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Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania

Plantation Lodge

This is a great lodging option if the properties on the rim of the Crater are full - or if you don't mind staying just outside of the Ngorongoro Conservation area. We think the lodge design is extremely stylish and always find ourselves taking pictures to incorporate into our own homes.  — Mango's view

Plantation Lodge is set on a working coffee and arable farm just outside Karatu, less than an hour from the Ngorongoro Crater. Like a green oasis, Plantation Lodge rests on the soft, red-brown hills amidst the vastness and silence of East Africa. The individually furnished rooms and suites melting harmoniously into the flowering garden offer comfort and relaxation. Everywhere you look, you can see and even feel the personal atmosphere of this owner-run lodge with furnishings that were selected with great attention to detail.

This small hotel with only 16 rooms has the comfortable and intimate feel of a beautifully run bush home. The elegant rooms are well thought out with large beds, en-suite bathrooms and wood burning stoves in each of the sitting rooms. Outside there are very pretty gardens with views over the adjacent farmland and a swimming pool. Here, food and service are of a high standard, and the owners, Renate and Udo Marahens, who have been farming in the area for many years, have a high level of input in the day to day running of the lodge.

At almost 7000 ft above sea level, this has to be one of the most seductive climates - hot days and cool mornings and nights, although between July and early September there can be a fair amount of low clouds that hang around on the edge of the highlands, making the place feel more like Scotland than Africa.

Most guests use this property as a base to explore the Ngorongoro Crater. When the morning mists float over the edge of the crater they reveal the large volcanic caldera. Some 25,000 animals live in the caldera which has a diameter of 19 kilometers. Zebras, buffalo, antelope, lions, black rhinos, hippos, elephants ... They all feed on the abundant grazing grounds and the groundwater of the crater floor. During the day they share this area with the Maasai, who drive their cattle into the crater to graze.

Includes: All meals & safari activities