Lodging

The map on the left shows our general route in Part 1 of our trip, which consisted largely of Northern Tanzania.  Below is a personal blog of our trip, day by day, as we traveled through Tanzania.

Arrival

We arrived, tired, into Nairobi, and stayed at the Boulevard Hotel (Day 1), a passable hotel, protected by a security fence.  The food was decent, the rooms minimal, but hey, you really just need a place to sleep.

We left Nairobi and flew, circuitously, to the Grumeti Airstrip in the Western Arm of the great Serengeti National Park.  From there, we stayed in the Kirawira Camp.

Kirawira Camp (Days 2,3) Website

Located on a hillside in the Western Arm of Serengeti National Park, Kirawira Camp offers an astounding view to the north of the Serengeti, towards the Grumeti River.  The photo on the right was our tent, which is a permanent canvas tent under a protective canopy.  Inside was mahogany furniture- a desk and armoire, and walk-in toilet and showers and marble countertops.  Not your budget tent camp, here.

Each morning the staff would bring coffee and tea and small biscuits and a piece of passion fruit to hold you over until you ate breakfast.  Breakfast itself was sumptuous, either continental or a full-up English breakfast.  Lots of fresh fruit juices were available, too, including mango, papaya and passion fruit.

When you arrive, they have a welcome drink waiting for you- champagne and orange juice.  The open area on the left is the main lobby, if you will.  It's a nice gathering place, and just outside, you can see the sunset.  We met some fellow travelers here, including others on their honeymoon.  It's a good place to meet up with others and compare notes on what you've seen that day, and get hints for the next day.  Other travelers are  great source of logistical information.

The picture on the right is an extension off the "lobby" where you can view the sunsets.  Everything here is open air.  We visited in the "wintertime", but other than being a bit chilly in the mornings, daytime highs are still in the 80's (around 30C).  It's generally comfortable to sit here at any time.

The photo to the left shows the view a little after sunset, which wasn't all that great on this particular evening due to cloud cover.

The view from our lodge is shown below to the right.  It was a bit hazy due to some fires being set here and there.  During the dry season, fires are common.  They are set both by locals to clear the land, and occasionally by poachers, unfortunately.

In the distance is the Grumeti River, which defines the northern border of the Western Arm of Serengeti National Park.  Acacia trees dot the landscape below us.  Since we were on a hillside, we were relatively safe from wildlife, which was not the case in many of the other lodges we stayed in.  We had a steep walk up to the lobby and breakfast area from our tent.

Directly in front of our tent and to the right (see left photo) was a classic example of an acacia tree, which is an icon of the Serengeti.

Dinners were a treat- there were three or four choices for a main entree, and it was quite good.  OK, perhaps the beef was a bit tough, but we found that to be true wherever we stayed (true to European-style beef steaks, such as entrecote).

From the front porch of our tent, you could see the sunrise, off to the right.  And prior to sunrise and the aforementioned coffee/tea delivery, we would wake up to a soundtrack of birds, setting the mood for a day of adventure.

In all, we had no complaints whatsoever of Kirawira Camp.  The staff were very friendly, the food was great, the atmosphere was terrific.  It is a terribly expensive place, but it was part of a package we purchased, and in any event, we were supposed to stay at a different lodge that was overbooked, so we got a good upgrade to Kirawira for two nights.
Ndutu Safari Lodge (Day 4) Website

We were originally booked for three nights in the Seronera Wildlife Lodge in central Serengeti.  It ended up being overbooked, so for two of the three nights we stayed in Kirawira, detailed above, and for the third night, we stayed in Ndutu Safari Lodge, in the far south end of the park.

I'm not 100% sure if the lodge is inside the park boundaries or not.  Some maps seem to indicate so, but their own website indicates they are in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, which is adjacent to the Serengeti.

Regardless, this remote lodge is located just south of Lake Ndutu, and our guide had some difficulty finding it, as the nameless dirt tracks were not very well marked, either.  I had a GPS, which after driving down a few dirt paths, showed a pattern that matched our map, and from there, we were able to determine which track was correct, and we found it.

Ndutu Safari Lodge is not quite as fancy as Kirawira, but then we weren't expecting it to be.  These stone chalets were decently furnished, though, and clean.  Due to the remoteness of the location and difficulty bringing in all supplies, including fuel and water, power is only on from 6:00pm-11:00pm, and 6:00am-1:00pm.  But, then, that is all that is necessary.  When on safari, you don't stay up late and sleep in, lest you miss the animals.

