TANZANIA: Ol Doinyo Lengai The Mountain Of God

Ol Doinyo Lengai, Mountain of God in the Maasai language, is an active volcano located in the Gregory Rift, south of Lake Natron within the Arusha Region of Tanzania.

Part of the volcanic system of the East African Rift, it uniquely produces natrocarbonatite lava.

The 1960 eruption of Ol Doinyo Lengai led to geological investigations that finally confirmed the view that carbonatite rock is derived from magma.

There is only one volcano in the world which is erupting carbonatite lava: Ol Doinyo Lengai in Tanzania.

This is not just another dry fact for nerdy scientists: this volcano is very unusual place without analogues in the world.

The volcano is some 370 thousand years old and is the youngest volcano in this part of the East African Rift.

Ol Doinyo Lengai is unique among active volcanoes in that it produces natrocarbonatite lava, a unique occurrence of volcanic carbonatite. A few older extinct carbonatite volcanoes are located nearby, including Homa Mountain.

Whereas most lavas are rich in silicate minerals, the lava of Ol Doinyo Lengai is a carbonatite. It is rich in the rare sodium and potassium carbonates, nyerereite and gregoryite.

Due to this unusual composition, the lava erupts at relatively low temperatures of approximately 510 °C (950 °F).

This temperature is so low that the molten lava appears black in sunlight, rather than having the red glow common to most lavas. It is also much more fluid than silicate lavas, often less viscous than water.

The sodium and potassium carbonate minerals of the lavas erupted at Ol Doinyo Lengai are unstable at the Earth's surface and susceptible to rapid weathering, quickly turning from black to grey in colour.

The resulting volcanic landscape is different from any other in the world.

The carbonatite ash spread over the surrounding grasslands leads to a uniquely succulent, enriched pasture.

This makes the area a vital stage on the annual wildebeest beast migration, where it becomes the nursery for the birth of several thousand calves.

Of course, local people noticed this giant volcano which is rising tall above the dry plains south from Lake Natron.

In East African Rift are located many magnificent volcanoes, not too far are the magnificent Mount Meru and Ngorongoro Crater.

But this volcano was very special to Maasai people - it was a sacred place named Mountain of God or Ol Doinoy Lengai.

This part of Africa was one of the last places reached by white people, first European visitors to Ol Doinyo Lengai were German explorers in the late 19th century.

This volcano is very active, every few years here takes place an eruption.

One of these eruptions in 1960 attracted the attention of Canadian geologist John Barry Dawson who was mapping this part of Tanzania.

He and Ray Pickering descended in the crater of volcano, this was the first known descent in the crater in October 1960 and immediately noticed that this volcano is very unusual.

Soon after, in 1962 there was published his research and the first and only active carbonatite volcano on Earth was discovered.

Since then Ol Doinyo Lengai has been a playground for geologists exploring this unique natural wonder. Dawson himself continued the research until his decease in 2013.

Today volcano is rather popular tourist attraction. Fittest visitors are ascending the mountain under the heat of the equatorial Sun and try to get closer to live volcanic activity.

This is dangerous - this weird volcano is even less predictable than others and threats are looming in seemingly calm places.

Nearly all volcanoes on Earth are spewing lavas which consist of silicate minerals. Only some have been erupting lava which per more than 50% consists of carbonate minerals - carbonatite lavas.

There are known some 20 locations of former carbonatite volcanoes but Ol Doinyo Lengai is the only one which is active now.

Mountain of God is erupting not just carbonatite lava, it is producing very specific, rare kind of it: natrocarbonatite lava.

It consists of carbonate minerals - the very rare nyerereite (Na2Ca(CO3)2) and gregoryite (Na2,K2,Ca)CO3.

This material needs considerably lower temperature for melting - this lava is flowing already at 500 - 600 °C temperature and in the daylight this lava is not even glowing - it is just a flow of pitch black stream.

In the night lava glows in orange color. Usual lavas have a temperature os some 1100 °C.

Carbonatite lava is also quite fluid in comparison to common silicate lavas, it is the most fluid lava in the world flowing almost like a water often faster than a person can run.

Flow of this lava looks like dark oil or brown, muddy foam.

As the lava hardens, it is pitch black, with glistering crystals in it. But it is not for long: these carbonatite lavas are quickly weathering. In a few hours time the stone turns white due to the moisture.

