Great Rfit Valley Trek Empakai to Lake Natron

You start with elephants in Tarangire, then walk four days through the Great Rift Valley with Maasai guides, from the Empakai Crater to Lake Natron, and then drive into the northern Serengeti, to our own camp.

On foot through the Great Rift Valley to Lake Natron, and on safari in Tanzania

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14

Days, on foot and on safari

4

Days walking through the Rift Valley

1000+

Animals for your lens

Highlights of the Lake Natron trek

Four days on foot through the Great Rift Valley. You walk with Maasai guides through country most travellers only see through a car window, from the rim of the Empakai Crater to Lake Natron, with your camp going ahead of you on donkeys.
The descent of the Rift, the heart of the trip. On the finest walking day you drop down the wall of the Rift, the whole valley in front of you, the volcano Ol Doinyo Lengai straight ahead, and under your feet the ground turns from green to black lava.
Lake Natron, a million flamingos. At the foot of the trek lies Lake Natron, the most important breeding ground in the world for lesser flamingos, with more than a million birds, and a gorge with waterfalls to stand under after days in the sun.
Safari in Tarangire and the Ngorongoro Crater. Before and after the trek you get the classic safari, the elephants and baobabs of Tarangire, and the Ngorongoro Crater full of life to close on.
Three nights in our own camp in the Serengeti. After the walking you are driven again. You sleep at Kimbilio, our own camp in the quiet north near Lobo, full of game all year, far from the crowds.

Download the Lake Natron trek itinerary, with the day-by-day and the price

You get the complete 14-day trip in your inbox, worked out day by day, with the price per season. This is an active trip with four walking days, so the itinerary tells you exactly what each day asks of you.

The whole route day by day, from Tarangire to the Ngorongoro Crater
The four walking days, with distances, heights and where you sleep
The accommodation, including our own Kimbilio camp in the Serengeti
The guide price per person, per season
Practical tips, from boots to what to pack

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Itinerary Great Rift Valley Trek Empakai to lake Natron

Walking safari in Tanzania, far from the crowds

Some of Tanzania only opens up when you get out of the jeep. This trip lets you experience the country in two ways. You drive on safari through Tarangire and the Serengeti, looking for elephants and lions, and you walk four days through the Great Rift Valley, through country where there is no road and no other traveller walking. More and more people want that, not to look at everything from a seat, but to stand in the middle of it, active, and away from the places everyone goes.

And we know this route close up. Selma walked the trek herself in 2026, from the Empakai Crater to Lake Natron. She knows what those four days are like, with Maasai guides, your camp going ahead on donkeys, no light at night but the stars. That is not a route out of a brochure.

And when the walking is done, you get back in, drive into the northern Serengeti to our own camp, and let yourself be driven again. Looking, walking, and then looking again, but differently.

On foot where there is no road

Four days through country you would normally only see through a window. Where there is no road, your bags go ahead on donkeys, and you walk with a day pack and a Maasai guide beside you.

Your own guide, not a stranger

Everyone who drives for Makasa is someone we know personally and chose ourselves. You get your own guide and your own jeep with an open roof, and all the time you want to stay where you want to stay.

You sleep in our own camp, in the quiet north

While most travellers gather in the central part of the Serengeti, you sleep at Kimbilio, our own tented camp in the quiet north near Lobo. There you often stand with the animals without another vehicle in sight.

Nothing off the shelf, all of it built around you

This itinerary is a starting point. More safari or some beach as well, more active or quieter, with the children or just the two of you, we build your trip around what you want.

Your trip, from the first savannah deep into the Rift Valley and back

Fourteen days, built as an arc. Safari first, then four days on foot through the Rift Valley, and then safari again, down to rest in our own camp and the crater to close on. This is the route in outline, and the itinerary has it day by day.

Arrival at Kilimanjaro

You land at Kilimanjaro Airport and spend your first nights at our own new lodge, on the river at the foot of the mountain. Kilimanjaro stands right there above you, and it is usually clearest early, before the cloud builds through the morning, so the first thing you do here is sit with a coffee and watch it. Time to recover from the flight, and straight into the rhythm of the trip, with a walk along the river or a mountain bike.

On safari in Tarangire

You drive to Tarangire for a full safari day, one of the finest and most underrated parks in Tanzania. In the dry season hundreds of elephants come down to the river here, sometimes in herds of fifty at a time, among baobab trees that can live a thousand years. Out on the plains you see lions, giraffes and large groups of zebra and wildebeest, and with some luck a leopard in a tree.

The Empakai Crater hike, on foot into the Rift Valley

Your guide brings you to the rim of the Empakai Crater, at 2,500 metres, where the first thing you notice is the silence. Over the next days you walk through forest and along ridges, with your camp going ahead of you on donkeys, and one day the volcano Ol Doinyo Lengai appears through the trees for the first time, exactly where you are walking to.

Down the wall of the Rift, to Lake Natron

There is no road down, so the bags go ahead on donkeys. The land opens all at once, the whole Rift Valley in front of you, ridges on every side, the floor far below. At the bottom a vehicle picks you up for Lake Natron, where natural pools are waiting to cool off in.