There are two good windows to view the animals- around sunrise (pictured above from our porch), and sunset.  Between the two, many animals are harder to find as they are seeking shade and protection from the hot afternoon sun.  So, go to bed early, and get up early, and you'll have no problem here.

To the left was the view directly out of our room.  Acacia trees were everywhere, and unlike Kirawira, where we were a bit above the plains, here we were in them.  In fact, it was dangerous to stray far from the lodge due to dangerous animals from elephants to lions.

At night, just after sunset, they have a campfire near the open-air lobby where they serve drinks, and you can sit out under the stars and chat with other travelers, again exchanging stories of the days travels and sightings, assuming of course, that you speak the same language.  We heard several European languages here, a popular destination for European travelers.

We took in the sunset, seen below to the left, and then retired to the fire pit to warm our hands (it was a bit chilly) and have a drink.  Almost immediately after sunset, and interrupting our fireside chats, we took in a full moon rising over the chalets, opposite the sunset.  So, feeling obliged to photograph anything noteworthy, I set up the tripod and fired off a few shots of the rising moon before returning to the fire pit.

Thatch is used everywhere for roof construction, as it's waterproof, lasts a fairly long time, and above all, it's very cheap.  And, it looks so much better than shingles or a tin metal roof (not to mention, more romantic).  Most of these chalets were duplexes, meaning two rooms were adjacent.  There were some singles, and judging from Ndutu's website, there are some decently bigger rooms as well.  However, these were just fine for us.  We only spent one night here, but it was great.  A few more nights would have been worthwhile.

The food at Ndutu was every bit as good as the food at Kirawira.  Dinner was scrumptious, and breakfast was again a full English-style breakfast, complete with fresh fruit juices and an additional complement of fruit and cereal.

While we were eating dinner, we saw an Ndutu, which is the lodge's namesake.  Ndutu is a Swahili word for a genet, a type of mongoose that looks cat-like.  It was up in the rafters in the lobby area next to the restaurant, eating some food that the staff had left there for it.  Unfortunately, it was the only genet we saw, as we saw none in the wild.  The lodge likes to keep one around to keep the rodent population under control.  They do look similar to a cat, with a slightly more elongated face, and a tail that is at least twice as long.  They are about as agile as a cat, and this one was a bit shy, even if it was used to being around people in the lobby.  He didn't let me get too close when I tried to take some pictures, though I did get a couple of good shots.

Overall, the Ndutu Safari Lodge experience was great, and we'd highly recommend staying there.  Also, it was nice to have a change of venue from Kirawira so that we could experience a different part of the Serengeti.  When we left Ndutu, we left the Serengeti for Olduvai Gorge (nearby) and Ngorongoro Crater.

Serena Lodge (Day 5) Website

Once we left Ndutu Safari Lodge, we went to Olduvai Gorge (where Dr. Leakey discovered the remains of 2 million year-old ancestors of man), and on through the Malanja Depression and into Ngorongoro Crater.  Just before sunset, our driver then ascended the crater walls (a rather exciting journey) and we came to Serena Lodge, which was built on the rim of the crater, and designed to blend in (see picture to the left).

It's made of rocks and timber, and cloaked in indigenous vines.  Each room has a view of the crater.  It's hard to see from the crater, which was the intention.

To the right was the view from our room, showing much of the 12-mile wide crater.

The rooms at Serena were quite nice, and were heated.  The elevation here is about 8000 feet, or 2700 meters, so it can get down almost to freezing temperatures at night.  The rooms were decorated with artwork on the walls, and had large glass doors, through which you could see the crater (below to the right).

Although the lodge was nice, and had decent Internet access and quite a few amenities (such as copying your digital camera memory card to CD-ROM so you could reuse it), it lacked a bit of the quaintness of the previous two lodges.  I'm not complaining- the view was outstanding and the rooms were great.  The ambience issue came about for me in the restaurant- it was too big and there were too many big families noisily chatting away about this or that.  It did not have the cozy, fireside, let's-chat-about-our-day that the other two lodges had.

That said, it did have a nice bar area with gigantic windows to look out of, and at 7:00pm, they had a Masai group perform a dance and sing local songs.  That was quite a bit nicer than our experience earlier in the day at the Masai boma.  I suppose it did have a fire pit, but the cozy atmosphere was still missing, mainly due to the large crowd.

The service was good, however, and the food was good as well in the restaurant, which was above the bar.  Breakfast was buffet-style, a first on this trip.  It was good, and there was a selection of fresh fruit, including passion fruit, which, tart as it is, I love.

