Tanzania offers the active traveler a number of adventurous options. Here are some of our favorites:

Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro

Climbing Mount Meru

Hiking the Ngorongoro Conservation Area

Exploring Empakaai Crater

Exploring Olmoti Crater

Walking in the Leakey’s footsteps at Olduvai Gorge.

Discovering the falmingos of Lake Natron, the Gods of Ol Donyo and the ruins of Engaruka

Mount Kilimanjaro

Kilimanjaro at Dawn, ready to be conquered

Kilimanjaro. The name itself is a mystery wreathed in clouds. It might mean Mountain of Light, Mountain of Greatness or Mountain of Caravans. Or it might not. The local people, the Wachagga, don't even have a name for the whole massif, only Kipoo (now known as Kibo) for the familiar snowy peak that stands imperious, overseer of the continent, the summit of Africa.

Kilimanjaro, by any name, is a metaphor for the compelling beauty of East Africa. When you see it, you understand why. Not only is this the highest peak on the African continent; it is also the tallest free-standing mountain in the world, rising in breathtaking isolation from the surrounding coastal scrubland – elevation around 900 meters – to an imperious 5,895 meters (19,336 feet).

Kilimanjaro is one of the world's most accessible high summits, a beacon for visitors from around the world. Most climbers reach the crater rim with little more than a walking stick, proper clothing and determination. And those who reach Uhuru Point, the actual summit, or Gillman's Point on the lip of the crater, will have earned their climbing certificates. And their memories.

But there is so much more to Kili than her summit. The ascent of the slopes is a virtual climatic world tour, from the tropics to the Arctic. Even before you cross the national park boundary (at the 2,700m contour), the cultivated foot slopes give way to lush montane forest, inhabited by elusive elephant, leopard, buffalo, the endangered Abbot’s duiker, and other small antelope and primates. Higher still lies the moorland zone, where a cover of giant heather is studded with otherworldly giant lobelias.

Above 4,000m, a surreal alpine desert supports little life other than a few hardy mosses and lichen. Then, finally, the last vestigial vegetation gives way to a winter wonderland of ice and snow – and the magnificent beauty of the roof of the continent.

There are six usual trekking routes to the summit and other more-demanding mountaineering routes. Day or overnight hikes on the Shira plateau and nature trails on the lower reaches are a great option for those active travelers who are not mountain climbers. Kilimanjaro also offers wonderful opportunities for Trout fishing and visit the beautiful Chala crater lake on the mountain’s southeastern slopes.

The clearest and warmest conditions are usually from December to February. From July to September conditions are also dry but it can get cold.

NOTE:
Climb slowly to increase your acclimatization time and maximize your chances of reaching the summit. To avoid altitude sickness, allow a minimum of five nights, preferably even more for the climb. Take your time and enjoy the beauty of the mountain.

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Mount Meru

Mount Meru's surrounding lakes

Mount Meru is the topographic centerpiece of Arusha National Park. Its fertile slopes rise above the surrounding savanna and support a forest that hosts diverse wildlife, including nearly 400 species of birds, and also monkeys and leopards.

The sheer beauty and challenge of climb Mt. Meru makes it a must-do for the adventurous traveler to Tanzania. The early parts of the trail pass through lush rainforests of fig trees and colubus monkeys high in the canopy.

As you climb higher, the cloud forest clears in the late afternoon to reveal striking vistas of Kilimanjaro and the volcano chain on the edge of the Rift Valley. The last distance before the summit passes over the crater ridge – an exhilarating experience, and not one for the faint-hearted.

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Ngorongoro Conservation Area

A Maasai cattle herder in the Ngorongoro Highlands

The Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) is one of the few places in East Africa where tourists are encouraged to walk through areas teeming with wildlife, provided that they do so with a local guide. Short hikes can be organised through any lodge or at the NCA headquarters. Adventurous overnight hikes are even more rewarding but entail some planning. Recommended routes include the hike from Olmoti to Empakaai and down to the Rift Valley, the Northern Highland Forest Reserve, and the eastern Serengeti Plains around Nasera Rock, Gol Mountains and Olkarien Gorge.

Ngorongoro is the world’s largest intact volcanic caldera, and its 304 sq km floor is the ultimate ‘Big Five’ destination, home to elephant, lion, leopard, rhino, buffalo and other safari favourites. It is the centrepiece of the 8,292 sq km Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA), an easterly extension of the greater Serengeti ecosystem whose western plains attract up to 2.5 million antelope, zebras, buffalo and wildebeest seasonally.

The Ngorongoro Highlands are comprised of two main geological rifts that run through the area. Nine volcanoes in the Ngorongoro highlands were formed during the past four million years. One of these, Oldoinyo Lengai, is still active.

Over the millennia, the ash and dust from the volcanic eruptions has been carried by the winds to form the fertile soils of the Serengeti plains.

The earliest sign of human ancestors in the Ngorongoro Conservation is at Laetoli where hominid footprints are preserved in volcanic rock 3.6 million years old.

As a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and an International Biosphere Reserve, the NCA contains many archaeological sites of international importance, and its traditionalist Maasai, Datoga and Hadza communities co-exist alongside the prodigious wildlife. Tourism plays an integral role in the ongoing viability of this vast conservation area, by helping to fund schools, hospitals, roads and other amenities vital to local communities living within its borders.

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Empakaai Crater

The view from the Empakaai Crater rim.

Set below the smouldering peak of Ol Doinyo Lengai, the Empakaai Crater is utterly magnificent, yet its remoteness means it is reached by very few tourists. A 300 metre deep volcanic caldera with a diameter of 6km, it is dominated by a deep emerald soda lake that attracts a wealth of waterbirds. Much of the 32 km long crater rim can be walked, providing spectacular views and the opportunity to see blue monkey, buffalo, bushbuck and other forest wildlife.

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Olmoti Crater

The Olmoti Crater is one of nine craters that surrounder the Ngorongoro

Olmoti is an extinct volcano, whose forested rim rises to 3,099 metres altitude, immediately north of Ngorongoro. The Maasai name Olmoti - ‘Cooking Pot’ – refers to its shallow crater, whose grassy floor supports eland and bushbuck along with Maasai herders and livestock. A small but spectacular waterfall exits the south side of the crater to form the Munge Stream, which feeds Lake Magadi on the Ngorongoro floor.

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Oldupai Gorge

The plaque marks the spot where the Leakeys disovered the jawbone that changed our understanding of human history.

One of the world’s most important palaeontological sites, sometimes dubbed the Cradle of Mankind, the Oldupai Gorge runs for 40km through the plains west of Ngorongoro Crater. It was here, in 1959, that Louis and Mary Leakey unearthed a jawbone that pushed the known timescale of human evolution well past the 1.5 million-year mark. The site has since yielded many more hominid fossils and Acheulean stone tools suggesting continuous inhabitation for over a million years. A site museum is open daily.

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Ol Doinyo Lengai, Lake Natron, Engaruka

Lake Natron's famous flamingos

Northeast of the NCA, Lake Natron is a primordial sump whose caustic shallows forms the main breeding ground for Africa’s flamingos. Towering above the lake is Ol Doinyo Lengai, the Maasai ‘Mountain of God’, an active volcano that experienced major eruptions in 1966, 1983 and 2007-8. South of Natron, the terraced walls and abandoned irrigation ditches of Engaruka are all that remains of a mysterious city that housed 30,000 people in its mediaeval prime.

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