10 Best-value Luxury Serengeti Safari Lodges & Camps

By Philip Briggs

Serengeti National Park is arguably Africa’s most spectacular safari destination. This immense Tanzanian wilderness is home to all the Big Five (lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant and rhino) and is famous for offering quality lion, leopard and cheetah sightings. It also forms the central stage for an iconic great migration comprising a mind-boggling total of roughly 2 million wildebeest and zebra.

Safari lodges and camps are scattered far and wide around the Serengeti and below we introduce 10 of the best-value luxury options. Whichever lodge or camp you choose, wildlife should be plentiful throughout the year. If you want to see masses of wildebeest, however, be aware that the migrating herds settle into certain parts of the ecosystem, and move between others, following a predictable annual cycle. So do your homework before you make a booking!

The accommodations below are not ranked in a specific quality order.

3,224 Serengeti Safaris

1. Serengeti Serena Safari Lodge

Serengeti Serena Safari Lodge The 66-room Serengeti Serena combines high levels of comfort with an African bush vibe

This 66-room lodge is typical of the Serena group, an East African chain known for combining the comforts of a luxury lodge with African decor and a bush atmosphere. Set on a ridge lined with acacia woodland, Serengeti Serena accommodates guests in a cluster of double-story thatch-and-slate units designed to resemble a traditional Maasai village. The brightly decorated rooms all come with a king-size bed and a fan, while amenities include a wonderful infinity pool and a restaurant that’s particularly strong on Indian cuisine.

Serengeti Serena lies about 40 minutes’ drive from the game-drive circuit focused on the Seronera River, which is an excellent place to look for leopards and lions lying up in the trees.

124 Serengeti Serena Safaris

2. Meliá Serengeti Lodge

One of the smartest places to stay in the Serengeti is the luxurious Meliá Serengeti Lodge

Overlooking the Mbalageti River Valley, Meliá Serengeti Lodge blends African and colonial styles. The lodge is surrounded by nature but doesn’t compromise on the services of a luxury hotel.

Experience the thrill of wildlife action like you’ve seen in nature documentaries. See lions, hear hyenas call and smell the dust as wildebeest gallop across the plains. Explore on foot with your Maasai guide for a closer connection to nature. Enjoy a bush picnic while nature thrums around you. Drink in the view of the valley from your terrace and relax at the pool or in the spa. Against a riotous canvas of the rising sun, take to the skies for a hot-air balloon ride over the plains.

43 Meliá Serengeti Safaris

3. Four Seasons Safari Lodge

Four Seasons Safari Lodge The Four Seasons offers a Serengeti safari experience with all the comforts of a modern resort

Four Seasons Safari Lodge is one of the largest and most sophisticated lodges in the Serengeti. True, it lacks the down-to-earth wilderness feel associated with the region’s many tented camps. But this makes it an ideal choice for nervous first-time safari-goers or families with children who can’t be deprived of modern luxuries and distractions (there’s air conditioning and TVs in all rooms). Other amenities include a choice of three restaurants, a gym and spa, and an infinity pool overlooking a waterhole that regularly attracts thirsty elephants.

Four Seasons is a good base for game drives, bush walks and, for a different perspective gliding above the wildlife, sunrise hot-air balloon adventures.

44 Four Seasons Safaris

4. Acacia Seronera Luxury Camp

Acacia Seronera Luxury Camp Enjoy wonderful views over the wildlife-rich Serengeti plains from your deck at Acacia Seronera

Makoma Hills is home to Acacia Seronera Luxury Camp, which has a panoramic view of the throngs of wildlife across the Serengeti plains. This exclusive camp is a marriage of excitement, serenity and luxury. Explore in a safari vehicle to find the Big Five, big cats (lion, leopard and cheetah) and the herds of the great migration. Relax on your deck at camp and listen to the call of the wild, enjoy a romantic bush picnic or take a bath with a view. You can take a Maasai cultural tour to learn about their traditions, song and dance.

11 Acacia Seronera Safaris

5. Nyota Luxury Camp

Nyota Luxury Camp Tented camps don’t get much more luxurious, or better positioned for wildlife watching, than Nyota

If you fancy sleeping under canvas, but cushioned in the sort of luxury you’d expect at a swanky city hotel, you’re unlikely to go wrong with Nyota Luxury Camp. This tented camp is genuinely exclusive, too, comprising just 10 spacious stilted units with canvas sides and roofs, polished timber floors and organic furnishings made of bamboo, cane and wood. The riverside setting makes Nyota a great place just to chill out and enjoy the view from your comfortable private terrace. But it also has a wonderful location for game drives on the reliably rewarding big cat territory along the Seronera River.

