Mount Oldoinyo Lengai
Still active, still erupting, still sacred to the Maasai. Ol Doinyo Lengai is the only active volcano in Tanzania and one of the most unusual mountains in Africa.
Rising from the floor of the Rift Valley at 2,962 metres, Ol Doinyo Lengai erupts a unique carbonatite lava that appears almost white against the black volcanic rock. Where most volcanoes produce silicate lava at temperatures above 1,000°C, Lengai’s lava erupts at under 600°C — cool enough to approach, extraordinary enough to remember. The climb is steep and demanding, and best attempted at night to avoid the equatorial heat. What you find at the top is unlike anything else on this continent.
Mount Oldoinyo Lengai: The Mountain of God
Your guide knows this mountain and the terrain around it. The drive from Arusha takes you through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, past Maasai communities living on the same land they have occupied for generations.
The climb itself is steep and best done in the dark, starting late at night to reach the summit at dawn. The crater views on the way up are wide and raw. At the top, the active lava field is unlike anything you’ll find on Kilimanjaro or Meru. It is a genuinely strange and memorable place to stand.