Lake Eyasi

Tourists hardly know this wild, still nearly unexplored landscape. You will be particularly impressed with it. Lake Eyasi is mildly alkaline lake located just south of the Serengeti Plaines and about 155 km west of Arusha. It lies on one of the oldest sections of Eastern Rift Valley. Seasonal water level fluctuations in the lake are dramatic. During the dry season the lake may dry up almost entirely, especially in drier years.

Lake Eyasi is a wild, scenically impressive area where you can experience the indigenous life of a few Tanzanian bushmen tribes. Over 100 years ago, the stronger warlike Maasai tribes invaded the Ngorongoro and Serengeti area and forced out all the hunter gatherer tribes from the plaines. Many groups made their homes around Lake Eyasi. Among these groups were Datoga and Hadzabe who are very proud of who they are and to this date, refuse to give up their most indigenous way of living.

The Hadzabe are one of the smallest tribe in Tanzania, about 200 families. They are the last of the true hunter-gatherers in Tanzania and are second only to the San tribes in their closeness to the original humans, according to DNA studies. Their language resembles the click language of other San tribes (bush-men) further south in the Kalahari Desert. This small population has been seriously threatened, especially in 1974 when the Government tried to build a settlement for them and move them from their original environment (caves and the bushes). Most of the Hadzabe have never seen a doctor or a school. The bush provides everything they need including traditional education and traditional healers. For their food, the Hadzabe, who live in family groups, hunt with bow and arrows and gather roots and wild fruits; much as when humankind lived in the Stone Age. Because they forced to live in mostly dry areas, they get needed water from digging holes of about two to five meters in the ground.

The meadows along the shores of the lake and the forests are home to a wide variety of wildlife including hippo, leopard, monkeys and various birds. We can arrange a visit to Hadzabe and Datoga homes or you can accompany them on the thrilling early morning hunt.