Perched on the Crater rim, Ngorongoro Crater Lodge offers luxurious accommodation and magnificent views. At the eastern edge of the Serengeti, and nearly three million years old, Ngorongoro is one of the most perfectly formed and certainly the most spectacular calderas on the planet.
Ngorongoro Crater Lodge is made up of three separate camps –North Camp, South Camp and Tree Camp, which operate independently of each other. Each camp has an elegant sitting and dining room, an outdoor dining area and viewing decks. The living rooms have woven banana bark ceilings and are adorned with hand beaded chandeliers, carved and gilded wall plaques, brocade sofas, Persian carpets, candles and bowls of red roses. Travel magazine, Discover Africa, described Ngorongoro Crater Lodge as “Versailles meets Maasai in the game lodge at the edge of the world”.
North Camp and South Camps each contain 12 Maasai-inspired suites, set out in crescents, while Tree Camp has six. Set in classic crescents, each stone and thatch suite has spectacular views of the crater from large glass windows in the bathroom, lounge and bedroom, yet is almost invisible from the crater floor. Each suite sits up on wooden stilts. The suites are sumptuously furnished, with panelled walls and floors made of Tanzanian hardwoods, raw silk curtains, fireplaces, a butler’s lobby and an en-suite bathroom fitted to a very high standard, with chandelier-lit bathtub. Each suite is discreetly tended by a personal butler, who will bring you tea in bed, stoke your fireplace and draw your bath, scattering the water with rose petals.
At the entrance to Ngorongoro Crater Lodge there is a well-stocked African crafts gallery.