Accommodation while at Ngorongoro crater

Within the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, with the exception of Simba near the NCAA headquarters, the campsites are all classified as “special campsites”. This means that they are for exclusive use, and generally have no facilities. Usually they are designed for self-sufficient safari operations which bring everything with them. Most are large sites, but a few of them, e.g. on the rim of Empakaai Crater, are designed for small numbers of back- packers. Camping generally is not allowed in the Crater itself. Book campsites through the NCAA headquarters office or in Arusha-Ngorongoro Information Center. There are luxury lodges situated within and outside the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.

Ngorongoro Crater Lodge the Ngorongoro Crater Lodge is located in Northern Tanzania. The Lodge is within the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, high on the south-western rim of Ngorongoro Crater, commanding views of this natural wonder that often moves onlookers to respectful wonder. At an altitude of 2,375 metres (7,800 feet) the evenings can be quite cool, especially during the winter months of June and July with temperatures as low as 10′ C or 50’F. The rest of the time it is generally sunny. The Ngorongoro Crater is often called ‘Africa’s Eden’ and the ‘8th Natural Wonder of the World. As the largest unbroken un-flooded caldera in the world the Ngorongoro Crater is 19km long by 16km wide by 1km deep. This truly magical place is home to Olduvai Gorge, where the remains of a 1.8-million-year old skeleton was discovered. The Ngorongoro Crater and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area are without a doubt some of the most beautiful parts of Tanzania.

The main activities that guests enjoy vary from guided walking safaris which follow dramatic routes around the rim of the crater, to visiting a Maasai cultural village. In the village, guests are free to browse through the local handicrafts or watch Maasai dancing. You can also visit the beautiful lakes Ndutu and Eyasi, and the impressive Empakaai Crater, or enjoy cool sundowners with exceptional views as well as arrange private bush breakfasts and lunches. All these are an optional extra.

The colonial-style interiors combine silver, gold and ruby colours under banana-leaf ceilings and grass roofs. Antiques, desirable cushions, voluptuous raw silk curtains and tall, leather-backed chairs complete the picture. This design blends with African art elements in unexpected harmony. They each have a central living area and viewing surfaces overlooking the awesome Ngorongoro Crater. Ancient African nights are evoked by the large fire bowls that flank the entrance to each of the living and dining areas.

The Crater Lodge can provide some of the best game viewing drives into the crater and Ngorongoro Conservation Area that East Africa can offer. Bush walks around the lodge are also available, as well as excursions to Olduvai Gorge. For those that want to take some “time out” from the rigors of a game drive you are invited to use the Library and indoor board games. Other facilities include a central dining area/lounge, a craft and curio shop and a kart for ferrying luggage/guests to the camps.

The Ngorongoro Crater Lodge is located about 4.5 hours’ drive from Arusha. Most of this drive is on a tarmac road, so smooth and comfortable. Tarangire National Park is about 2.5 hours’ drive from Arusha and is about half way between the two. Also on the way to the Ngorongoro Crater Lodge is Lake Manyara. Both Lake Manyara and Tarangire make good stopping points to break up the journey. Past the Crater is the Serengeti National Park, which is about another 2.5 hours from the crater.

Ngorongoro Wildlife lodge

Ngorongoro Crater is often referred to as the Eighth Wonder of the World. A large caldera 600 meters deep, that hosts the most unique ecosystem on Earth, with 20,000 large grazing mammals and the largest concentration of predators on Earth playing a key role in the maintenance of the ecological balance. Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge is strategically perched on the rim of this ‘Garden of Eden’, affording unbelievable views plunging down over the crater floor, 7,500 feet above sea level. The Lodge is elegantly built mainly from natural stone and local wood, harmoniously merging with its natural surroundings, and it is provided with panoramic windows that encompass superb views of the Crater’s great bowl. From its privileged position, all the Lodge’s 80 rooms afford breathtaking uninterrupted views, and the open–air terrace of the Rhino Lounge Bar offers superb panoramic views of the whole Crater. Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge invites you to an unforgettable safari experience from its privileged location, both for game viewing and scenery. Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge has 80 spacious guestrooms, all of them affording fabulous views over the crater. Exquisitely decorated, offering a serene atmosphere of elegancy, the modern rooms are all ensuite, with central heating systems and mosquito netting over the air vents. The 80 rooms include twin rooms, double rooms (with one double bed), one Presidential suite and three Junior suites. There are also interconnecting rooms, specially designed for families. The Presidential suite has been host to world renowned personalities who have enjoyed the magical experience of wildlife from the top location that Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge enjoys, being the first Lodge built on the Ngorongoro Crater. Wake–up calls can be made on request.

