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Simply the coolest little safari company one can find! WAYO AFRICA

Wayo Africa is known for designing new and exiting ways to explore Tanzania’s’ wilderness.

For example; walking and trekking safaris, mountain biking, canoeing and very remote bush encounters out of our unique Green Camps. Contact us for more information about activites during your safari.

26/10/2026

Wayo Africa has always encouraged our guests to experience Tanzania feet first - our slogan is ‘touch the earth’. It always confuses us how it can be normal for guests to simply go from vehicle to vehicle without doing a little exploring on foot.

Wayo Africa started in 1999 by running activities for the trade and it is a great way to show guests the real Tanzania. It’s also fantastic for families as it can break up long transfers between camps or parks.

08/10/2026

Eye care, eye tests and cool sunnies for all in Tanzania! This week our eco club kids, woman’s projects and camp staff all received much needed eye health checks. A BIG thanks to Eleanor Sheffield ♡ TIPÆY Wild Survivors Batley Eyecare

05/10/2026

Wayo Manyara Green Camp is an experience not to be missed.

Arrive at the southern park gate via mountain bike having traversed through beautiful villages and welcoming communities. Game drive through this stunning park witnessing elephants, zebra, hippos, lions and much more.

Arrive in camp for sundowners by the waterfalls, enjoy dinner under the stars. Finally enjoy your locally handcrafted room with electric retractable roof so you can sleep under the stars.

It’s the stuff that dreams are made of! 🤗
Book at [email protected]

Lake Manyara National Park

30/09/2026

Day 30 - Wayo Africa Wildlife Challenge
The African Elephant - 📸 taken at Wayo Manyara Green Camp by Felix Rome

On our final day of our wildlife challenge, we finish with an animal which is very close to our hearts here at Wayo. Elephants are just part of the furniture at Wayo Manyara Green Camp, a vital cog in the park’s ecosystem and they fill the research papers from Iain Douglas Hamilton from the 1970s. The Serengeti was almost devoid of elephants at the turn of the 20th Century - researchers didn’t even mention them in the 1920’s due to poaching which, when you now see multiple huge herds across the plains, is spellbinding - it never gets old.

Top facts for our guides live from the field:
- Elephants are very social animals, living in a group of related individuals. This group is highly protected/dominated by the oldest female called matriarch. This cow has a deeper knowledge of the area knowing where to find water and food even in dry seasons. Teaching younger females on how to care about their young etc! Young males leave the herd once they reach adolescence around 12-14 years old, going to join the bachelor groups where they learn from older bulls.
- Elephants have amazing biological & social traits. They are the only mammals that cannot jump. Their tusks never stop growing. Elephants have longest pregnancy 22 months. Elephant trunks are so sensitive it can pick up a single blade of grass or tiny nut. The trunks have up to 100 muscles and can hold up to 10 to 20 liters of water.
- Elephant’s skin is up 2.5 cm thick & Elephant wrinkles help them to trap water & mud to act as a natural sunscreen & cooling system.
- Elephants deeply grieve their dead, often standing over the bodies of family members for days, and gently touching their bones, and showing deep signs of depression and distress. Also research shows that Mother elephants have been observed carrying the bodies or even bones of their dead calves for days as the signs of grieving.

A big thank you to all our awesome guides for their support in this challenge. That’s a wrap!

Tanapa Updates (TANAPA) Serengeti National Park Lake Manyara National Park

29/09/2026

Day 29 - Wayo Africa Wildlife Challenge
Galago (Greater Bushbaby) - 📸 taken at Wayo Manyara Green Camp by Jack Swynnerton

If you have ever stayed at Wayo Manyara Green Camp, you will know what these guys sound like as they love hanging out in the trees around camp. Their calls have been referred to as eerie but to me, they sound like something crossed between kookaburra and a child’s cry. Strange combination for a particularly unique character. Once you recognise the sound and know it’s a bushbaby, however, it’s really quite comforting hearing them call through the night while you fall asleep surrounded by the forest.

Top facts for our guides live from the field:
- This is a greater bushbaby (galago) they are nocturnal primates, while busy looking for food they move alone so in order not to overlap to other territories. They normally do what is called urine wash wereby they urinate on their hands and feet so that they can leave scent as to establish territory and to inform intruders that this area is occupied.
- The Galago is the smallest and the only nocturnal primate in Africa. This tiny primate has been nicknamed as the BUSHBABY due to their calls.
- They perform their activities at night, in day time they spend almost all the time sleeping in the trees, they are easily spotted at night especially in the night game drive from camp.

Check back tomorrow for our last day - Day 30!

Tanapa Updates (TANAPA) Serengeti National Park Lake Manyara National Park

28/09/2026

Day 28 - Wayo Africa Wildlife Challenge
Spotted hyena - 📸 taken near to Wayo Serengeti Green Camp by Catherine Millington

So these guys don’t often win the beauty contests but they are one of the most misjudged, fascinating creatures. They enjoy staying cool by lying in the mud which makes them pretty visually unimpressive, but catch a hyena after a severe rain shower when the sun has come out, and their colouring and beautiful fluffy, spotted coat is quite impressive to see. What they lack in looks, however, they make up for in brains being one of the most cognitively advanced creatures in the parks.

