Who We Are

Rundugai Cultural Tourism Enterprise is a social enterprise specialised in sustainable tourism and community based tourism, founded in 2014 by the two young entrepreneurs, Ndoss Ndumiaita and Linus Lasway who met at the university of Dodoma, both graduated with a Bachelor Degree of Arts in Tourism and Cultural Heritage. While travelling through the country, the two friends noticed the stunning beauty and countless opportunities that the region around Kikuletwa Hot Spring (Chemka Hot Springs)has to offer. As tourism graduates, they decided to start Rundugai Cultural Tourism Enterprise, a social enterprise business  specialised in cultural and natural tours which contributes to the community. 

The organisation is located only 27.1 km from Kilimanjaro International Airport. For this reason, it is an ideal place to enjoy a cultural tour immediately after landing or before the return flight to end your holiday on the mainland of Tanzania in a memorable way. In addition it is the ideal setting to unwind after an exhausting climb of Mount Kilimanjaro or an adventurous safari in one of the national parks in Arusha. 

When visiting the village of Rundugai, Kikuletwa Hot Springs (Chemka Hot Springs) guests can fully explore the natural and cultural beauties of the area while actively participating in the daily lives of the local people and experiencing the culture in an authentic manner. All our tours include a delicious African lunch and end with a refreshing swim in the Kikuletwa hot spring (Chemka Hot Springs).

Transport can be arranged on request. Moreover our tours can be tailor made to the traveller’s specific wants and desires. 

Why is it a Community based tourism program?

Area of Operation

We conduct our cultural activities around Rundugai Village, Chemka Village, and Kikuletwa village which are the gateway to Kikuletwa Hot Springs (Chemka Hot Springs), and around Moshi.

We do Sustainable tourism

We conduct sustainable tourism around Kikuletwa hot springs (Chemka Hot Springs, Tourism that cares about the environment, respects local culture, ensures local people are benefiting from tours and visitor satisfaction. Tourism that make sure save the present community without compromising the future generation.

Vision

To be the foremost cultural tourism enterprise while sustainably conducting our cultural activities.

Our Purpose

Our goal is to promote cultural tourism in Rundugai and Chemka villages to help in improving local livelihoods, preserving our culture, and environmental conservation.

How

• Creating employment for youth and women through local tour guides, handcraft makers, traditional dancers, and local cooks.
• To support community initiative through village development funds collected from our visitors.
• Through traditional dance groups of Pare & Maasai. 
• To promote and empower handcraft makers to produce quality products.
• Through a local souvenir center for local products.
• Establishing native tree nurseries and provision of free seedling to the community.
• Teaching students to love and care about the environment, we believe that the future of our environment depends on the well-educated community, and through the education system is where we will get policymakers who love the environment.
• Develop cultural tours to create more experience for visitors who visit Kikuletwa hot springs and do extra.

Our Team

Everything is possible with a great team, we at Rundugai & Chemka villages are proud to have a great team that offers our clients the best and quality service from coordinating and organizing tours, guiding, local cuisine to traditional dancing, and the community at large. 

We started with two members but now we are more than 50 people working in different areas along with cultural tourism.

Meet our founders

In 2013 Ndoss and Linus who met at the University of Dodoma in 2009-2012 and graduated with a Bachelor Degree of Arts in Tourism and Cultural Heritage visited Kikuletwa hot springs to explore, on arrival we revealed that there was no much to do rather than swimming, so we discovered that we can open chances for tourist to explore the culture of the locals who live around the hot springs and help to unlock pro-poor tourism, to offer extra activities to tourist, make locals be part of cultural tourism and get benefit directly from  tourist activities taking  place  around hot springs, since that day they started to developed the idea of Cultural tourism and Rundugai Cultural Tourism Enterprise was born in 2014,  although with little money we served from our university spending loan with started to work on the idea, the first day we sat at Bomang’ombe bus terminal  

and we met there many times until we had our first office at Rundugai village near the railway line.

With a lot of challenges to set the Cultural Tourism Enterprise, we keep doing everything we can to make sure we reach our goal to open extra activities around the hot springs, local people engaged in offering services and get benefits, conserving the environment and visitors have extra to do and enjoy.

If you are interested in meeting the founders and know more about their journey, contact us.

Meet our Guides

Meet our Guides

Tour guides are the ones who will make your trip unforgettable, we have experienced local guides with more than five years of working experience, all are from the two Villages Rundugai and Chemka, they speak well English and off-course we are proud of our female guides who are doing great.

Maasai working group

Our Maasai group is off-the-beaten-paths beyond Kikuletwa Hot Springs (Chemka Hot Springs), they live in their real place where they take their daily activities, they are not there for tourism business, but when we have visitors they stay at home and welcoming you, our Maasai group performing dancing,  and responds to visitors questions while assisted by our local tour guide, take you around and inside their traditional house and they are happy to be with visitors.

Local Mama Chefs

Meet our passionate local Mama Chefs.

We have 6 working groups from Rundugai, Chemka-Ngulu Juu, Ngulu Chini, Tindigani, and Kikuletwa sub-villages. Both groups have more than 6 members, they are well trained to offer better service to our clients in a clean environment. 

Weaving Group

We have different weaving groups in both three villages. They are making beautiful arts that you can buy as a memory to take back and support them and make the culture of weaving alive. One can meet them in their homes during the tour or in a souvenir center.

We still need resources to develop a one-stop center where all artists will display their souvenirs and clients can stop and buy and also interact with the local artists.

Our Midwife Local

Mama Susan.

She is working hard to help pregnant women in our village during pre and during labor, she has fertility medicine to help women to get pregnant, labor pain, and men fertility traditional medicine, she started her career as a midwife in  1978 when she inherits midwife knowledge from her father who was assisting women during labor although she didn't go to school to study nursing and midwife's matters, most of the people around the village were born through her hands and no child loss during born. Visiting her gives you a clear picture of how the midwife’s work is important, voluntary, and gifted.

Herbalist

Meet our herbalist

Mama Paulina.

She is a talented herbalist who inherits the medical knowledge from her father and helps the village to get cured with alternative herbal medicine at an affordable cost. Currently, she cures different diseases such as high blood pressure, hernia, regulating the menstrual cycle for women, treating the urinary system for men. All medicines are made from roots, backs, and leaves of native trees. When you meet her you will hear stories about traditional medicines in our community and why people still prefer them.