Hakuna Matata Safari Lodge by Heritage

The lodge is a small permanent property on Turner 12 in the central Serengeti, with single, double, triple, and quad rooms available.

Year round. The lodge runs on a high season window (15 December to 28 February, plus 15 June to 31 October) and a low season window (1 March to 14 June, plus 1 November to 14 December).

By light aircraft to Seronera airstrip (around 2 hours total from Kilimanjaro), or by road over two days via Manyara or Ngorongoro.

Yes. Children under 4 stay free, children 5 to 12 are charged at 50 percent of the adult rate, and children 13 and over are charged the full adult rate.

Full board dining (breakfast, lunch, dinner), soft drinks (water, soft drinks, juices), daily housekeeping, and 18 percent VAT. Park entry fees, concession, TDL, transfers, and game drive vehicle hire are not included.

Year round. The central Serengeti has consistent big cat sightings every month. The migration passes through in November to December on its southward leg and again April to June on the way back north.

The lodge offers WiFi in the main area, so treat it as somewhere to pick up messages rather than somewhere to work. Mobile coverage across the Serengeti is patchy, strongest near Seronera and the main gates and absent over much of the park, with Vodacom the most useful of the Tanzanian networks. Set an out of office before you arrive, and ask us if you need the coverage in the rooms confirmed for your dates.

The lodge runs 24 hour electricity, so cameras and phones charge overnight in the room. Tanzania runs on 230 volts at 50 hertz with British style three pin sockets, so bring an adapter if your plugs are a different shape. A power bank is still worth carrying for a full day out in the vehicle.

Serious cases in the Serengeti are flown out rather than treated inside the park, and Arusha is the nearest city with hospital care, roughly an hour away by air from Seronera airstrip. We ask every guest to travel with medical evacuation cover, AMREF Flying Doctors or an equivalent, alongside ordinary travel insurance. The park sits between about 1,500 and 1,850 metres, where malaria risk is low rather than absent, so follow your own doctor advice on tablets and use the net over the bed.

April and May are the wettest weeks of the year here, with rain most days though seldom lasting the whole day, and November brings short afternoon storms that rarely interrupt anything. Permanent lodges stay open through both while many mobile camps pack up, and the resident lion, leopard and cheetah of the Seronera valley do not leave when the herds move on. The trade off is mud on the park roads, so keep transfer days flexible.

Yes. From 1 October 2026 visitors entering mainland Tanzania must hold the government inbound travel insurance, 44 USD per adult and valid for up to 92 days, covering emergency medical care, evacuation, repatriation and lost luggage. Children aged 3 to 17 pay half and infants under 3 are free. It is bought online before you fly or on arrival, and residents of Tanzania and of East African and SADC countries are exempt. If you land in Zanzibar first, the Zanzibar policy covers you instead. It is paid by you directly and is not part of your trip price.