Lake Eyasi

Eyasi lies in a Rift trough below the Ngorongoro escarpment, shallow, alkaline and shrinking to mud flats in dry years, with doum palms and thorn scrub around it. The country here is home to Hadzabe communities, who continue to hunt and forage, and to Datoga, who herd and work metal, and visits to both are the usual reason travellers come. Pelicans and flamingos use the water when it is high enough, and the escarpment stands over the whole basin.

Background

Eyasi is a seasonal, shallow salt lake with no outlet, lying at 1030 metres at the foot of the Serengeti Plateau, within the Eyasi-Wembere arm of the Great Rift Valley. Its former German names were Njarasasee and Hohenlohesee. Stretching from southwest to northeast, it is the biggest water body in Arusha Region. The Sibiti River enters the southwestern end and the Baray the northeastern end. Even in wet periods the water is usually under one metre deep, and in dry years the lake can almost vanish, while in El Niño years it floods and draws hippopotamus from the Serengeti. Migrating flamingos stop here seasonally.

Source: Wikipedia, "Lake Eyasi"

What's there

• The Rift setting - a shallow soda lake under the Ngorongoro escarpment.
• The Hadzabe country - land used by communities who still hunt and forage.
• The Datoga smiths - metalworking done by hand in the settlements around the lake.
• The waterbirds - pelicans and flamingos when the water level allows.

When to go

June to October for the roads; the lake is often dry by late in that season. The rains fill it and make access hard. Early morning is when village visits are usually arranged.

Good to know

Community visits are heavily commercialised and can feel staged; how much of the fee reaches the community varies a great deal. The lake is frequently dry mud rather than water. Roads are rough and dusty.

Nearby

Karatu is north, and Ngorongoro is beyond it.

Key facts