A lodge built into the western rim of the Ngorongoro Crater, with rooms whose balconies look straight down into the caldera.
Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge is built into the western rim of the Ngorongoro Crater, its stone buildings blending into the slope and linked by arched passages. Every room looks out over the crater, one of the great views in Africa.
The lodge has 75 rooms on two levels along the rim, each with French doors opening onto a small balcony over the crater. Rooms and main areas are heated, a comfort on cold, misty nights at this altitude.
Travellers who want to wake up looking into the crater.
The crater rim is about three to four hours’ drive from Arusha, passing Lake Manyara and Karatu. Manyara airstrip, about one to two hours away, has flights from Arusha and the Serengeti.
The Ngorongoro Crater is a vast volcanic caldera about 600 metres deep, its floor home to lions, elephants, buffalo, zebras and some of Tanzania’s last black rhinos. Lodges on the rim look straight down into it, and game drives descend early in the morning for the best light and the fewest vehicles. Read a day on the Ngorongoro Crater floor.
Nights on the rim, at about 2,300 metres, are cold, so bring warm layers. Crater descents are limited to a set time each day. See the Ngorongoro Crater guide and black rhino in Ngorongoro.
One or two nights on the rim or in Karatu give a full crater day. See our 3-day Tarangire and Ngorongoro safari and 4-day Serengeti and Ngorongoro safari.
Migration 6 daysWitness the birth of the Great Migration: three nights at Ndutu in the southern Serengeti, where around half a million wildebeest calves are born each year between January and March.
Signature 7 daysThe Northern Circuit at an unhurried pace: Tarangire, Lake Manyara, three nights in the Serengeti following the herds and a full day in the Ngorongoro Crater.
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