Ngorongoro Lodge Plantation Lake Crater

While Plantation Lodge isn't on the Ngorongoro Crater Rim, its intimate atmosphere makes it a good option for those looking to avoid the large impersonal lodges at Ngorongoro. It's ideally located for both Ngorongoro Crater and Highlands and Lake Manyara National Park. Plantation is a small privately-owned hotel with plenty of style, located on a farm just below the Ngorongoro forest reserve.

Plantation Lodge is set on a working coffee and arable farm just outside Karatu, a short drive from Lake Manyara and less than an hour from Ngorongoro Crater. This small hotel with only 16 rooms has the comfortable and intimate feel of a well run bush home. The elegant rooms are well thought out with large beds, and it is immediately obvious that the place has been designed and decorated by someone with a great eye for detail. 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 cloud that hangs around on the edge of the highlands, making the place feel more like Scotland than Africa.

This is an excellent place to spend a night or two between visits to Tarangire National Park or Manyara and Ngorongoro and visits can be easily arranged to either from here. This is also a place from which one can easily visit Lake Eyasi for an (albeit, rather long) day and it's also just a very comfortable place where you can get a total contrast to the rest of your safari. Here you wont be seeing large animals from your bedroom, but you'll get a taste of the wonderful climate and of what life in the highlands of East Africa can be like. As well as relaxing you can take some great walks from the lodge into the surrounding farmland and the forest to nearby waterfalls.

Photos of Plantation Lodge

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