If the weather is dry, lava turns white in a few days time. If the rain is raining lava becomes white immediately.

This is caused by a chemical reaction similar to a reaction of burnt lime. Due to this both nyerereite and gregoryite are very rare minerals which even in geological collections should be kept in argon atmosphere.

Over the time the white lava turns into brown powder. After few months lava is soft, one sinks in it when walking.

The landscape of Ol Doinyo Lengai is unique, without analogues in the world.

Ol Doinyo Lengai is the only active volcano in Tanzania. It is very active and is erupting lava and ash every few years.

Sometimes, when the content of silicates in lava increases, eruptions of volcano become explosive, sometimes starting with impressive lava fountains such eruption took place in 2007 - 2008.

Before these eruptions there happened many earthquakes, even lions left the area and it was also decided to evacuate also people and their cattle in safe distance from the volcano.

During the eruptions in the crater often form hornitos, smaller hills and even towers, which emit the carbonatite lava. Lava sometimes forms short-lived lava lakes.

Since 1983 the lava has gradually filled the crater and now it is filled with carbonatites and it seems that this is endangering the stability of crater rims.

As the carbonatite lava spread over the surrounding plains, it has changed the soil. These grasslands are rich with succulents and serve as pasture for numerous wildebeest calves.

The record of eruptions on the mountain dates to 1883. Flows were recorded between 1904 and 1910 and between 1913 and 1915.

1917 - A major eruption in June 1917 deposited volcanic ash up to 48 kilometres (30 mi) away.

1926 - An eruption took place for several months in 1926.

1940 - An eruption between July and December 1940 deposited ash as far as Loliondo, 100 kilometres (62 mi) away.

1950s - Several minor eruptions of lava were observed in 1954, 1955, and 1958.

1960s - Minor eruptions of lava were observed in the early 1960s.

A major eruption occurred on 14 August 1966. Geologists J. B. Dawson and G. C. Clark visited the crater a week later and reported seeing a thick column of black ash that rose for approximately three thousand feet above the volcano and drifted away northwards towards Lake Natron.

When they climbed the cone-shaped vent, they reported seeing a continuous discharge of gas and whitish-grey ash and dust from the centre of the pit.

2007 - Volcanic activity in the mountain caused daily earth tremors in Kenya and Tanzania from 12 July 2007 until 18 July 2007 at 8.30pm in Nairobi. The strongest tremor measured 6.0 on the Richter scale.

Geologists suspected that the sudden increase of tremors was indicative of the movement of magma through the Ol Doinyo Lengai.

The volcano erupted on 4 September 2007, sending a plume of ash and steam at least 18 kilometres (11 mi) downwind and covering the north and west flanks in fresh lava flows.

2008 - The 2007 eruption continued intermittently into 2008. At the end of February it was reported to be gathering strength, with a major outburst taking place on 5 March.

Periods of inactivity were followed by eruptions on 8 and 17 April. Eruptive activity continued until late August 2008.

A visit to the summit in September 2008 discovered that lava emission had resumed from two vents in the floor of the new crater. Visits to the crater in March/April 2009 showed that this activity appeared to have ceased.

2010 - In October 2010, two separate lava flows and a small lava lake were photographed in an overflight.

2013 - The volcano resumed natrocarbonatite lava flow which started to fill the large crater from the 2007-2008 eruption.

As of July 2013, there was a large active hornito on the western edge of the crater floor. During June, residents near the volcano reported several earthquakes.

The new crater is inaccessible and climbers have only occasionally glimpsed into it.


Tourism Observer

KENYA: Ogiek Hunters And Gatherers Win Historic Case Against The Kenyan Government

Following today’s 26/05/2017 ruling by the African Court on Human and Peoples Rights that the Kenyan government violated the rights of the Indigenous Ogiek people when it evicted them from their land, Muthoni Wanyeki, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes, said:

Today’s ruling is a historic victory for the Ogiek community, and gives hope to all Indigenous peoples everywhere.

The Kenyan government must now implement the ruling and let the Ogiek live freely on their ancestral land.

In this one ruling, the court has both affirmed the Ogiek’s right to live freely on their ancestral land, and proved to the continent that regional justice mechanisms work.

But a ruling is not enough, it must be respected. The Kenyan government must now implement the ruling and let the Ogiek live freely on their ancestral land.

