Duration
Paul Callcutt is the founder of Fitzroy Travel. His background as a guide across Africa and South America underpins the way he designs trips today. He began working in conservation in Zambia, including time monitoring wildlife populations in Kafue National Park, before leading expeditions across Patagonia, Bolivia and the Andes, where he was involved in restoring a remote mountain lodge and training local staff. Paul now splits his time between the UK and the field, personally guiding selected trips and scouting new regions for Fitzroy.
Experience
Fly-camping from Empakai to Lake Natron
When people talk about trekking in Tanzania they jump straight to climbing Kilimanjaro. It steals the oxygen from all the other options but maybe this is a good thing. While the crowds trudge up and down Kili, I prefer overnight walking safaris, fly-camping in the quieter corners of northern Tanzania’s Rift Valley.
My favourite route runs from the crater at Empakai down to Lake Natron. You start at the trailhead and walk along the volcanoes, spending the first night right on the rim of Empakai. Waking at sunrise over the forested caldera, with its enclosed soda lake, gives you a clear sense of the Rift’s structure. You feel the shifts in altitude, vegetation, and temperature as you move. You see where water, ash, and old lava flows have shaped how people and animals move across the land.
As the route drops towards Natron the country opens up. It becomes arid and bright, with those alkaline flats below. We pass through remote nomadic pastoralist communities. They are often intrigued by our presence. For me, that brief connection is one of the great joys of walking here. You get a glimpse of how these environments are used seasonally. Walking with Maasai guides adds another layer, because their knowledge comes from lived experience rather than interpretation.
Most travellers focus on the headline parks, so they never see terrain like this. Tanzania offers huge spaces and long-established traditions of remote trekking, and this is where that really shows.
There are downsides. It is not an easy hike, and it is vital to do it at the right time of year to avoid excessive heat. Good mobility and trekking fitness are essential. Camps are lightweight. By that I mean very simple tents, a bedroll, a table and chairs for dinner, and a long-drop toilet. That is about it. For some people that simplicity is part of the appeal. For others it is not.
A mobile camp suits this landscape. The journey unfolds naturally, with camp positions guided by distance, water, and conditions on the ground. There is no returning to the same place, just steady progression along the Rift.
At a glance
Destinations
Tanzania
Activity
Safari, Adventure, Climbing & Mountaineering, Active, Walking, Camping, Nature & Wildlife, Responsible Travel, Slow TravelPhysical Level
Moderate![Duration]()
Duration
3 days
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Fly-camping from Empakai to Lake Natron
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