Lake Chala Day Trip

Your guide collects you in Arusha, Moshi or at Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA). Lake Chala lies 55 km from Moshi, 95 km from KIA and 135 km from Arusha, and the drive takes about 3–4 hours depending on where you are picked up. The route follows the surfaced road to the Moshi cement factory, then turns left onto a dirt road that runs all the way to the lake.

Once at the rim, the day is yours to shape. Birdwatchers can look for cormorants, egrets, African fish eagles, doves and pigeons, queleas, francolins, guineafowl, black kites and Verreaux's eagles, as well as small, secretive birds, waders, waterfowl and raptors. Because the lake is thought to be a migration corridor, unexpected species often turn up. You can also trek Chala Hill, an easy climb that anyone can manage, passing plants, animals and insects on the way to wide views. Or you can walk the Chala savannah, where Kilimanjaro rises in the distance and a broad valley runs down to the Kenyan villages beyond. Look out for sickle bush (Dichrostachys cinerea), Sesamothamnus rivae, Delonix elata, fever trees, euphorbias, marula trees and figs, along with baboons, blue and vervet monkeys, rock hyrax, monitors, agamas and dik-dik.

With advance booking, you can paddle a canoe between the rocky crater walls, a truly memorable experience. Anglers may also learn about the Chala tilapia (Oreochromis hunteri), found nowhere else and now badly threatened by overfishing. Please note that swimming is not permitted. The water is clear and free of bilharzia, but the lake is very deep, has no shore and is lined with slippery, jutting rocks, which make it dangerous. Guests who want to stay longer can camp by the lake and wake to birdsong, hyena calls, chattering monkeys and the chirping of insects. Otherwise, after a picnic lunch, you drive back to your starting point.