The Ogiek, who live mostly in Kenya’s Mau and Mt Elgon forests, are a hunter-gatherer community. They have fought for a long time in the national courts, and now at the African Court, to live on their land of their ancestors, but the government has routinely subjected them to arbitrarily evictions citing the need to conserve the environment, claims the court rejected.

The case was initially lodged by Ogiek Peoples’ Development Programme, Minority Rights Group and the Centre for Minority Rights Development (CEMIRIDE) at the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, before being referred by the Commission to the Court in 2012.

Kenya's Ogiek, an indigenous minority of hunters and gatherers, have won a historic case against the Kenyan government, close to a decade after they began their legal battle.

The African Court on Human and People's Rights, a continental court established in 2006 by African countries, on May 26 delivered its verdict in Arusha, Tanzania - ruling in favour of the Ogiek and recognising their right to Kenya's Mau Forest, as their ancestral home, and their role in protecting it.

The court ruled that the Kenyan government had violated seven articles of the African Charter on Human and People's Rights, of which Kenya is a signatory, and is intended to protect basic freedoms and human rights.

The verdict recognises the Ogiek's indigenous status and their right to reparations from the Kenyan government for the suffering they have endured through forcible evictions. It recognises the Ogiek's "strong attachment to the forest", their legal right to live on the forest land, their freedom to practice their traditions and deemed evictions to be disproportionate to conservation aims. The Kenyan government in court said it accepted the judgment.

The room has never been so full, it was packed to the brink, said Lucy Claridge, legal director of Minority Rights Group International (MRG), a campaign group working closely with the Ogiek, who has been working on the case since April 2010.

Speaking from Arusha, Claridge said around 75 Ogiek attended the court hearing, dressed in their traditional clothes. Following the victorious judgment, the Ogiek broke out in celebratory singing and dancing.

It is an unprecedented legal victory for an indigenous people in Africa. The ruling marks the first judgment from the highest institutional human rights body in Africa to favour the cause of indigenous peoples.

This sends a message to governments of the standards around indigenous people's rights in Africa, says Claridge. It's a very clear message for governments that they need to respect indigenous people's rights.

The victory could set a precedent for similar cases across the continent.

I know that the case also gives hope to other indigenous peoples, said Daniel Kobei, executive director of Ogiek Peoples' Development Program (OPDP), an NGO which advocates for the community's rights, in an MRG press release.

The Ogiek have dwelled in Mau Forest for generations. This small community of about 35,000, which lives in and around the forest complex spanning about 4,000 hectares and five counties in the country's west, claim to have suffered injustices, harassment, and evictions at the hands of successive governments and more powerful groups with an interest in the forest's resources.

We saw different people take our land, Lebidas Lesingo, a 78-year-old Ogiek elder, said in February.

The Ogiek, sometimes referred to as "Kenya's castaways", have always maintained they have a right to this land. Our fight has never changed, Lesingo said.

Mau Forest is the source of the Ogiek's traditional livelihoods and is synonymous with their cultural and religious identity. They hunt game such as hyrax and bushbucks and collect nuts and berries and harvest honey, which they use for healing and nutritional purposes. They use the forest's indigenous plants as medicine, such as the bark of the Kopukeriet tree.

Mau Forest is also the site of Kenya's biggest water catchment and the source of seven rivers. It is also the largest closed-canopy forest in Kenya, thus seen by some as a lucrative source of timber.

Since the early 20th century, the tribe's way of life has come under threat. The first forcible evictions date back to 1911 after a deal between the Maasai community, one of Kenya's tribes, and colonialists culminated in the former losing land to the white settlers.

It was lost on the colonial authorities that the land signed over by the Maasai was Ogiek land, writes Joseph Sang, an Ogiek activist, in a 2001 report for the advocacy organisation Forest Peoples Programme.

That was a problem we inherited from our elders, Sang says.

Governments since independence in 1963 have expelled Ogiek from the forest, citing conservation reasons such as re-planting. But the Ogiek say the forest is being destroyed.

The forest has turned into a plantation forest, where fast-growing trees are planted for commercial work, says Kobei, adding that indigenous plants are disappearing.

There is illegal logging, illegal settlements and encroaching, says Sang, the activist, who is a paralegal at Namati International, an international NGO working at the grassroots level to help people understand, employ and shape the laws affecting them.

