The Tanzania Survival Expedition

Live with the Hadza, one of the last true hunter-gatherer peoples on Earth, before closing the adventure in five-star safari luxury.

Seventy thousand years ago, our ancestors first walked out of Africa. Most scattered across the globe, adapting to new climates and building new civilisations. A few never left, and never stopped living the way all of us once did. The Hadza are still here. And for ten days, so will you be.

This is a genuine hands-on expedition into the remote Tanzanian savannah. Six days living alongside the Hadzabe: learning to start fire by friction, hunting with handmade bows, foraging wild plants, harvesting honey from ancient baobab trees, building traditional shelters and carving tools by hand. All of it shared around the campfire, in good company, over extraordinary food prepared by our camp chefs. Every element of this trip directly supports the community you are visiting.

When your time with the Hadza draws to a close, we shift gears entirely. First into the Ngorongoro Crater, the largest intact volcanic caldera on Earth creating an extraordinary amphitheater with one of the greatest concentrations of wildlife anywhere on the planet. Then into Tarangire National Park, where vast herds of elephants move through open savannah and the landscape feels like the Africa you always imagined. Luxury lodges, outstanding food and game drives that match the scale of the wilderness around you.

The Hadza, or Hadzabe, are one of the last true hunter-gatherer peoples on Earth and arguably the most important window into what humans actually are.

Living in the remote savannahs near Lake Eyasi, Tanzania, their way of life has remained virtually unchanged for over 10,000 years. They hunt with handmade bows, forage wild roots and berries, speak a unique click-based language found nowhere else on Earth, and share an almost mythical bond with the Greater Honeyguide bird. This wild animal actively leads them to hidden honey deep in the bush, one of the only known examples of true mutualistic communication between humans and a wild species.

But what makes the Hadza truly extraordinary goes beyond what they do. It is what they reveal about who we are.

Evolutionary anthropologists have long studied the Hadza as a living model of the social structure humans evolved within. They are radically egalitarian. No chiefs, no hierarchy, no land ownership, no accumulation. Food is shared without question. Every decision is collective. This is not a philosophy they have chosen. It is simply how humans lived for the vast majority of our existence.

Their daily life reflects this too. They walk up to ten miles before breakfast, eat only what they catch or forage, and sleep when the sun sets and wake when it rises. The result is a model of human health that stops researchers in their tracks: no obesity, no type 2 diabetes, no cardiovascular disease, and some of the most diverse gut microbiomes ever recorded. They are a living answer to what we look like when we eat and move the way we evolved to.

Perhaps most surprisingly, despite their reputation as hunters, they are among the warmest, most generous and most genuinely kind people you will ever encounter. Cruelty, hoarding and status-seeking are the aberrations of civilisation. The Hadza remind you that kindness may be the oldest human instinct of all.

To spend time with the Hadza is not just to witness another culture. It is to hold a mirror up to your own and understand our species completely differently.

Not For Everyone

The Hadzabe are some of the kindest and purest people we have ever encountered, but when it comes to hunting, they take almost everything they find, including small songbirds. Hyenas and snakes are the exception. For some guests this can be confronting, and that’s worth knowing before you come.

Fitness

None of the activities are obligatory, including the morning hunts. That said, the hunts are among the most extraordinary experiences on the trip and we encourage everyone to give them a go. On some mornings you may cover six miles or more across steep and uneven terrain. A reasonable level of fitness will help you get the most from this experience.

Insects

In five days with the Hadzabe, not a single member of our group received a mosquito bite or was troubled by biting insects of any kind. We cannot advise you to skip antimalarials; always consult a medical professional. But we wanted to share our honest experience on the ground.

Weather

Temperatures are extremely agreeable. Expect cool nights and daytime highs of around 25°C, ideal conditions for being outdoors all day.

Possessions

Don’t bring anything – knives, weapons, valuables – that you do not wish to give to the Hadzabe. Possession is a loose concept here.