Canoe day tour on Lake Duluti.

mel0849

Hello.
So... I'm working (doing my homework) on my # 2 trip for 2018. K&T! here I come....
I'm arriving a day earlier, so I thought maybe it would be great to do the Canoe tour around the lake.
Has anyone done this tour? any insight? do you get to see animals? how long does it take? Will the hotel set it up, or do I have to book it on my own.
Please advise. Thanks

KathrynH

There may be animals around the resort in Arusha, but we did not see them. Of course, everything is walled for privacy (and protection). I recommend that you ask the hotel staff about booking a canoe. It is a big property and you would need to arrange transportation down to water level.

AlanS

mel0849 wrote:

Hello.
So... I'm working (doing my homework) on my # 2 trip for 2018. K&T! here I come....
I'm arriving a day earlier, so I thought maybe it would be great to do the Canoe tour around the lake.
Has anyone done this tour? any insight? do you get to see animals? how long does it take? Will the hotel set it up, or do I have to book it on my own.
Please advise. Thanks

We didn't take the canoe ride nor lake walk, but I doubt you will see any large animals (no big 5, no cats, no impala, etc.). I never heard of anyone seeing large animals there. Most likely you will just see birds and an occasional black-faced vervet or Colobus monkey which you will hear and may also see in the trees at the Lake Duluti lodge if you are lucky or possibly smaller bush animals.

Yes, the hotel arranges those activities. There is a (locked?) gate and you must have guide to enter to do the lake walk. You can arrange a day trip to Arusha National Park through the hotel as well- some have made arrangements upon arrival while others (like me) did it via email several months earlier. No deposit required. The hotel may be able to email you a small brochure of their activities. I posted a photo of it in a thread here a few years ago. Here is a link to their activity page. It appears the activities are contracted with a company called Wayo.

mel0849

Hi, AlanS.


Yes, I know I will not see any of the big animals, but I thought it would be something different to do beside the massage
and walking around the hotel.. I'll keep looking . Yes Wayo is the comp. that does all the tours. I also sent an email to the hotel.

Thanks both AlanS & KathrynH .

British

Here is an excerpt from my diary three years ago, we were there in July. It describes our walk around Lake Duluth.
Our walk around the lake took two plus hours. Our guide Solomon, took us through the grounds of the hotel to the park entrance where we paid $35 dollars each and were provided with a walking pole. There was a narrow dirt trail around the lake, lots of tree roots and stones to negotiate and help up more steep areas from the guide's hand. The walking poles were definitely required. The vegetation of all descriptions was pretty thick, but there were great views of the lake from most points. The lake forms the bottom of an old volcanic crater, it is fresh water and 2300 feet at it's deepest. There are tilapia and catfish but no crocodiles or hippos because of the lack of any shallow areas for them to wallow in. We are at around 4500 feet here, but just a little breathless. So here goes the list of sightings, monitor lizards, fire ant trails, giant millipede, blue monkeys, vervet monkeys, cormorants,

---

other birds I did not record
I am in Africa right now. We arrived in Johannesburg just a couple of hours ago, just relaxing before a nap. We actually flew business class this time, got some sleep on the plane but feel just as jet lagged as flying by coach, but the food was better!

Rmm6

We didn’t think the walk around the lake was worth it. We wished we’d gone to the cultural center in Arusha or to the safari park instead.

British

Rmm6 wrote:

We didn’t think the walk around the lake was worth it. We wished we’d gone to the cultural center in Arusha or to the safari park instead.

Yes, several people have mentioned that. It is certainly not the number one thing I would recommend that visitors do, But if you arrive several days early you can do more things, so we also took the Arusha National park tour including the walking Safari plus we had already been to the cultural center on another tour and been around the town. As I have mentioned before, seeing animals is not necessarily our number one priority, we enjoy vegetation, so seeing the trees with all the large thick thorns on them and being able to talk at length to our guide at a leisurely pace was really enjoyable, so if you feel the same as us, then I recommend it.

mel0849

thanks everyone. )
Have a great weekend.