Oldonyo Lengai Mountain

It is located in northern Tanzania lying just south of Lake Natron in the Rift Valley, in the heart of Maasai country, and locally regarded as a sacred mountain. Looking north from it’s summit crater, the hot barren salt flats of Lake Natron stretch into the distance. To the south stretch the crater Highlands and the Ngorongoro Game Reserve.

The eastern horizons are dominated by Kilimanjaro and to the west the forested escarpments and hills comprising the western slopes of the Rift Valley. Every seven years Lengai erupts and plumes of smoke billow out of the crater.

It is possible to walk across the crater floor. The ascent of Oldoinyo Lengai is demanding on account of the day time heat, lack of water, steep and unsuitable slopes of ash and crumbly rocks and considerable height gain. Normally you can start ascending to the summit early in the morning and reach the summit at sunrise.

Shorts and a warm jacket are suitable for ascent, also long trousers are good as the summit before dawn can be cold. Access route from the North West allows an early descent to be made from the summit in the morning shadow. The Mountain frequently does minor eruptions and forms cone like structures to its crater base.

While on the summit of Mountain Ol Doinyo Lengai one can clearly see the Soda Lake Natron which accommodates and consists of good nesting sites for different bird species especially the Flamingos, pelicans and geese more than 350 different types are recorded to date.

Unlike the other two highest Mountains, Lengai takes about six to seven hours to the summit crater. Also the Mountain is an ideal place for a working safari escort by the Maasai guides with weapons tourist can sight wild animals like olive baboon, velvet, monitor lizard, hyenas, lion, leopard, jackal, Grant’s gazelle, impala and zebra.

Nearby are the Maasai BOMAS that give you a chance to interact with the indigenous learn their cultures, taboos and traditions.