Ngorongoro Crater rim

Ngorongoro Highlands Lodge

Style Lodge

Rooms 38

From $295 pp/night

Board Full board, crater fees excluded

Best for Families, cold nights, an early descent

Rim lodges trade atmosphere for logistics, and on the Ngorongoro that trade is worth making. Being ten minutes from the descent road means you are on the crater floor at first light rather than joining a queue at nine, and the first two hours down there are worth more than the last four.

Rooms are solid, warm and unremarkable. The view from the rim is not.

What is good about it

Ten minutes from the Seneto descent road
Proper heating, which you will want at 2,300m
Family rooms that genuinely fit four
Hot water at 5am without asking the night before

What to know before booking

Thirty-eight rooms means it can feel like a hotel at breakfast
Rim cloud sits in from about 4pm most afternoons, so the famous view is not guaranteed
Crater floor permits are six hours maximum. This is not the lodge's fault, but people are often surprised
Wifi exists and is poor

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Tented camp Tarangire National Park

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Ngorongoro Highlands Lodge

What is good about it

What to know before booking

Other camps and lodges

Seronera Under Canvas

Kogatende Mobile Camp

Tarangire River Camp

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