The Ogiek allege that they are being forcibly evicted by land grabbers and illegal loggers, while corrupt authorities stand by. Their homes have been ransacked and burned to the ground.

Sang says evictions have displaced and dispersed their people, who respect and revere the forest. The term Ogiek literally means "carer of all plants and wild animals".

The forest is what we call home, Sang says when asked why it is so important to the Ogiek.

When you talk to them, what really comes across is that they want their land back because it's part of their livelihood, it defines them, says Lucy Claridge, legal director at MRG.

It might be difficult to understand, but the forest is part of them, it is where they feel home, it's where they feel Ogiek.

In 2008, the Kenyan government began a campaign to evict inhabitants of the forest.

The following year, in a David against Goliath scenario, the Ogiek filed a case against the Kenyan government. They claimed that in October 2009, the Kenya Forest Service (KFS), an agency of the Kenyan government, gave the Ogiek and other people living in Mau Forest a 30-day eviction notice on the grounds that they lived in a reserved water catchment zone.

They reject that this decision was a conservation attempt and alleged a number of violations of the African Charter.

The Ogiek demanded the halting of evictions, and that their ancestral land in the Mau Forest be legally recognised as theirs. They are also asked for compensation for loss of property and natural resources, and freedom to practice their culture and religion, among other things.

The OPDP and MRG, with Claridge as the lead lawyer, brought this case to the court. It is the first time the African Court on Human and People's Rights has heard a case from an indigenous group.

In 2013, the court ruled that the Kenyan government ban all land transactions in Mau Forest, and suspend evictions until it reaches a final verdict.

Despite the ruling four years ago, the Ogiek claim they continued to suffer abuses. In June last year, police and KFS rangers forcibly evicted Ogiek families in Mount Elgon and burned down their homes.

In March last year, Stephen Munyereri, an Ogiek elder in his 60s, was salvaging belongings from the burnt-out remains of his son's property when he was shot and killed.

Just days earlier, land grabbers had burned down his son's house.

Munyereri's death came at a time when the Ogiek had been involved in land disputes with members of a neighbouring tribe in the Ngongongeri area of western Kenya. More than 100 Ogiek families had been evicted from their homes, and 15 houses were destroyed.

While Munyereri was at the property, a man claiming to be the landowner confronted him. According to neighbours, an argument over land ownership escalated and the man shot the Ogiek elder, who was unarmed. The culprit was arrested but released on bond that same day.

Kobei, of OPDP, says Munyereri's family is still waiting for a trial, which has already been postponed several times.

How would you feel seeing somebody who has killed your father moving around? Kobei asks.

MRG have demanded a proper investigation.

Before we used to experience eviction, but nobody had been killed, Kobei says.

The Ogiek have in the past turned to the courts to address their grievances such as land grabs, without much success.

Some cases dated back to 1997 and were determined in 2014, Kobei says. This length of time is indeed an insult to human rights especially in a community where mass violation has been experienced.

In a fast-changing world, the Ogieks have had to adapt to modern life, and consequently have already lost many of their traditions, such as those related to medicines or coming of age ceremonies connected to the forest.

If they are not allowed to have their land back then, as a people, they are threatened with extinction, Claridge said in an interview before today's verdict.

Sang, who is in his 40s, has worked towards securing the Ogiek's indigenous and land rights for decades.

He said that his activism has taken him around the world with different organisations to conferences on indigenous rights and he has been inspired by groups such as New Zealand's Maoris.

Once, while at a conference in the Philippines as coordinator of the Ogiek Welfare Council, an NGO working towards Ogiek rights until it closed in 2005, he saw farmers mapping their land.

I thought, how can we reclaim our land using this method, he said.

Using aerial photographs and elder knowledge, he says the Ogiek mapped their land in eastern Mau by 2010.

Now we had evidence of the land we were claiming, said Francis Lesingo, an Ogiek elder from eastern Mau.

Although mapping one area wasn't enough to support a comprehensive land claim, Lesingo believes the exercise was important for his community.

When the elders came together and mapped their land across all the clans, they finally realised they were one, he said.

Namati International is currently supporting OPDP in finding ways to expand the mapping exercise to cover all Ogiek land.

The Ogiek have tried to safeguard their culture by passing traditional knowledge on to younger generations. The OPDP also organises a cultural festival every year in Nakuru, but the months change, depending on how successful they are at fundraising.