The panoramic restaurant, in its serene decoration made of rock and wood elements, elegantly featuring the safari atmosphere, perfectly combines the international high standards of hospitality and service with exquisite exotic touches of local lifestyle. Our professional chefs, for whom cuisine is an art, make the delights of the most demanding gourmets both in international as well as local recipes. The stunning Rhino Lounge Bar affords from its wide terrace breathtaking views over the volcanic Ngorongoro Crater, the world’s largest unbroken caldera. It is the ideal place to enjoy the vast and clear African sky with a delicious cocktail, indulging your sense

Comfort and security at its best to make your safari experience unforgettable… The stunning Rhino Lounge Bar affords from its wide terrace and panoramic windows breathtaking views over the volcanic Ngorongoro Crater, the world’s largest unbroken caldera; giant binoculars are strategically placed along the balcony edge, through which it is possible to view game way down on the floor of the crater.

Guests can acquire in the exclusive Boutique memories to take home with them (clothing, films, carvings, etc.) and ideal gifts for their beloved people…In the TV lounge with DSTV, one can stay informed on events in the rest of the world; also, in the TV lounge videos are displayed with informative explanations of the amazing natural spectacle that our privileged guests are directly living.

In the well–stocked library there is complete information about the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, its natural landscape, archaeological sites and tribal groups. The landing airstrip for domestic airlines in only 20 minutes from the Lodge, making trips to these lands of huge dimensions easy and comfortable. A professional nurse is available in the Lodge for medical assistance. The endless services of the Lodge include full housekeeping services, such as laundry and babysitting (on request), as well as communication facilities like telephone and radio. There is a currency exchange service, and major credit cards are accepted.

Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge

Commonly selected one of the best hotels in the world, this exclusive lodge in Tanzania sticks to the rim of the wonderful Ngorongoro Crater, the largest and most faultless volcanic crater on Earth. Long and low, the lodge is made from local river stone and masked with native vines. Designed to balance entirely into the landscape, it is completely unseen from the floor of the Crater 600 metres below. Cuddling the curves of the jagged Crater rim, this luxury safari lodge takes its stimulation from the so-called ‘Cradle of Mankind’, the primitive site of Olduvai Gorge, which lies close by. Connected by high stone passages and timbered decks, its walls are ornamented with stylized ancient cave paintings and lit by widening torches. At the stone heart of the lodge prickles a glowing fire, which is kept constantly alight. Decorated with cave paintings, the rooms are strung around the Crater rim. Each has its own pillar- enclosed balcony, and all enjoy fully continuous views of the volcanic amphitheatre far below. The location, the service and the luxury accommodation make Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge the decisive destination for a distinctive safari experience in Tanzania.

Looped around the Crater rim, each with its own rock-enclosed balcony, our luxury Ngorongoro accommodation features nerve lamps, printed leather headboards, wildwood mirrors, Maasai carvings and stylized ancient cave paintings. Each room enjoys continuous views over the Crater’s unmatched splendor. Standard room facilities include direct dial telephone and Wi-Laundry, valet and shoeshine services, mineral water and toiletries, bathrobe and slippers.

The Kimba Suite enjoys a faultless view of the crater and is one of the most desirable accommodation choices in Tanzania. The expansive bedroom is luxuriously appointed with a king-sized double bed with walk-in mosquito net, splendid furnishings. The split-level rock-built dining and bar area features a wall of windows, which look down on to the continuously changing views of the crater below while double doors lead out on to a broad viewing terrace. Gathered around a glowing central fireplace, the space is decorated with ancient cave paintings and lit by stylized torches offering a one-of-a-kind dining experience in Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Crater.

Breakfast and lunch are obtainable in buffet-style and feature a wide range of universal cuisines. In typical safari style, the lodge offers a ‘full English Breakfast’ as well as European options while our lunch menus will usually include meat, poultry, fish and vegetarian options.

The table d’hôte dinner menus feature a salad buffet, soup, entrée, pudding, cheese and biscuits and tea or coffee. Vegetarian options are always offered. The majority of our meat and dairy products, as well as our fruits and vegetables are sourced from the communities that surround the conservation area.

The wine list offers a broad choice of old- and new-world wines, and local and imported beers and spirits. The lodge also offers a wide range of soft drinks including an array of freshly-made local fruit juices.

The lodge is expert in arranging breakfasts, lunches, dinners and cocktails in the bush. We have a number of dedicated sites, which are typically presented with tables, safari chairs, ‘bush bar’ and a ‘bush kitchen’, where a broad range of meats, poultry, fish and vegetables are cooked on-site (supplemented by fresh soups, salads and puddings from our hotel kitchens). In the evenings, ‘sun-downer’ cocktails are traditionally served around a campfire and can be followed by a lamp-lit ‘bush dinner’.

