Ngorongoro Crater Lodge

Like a box seat in a fabled opera house, andBeyond Ngorongoro Crater Lodge sits on the rim of the world’s largest intact caldera, offering sweeping views over one of Africa’s most unforgettable landscapes: a primordial place of rich grazing grounds for elephants, zebras, rare black rhinos, and seas of pink flamingos. The lodge is unforgettable too: its design draws together African textures—banana-leaf ceilings, mud brick, thatched-palm roofs—and ornate French baroque interiors that sparkle with gilt mirrors and beaded chandeliers. After a day on safari in the crater or exploring the rim on foot, guests return to relax in this elegant aerie, still enveloped in the mystique of the legendary Ngorongoro landscape.

• After an exciting day on safari, retreat to your guest suite and soak up sunset views over the crater while unwinding in a hot bubble bath, drawn by your private butler.
• Sit down to a picnic lunch on the floor of Ngorongoro Crater in the midst of giraffes, zebras, and quirky warthogs.
• Enjoy sundowner cocktails and experience the rhythms of the Maasai people during a drum performance on the crater rim.
• Join the resident naturalist on a walk along the crater’s edge, and learn about the medicinal value of the indigenous trees grown from seed in the on-site nursery.
• Explore the Olduvai Gorge—also known as the cradle of mankind—where famed National Geographic explorers Mary and Louis Leaky discovered Homo habilis, one of the earliest members of the human genus.