1 Day Trip To Lake Challa

Lake Chala is a crater lake in a caldera at the border between Tanzania and Kenya, located at 52 km from Moshi town. Lake Chala is said to be the deepest inland water body in Africa with a depth of about 3 km. Well, there are a lot of fairy tales and rumors about the lake. It was measured at a depth of 95 meters, which makes it deeper than famous Lake Victoria. Filled and drained by underground streams from Mt. Kilimanjaro, the lake ranges in color from deep blue to turquoise and green. Take a walk down the 100m deep crater rim to the lake shore and cool your feet at the water’s edge among the rocks as you watch the water ripple peacefully through the lake in shimmering delight.

A walking tour here is always recommended. It is really a magical experience to walk along the huge variety of amazing trees, grasses and plants; some are unique to the area. If you are in the right time of the year, you can find hundreds of species of butterflies and birds including spectacular birds of prey. A few to name are the African Fish Eagle, with its hunting techniques, Verreaux’s Eagle, Augur Buzzards and many other species. With mammals varying from monkeys to baboons, from dik-dik to kudu, Chala is an untouched part of a truly ancient land where you can feel the real taste of Africa.

After breakfast at 06.30am depart from Keys Hotel with packed lunch and head towards Himo town. It’s approximately 30 kms from Moshi town to the small town of Himo. The route is tarmac road with a lot of traffic. After a few minutes catching our breath and refilling our water containers and eating some energy bars, we will drive towards Taveta border (Kenyan and Tanzanian Boarder) which is 10 kms from Himo Town. The route is tarmac with much reduced traffic. At few meters before the border we will turn left towards the route that leads to Lake Chala. It is 14 kms to the lake from here. The route is rough with gravel and rocks, and is dusty all the way to the lake. At approximately 6 to 7 kms to the lake, the vegetation changes to evergreen forest that is host to many mammals like baboons, dikdik, antelopes and different species of birds. It’s 4 hrs from Moshi town to Lake Chala. On reaching the lake we will have a picnic lunch, and then we will rest for some time before descending down to the Lake. At the lake you can enjoy canoeing. Kayaking or just relish the beauty African nature on the way after spending some time at Lake Chala, start riding back to Keys Hotel.