Home Treks & Hikes 1-Night Ol Doinyo Lengai Volcano Trek

Ol Doinyo Lengai Mountain

“Oldoinyo Lengai” means “The Mountain of God” in the Maasai language. The summit of this strato-volcano is 2962 metres above sea level, and affords direct views into the caldera of Tanzania’s only officially-certified active volcano, and the world’s only carbonatite volcano; records of eruptions have been maintained since 1883, the largest of which deposited ash 100 kilometres away in Loliondo on the Kenyan border to the north west.

The usual climb of Lengai starts at about 2am (after a midnight wakeup, breakfast, then a 1 hour drive to the trailhead). It takes most people from 4 to 6 hours to reach the crater rim (near the summit), so they get there at dawn or just after. Then the descent takes most people from 3 to 4 hours. You do not need special climbing skills, but you do need to be fit and very determined to do it. The terrain is steep and exposed, and it’s a rigorous 1,700m+ alpine adventure route. Once you reach the edge of the crater rim on the active north crater, you walk along that rim and up to the true summit, which sits on a ridge which separates the active north crater from the south crater.

The 30 minute climb to the summit affords you panoramic views toward Ngorongoro, Empakai and the Highlands to Lake Natron, and even you can see Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru. We offer an option to climb during daylight hours, and set a simple camp is set in the south crater, which allows you to break up the ascent and descent, relax in the afternoon and take in the incredible sights. Once darkness falls, it’s possible to peer into the active Crater to get a chance to see the faint dark red glow of the lava in the north crater.

The nearby are the Maasai BOMAS that gives you a chance to interact with the indigenous learn their cultures, taboos and traditional.