Lodges & partnersKaratu
Two room suites with fireplaces and private porches on a family coffee estate, twenty minutes from the Ngorongoro gate.
From $123 per person per night
About
Baghayo Garden Suites sits on five acres of working coffee on the northern edge of Karatu town, where the farmland starts climbing towards the Ngorongoro forest. The buildings are single storey, brick and timber under green pitched roofs, strung along a continuous verandah that looks out over the coffee rows and the smallholdings beyond. This is the Baghayo family homestead. Three generations have farmed here, and the bricks of the original house from the 1950s were kept and built into the wall of the lounge and dining room, which is the first thing most guests notice.
The lodge is a base, not a game property. What the position buys is reach. The Loduare gate into the Ngorongoro Conservation Area is a little over twenty minutes west, the closest of any lodge in the group. Lake Manyara lies about forty minutes down the escarpment, Tarangire around two hours east, and from December to March the calving herds are on the short grass plains at Ndutu within a long day drive. June to October is the dry season and the steadiest window for the crater. April, May and November are the quiet months here and the lowest season.
There are fourteen suites, and every one is a suite in the full sense: a bedroom with a draped four poster bed, and a separate sitting room with a working fireplace and two armchairs in front of it. Bathrooms have a walk in shower and a separate WC, with toiletries in refillable pump jars. Each suite opens onto its own private porch. Six of the fourteen are family suites that can be joined to the room next door. The main building holds reception, the long lounge with the heritage brick wall, and a dining room with windows to the floor looking over the flower garden and the pool.
Food is the reason to pick this one over its sisters. The owner trained as a chef, and the estate grows its own coffee, fruit, herbs and vegetables, with milk, eggs and honey coming from the family farm nearby and bread baked every morning. Breakfast is a buffet with eggs cooked to order, dinner is plated and served at the table, and traditional Tanzanian menus appear several nights a week. The pool is long enough for a proper set of lengths, and the Coffee Garden Spa sits in a quiet corner of the planting.
Getting there is a drive of about three and a half hours from Kilimanjaro International Airport, or around two hours forty from Arusha, on tarmac through Makuyuni and Mto wa Mbu and up the escarpment. For those flying, Lake Manyara airstrip is about half an hour away by road.
Signature experiences
The Loduare gate is a little over twenty minutes west, the shortest run of any lodge in the group. An early start puts you on the crater floor at first light, among black rhino, lion, elephant and flamingo on Lake Magadi.
The suites sit inside a working five acre estate. The rows run right up to the verandah, and the staff will walk you through the planting, the picking and the drying if you ask the evening before.
The owner is a trained chef and most of what arrives at dinner was grown on the property or at the family farm nearby. Traditional Tanzanian menus appear several nights a week and the bread is baked each morning.
Massage and other treatments in a quiet corner of the planting, away from the main building. Worth booking for the evening after a day on crater roads.
Gallery
Room types
The garden suite taken by one guest. A bedroom with a draped bed, a separate sitting room with a working fireplace and two armchairs, a bathroom with a walk in shower and a separate WC, and a private porch looking over the coffee rows to the Ngorongoro forest.
The garden suite with one large bed under netting, a separate sitting room with its own fireplace, a writing desk, a bathroom with a walk in shower and a separate WC, and a private porch facing the plantation.
The same garden suite set with two beds rather than one. Separate sitting room with a fireplace, walk in shower and separate WC, and a private porch over the coffee.
The garden suite set for three, with a third bed added to the twin layout. Separate sitting room with a fireplace, bathroom with a walk in shower, and a private porch. Available on request.
At a glance
Best time to visit
Best months: June to October and December to March.
Location & access
Karatu
Lake Manyara airstrip is the nearest landing point, about twenty two kilometres away and roughly half an hour by road. Light aircraft reach it from Arusha Airport and from the Serengeti airstrips, and the lodge arranges the road transfer up the escarpment.
About three hours thirty five minutes, roughly 199 kilometres. From Kilimanjaro International Airport the road runs to Arusha on the A23, then west on the B144 through Makuyuni, down the Rift escarpment past Mto wa Mbu, and up to Karatu, with the lodge a little north of the town centre.
On the map
3.327° S, 35.671° E
What's included
Frequently asked
On a working five acre coffee estate on the northern edge of Karatu town, a little over a kilometre from the centre. The Loduare gate into the Ngorongoro Conservation Area is a little over twenty minutes west by road.
About twenty three minutes to the gate, which is the shortest run of any lodge in the group, and roughly an hour more down to the crater floor depending on the descent road and the queue at the gate. Most guests leave very early to be on the floor at first light.
By road it is around three and a half hours from Kilimanjaro International Airport and about two hours forty from Arusha, on tarmac the whole way through Makuyuni and Mto wa Mbu. Flying in, the nearest airstrip is Lake Manyara, roughly half an hour away by road.
Fourteen, of which six are family suites that can be joined to the room next door. Every one is a two room suite with a bedroom and a separate sitting room.
A bedroom with a draped four poster bed, and a separate sitting room with a working fireplace and two armchairs. The bathroom has a walk in shower and a separate WC, with toiletries in refillable jars. Each suite opens onto its own private porch looking over the coffee.
The published rate is full board, so breakfast, lunch and dinner are covered, and it includes the Tourism Development Levy and VAT. Park and conservation area entry fees, drinks, spa treatments, activities and anything else taken at the property are settled separately.
Yes. Six of the fourteen suites are family suites that join to the room next door, and the suites can be set as triples with notice. Children between six and twelve sharing with adults are charged at a set child rate rather than a share of the adult price.
This is the reason most guests pick Baghayo. The owner trained as a chef, the estate grows its own coffee, fruit, herbs and vegetables, and milk, eggs and honey come from the family farm nearby. Breakfast is a buffet with eggs to order, dinner is plated at the table, and traditional Tanzanian menus appear several nights a week.
Wifi reaches the common areas and is best used there rather than in the suites. The property has not published how its power is supplied, so plan for the usual highland pattern of charging devices in the evening.
There is a pool long enough for a proper set of lengths, the Coffee Garden Spa for treatments, a gift shop, and the coffee estate itself to walk through. Most guests use the lodge as a base and spend the day out in the parks.
June to October is the dry season and the most reliable window for the Ngorongoro Crater and Tarangire. December to March brings the calving herds onto the Ndutu plains within reach. April, May and November are the quiet months here and the lowest season.
No. This is cultivated coffee and highland farmland, and the lodge is a touring base rather than a game property. The wildlife is in Ngorongoro, Manyara, Tarangire and the Serengeti, all reachable from here.
What's nearby
A little over twenty minutes to the Loduare gate. One of the most reliable places in Africa to see black rhino, alongside lion, elephant, buffalo and spotted hyena.
About forty minutes down the escarpment. Groundwater forest, big elephant herds, baboon troops and flamingo on the lake.
About two hours east. Dry season elephant numbers here are among the highest in Tanzania, among baobabs.
The lodge is itself a working estate, and several neighbouring farms run short tours of the plantations and the washing stations.
A long morning south. Time with Hadzabe and Datoga communities on the lake shore.
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