Gem Safari in Tanzania

June, 2023
Entrance to a Tourmaline Mine at Landanai Tanzania

Day 1

Landanai – We headed to the Naberera mining area to see Tourmaline.   The road to the ruby mine was unfortunately too inaccessible due to the weather.

Tsavorite Rough

Day 2

At Lemshuku we were able to see Tsavorite rough from the small scale miners and visit some of these mines in the area.

The entrance to the walled Tanzanite Mining area at Mirerani Tanzania

Day 3

At Mirerani, we visited medium and larger Tanzanite and Tsavorite mines within the high security mining area and visited some of the traders who operate within the walled area.

Inspecting ruby rough at the Arusha Gem Market Tanzania

Day 4

In Arusha, we visited the vibey gem market where a variety of rough and cut gemstones are available for sale. Many traders operate from this area as well as the Masai.

Tsavorite, Tourmaline and Tanzanite

Duration: 4 days, 3 nights
Location:  Tanzania
Areas: Landanai, Lemshuku, Mererani and Arusha
Tour Operator: WildGemtz

Reminiscing one evening with our dear friend, Rob Smith about his adventurous travels across Africa, we felt the all to familiar urge to plan another gem hunting trip and this time we set our sights on Tanzania and the mining activities around the vibrant city of Arusha.

Our customized private trip was organised by WildGemtz Expeditions, a young and upcoming Tanzanian tour company with a family history of mining.

Day 1 - Landanai

After a quick pose infront of the WildGemtz vehicle to celebrate the start of our expedition, we set off from Arusha with a daunting 4 hour drive to Landanai. This is a Tourmaline and Ruby mining area located in Naberera. The wide red gravel road turned into a never-ending goat track as we bumped along with the recognisable anticipation as we spotted the little mounds of earth indicating small mining activity. We stopped at a mining village where some Tsavorite and Chrome Tourmaline in small quantities was offered. It was then time to visit the tourmaline mining area, where we took a walk around the fairly deserted area, and were able to enter some of the excavations. It was quite interesting to see how rocks are used to prop up the sides of the diggings for support. We then moved on to a bigger mine being actively worked before reluctantly heading back to the vehicle to face the dreaded return trip, softened only by the picturesque Mount Meru coming ever closer as the hours ticked by and the promise of a cold Kilamanjaro Beer.
The team at the start of our gem hunting trip to Tanzania
Inside a Tsavorite Mine Tanzania
Difficult and bumpy roads on gem tour in Tanzania

Day 2 - Lemshuku

One of the highlights of our trip was the visit to Lemshuku, a Tsavorite mining area. By then, we were quite comfortable chatting gems with Marcus and Junior, owners of WildGemtz who were guiding us on the trip, exchanging knowledge as we went along. Our first stop was to their own Tsavorite mine in Komolo where the more adventurous of the two of us (guess?), clambered down into the mine where they were working a new seam.

Low grade Tsavorite rough in Tanzania
Len looks at some rough with the refractometer in Tanzania
Tsavorite rough in Tanzania

And then we had the opportunity to stop at a small mining settlement to see what was on offer. With much excitement from the community at the forthcoming feast (or rather fleece) of seldom seen tourists, a table in the shebeen was cleared, Len brought out his scale and equipment and the miners started filing in with their parcels for sale. The bush telegraph works well there too! All was going well. I was keeping occupied by feeding biscuit crumbs to the chicken that wandered in from time to time, and Len was happily checking stones with his torch, when suddenly a stone slipped out of Len’s hand and vanished. The mood soured quickly as we frantically searched in the dust, with the ominous growing feeling that the scrawny chicken had snatched it as it landed.

OMG, now we had to buy the chicken! As thoughts of how to dispatch the chicken and recover the stone were flashing through my mind, the stone tumbled from Len’s jacket, and the sun broke out amongst chuckles from everyone about the lucky escape for the chicken. After that, we were all friends, the “zungu prices” that were being demanded, suddenly became more reasonable, the woman of the village took me aside to weave friendship ankle bracelets, and Len resumed his negotiations.

After business was concluded, we celebrated with roasted goat and beer. What a lovely community who live with very little, and who were so open and welcoming to us once we worked through the initial reservations.