Nevertheless, experts say these efforts are not enough for the Ogiek's cultural survival.

It's dying out. It has already died out, said Claridge of Ogiek language and traditions.

The Ogiek were initially expecting a verdict from the African Court in March, but the hearing was delayed, according to Claridge, because the judges needed more time to deliberate on a case with such wide-reaching ramifications.

This case is of fundamental importance for indigenous peoples in Africa, and particularly in the context of the continent-wide conflicts we are seeing between communities, sparked by pressures over land and resources, said Claridge in a press release on May 22.

Speaking ahead of the May 26 ruling, John Samorai, programme officer at the OPDP said: Many of us will be able to see our fate determined. Then he had added, with pride: Whatever the verdict, we will have fought our battle.

With general elections taking place in August, Claridge said today: The Kenyan government needs to honour the court decision immediately. It cannot continue to give out land to carry political favour, it needs to respect Ogiek land rights, it needs to respect the distinct culture and identity and it needs to do so now.

Kobei said this evening that he is optimistic that the current or incoming government will honour the court verdict.

This is a historic moment for the Ogiek, we have seen success for the first time, he said. We expect the government of Kenya to respect the decision and give Ogiek recognition.

Mau Forest is a forest complex in the Rift Valley of Kenya. It is the largest indigenous montane forest in East Africa. The Mau Forest complex has an area of 273,300 hectares (675,000 acres).

The forest area has some of the highest rainfall rates in Kenya.Mau Forest is the largest water catchment area in Kenya.

Numerous rivers originate from the forest, including Southern Ewaso Ng'iro, Sondu River, Mara River and Njoro River. These rivers feed Lake Victoria, Lake Nakuru and Lake Natron.Western slopes of the Mau Escarpment are covered by Mau Forest.

Typical tree species in Mau Forest include Pouteria adolfi-friedericii, Strombosia scheffleri and Polyscias kikuyuensis. Olea capensis, Prunus africana, Albizia gummifera and Podocarpus latifolius are also found there.

Endemic bird species in the area include Hartlaub's turaco (Tauraco hartlaubi), Hunter's cisticola (Cisticola hunteri) and Jackson's francolin

The forest has been traditionally inhabited by Ogiek people, whose hunter-gatherer lifestyle is sustainable. However, due to immigration from other ethnic groups, large parts of the forest area have been cleared for settlement. Human activities, especially logging, have led to deforestation of more than a quarter of the area since 1973.

In 2008, the inauguration of the Sondu-Miriu hydro power plant was postponed due to low water levels, that are said to be resulting from the destruction of Mau Forest.

In summer 2008 there has was a political row over resettlement of people, who had been allocated land there during the KANU era during the 1980s and 1990s. Some of the settlers are famed politicians, like Franklin Bett and Zakayo Cheruiyot.

In 2004 Paul Ndung’u released "Ndungu Report", which listed these land allocations, terming them illegal and recommended revocation of them. Some evictions were implemented between 2004 and 2006, without a resettlement scheme.

On July 15, 2008, Prime minister Raila Odinga issued an order that these evictions to be implemented by October 2008 in order to protect the forest from destruction. The order has been opposed by number of Rift Valley area politicians, led by Isaac Ruto.

Some politicians, led by Vice President William Ruto, proposed that if evictions are implemented, the government should allocate them land elsewhere.

The evictions began in November 2009. Some prominent people are set to lose their land, including family members of former president Daniel arap Moi. Also under threat is the Kiptagich Tea Factory owned by former president Moi.

TANZANIA: Ol Doinyo Lengai "Mountain of God"

Ol Doinyo Lengai, "Mountain of God" in the Maasai language,is an active volcano located in the Gregory Rift, south of Lake Natron within the Arusha Region of Tanzania. Part of the volcanic system of the East African Rift, it uniquely produces natrocarbonatite lava.

Ol Doinyo Lengai is unique among active volcanoes in that it produces natrocarbonatite lava, a unique occurrence of volcanic carbonatite. A few older extinct carbonatite volcanoes are located nearby, including Homa Mountain.

The carbonatite ash spread over the surrounding grasslands leads to a uniquely succulent, enriched pasture. This makes the area a vital stage on the annual wildebeest beast migration, where it becomes the nursery for the birth of several thousand calves.

