Lodges & partnersKaratu
Cottages inside a working coffee plantation, backing onto the Ngorongoro Forest Reserve, with a tub and an outdoor shower in every room.
From $148 per person per night
About
Ngorongoro Coffee Lodge stands inside a working coffee plantation between the villages of Rhotia and Karatu, with the Ngorongoro Forest Reserve rising directly behind it. Seen from the air the property sits in a shallow bowl in the planting, the buildings arranged in a loose horseshoe around a central lawn and a long pool, coffee rows running out in every direction and the forest ridge closing the view. It opened in July 2019 and is the newest of its group, which shows in the layout: one large main building holding reception, lounge and dining room under a full length colonnaded veranda, with the cottages terraced down the slope below it.
This is a base rather than a game property, and it sits a little further out than the Karatu town lodges, which trades a few minutes on the crater run for a quieter setting and a better view. The Loduare gate into the Ngorongoro Conservation Area is roughly forty minutes west. Lake Manyara is about half an hour down the escarpment and its airstrip about the same, which makes this one of the easier Karatu properties for a fly in. Tarangire is around two hours. From December to March the calving herds are on the Ndutu plains within reach. June to October is the dry season and the steadiest window for the crater, and April, May and November are the quiet months and the lowest season.
Rooms sit two to a cottage. Each has a king bed and a second queen bed, both under mosquito netting, which makes a twin, a double or a triple work without moving furniture. There is a fireplace, a dressing area, a sitting area and a writing desk, hand made dark hardwood furniture, terracotta floors and exposed beams, and french doors onto a private veranda facing the coffee and the forest. The bathrooms are the thing people remember: a free standing slipper tub, an indoor shower, and a second shower outdoors in a stone walled court open to the valley. Three of the cottages are arranged as two room family suites sleeping up to six.
The main building opens onto a long veranda above the pool and the spa, which is where most of the day happens. Breakfast and dinner are served on white linen in the dining room or outside on the veranda over the valley, and there is a buffet counter for the lunch service. The property runs on solar, has a gift shop, a spa with treatments, and guided walks on the estate and into the surrounding country.
Getting here is about three and a half hours from Kilimanjaro International Airport, or around three hours from Arusha, on tarmac through Makuyuni and Mto wa Mbu and up the escarpment, then a short run northeast of Karatu. Lake Manyara airstrip is about half an hour away by road.
Signature experiences
The Loduare gate is about forty minutes west. An early start puts you on the crater floor among black rhino, lion, elephant and flamingo on Lake Magadi, and back at the lodge for an afternoon on the veranda.
Every room has a second shower outside, in a stone walled court open to the coffee and the valley. It sounds like a detail and it is the thing most guests talk about afterwards.
The lodge is inside a working plantation with the forest reserve behind it, and it runs guided walks out through the coffee rows and the farmland. Good in the hour after breakfast before the heat.
Tables are laid on the long colonnaded veranda as well as inside, and the view runs down the planting to the hills. Worth asking for an outside table when the evening is clear.
Gallery
Room types
The cottage room taken by one guest. A netted bed, a fireplace, a sitting area and writing desk, a bathroom with a slipper tub and a shower, a private outdoor shower, and french doors onto a veranda over the coffee to the forest.
The cottage room with a king bed and a second queen bed, both under netting, a fireplace, a sitting area, a bathroom with a slipper tub and a shower, a private outdoor shower, and a veranda facing the plantation and the Ngorongoro forest.
The same cottage room set as a twin. Fireplace, sitting area, bathroom with a slipper tub and a shower, private outdoor shower, and a veranda over the coffee.
The cottage room set for three, using the king and the additional queen bed. Fireplace, sitting area, bathroom with a slipper tub and a shower, private outdoor shower, and a veranda. 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 kilometres away and roughly thirty minutes 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 forty minutes, roughly 200 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, then northeast towards Rhotia to the plantation.
On the map
3.303° S, 35.699° E
What's included
Frequently asked
Inside a working coffee plantation between the villages of Rhotia and Karatu, with the Ngorongoro Forest Reserve rising directly behind it. It sits about five kilometres northeast of Karatu town centre.
About forty minutes to the Loduare gate, a little longer than the lodges in Karatu town itself, and roughly an hour more down to the crater floor. 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 three hours from Arusha, on tarmac through Makuyuni and Mto wa Mbu. Flying in, Lake Manyara airstrip is about twenty kilometres away, roughly half an hour by road, which makes this one of the easier Karatu lodges to combine with a flight.
Thirty two, set two to a cottage, of which three cottages are arranged as two room family suites sleeping up to six. The lodge own site also carries an older figure of twenty six in one place, so we are confirming the exact count with the property.
A king bed and a second queen bed, both under mosquito netting, a fireplace, a dressing area, a sitting area and writing desk, terracotta floors and exposed beams, and french doors onto a private veranda facing the coffee and the forest. The bathroom has a free standing slipper tub and a shower, plus a second shower outdoors in a stone walled court.
The published rate is full board, so breakfast, lunch and dinner are covered, and it includes the Tourism Development Levy. Park and conservation area entry fees, drinks, spa treatments, activities and anything else taken at the property are settled separately.
Yes. Three cottages are two room family suites sleeping up to six, and the two beds in every room make a triple straightforward. Note that the contract requires children under twelve to share a room with an adult, so a child cannot take a room alone here.
It is the newest, opened in 2019, and the most comfortable. It is the only one with a spa, the only one with a slipper tub and an outdoor shower in every room, and the only one built inside a commercial coffee estate backing onto the forest reserve rather than in a town garden.
Wifi is complimentary and reaches the common areas rather than the rooms. The lodge runs on solar power.
There is a pool with a long veranda above it, a spa, a gift shop, and guided walks out through the plantation and the surrounding farmland. 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.
From one in the afternoon, with check out at ten in the morning. This is an hour later than the sister lodges, so plan an arrival day accordingly.
What's nearby
About forty 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 half an hour down the escarpment. Groundwater forest, big elephant herds, baboon troops and flamingo on the lake.
About two hours southeast. Dry season elephant numbers here are among the highest in Tanzania, among baobabs.
The forest rises directly behind the plantation. The lodge guided walks follow the boundary where the planting meets the trees.
A long morning south. Time with Hadzabe and Datoga communities on the lake shore.
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