Top facts for our guides live from the field:
- These guys make up part of the Serengeti’s very important clean up crew, able to crack through the bones of even fully-grown giraffe but they also hunt. It is a common myth that hyena are only scavengers.
- Hyena have incredibly complex groups with hyena highways which span hundreds of kilometres. There are territories throughout the parks but these highways navigate through these where hyena won’t attack each other on these pre-defined common paths.
- Hyena can chase prey over much longer distances than lions, wearing them down rather than using speed.
- Female hyena are dominant in these clans are often larger and more aggressive than males.
- Hyena cubs fight for dominance from birth and can sometimes kill their siblings in the process through blocking the weaker from feeding causing starvation. The mother will keep the cubs in an underground den initially and then will move them to a communal den for the clan to share the responsibility.

Check back tomorrow for Day 29!

Tanapa Updates (TANAPA) Serengeti National Park Lake Manyara National Park

27/09/2026

Day 27 - Wayo Africa Wildlife Challenge
Cape Buffalo - 📸 taken near to Wayo Manyara Green Camp by Catherine Millington

You might think that lions are the most dangerous thing to run into on a walking safari but it’s these guys which our guides are most keenly trained to watch for. The power that these creatures exude is incredible and they can have a temper if you surprise one on foot.

We have often had small groups of old Dagga boys from time to time, relaxing in the river in front of our Manyara camp. They become quite part of the furniture and aren’t aggressive, but sadly, due to their relaxed approach and vulnerability without a large herd, they invariably they get taken by the lions over time.

Top facts for our guides live from the field:
- Their horns are fused together at the top of the head and are called the ‘boss’.
- Buffalo have large complex herds but older males will be pushed out and will form their own very small groups - termed the Dagga Boys.
- Tanzania has one of the largest populations of Cape Buffalo in the world
- Buffalo need reliable sources of water which is why we have them in Manyara but they will also do their own seasonal migration in the Serengeti as the south dries out, eating the coarser grass allowing the other selective grazers in the Great Migration to move through the system.
- Adult males can get out to 900kgs in weight.

Check back tomorrow for Day 28!

Tanapa Updates (TANAPA) Serengeti National Park Lake Manyara National Park

26/09/2026

Day 26 - Wayo Africa Wildlife Challenge
Leopard Tortoise - 📸 taken near to Wayo Manyara Green Camp by Catherine Millington

Designed for protection, these guys need it in the places they live - living alongside some of the most successful predators on the planet! Found across Africa, these steady animals thrive with some reaching 75-100 years old. What incredible changes these animals must have witnessed over those many years.

Walking safaris are a great way of understanding tortoises. They can be seen in the short grasses of the Serengeti, often overlooked when in a vehicle. Their shells are also fascinating to see - each piece like a jigsaw puzzle, again something to witness when on foot.

Top facts from our guides - live from the field:
- Common dangers for tortoises are actually when they have territorial battles, butting each other like a battering ram or trying to flip their opponent.
- An upturned tortoise can often spell death if they cannot right themselves, between dehydration and pressure on their organs.
- Only approximately 20% of tortoise young actually make it to adulthood, being a popular snack for birds and smaller mammals with more vulnerable shells, until they grow larger and their shells become thicker and harder.

Check back tomorrow for Day 27!

Tanapa Updates (TANAPA) Serengeti National Park Lake Manyara National Park

25/09/2026

Day 25 - Wayo Africa Wildlife Challenge
Wildebeest - 📸 taken near to Wayo Serengeti Green Camp by Catherine Millington and Malicky Boaz

The iconic wildebeest making up the majority of what is known as the Great Migration, thought to be the largest migration on land in the world with over 2 million animals.

We often get asked ‘when does the migration happen?’ The answer is: ALWAYS.

If you travel to the Serengeti and you don’t see the herds (but would like to) then you have booked to go to the wrong place. The migration is in the Serengeti all the time. Some herds move up into the Mara between July - September but there are always some herds which remain in Tanzania. We could run several hours of webinars talking about these fascinating creatures and their influence on the Serengeti ecosystem but alas the instagram word count cuts us short. If you would like more information then please reach out. For now, here are some wise teasers from our team on the ground.

Top facts from our guides - live from the field:
- A wildebeest may look clumsy, but its newborns are anything but... within minutes of birth a calf is on its feet and within hours it can run with the herd a remarkable adaptation to survive. Calves are normally born within a few of weeks of each other to ‘flood the market’ (food chain) in the interest of greater chances of survival, and normally always in the morning so the calves are ready to run by the time night comes.
- Wildebeest are gregarious herbivores occur in herds of a few thousand, and ultimately 1.5 million in the famous Serengeti migration (world’s greatest show on earth).
- The wildebeest annual migration is influenced by the availability of green pastures and rainfall patterns, they undertake an annual journey of around 800 km, Wildebeest are the key stone species in the Serengeti ecosystem.
- At the turn of the century there were 250,000 only due to Rindepest. By the mid 70’s the number increased and stabilized at 1.2mil.

Check back tomorrow for Day 26!

Tanapa Updates (TANAPA) Serengeti National Park Lake Manyara National Park

Address

Arusha

Telephone

+255784203000

Website

http://wayoafrica.com/

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