42 Nyota Luxury Camp Safaris

6. Serengeti Safari Camp

Serengeti Safari Camp This top-of-the-range mobile camp follows the wildebeest migration around the Serengeti

In the Serengeti, it isn’t just the wildebeest and zebra that undertake an annual migration. There are also several mobile camps that migrate around the ecosystem, setting up at different sites over the course of the year to enjoy prime wildebeest viewing throughout. As might be expected, most of these mobile camps are on the basic side. But not so Serengeti Safari Camp, which is operated by Nomad, a homegrown Tanzanian company that caretakes many of the country’s finest luxury lodges.

The six open-plan Meru tents at this camp are beautifully decorated, the food is superb, and the high standard of guiding is matched only by the attentiveness of the friendly staff.

16 Serengeti Safari Camp Safaris

7. Serengeti Sametu Camp

Serengeti Sametu Camp Big cat enthusiasts can hope to see lion, leopard and cheetah from Serengeti Sametu

It might sound like a contradiction, but this luxurious tented camp simultaneously ranks among the most central and the most off the beaten track of Serengeti accommodations. On the one hand, Sametu is no more than 25km/16mi from Seronera, the site of a game-drive circuit renowned both for its excellent big cat sightings and for its high tourist densities. On the other, the plains immediately around Sametu see relatively little tourist traffic while also offering a good chance of seeing all three big cats over the course of a couple of game drives.

Other attractive features of this camp are an infinity swimming pool overlooking the Ngare Nanyuki River and its proximity to the rocky hills known as Sametu and Barafu Koppies.

Serengeti Sametu Camp Safaris

8. Elewana Serengeti Pioneer Camp

Elewana Serengeti Pioneer Camp Classy Pioneer Camp offers a classic safari experience harking back to bygone days

Elewana Serengeti Pioneer Camp is ideally placed among Serengeti safari lodges for access to the annual great migration and the Big Five. It has wide views overlooking Moru Kopjes, Lake Magadi and the vast plains, and the decor and style recall the classic mobile camps of the 1930s.

There are many activities to enjoy here. Take part in a fruitful day of wildlife viewing; have a bush picnic at a private site on a hill that has a jaw-dropping view of the plains below; sip cocktails on the sunset deck and dine by lamplight under the stars; or float in a hot-air balloon for a bird’s-eye view of the Serengeti.

Serengeti Pioneer Camp Safaris

9. Lemala Kuria Hills Lodge

Lemala Kuria Hills Lodge Stylish glass-fronted suites with a plunge pool and wilderness location in the Northern Serengeti

Northern Serengeti feels more wild and remote than the rest of the park, comprising a landscape of grassy hills that roll down towards the pretty Mara River. One of the region’s most compelling landmarks is the Kuria Hills, whose boulder-strewn slopes offer wonderful views in all directions. In the heart of this memorable setting, Lemala Kuria Hills Lodge offers a truly luxurious escape in 15 glass-fronted suites that each have an indoor and outdoor shower, a freestanding bathtub and a private plunge pool.

The surrounding area comes into its own over July and October when the wildebeest migration settles in to make frequent crossings back and forth over the Mara River. Kuria Hills also offers great wildlife viewing at other times of the year when other travelers tend to be few and far between.

Lemala Kuria Hills Safaris

10. Elewana Serengeti Migration Camp

Elewana Serengeti Migration Camp Evoking that ‘Out of Africa’ feel, this exceptional lodge has a clifftop location near the Lobo Hills

Elewana Serengeti Migration Camp is one of the most long-serving and reliably excellent lodges anywhere in the Serengeti. Founded in the 1990s, and now part of the classy Elewana group, it boasts a magnificent location on a cliff overlooking a secluded stretch of the Grumeti River. The luxurious accommodations of 20 elevated wood-and-canvas chalets are decorated in classic Edwardian safari style, and amenities include a swimming pool, jacuzzi and cocktail bar.

A great feature of this lodge is that it lies just 30 minutes’ drive from the scenic game-drive circuit focused on the Lobo Hills, an area known for its large lion prides and plentiful buffalo and elephant. Lobo is one of the most underrated parts of the Serengeti, and tourist volumes tend to be very low except when the migration passes through. Guided bush walks are available closer to camp.

Serengeti Migration Camp Safaris