1883-1915

The record of eruptions on the mountain dates to 1883. Flows were recorded between 1904 and 1910 and between 1913 and 1915.

Mount Oldoinyo Lengai in Tanzania

1917 A major eruption in June 1917 deposited volcanic ash up to 48 kilometres (30 mi) away.

1926 An eruption took place for several months in 1926.

1940 An eruption between July and December 1940 deposited ash as far as Loliondo, 100 kilometres (62 mi) away.

1950s Several minor eruptions of lava were observed in 1954, 1955, and 1958.

1960s
Minor eruptions of lava were observed in the early 1960s.

A major eruption occurred on 14 August 1966. Geologists J. B. Dawson and G. C. Clark visited the crater a week later and reported seeing "a thick column of black ash" that rose for approximately three thousand feet above the volcano and drifted away northwards towards Lake Natron. When they climbed the cone-shaped vent, they reported seeing a continuous discharge of gas and whitish-grey ash and dust from the centre of the pit.

2007
Volcanic activity in the mountain caused daily earth tremors in Kenya and Tanzania from 12 July 2007 until 18 July 2007 at 8.30pm in Nairobi. The strongest tremor measured 6.0 on the Richter scale. Geologists suspected that the sudden increase of tremors was indicative of the movement of magma through the Ol Doinyo Lengai. The volcano erupted on 4 September 2007, sending a plume of ash and steam at least 18 kilometres (11 mi) downwind and covering the north and west flanks in fresh lava flows.

2008
The 2007 eruption continued intermittently into 2008. At the end of February it was reported to be gathering strength, with a major outburst taking place on 5 March. Periods of inactivity were followed by eruptions on 8 and 17 April. Eruptive activity continued until late August 2008. A visit to the summit in September 2008 discovered that lava emission had resumed from two vents in the floor of the new crater. Visits to the crater in March/April 2009 showed that this activity appeared to have ceased.

2010
In October 2010, two separate lava flows and a small lava lake were photographed in an overflight.

2013
The volcano resumed natrocarbonatite lava flow which started to fill the large crater from the 2007-2008 eruption. As of July 2013, there is a large active hornito on the western edge of the crater floor. During June, residents near the volcano reported several earthquakes. The new crater is inaccessible and climbers have only occasionally glimpsed into it.

TANZANIA: Landscape Tourism To Grow

Landscape tourism has the potential to diversify Tanzania's travel industry which is currently centred to mainly wildlife, beaches and mount climbing, visitors have said.

A group of 54 tourists from Europe who are exploring the country's landscape say that visitors who look beyond wildlife, mountain climbing and beach products often overlook Tanzania.

"A big number of tourists in Europe scout for landscape tourism to discover the beauty of the world. Tanzania stands a better chance to tap on them as it has picturesque landscapes" says Mr Le Gouil Jean Yves, a tourist from France.

A local tour firm, Congema safaris is marketing Tanzania's landscape tourism, a move that attracted them to discover the country's unexplored sceneries.

"I came to discover the beauty of Tanzania, meet people, enjoy sun and come closer to the nature more people in Europe seek for this kind of products," chipped in his colleague Ms Corinne Siron.

After two years of painstaking experiments, sheer hard working and considerable private funding, the landscape tourism product is now ready for Tanzania's bound tourists with less interest on mainstream game drive, says Congema CEO Mr Constantine Ngelengi Malembela.

He says that the current tourists group is the second after the one he successfully managed to handle last year.

The new tourism item will add to other Congema safaris' key to do list such as mountain climbing and bush safaris in the country and across the East Africa region.

"Stunning landscape is a great new frontier in tourism, promising a better future to the tourists who look beyond wildlife, mountain and beach," Mr malembela says as he flagged off the 54 tourists to test the new product. The 125 km trip would take the tourists through King'ori village under the splendid Mount Meru in Arusha to legendary Momella Lake straddles in the border of picturesque Arusha national park.

After Momella Lake they would go through Mukuru savannah land, where on the east side the visitors would be able to see iconic Mount Kilimanjaro - the most famous mountain in Africa and the world's tallest freestanding peak.

Mr Malembela says that the heroic safari will also take the tourists through Longido wildlife management area, Lake Natron and Olpopong'i cultural village.

"Much of this route is a green and lush with vegetation and memorable landscapes," he explains.