Ngorongoro Crater Lodge

a bizarre architectural fever dream

AndBeyond Ngorongoro Crater Lodge is located in the Ngorongoro Crater area of northern Tanzania.

This property is owned by AndBeyond, one of the premium safari operators in Africa.

Set on the southern side of the famous crater, the lodge is divided into three separate areas, North Camp, South Camp and Tree Camp, which function independently.

Each camp is centred on a main building containing lavish public areas. The styling of the exteriors is perhaps more West African, whilst the interiors have elements of European palaces, but under banana thatch roofs.

The camp grounds are often dotted with buffaloes and zebras in particular, so care needs to be taken when moving around.

Rooms

Guest accommodation at AndBeyond Ngorongoro Crater Lodge is in a total of thirty rooms, twelve in each of North Camp and South Camp, six in the more intimate Tree Camp, which is in a more dramatic location further down the slope.

These extraordinary rooms continue the same design theme and include massive beds with furry covers and heated mattresses, whilst the bathrooms have showers with massive heads and bathtubs with ball-and-claw feet.

Activities

AndBeyond Ngorongoro Crater Lodge provides the following guided activities, most of which are usually included in the price …

• Vehicle safari
• Walking safari
• Bush meals
• Mountain hiking
• Cultural interaction with local Maasai people

The Ngorongoro Crater tends to feature in almost all first time visits to the Serengeti region, but is often skipped in return visits due to the high traffic.

The usual stay duration is one night, occasionally two if guests want to explore the highlands more widely on foot.

Often we visit the crater when travelling by road between the Ngorongoro Karatu and Serengeti Southcentral areas, in which case trips may not include a night in this area at all.

Seasonality

The main factors which affect seasonality in Ngorongoro Crater are weather and visitor traffic. Wildlife movements are far less important than usual since most of the animals are resident in the crater year round.

The best months to visit from a weather perspective are generally considered to be Jun-Oct, although the early part of that season can be very cold at night.

Personally we find vehicle traffic to be the biggest single issue, so we prefer to visit during the quietest times of year, Mar-Apr and Nov-Dec. But even during the most busy periods it’s still possible to inject a fair amount of quality into a crater visit, we have our secret ways!

The bottom line is that you’re most likely to only be spending a half day inside the crater, so it’s arguably much more important to optimise your stay in Serengeti and live with whatever the crater throws at you.

Getting there

The vast majority of visitors to the Ngorongoro Crater arrive by guided overland safari, so they travel to their lodge and around the reserve in their private vehicle.

Around 20% of visitors to the Ngorongoro Crater arrive by light aircraft, almost always arriving into Manyara Airstrip, from where it is a 2-3 hour drive and staying at one of the high end properties on the Crater Rim. In this case they travel around the reserve with a vehicle and guide from their lodge.

major traffic issues demand very careful planning