Ndutu Lodge
Location - Acacia woodland on edge of Lake Ndutu, Southern Serengeti
Accommodation - simple old style safari lodge with 34 rooms
Experience - Heart of migration action Dec to late Apr. Quieter but still worth considering rest of year.
Price Guide - $325 - 450 pppn
Ndutu Lodge was one of the first camps to be built in the Serengeti and has an appealing simplicity to it. The location is absolutely spot-on, in beautiful mature acacia woodland on the southern shore of Lake Ndutu where the southern Serengeti and Ngorongoro Conservation Area meet. This is wildebeest central come the migration between January and March, but it remains great through April and even early May, both months when visitor numbers are generally a fraction of the Christmas / February time. It's also somewhere we'd strongly recommend looking at for the dry season as well, provided you have a really knowledgeable guide (or you may end up wondering what you're doing here). Read more?
Ndutu Lodge is a rarity in the Serengeti nowadays - a small, well run, privately owned lodge. It's most definitely not flash, 'simple and unpretentious' being a kind description, with the stone built cottages all set quite close together, but the camp has a genuinely friendly and intimate feel with very real charm and somehow everything works like clockwork. You never quite know who's going to show up at the bar, often a mecca for local researchers, film makers and off duty safari guides. The manager Colin, who has very considerable experience of the Serengeti, and his crew put a great deal of energy into making everyone feel comfortable, even when the camp is full at the busiest times of year. This is one of those places that people come back to time and time again.
The lodge has thirty twin or double cottages, made of stone with thatched roofs. The mess building is also thatched with stone sides and open front looking out onto a bird table that gets covered each morning by flocks of ridiculously colourful love birds. All the cottages at Ndutu are strung out in a line either side of the mess building. The rooms, which aren't huge, feel quite spartan at first, with simple decoration and basic furnishings and you need to be prepared for the water which has a strong sulphurous smell (because of the soda lake, nothing more sinister).
However, this simplicity belies the true nature of the place. The camp has both character and charisma and all the bits that really matter, like comfortable beds and hot water, are there. After the fashionable excesses of some of the luxury lodges it's really nice to see that Ndutu hasn't been tempted to follow suit and has retained much of its original charm.
The one thing it still seems to lack is good coffee, so if that's high on your list of priorities (or you're secretly hooked on it) you may need to pack a little of your own so things don't get ugly. In the meantime we're trying to persuade them to give this some attention!
Location - Serengeti and Surrounding Areas
The Serengeti is the best known safari destination in the world with good reason. The proliferation of animal life here simply defies belief and in the company of a good guide, this can be like stepping into a wildlife documentary. We'd advocate building your safari in northern Tanzania around the greater Serengeti, but you do need to be aware that being in the right place at the right time is everything in this neck of the woods. It's worth understanding how the Serengeti works. Jump to page?
More articles that you might find helpful
The Serengeti Plains formation
How Lions Hunt
Serengeti - what about the low Season?
The Serengeti Wildebeest Migration
Northern Tanzania - Serengeti and the rest
For videos, articles, ideas and news from Africa:
Have a look at our blog at safarigeek.com
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