Rest at Lake Natron, under Ol Doinyo Lengai

A gentler day, with no alarm clock. You walk through the Ngare Sero gorge, wading the river and climbing over rocks, up to a waterfall with a clear pool to stand under. Back at Lake Natron you look out on Ol Doinyo Lengai, the volcano the Maasai call the mountain of God, and which is still active. The lake is the most important breeding ground in the world for lesser flamingos, with more than a million birds in season. And close by lie human footprints thousands of years old, kept in the old volcanic ground.

The Serengeti, away from the busy routes

When the walking is done, you get back in. You drive from Lake Natron straight into the northern Serengeti, to Kimbilio, our own camp near Lobo. Two full safari days, in country that holds game all year and sits far from the vehicle traffic of the central part. Now nothing is asked of you, you are driven, and the reward for the walking lands. At night you sleep in a tent with nothing but canvas between you and the wilderness.

The Ngorongoro Crater

You drop down to the floor of the Ngorongoro Crater, the largest intact volcanic caldera in the world. Inside those walls thousands of animals live close together, from rhinos and elephants to the lions that hold their own kingdom there.

So in fourteen days you travel from Tarangire on foot through the Rift Valley to Lake Natron, and then into the Serengeti and down into the Ngorongoro Crater. This is the trip in outline, the full day-by-day, the four walking days with distances and heights, and the price per season are in the itinerary.

Unforgettable dream trip

The safari in Tanzania was great, especially thanks to Humphrey, he was not only a good driver, he was a guide with a lot of knowledge about the animals and he spoke perfect English. He was an entertainer, quiz master and very enthusiastic. Thanks Makasa for an unforgettable dream trip.

Review Tanzania Safari and Zanzibar holiday

Max Wright

Amazing Tanzania holiday

I’ve tried to rack my brain for any cons in this trip and by no fault of Makasa, the only one I can come up with is that we couldn’t stay longer. I without a doubt recommend Makasa and would book again with them in a heartbeat. Thank you for such an amazing Tanzania adventure!

Jessie Rian

Everything we hoped for

This safari was the trip of our lifetime! Everything went like clockwork, from the pickup at Kilimanjaro Airport to catching the catamaran from Zanzibar. The accommodations, especially in the Serengeti, were all interesting and comfortable. Strongly recommend.

Lizzy Wilson

The same two people, from your first email to your flight home

Booking a trip this far away with a company on the other side of the world feels like a leap for most people. So you are never dealing with an anonymous office here. Zara answers every English enquiry, from Moshi. She thinks it through with you, replies in your language, and knows your trip from the first question to the last day.

Selma runs Makasa from Moshi with her husband Ngomi, and she walked this trek herself. The person planning your trip and the people who know these ridges live in the same town, so your question always lands in the right place. You get both halves, someone who writes back in your language, and people on the spot who know the country, the parks and the seasons.

Zara

Zara came out to visit Selma in Tanzania in 2024. In early 2025 she moved from Australia to Moshi with her two young children, so she knows the drives, the seasons and the camps from living here, not from a brochure. For a trip with four walking days, what people ask first is whether they are fit enough, and she will tell you straight. Zara looks after your enquiry, from your first question to the day you fly home.

Selma

Selma moved from the Netherlands to Tanzania in 2009 and has run Makasa since 2010 together with her husband Ngomi. She knows the parks, the seasons and the places from her own experience, and she walked the trek through the Great Rift Valley herself in 2026. One of her high points in Tanzania. While Zara plans with you, Selma makes sure your trip in Tanzania runs the way it was meant to.

On foot through the Great Rift Valley and on safari, fourteen days, built around you. Selma walked this route herself.

Book a call for free travel advice

Everything arranged, from your deposit to your flight home

A trip this far raises questions, and we understand that. So we have answered the most important ones here, which means you can book with your mind at rest.

Your booking

You pay to our company account and get a confirmation naming your day to day itinerary, camps and your dates.

One contact, start to finish

You arrange everything with Zara, and you reach her on WhatsApp while you travel.

A registered operator

Makasa is a registered member of TATO, the Tanzania Association of Tour Operators, the first thing embassies tell travellers to check.

Is Tanzania safe?

Yes, for the trip you are planning. The areas governments warn about lie in the far south, more than a thousand kilometres from the Serengeti.

Is there malaria?

Tanzania is a malaria area. You take prophylaxis, and your own doctor advises which kind suits you.

Is a safari dangerous?

No. You are always with a guide who knows the animals and the rules, and who tells you when to stay in the vehicle.

Your trip leaves something behind

We live in Tanzania, so this country is not our market, it is our home. You notice it in the small choices we make every day. Our own camp Kimbilio, where you sleep in the Serengeti, runs on solar power, and the packed lunches you take on the road use materials that break down, so we leave nothing behind in the nature you came for.

On the trek you walk through Maasai land, with Maasai guides taking you across their own ground, and your stay at Lake Natron supports the community living there. And the people we work with, our guides and colleagues, are Tanzanians, many of them trained by Ngomi himself. So most of what you spend on your trip stays in the country, with the people who make your trip possible.

This is an example, your trip becomes yours

The trip you just read is one of our finest, but it is a starting point, not a fixed package. More walking days or fewer, longer on safari, or a few days resting on Zanzibar at the end, all of it is possible. We build the trip around your pace and what you can manage, and the itinerary gives you a picture of the route and the price. And if you are still not sure whether this is for you, we are glad to think it through with you.

Yes, send me the itinerary