Len inspecting rough at Lemshuku Tanzania
The Chicken who nearly lost his head at Lemshuku
Mandy gets a friendship anklet from the Lemshuku ladies

Day 3 - Mererani

Day 3 was our big visit to at Mirerani Mining area at Manyara. WildGemtz is one of the few tour operators allowed into this high security tanzanite mining area. Arriving at the entrance, we were advised of the security protocols, Does and Donts, and we felt quite intimidated entering the vast walled area where the various mines are situated. The wall costing US$2.2 million was built in 2017 and extends 24km enclosed perimeter around the Mererani Mining area at Manyana, complete with surveillance cameras and guard turrets. For our visit inside the walled area, we were assigned a soldier who accompanied us in the vehicle and took his job of overseeing our activities very seriously! We drove past the famous Tanzanite One, and the vast overburden area where the ground was been scoured by the community for tanzanite cobbings.

The entrance to the walled Tanzanite Mining area at Mirerani Tanzania
Cobbings outside Tanzanite One mine in Tanzania
Medium sized Tanzanite mine at Mirerani Tanzania

At the Naisinyai dealer buying area, we had the opportunity to sit alongside a Masai dealer to view and purchase tanzanite cut stones and rough (at top end Zungu prices). We then headed out to a Tsavorite mine where we chatted with the owner, viewed his operation and looked at some of the tanzanite and tsavorite cut stones he had to offer. After lunch, our last visit for the day was a fairly large operation, with impressively clean and well maintained equipment before heading back to security for our body and vehicle search, the thought of which, was actually more stressful than the actual event.

Large Tanzanite Mine at Mirerani Tanzania
Looking at Tanzanite rough
Inspecting Tanzanite at the Arusha Gem Market in Tanzania

Day 4 - Arusha Gem Market

The Gem Market in Arusha is a vibrant, exciting experience if you love rocks, gems and anything to do with stones. It has the usual touts, scammers and opportunists found in every gem market in the world along with an innovative selection of sprite glass, oiled gravel and stones that looked like they had travelled the world . After looking through the tables, we visited some of the dealers in the area, and were offered a variety and volume of stones of varying quality. We spent many hours wading through an unending supply of stones, most of which were badly cut, and required re-cutting. The “Arusha-cut” was purposefully used to maximize weight and bypass the prohibition of exporting Tanzanite rough larger than 2 grams, however we had been advised that this ban was imminently to be abolished.

Wandering through the market, we were able to purchase some nice Iolite rough and a couple of pieces of Tsavorite. We saw sapphire, miniscule rubies, some unusual Peridot with a yellow tinge, orange Kyanite by the sackful, Spinel which is also mined in Tanzania (that visit reserved for a future trip), and we had some laughs at one of the stalls selling Epidote as “Happy Dot” and Aventurine labelled “Green Adventure”.

Arusha Gem Market in Tanzania
Epidote at the Arusha Gem Market
Green Aventurine at the Arusha Gem Market Tanzania

And that sums up our gem trip perfectly – where we experienced small and medium sized mining activities, enjoyed lots of laughing and gem chattering with local rock hounds in search of a Green Adventure in Tanzania.

Highlights

1. The People

Friendly once you establish the common love of gemstones

2. Small Scale Miners

Such backbreaking work and yet so proud to show you their diggings

3. The thrill of finding a good stone

Always the electric energy of finding that perfect gem!

Enjoying Kilamanjaro beer on the gem tour to Tanzania

We would like to thank Marcus from WildGemtz Expeditions for putting together our tailored gemstone trip to the area, and for all the good times, fun, laughter and sharing of gemstone and mining knowledge with us.   If you are interested in finding out more about the gemstone industry in Tanzania and would like an authentic trip genuining supporting the community, we highly recommend them. You can click on their logo to link to their website.

Len and Mandy Freeman

Gemology Africa

Wildgemtz Expeditions Logo

How did we rate this trip?

  • Authentic experience 95% 95%
  • Knowledge and preparedness of tour operator 88% 88%
  • Friendliness and approachability of community 85% 85%
  • Rough Roads 80% 80%

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