Cultural Tribes Visits
Tanzania is home to more than 120 ethnic groups. Most have blended into a shared Swahili culture over the last generation, but a few — the Maasai, the Hadzabe, the Datoga — remain close to how they've always lived, and a visit to one is often the most lasting part of a safari.
The Maasai are the best known — red-robed cattle herders living near Ngorongoro, where over 40,000 of them live close by several premier parks. Cattle wealth and community elders still govern Maasai life, and their belief system is monotheistic, centred on the deity Engai.
The Hadzabe are hunter-gatherers who've lived in northern Tanzania for over 50,000 years — only a few hundred remain, hunting with bow and arrow and gathering wild fruit, with no fixed social rules beyond what the moment calls for.
The Datoga, once cattle herders like the Maasai and now largely subsistence farmers, live in ten subtribes near Lake Eyasi, Lake Basotu and Singida — known for red-ochre dress and distinctive body tattooing and face painting.
Add this to my safariWhy add this
- Join traditional dance and song
- Learn fire-making or beadwork, and speak with villagers in their homes
- Buy handmade leather and beadwork directly from the makers
- Watch a hunting demonstration with the Hadzabe
Tell us when you can leave, and we will do the rest.
A first conversation takes about twenty minutes and costs nothing. You will speak with the person who designs the route, not a call centre.