The sudden eruption the previous day of Ol Doinyo Lengai, one of Africa’s few active volcanoes, is dominating every conversation at the popular ex-pat watering hole outside Arusha, safari capital of Tanzania.
“Ash everywhere, man. I couldn’t even see Lake Natron through all the smoke,” says a sun-beaten bush pilot, taking a swig of Kili Lager.
As the African sun pushes its orange glow through the dust and smog of the Arusha skyline, my mind is galloping. The chance to see what the Maasai call the “Mountain of God” in a fit of geological rage is too good to pass up.
“Er … how does one get there?” I eventually pluck up the courage to ask.
“In a Land Cruiser,” laughs a safari guide, gesturing in the direction of my old Defender, which is surrounded by a mob of dusty, mean-looking Toyota bakkies in the car park.
“It’s a pretty remote place, between the Ngorongoro Highlands and the Serengeti, but hauntingly beautiful,” the guide adds.
“I’d give it a few months though; you won’t get near it now … and all you’ll see is smoke and ash.”

Road to adventure

Over the next few months I enthusiastically gather info. Besides learning that not many people venture to this rugged outpost on Tanzania’s northeastern extremity, close to the Kenyan border, I also learn the following:

•    Lengai, in the heart of Tanzania’s Maasailand, rises up from the Rift Valley floor to 2 886 m and forms the backdrop to a shimmering body of hostile, shallow water known as Lake Natron.

•    The extremely high salinity of Natron means that only the most adapted of water life survive there. But it’s the algae found in the lake’s shallow water (its maximum depth is just 3 metres) that makes it the only known breeding area for lesser flamingos in East Africa. Over 2 million flamingos congregate on its salty shores every year between August and October to breed.

•    A rarely-used track leads north from Natron up the Rift Valley escarpment to the Serengeti’s lesser-used Klein’s Gate, offering an opportunity to enter the Serengeti via one of its distant back doors.

•    Migratory corridors for large herds of zebra and wildebeest from Tarangire National Park pass through Maasailand, so you will often find wildlife dotting the open plains below a scattering of Maasai manyattas (enclosed homesteads, or kraals).

•    The region is a window into authentic Maasai culture, since its remoteness kept it it off the mainstream tourist routes.

•    Oh, and Natron was used as a backdrop for the movie The Constant Gardener.
This was all the motivation we needed to get ourselves onto the gravel track to Lengai and Natron through Maasailand.

From the village of Mto wa Mbu (Place of Mosquitoes) on the shores of Lake Manyara, a five-hour journey covering some 130 km will take us to the settlement of Engare Sero on Natron’s southern lakeshore.