When we got up in the morning, our view of the crater was blocked by fog, which persisted for much of the day, through lunchtime when we left the crater area to head on towards Arusha.  The lodge looked pretty cool through the shroud of fog surrounding it (picture to the right).  The grounds themselves were nicely laid out and pleasant to walk around.  The flowers on the left were between the restaurant and the lobby.

Overall, you can't beat the Serena Lodge for location, though there are several other lodges on the crater rim, at best, they probably are equivalent, view-wise.  And, the view makes up for the slight lack of ambience the Serengeti lodges offered.

And, in any event, we were soon to return to the small-lodge ambience.
 

Makoa Farm (Day 6) Website

Our final night in Tanzania was spent at Makoa Farm, very near Kilimanjaro.  Our driver had some trouble finding the place, and we ended up picking up a local Chagga and he showed us how to get there.  East African Safari, the outfit that planned our Tanzania Safari, had not used Makoa Farm before, so it was understandable that, given the very remote location of the farm, he had trouble finding it.

Makoa Farm is, first and foremost, a functioning coffee farm.  The farmhouse, to the left, is where Laslo and Elizabeth live.  They are the owners and proprietors.  Laszlo is from Hungary, and Elisabeth is from Germany.

They bought the 1937 farm in 1999 (I think) and have fixed it up, and added two chalets, or cottages.  Those sleep two each, plus they have a guesthouse that sleeps five.

The two chalets are oriented so that if you are laying in bed and look out the window (the cottage is a covered tent), you will see Kilimanjaro, that is, if the clouds permit.  If our case (see the picture to the right), we didn't have very good luck.  In the morning before we left, I did get a glimpse of part of Kilimanjaro, and seeing how high up this part of it was, you could only imagine that the mountain is enormous (it is some 19,000 feet above sea level, or 6300 meters, give or take).

Similar to Ndutu, we only stayed here one night.  For good reason, Laszlo and Elisabeth generally don't book the rooms for so short a stay.  The area is wonderful, and they are terrific hosts.

For starters, dinner was superb.  We first had to try the "mystery soup", which Laszlo served and had us guess what it was.  It was from locally grown produce.  I won't spoil it here and spill his secret, but it was quite good.  All the food was fresh- the chicken was from the farm (served with mushrooms), and the desert was mulberry ice cream (!), from fresh picked berries that grew on the farm.

Breakfast was a full-English breakfast, with the addition of fresh mulberry jam and coffee that was grown on the plantation.  During both meals, the owners ate with us, and we also ate with the staff.  We got some good stories about the people and the area, and the history of the farm, the process of preparing coffee for market, etc...

Finally, we retired for the evening having a aperitif with Laszlo by the fireplace before going to bed.  By that time, the vervet monkeys had descended to the valley below for the night.  Earlier in the evening, they cascaded down the mountain in droves, noisily jumping from tree to tree.

The next morning, after breakfast, we were visited by the pet mongooses, shown left bellying up to Peter, our driver and guide.  They were constantly in motion, marking everything they came across as "theirs", including each other.  They were quite entertaining.

Afterwards, we took a hike down the hillside, seeing the farm in action, quite a few locals working there and on adjacent land, and we hiked on down to a river and some waterfalls that were lower on the property.  It was quite pleasant, and adjacent to the falls was a bat cave.  One of the farm staff was our guide (she was from Germany).  They had three European staff helping out- two from Germany and one from England.

No land here goes to waste, and planted along the edges were sunflowers.  In fact, many crops are grown here, though I think most are for consumption on the farm by the workers and guests.  The main product of the farm is coffee.  We asked if they had their coffee to sell, but they said that was something that they were working on.  Right now they sell to other coffee resellers, but they don't have their own private label.  Hopefully in the future you'll be able to buy their coffee directly from them.

Speaking of coffee and no land going to waste, they had recently planted coffee plants right outside our cottage, too (picture to the right).  These were right below our patio.

Makoa Farm's specialty is horse-guided tours.  They have nearly two dozen horses, and will take you on a guided tour of Kilimanjaro, which is just up the road from them.  Since we were there only one night, we did not participate in that adventure.  But it would be worthwhile to do so in the future.

Makoa Farm was a great place to stay, and we were very happy that Simon at East African Safari found it for us.
Departure

We left Tanzania, sadly, the next day for Nairobi by bus.  We stayed once more at the Boulevard Hotel in Nairobi (Day 7).  It was a quiet night, luckily, as we had to get up very early to catch an 8:20am flight to Zambia, Part 2 of our African adventure.