10 of the Best Ngorongoro Crater Lodges & Camps

By Philip Briggs

A popular stop on Tanzania’s Northern safari circuit, Ngorongoro Crater is the world’s largest intact volcanic caldera and the centerpiece of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA). In addition to being a spectacular scenic phenomenon, the crater supports astonishing quantities of wildlife, including all the Big Five (lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant and rhino).

Accommodation at Ngorongoro is plentiful and it mostly falls into one of two broad geographic categories. Pride of place goes to a select handful of lodges and camps set right on the forested crater rim, but an increasingly varied choice can also be found around the town of Karatu, just outside the NCA’s eastern boundary.

Lodges on the crater rim offer the best views and are most convenient for morning game drives, but their counterparts around Karatu tend to be more affordable. Here are 10 of the best Ngorongoro safari lodges and camps, in approximate order of closeness to the crater floor.

Sanctuary Ngorongoro Crater Camp

Ideal for those who don’t want to retreat behind brick and mortar at the end of a day on safari, this luxurious Ngorongoro camp has an enchanted setting in an umbrella-thorn forest on the eastern crater rim. It’s a chilly location, true, but this is countered by a roaring campfire and the provision of gas heaters and electric blankets in the spacious tents. The location, a couple of kilometers inside the easterly Lemala Gate, is perfect for early morning game drives.

Sanctuary Ngorongoro Tours

Lemala Ngorongoro

Like Sanctuary Ngorongoro, Lemala is an exclusive Ngorongoro camp set in a fairy-tale forest inside Lemala Gate. The nine tents here are truly massive (each one contains two queen-size beds) and they’re also fitted with gas heaters and 24-hour solar power. You’ll love the dining tent, which evokes safaris of old with its beautiful wood and leather furnishings.

Lemala Ngorongoro Tours

Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge

Serena Hotels operates six different properties on Tanzania’s Northern circuit, and all deliver when it comes to location, quality and relative affordability. The Ngorongoro Serena is no exception, with its spacious, centrally heated rooms and memorable setting in a forested valley overlooking the crater. Logistically, this is the closest accommodation to the main western descent road to the crater floor, which gives it a definite edge when it comes to early morning game drives.

Ngorongoro Serena Tours

&Beyond Ngorongoro Crater Lodge

The most striking feature of most lodges on Ngorongoro’s rim is the view over the crater floor. Not so at &Beyond Ngorongoro Crater Lodge. True, this perfectly sited property, which started life as a hunting lodge in the 1930s, offers utterly unforgettable views. But it’s the playful Maasai-meets-Versailles architecture and decor, with its mix of baroque, classical, African and colonial touches, that makes it absolutely unique. What’s more, the crater is a constant visual presence throughout the lodge, at least when the highland mist permits, and game drives are led by some of Tanzania’s most knowledgeable guides.

Entamanu Ngorongoro

Nomad Tanzania operates some of the country’s most remote, luxurious and exclusive bush lodges. Entamanu Ngorongoro, the only accommodation situated on the northern crater rim, is a great example. The cottages here, newly built in 2023 and spread across two camps, are the last word in bush chic and also offer splendid views over the crater rim. But it is the isolated location, in an exclusive Maasai concession, that really sets this camp apart and allows it to provide the closest thing there is to a genuinely exclusive Ngorongoro safari experience.

Entamanu Ngorongoro Tours

The Highlands

There’s nothing formulaic about The Highlands. Built and managed by Asilia Africa, this exclusive Ngorongoro lodge has a wonderfully isolated location on the rim of the scenic Olmoti Crater, which lies in the northern NCA about an hour’s drive from Ngorongoro Crater. Accommodation is in eight stilted canvas-and-glass domed suites that offer sensational views over the forested walls of Olmoti Crater and are well insulated to offset the chilly highland climate.

The Highlands Tours

Elewana The Manor at Ngorongoro

This stately lodge bordering the NCA is notable for its gabled facades and whitewashed exteriors, which recall the Cape Dutch architectural style associated with South Africa’s Winelands. It has a commanding hilltop setting on a coffee estate and the characterful split-level cottages come with king-size beds, roaring fireplaces and old-fashioned bathtubs.

Elewana The Manor Tours

Gibb’s Farm

Gibb's Farm

Set on a century-old coffee estate, Gibb’s Farm first opened its doors to tourists in the 1970s and has since evolved into the most luxurious lodge near Karatu. The 17 spacious guest cottages offer a contemporary take on colonial-style decor, while hearty four-course meals prepared with homegrown organic produce are served in a converted 1920s farmhouse. There’s a big focus on community involvement: activities and services include locally guided cultural tours, forest hikes and bird walks, while the spa offers traditional massages by a Maasai elder.

Gibb’s Farm Tours

The Retreat at Ngorongoro

One of Ngorongoro’s best compromises between cost and comfort, this modern boutique lodge stands in large grounds that border the forests of the NCA. Cottages are large and well-equipped, and amenities include a swimming pool, gym, spa and jogging path.

The Retreat Tours

The Plantation Lodge

Although chain-owned lodges now dominate the Northern safari circuit, a few individually run holdouts still survive. A favorite among these is The Plantation Lodge, which has been owned and managed by the same welcoming German couple since the 1990s. Situated on the hills outside Karatu, this lodge absolutely oozes quality, from the stylish classic-contemporary decor to the swimming pool set in large flowering gardens. The exceptional cuisine is made from fresh produce grown on-site or sourced from local suppliers.

The Plantation Lodge Tours