The Crater Highland trip is a walking safari with hiking tours around 5-6 hours per day, with overnight stays in tents on campsites. Donkeys will carry our baggage. It's the perfect chance to enjoy nature on your own feet.
Day 1
We will pick you up from the Kilimanjaro Airport and transfer you to Arusha. It will
take almost 1 hour to drive. Dinner and accomodation will be in the lodge in
Arusha. We will give you all informations about your holiday trough your driver and
guide there.
Day 2
After our breakfast we will leave Arusha in the early morning to drive to Ngorongoro Crater. We descend into the crater for the morning game drive. Later we return to the crater rim and drive to Nainokanoka Maasai village with picnic lunch en route. At the crater rim we can discover hundreds of species of birds. We change our transport means and proceed our tour by foot. Donkeys will carry our baggage. We reach Bulati Village to visit Olmoti Crater and waterfalls passing Embulmbul depression. Olmoti Crater is a shallow grassy crater and is the source of the Munge river, which flows through a notch in the crater rim in a spectacular waterfall on its way to Ngorongoro Crater. Dinner and overnight stay at Bulati campsite.
Day 3
After breakfast we hike to Empakai Crater and descend into the crater. In this nice crater you can discover flamingos and other animals, a forest and a deep lake From here you can enjoy a nice view on Oldonyo Lengai, Great Rift Valley and Lake Natron. Dinner and overnight stay on Empakai Crater rim.
Day 4
After breakfast we descend into the crater to the lake. At the lake shore we can see birds and other animals. Our track follows a gradual descent to Naiyobi village, which means "spring" or "bubbling water". Here we can meat the local people who live from agriculture. Dinner and overnight stay at Lerai campsite.
Day 5
After breakfast we start early to hike through Emouro Engoilil (Pembe ya Swala) to the bottom of Oldonyo Lengai. We follow the way through beautiful grass hills along a
ridge running parallel to Great Rift Valley. Oldonyo Lengai mountain with its 3.450 m altitude is an active volcano in the south of Lake Natron. We start to climb in the late evening. The path is quite difficult underfoot and steep the whole way. At the rim it turns into powdery ash and feels like walking through deep soft snow. We reach the summit for sunrise. This volcano is active and glowing rock can often be seen bubbling out of the numerous ash cones on the top. Whether we can stay overnight at the summit depends on the weather.
Day 6
Today we descend to the foot of the mountain for the transfer to Ngaresero river which flows north from the crater highlands into Lake Natron. Here you can swim for refreshing. Dinner and overnight stay in the campsite.
Day 7
After breakfast we drive to Lake Natron to view the sunrise and the flamingos. After a small walk at the lake we depart for Arusha. On the way we will visit the Engaruka village to see the ruins. We reach Arusha in the late afternoon. In the evening we transfer you to the airport / start the safari program.