Serengeti Walks

Walking is one of the greatest ways to discover the African Bush. To get really connected rather than just riding around in a tin box like the rest of the tourist herd.  Since the founding of the Serengeti National Park in the early fifties vast areas have been set aside as Wilderness Zones, they make up a whopping 35% of the park and until last year zero access was permitted.  African Environments was the first of only a handful of companies permitted to take clients into these unique and fragile areas.  We were selected as a result of our long experience offering low impact multi day walks in environmentally fragile parts of the adjacent Ngorongoro Conservation Area.

The Solitude…
It’s a fact that you won’t get as close to, or see as much game on a walking safari as you will from a car. There are a couple of reasons for this ; firstly, in a car you simply cover more ground so have more chance of coming across game and secondly in most of the vehicle game viewing areas of the parks the animals are habituated to the sight of these strange animals hanging out of the top of their cars with cameras and binoculars!  In total contrast the areas we will take you to on our Serengeti Walking Safaris  are pristine – in fact the animals may never have seen a human before ..... so erring on the side of caution they tend to run away!  A walking safari is more about all the other wonderful things in the African bush than it is about seeing the big animals. Of course that doesn’t mean you won’t see any animals – during the past season we have seen elephants, lions, giraffe, leopard and many more on walks, but it’s also about all the amazing small stuff; stopping to watch a dung beetle laboriously rolling its ball of dung up hill, stumbling on the bone strewn entrance to a porcupines lair or smelling a buffalo without actually seeing it. But for many people who we take to these remote places it is about the incredible solitude – of being out there and knowing for sure that there is no one else within at least 20 miles in any direction ...there are just not that many places on earth that you can get away from it all like that and it has a profound effect on people! It’s a really hard feeling to communicate but in feedback from clients they often recall turning off the track and striking out cross country, of walking and driving though the area for days and not seeing another soul – and of how unique and privileged that makes them feel … but also how humble.

The Plan…
Because you don’t get as close to the wildlife on foot we recommend that a walking safari be part of a longer safari that involves some traditional vehicle based game viewing. This means the safari can take in some of the big name locations in Tanzania like Ngorongoro Crater.  We have found that once clients have got that fantastic picture of a lion, elephant, leopard etc safely in their camera that only then can they relax and start to really enjoy being in the African bush – up to that point they are a little uptight that they have flown all that way and spent all that money and how it will look if they go home at the end of the trip and don’t have those great pictures to show their friends! So we have found it works best to have the walking section of the safari at the end of the trip – the grande finale!

Add a little Culture to the mix....
African Environments have been organising walking safaris for nearly 20 years, long before the recent opening of walking in the Serengeti National Park. During those years we did a phenomenal amount of exploring and working closely with local guides we built up an amazing repertoire of special places. We learnt which spots are at their best during each of the seasons. One of the key advantages of these other areas is that being outside the National Parks they all have the added dimension of an indigenous population. We have worked closely with these peoples over the years and have built up strong bonds of mutual respect.  We still offer walks in these beautiful places, the group travels with our leader and a Massai or Hadza guide from that area. He will know the route like the back of his hand having grown up there and can take you to all those secret spots that make the area unique. We try to add in a few days hiking from our Ngorongoro semi permanent camp as part of the walking safari itinerary. Many walkers tend to get a bit frustrated being trapped in the car for too long so the prospect of a walk in the cool highlands makes a wonderful break from the vehicles and it’s a tremendous contrast to the Serengeti.
Of course some people find these ancient cultures even more fascinating than the game and for them the opportunity to spend quality time with two or three distinct and unique ethnic groups is their idea of a perfect trip. With our long relationship to these peoples we are able to take these clients to places rarely seen by the herds of regular tourists – where traditional values and ways of life are still very much alive.

Walking safaris are the perfect family adventure – with a private group the itinerary and pace can be structured around the needs and abilities of the families. Young children and adolescents are often bored during a long vehicle based safari and relish the opportunity to get out and walk around. Contact with other cultures can be a real eye opener as well.

The all important Guides…
The clients spend more time interacting with the guide on safari than they do with their partner in normal life!, so the guide needs to be multi faceted – he needs to be able to carry a rifle and guide his charges safely though the wild African bush on the one hand and to be great company around the campfire in the evening on the other. He needs to be a leader not only for the clients but also for the camp crew, cooks and drivers that makeup the support team. He needs to be a mediator when tensions arise – and they often do when you throw 8 strangers with different dreams and aspirations together for a couple of weeks – he needs to be a fountain of knowledge about the flora, fauna and history of the area, he needs to be able to pass on the vibrancy of the culture, and he needs to do all this without being overbearing, dictatorial or patronizing.  All our guides are Tanzanians who have grown up in the African bush so have an innate knowledge and awareness of it – but they are also very special individuals who have risen to the top of their profession by going the extra mile, by being real characters who love nothing more than imparting their knowledge and enthusiasm.

Not something for everyone .....
Walking safaris are amazing – they let you get up close and personal with Africa.  But sometimes up close and personal can mean hot and dusty with a tick crawling up your leg! – this IS the real Africa!. So full on multi day walking safaris in the wilds are not for everyone, for some an hour’s walk from our Semi Permanent Ngorongoro Camp with a Masai guide will give them all the thrills they need ... but there are others who like more of a challenge and who are prepared to pay the price (the heat, the dust, the ticks) in order to be rewarded with the essence of Africa.