Ngorongoro sopa lodge is facing the always wonderful sunsets to the west, and located at the highest point on Ngorongoro crater’s entire rim, Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge outlooks well over half a kilometre above the crater floor and offers matchless views across this massive caldera. The lodge is themed around traditionally circular African houses with conical roofs, and decorated with examples of Africa’s rich textile of artistic traditions by way of rich woodcarvings and sculptures, the lodge harmonizes perfectly with its dramatic surroundings. But the drama does not just stop with the great outdoors: it also flows through the split level interiors of the main building which all offer an unsurpassed generosity of space while somehow managing to combine an almost magically welcoming ambience of both warmth and cosiness.

The imposing reception, combined with the supreme welcome service, are just but an indication of the lodge’s faultless settings and lunar service that await our guests. The furniture and attractive columns bearing decorated characters, which spread the reception, derived comprehensively from Tanzania’s rich wildlife and tribal cultures while the preserved plants are a recap of the lodge’s lush natural surroundings. All this is set against a contextual of plentiful light and lavish tones of browns, reds and orange that create a logic of easy warmth and relaxation.

The outstanding and imaginative Lobby & Lounge will welcome you in true Tanzanian hospitality and keep you fascinated with its collection of unique busts, and original furnishings and décor pieces. Indeed, the lounge is a true masterwork of African heritage and a serene place to unwind after a game drive, over a cup of the highest quality coffee or tea sourced from the Tanzanian moorlands.

Brightly decorated flowers of many classes of shrubs border the paved trails which lead away from both sides of the swimming pool to our guest rooms which are built to the same design.

When you step through your door, you will possibly hold your breath while you gaze over the two queen size beds, and through the window walling of the lower level, enclosed conservatory at the view of the crater beyond. And the luxury doesn’t stop there. Because of its height, the lodge can be chilly at night so each room has central heating, hot water bottles are placed in every bed during our evening turndown service and the luxuriously chosen bathrooms have tremendously spacious showers under which you can evoke about the marvels of this overwhelming, almost mystically place called Ngorongoro. All rooms are equipped with facilities to ensure supreme comfort during your stay at the lodge. Among these are wake up calls and complimentary coffee and tea, all of which will aid to kick start an early morning game drive.

The Lemala Hill restaurant offers a delicate culinary experience with a mixture of continental and local cuisine to cater for all palates. The restaurant is attentively fitted with ceiling to floor glass walls that offer guests panoramic views of the crater as they enjoy an expansive buffet breakfast selection, lunch or dinner and guests should kindly note that Lunch and dinner are served A la Carte on select days of the week.

The Crater View Bar is engrossed in the décor, which is heavily subjective by rich earthy browns, African artifacts and illustrations of Maasai warriors that have been skillfully carved onto the towering pillars. The bar’s gallant yet hospitable charm delivers a mixture of the lodge’s persistent afro theme and its natural surroundings. Whether you’re tending towards refined solo malt whiskeys, aged red wine or you just crave the award-winning local beers, the Crater View Bar’s unendingly stylish fireplace offers the ideal place to warm up during chilly evenings.

Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge offers an excellent wedding and honeymoon destination. Guests eyeing to celebrate weddings and honeymoons at our lodge are inferior for choice with exceptional locations where they can memorialize their special day. Depending on the guests’ liking, events can be staged at the passionate vantage point at the edge of the crater rim with a backdrop of the pool, in the wild bush, or in the intimate indoors. The proficiency in hosting some of the most owing weddings and honeymoons has furnished them with an incomparable expertise in turning your vision for your big day into an outstanding reality. For those in search of adventure, a traditional African wedding ceremony and music can be arranged at your request.

Ngorongoro Rhino lodge, Rhino is the first lodge after entering the Ngorongoro Conservation Area through the Loduare Gate when coming from the East. From the lodge it is only 20 minutes to reach the Seneto descent road into the Crater, and the Lerai ascent road is less than 5 minutes’ drive away.

The lodge is located at an altitude of 2,200 metres, a few hundred metres back from the rim of the Crater. What it loses in terms of viewpoint over the Crater, it more than makes up for with its views of intact high montane forest with Mount Oldeani (3,200 metres) dominating the background, and Mount Makarot in the distance (3130 metres). Stretching across 8,300 square km of dense forest, vast grasslands, and a gathering of stunning craters and lakes, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area is home to the renowned Ngorongoro Crater.

The crater floor is a natural reserve for thousands of wildlife species, and is one of the world’s last outstanding areas where the endangered black rhino lingers to breed and thrive certainly in the wild. The conservation area is also kind to its human populations, its carefully managed multiple land use philosophy ensures the peaceful co-existence of the Maasai and the natural environment, with about 42,000 Maasai peoples still living inside the conservation area.

The lodge has 24 guest rooms, all with verandah superintending a section of high montane forest. Each room has its own shower, toilet and hand basin. To keep away the cold, each room has a wood-burning stove, and hot water bottles can be filled if you want one. In the bar/dining-room there are two large fires which are a natural focus where our guests like to meet and exchange stories of the day. Hot, tasty food is available from the buffet. And after dinner our Maasai staff may entertain you with some traditional dancing.