Rated ★★★★★ by our Primal participants
HADZA TRIBAL TOURS & TANZANIA WILDLIFE SAFARI’S
Full immersion experiences with the Hadza hunter-gatherers & customized wildlife safari’s in Tanzania, East Africa
UPCOMING COURSES & EVENTS: JOIN TODAY!
STEP INTO THE CRADLE OF HUMANITY
Northern Tanzania is home to some of Africa’s most iconic landscapes, including the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater. It hosts the Big Five—elephant, rhino, lion, leopard, and buffalo—and is rich in living cultures such as the Maasai, Hadzabe, Datoga, Sandawe, Chaga, and Iraqw. Swahili is the official language, though English is widely spoken, and the people are known for their warmth and hospitality.
WHAT SETS US APART
We believe the real Africa is experienced through deep immersion in both culture and landscape. We offer affordable, private safaris for groups of up to 10, fully tailored to your goals. Our English-speaking guides bring decades of local experience.
YOUR EXPERIENCE, YOUR WAY
Accommodations: From 5-star lodges to tented camps or primitive camping
Food: Private bush chef, hotel catering, or traditional fire-cooked local fare (dietary needs accommodated)
Wildlife: 4x4 driving safaris or guided walking safaris
Culture: Hunt and forage with the Hadza, dance with the Maasai, or blacksmith with the Datoga
DESTINATIONS
Lake Eyasi, Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Arusha National Park, and Olduvai Gorge.
We recommend 4–10 day safaris to fully experience Northern Tanzania.
Contact Me for a quote and include group size, trip length, pickup and drop-off locations, and the experience you’re seeking.
Contact us for a quote to provide a private wildlife Safari or cultural experience
PRIMAL SKILLS ACADEMY
For thousands of generations, humans were shaped by daily interaction with the natural world. Skills, culture, and meaning emerged from paying attention — to seasons, animals, terrain, and one another. These relationships cultivated humility, awareness, and a deep respect for life.
Primal Skills Academy exists to facilitate encounters with places and traditions that still carry this ancestral rhythm. Not as observation, but as immersion — an opportunity to slow down, listen, and remember what it feels like to belong to the living world.
In reconnecting with these origins, modern life doesn’t disappear — but it comes back into focus, grounded by perspective, gratitude, and a renewed respect for the forces that have always sustained us.
“I’m excited to grow upon the skills that I learned this weekend as I continue to explore and experience nature and the wild.”
—Randi Ross
Florida
Some places in the world still hold the memory of how humans once lived — not as history, but as lived reality. In this world, life is shaped by the land itself, and the relationship between people, nature, and survival remains visible and intact.
To step into these environments is to encounter perspective that modern life rarely offers. Comfort is no longer taken for granted. Effort is respected. Beauty carries weight because it is tied to sustenance, cooperation, and time. Gratitude arises naturally, not as an idea, but as a response.
Meet your guide: Joel van der Loon
Since I was a young boy, I always felt different. I couldn't explain why. It wasn't until much later that I began to understand what I was truly searching for—a life devoted to transformation, purpose, and spiritual growth.
For 14 years, I traveled the world, immersing myself in different cultures and wild places. I lived alongside the Hadza hunter-gatherers of East Africa, learning from one of the world's last remaining ancestral tribes. I trained and competed in combat sports, discovering that being a warrior has far more to do with humility, discipline, and presence than aggression. I spent countless days and nights alone in the wilderness, living from the land and allowing nature to become my greatest teacher. Those experiences eventually led me to spend 40 days alone on the television series Alone.
For more than a decade, my life has been grounded in wilderness, bowhunting, and spiritual practice. Meditation, shamanic drumming, and psychedelic medicines have all served as tools for self-inquiry, healing, and expanding awareness. Nature has remained my greatest teacher, my medicine, and my church.
Although I am a certified spiritual life coach, my deepest education didn't come from certifications. It came through divorce, failure, and confronting the beliefs, fears, and conditioning that had quietly shaped my life for decades. That inner work taught me that true strength isn't found in controlling life—it's found in surrendering to it.
Today, my mission is to help others reconnect with themselves through nature, challenge and honest self-reflection. I don't claim to have all the answers, but I know what it feels like to lose yourself—and I know the path that helped me find my way home.
WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT US
“Joel’s method of instruction is clear and concise. You get the most amount of knowledge in the least amount of words. I highly value that as a United States Marine and an instructor myself.”
—Brian Wood
San Diego, CA
“Joels teaching style is patient, precise, and deeply grounded-He has a rare ability to translate years of real-world experience into lessons that stick.
—Jeff Stratman
Sisters, OR
“What stands out most is Joel’s ability to meet people wherever they’re at. Whether you are brand new or already experienced, he knows how to teach in a way that actually sticks.
—Bijan Taherkhan.
Bend, OR
“Any man seeking a heart centered transformative experience in the natural world, definitely sign up for one of Joel’s gatherings”
—JesseGardner .
Portland, OR