Rivertrees

much more than a transit stop near Kilimanjaro Airport

Rivertrees Country Inn is located in the Arusha area of northern Tanzania.

Until recently this property was the private home of Martina Gehrken Trappe, whose immediate family are widely known from “The Sound of Music”. Having fallen in love with Tanzania over a series of visits in 1960s, Martina and her husband Richard Trappe relocated from Europe to settle in this area, purchasing the Blackburn Coffee Estate and making it their home, raising their children here.

Set a short drive west of Kilimanjaro International Airport, the lodge sits back from the main road, in beautiful informal gardens filled with flame trees, bougainvillaea, hibiscus and banana trees, hosting a vast range of birds. On a clear day it is possible to see both Mount Meru and Mount Kilimanjaro from the grounds.

It is centred on the original old farmhouse, with lounge and dining areas leading out to the gardens, with a nice swimming pool.

Rooms

Guest accommodation at Rivertrees Country Inn is in a total of 22 rooms of various specifications …

House Rooms : x3 : There are three standard rooms in the main house.

River Cottages : x2 : Two spacious one bedroom cottages set in forested thickets above a small stream, each with a terrace opening onto the forest and the outdoor rain showers.

Garden Rooms : x11 : The Garden Rooms are individually styled. Some are interconnected for families and friends, while others offer couples the exclusivity and romance of their own private space.

River House : x1 : Until recently the owner’s house, this large building is very secluded, has a nice shared living room and two bedrooms, making it ideal for groups of up to four guests.

The Farm House : x1 : The heart of the original plantation, The Farm House is filled with antiques and family portraits. There are four bedrooms, each with their own entrance, which can be booked individually. Alternatively the whole house can be taken for groups of up to ten guests, in which case it can function independently of the main house, with staff preparing and serving meals here.

Activities

Rivertrees Country Inn access to the following activities, not all of which are necessarily included in the usual room rate …

• Mountain-biking
• Horse-riding
• Village walks
• Golf
• Canoeing
• Tours of Arusha National Park
• Tours of Arusha Town

Arusha is the primary hub for safari in Tanzania and, as such, tends to feature in a very high proportion of trips.

The usual stay duration is just one night, but the area is easily nice enough to warrant longer stays.

Seasonality

The timing of your trip will most likely be defined by the seasonality of the safari areas in your trip, rather than the conditions in Arusha, which follow the same general pattern.

Getting there

Arusha is generally accessed via flights into Kilimanjaro International Airport to the east of the town, from where it is a drive of 30-90 minutes, depending on your choice of lodge.

If you are flying into Dar es Salaam, then you would normally connect up to Arusha Airport, which is on the other (western) side of the town.

It is also possible to fly into Nairobi and catch the bus down to Arusha, but very few of our guests choose this relatively arduous and unsafe route these days.

usually features for at least one night in transit