October in the far north, camped within twenty minutes of the Mara River. We move with the herds, not to a fixed schedule…
$4,690per person, from
ViewSize
Natron 1,040 km² · Eyasi 1,050 km² (both seasonal)
Established
Natron is a Ramsar wetland of international importance
Getting there
Natron: 4–5 hours from Arusha · Eyasi: 1 hour from Karatu
Known for
Lesser flamingo, greater flamingo, gerenuk, golden jackal, and the Hadzabe and Datoga peoples
The place
Lake Natron & Lake Eyasi
These two Rift lakes sit at opposite ends of the Ngorongoro highlands and both feel like a different country from the safari circuit. Natron is caustic, shallow and red with halophilic algae — and it is the only regular breeding site for East Africa's 2.5 million lesser flamingos, precisely because nothing else can survive there to eat the eggs. Behind it stands Ol Doinyo Lengai, the Maasai Mountain of God, the only volcano on earth that erupts natrocarbonatite lava cool enough to run black and turn white in the rain. Eyasi, to the south-west, is where the Hadzabe live — one of the last hunter-gatherer societies on the continent.
Why go
What makes it worth the days
Flamingo breeding grounds
Hundreds of thousands of lesser flamingos nest on Natron's salt flats, a spectacle found nowhere else in East Africa.
Ol Doinyo Lengai
A 2,962m active volcano, climbed overnight to reach the crater rim at sunrise. Brutally steep and utterly worth it.
The Hadzabe
Roughly a thousand people remain, of whom a few hundred still live primarily by hunting and foraging. A dawn hunt is an unvarnished morning, not a performance.
Ngare Sero gorge
A wade-and-scramble walk up a shaded canyon to a waterfall and pools — the only cool place at Natron.
The ground
Areas and how they differ
Where you sleep inside a park matters more than most people realise. These are the distinct areas and what each is good for.
Where to stay
Simple tented camps at Natron with fans and cold showers — it is one of the hottest inhabited places in Tanzania. At Eyasi, a handful of camps sit under acacias near Ghorofani village.
Walked with a Maasai guide; the salt crust is fragile and the water is genuinely caustic.
Midnight start, 1,700m of ascent on loose ash, sunrise on the rim.
Two hours up the river bed to the falls, wading much of the way.
Dawn hunts, bow-making and a Datoga blacksmith's homestead nearby.
An abandoned fifteenth-century irrigation complex on the way north from Arusha.
When to visit
Lake Natron & Lake Eyasi through the year
Natron slots between Arusha and the Serengeti on a wilder northern loop. Eyasi is an easy overnight from Karatu, either side of the Ngorongoro Crater.
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Prime time
Good, fewer vehicles
Green season · lowest rates
Gallery
Lake Natron & Lake Eyasi in pictures
Trips that include it
Itineraries visiting Lake Natron & Lake Eyasi
8 days
9 days
Photographic Expedition
Beanbags, a 4x4 with the roof off and no more than three photographers aboard. We plan every day around light, not around lunch,…
$7,200per person, from
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8 days
Wild North — Natron, Eyasi & the Serengeti
The northern circuit without the convoy. Walk the Ngare Sero gorge below Ol Doinyo Lengai, hunt at dawn with Hadzabe men above Lake…
$4,100per person, from
ViewKeep exploring
Nearby destinations
The endless plains
Serengeti
14,763 km² of grass, granite kopjes and the greatest terrestrial mammal migration on earth.
The crater
Ngorongoro
The world's largest intact volcanic caldera, holding around 25,000 large animals on a 260 km² floor.
Elephants and baobabs
Tarangire
2,850 km² of baobab country holding the densest dry-season elephant population in northern Tanzania.
Go there
See Lake Natron & Lake Eyasi for yourself
Tell us how long you have and we will show you how Lake Natron & Lake Eyasi fits into a route that works — and how many nights it really deserves.