Set high on the saddle of tree-clad ridge commanding panoramic views across the endlessly rolling reaches and volcanic reefs of the Serengeti, the Serengeti Serena Safari Lodge is the ultimate fusion of traditional African architecture and world-class style. Drawing its inspiration from the circular ‘Rondavel’ dwellings and winding paths of a traditional Maasai village, the Lodge features thickly-thatched, stone-built rooms, spaciously set amongst groves of indigenous trees that are cooled by sparkling streams and papyrus-fringed ponds. Below the Lodge is a sky-blue pool and a hilltop vantage point from which to view the world famous annual ‘migration’. Dubbed the ‘Greatest Wildlife Show on Earth’, the annual wildebeest migration features a cast of millions, covers an 800-kilometer circuit and weaves birth, life and death into a spectacular tapestry that illustrates the concept of ‘the survival of the fittest’ in all of its tragic, comic, violent and awesome splendour.
Location
The Serengeti National Park is 335 km from Arusha. However, due to the massive distances involved in traversing it, poor roads and treacherous wet-weather terrain, most visitors arrive by air using the busy airstrip at the Seronera headquarters (30km from the Lodge). There are also daily flights to several other airstrips to include: Grumeti, Serengeti South and Lobo.
Accommodation
The lodge offers: 66 air-conditioned rooms: 53 twin bedrooms, 12 triple-bedded rooms and one suite. Services include: An imaginative range of bush breakfasts, barbecue bush lunches, atmospheric sundowners and vibrant cultural entertainments.Action-packed forays into the wildlife-teeming arena of the sensational Serengeti plains.Balloon safaris, floating high above the Serengeti and landing to a spectacular champagne breakfast cooked in the bush. A vibrant selection of traditional music, culture and dance.The ‘Serena Active’ selection of high-action adventure activities. Beauty treatments, massage and hairdressing.Extensively stocked Africana Gift Shop. Internet connectivity and a wide range of board games plus a full library of books on Africa.Full housekeeping services (laundry, valet, babysitting, children’s menus and dining and shoeshine) plus hairdryers and and telephones in all rooms.Full medical back-up and emergency evacuation facilities. Express check in and out and 24-hour Forex facilities.
Each room is accommodated in a stone-built, traditionally-thatched ‘Rondavel’, featuring natural stone bathrooms, wildwood balconies, rope-lashed staircases, leopard-print drapes and intricately carved furniture, the overall effect of which is a unique blend of authentic ethnicity and world-class elegance.
The views, from lilac-streaked sunrise to diamond-domed night, the searingly sensational Serengeti delivers a series of timeless volcanic vistas are second to none. Drawing its inspiration from the circular ‘Rondavel’ dwellings and winding paths of a traditional Maasai village, the Lodge features thickly-thatched, stone-built rooms, spaciously set amongst groves of indigenous trees that are cooled by sparkling streams and papyrus-fringed ponds. The circular bar, its roof supported by massive carven figures of warriors, maidens and elders, looks out over the sky-blue, ‘vanishing horizon’ swimming pool towards the miles of lion-gold savannah that lie below, wherein is enacted the thunderous theatre of the million-strong wildebeest migration. As for views, from lilac-streaked sunrise, to diamond-domed night, the searingly sensational Serengeti delivers a series of timeless volcanic vistas that are second to none.
Dining and bars
Linked by shaded walkways and clustered around the roaring furnace of the central barbecue arena, the high-domed halls of the two-tier dining room are supported by massive papyrus-topped pillars and embellished with sumptuous ‘Makonde’ carvings suggesting the audience chamber of a tribal king whilst the cuisine features time-honoured safari favourites, local specialities and internationally themed dishes alike.
Conference and event facilities include:
State-of-the-art presentation facilities that are inclusive of a full selection of projection TV, screen, video, video conferencing and audiovisual equipment.
Full conference organisation service inclusive:
- Badges, registration desks, delegate packs, delegate services, specialist delegate gifts, secretarial back up and communication links, tailor-made itineraries, private safaris and individually planned and themed menus.
- A full range of imaginative incentive packages and fully tailored accommodation packages is also available.
Weddings options include:
- Traditional ‘safari’ wedding ceremony out in the bush.
- Champagne cocktail reception by the swimming pool.
- Candle-lit honeymoon ‘bush’ dinner for two.
- Luxurious honeymoon Suite supplied with tropical fruit and chilled champagne.
- Themed musical and cultural entertainment for your guests.
- Photography and videoing of your special day.
- Special accommodation packages for the entire wedding party.
Special Occasions
- Individually tailored ‘Bush Brunch’ or ‘Savannah Barbecue’ set in the spectacular Mbingwe Valley, the theatre of the migration.
- Entertaining under canvas – with campfires, hurricane lamps and safari cuisine.
- Themed ‘sundowners’ in our own ‘campfire-style’ bush camp.
- Cocktail reception, al fresco on the natural stone terraces of our scenic swimming pool.
- Live music, song, dance and vivid cultural entertainment.
Child-friendly
As with all Serena lodges, Serengeti Serena Safari Lodge is child-friendly and offers family rooms, additional beds, cots, children’s mealtimes and menus, babysitting services, educational materials, wildlife presentations, guided nature walks.
What to see and do
The Serengeti National Park: The vast and sensational Serengeti, covering 14,763 sq km of endlessly rolling savannah plains, is Tanzania’s first-established, largest and most famous park wherein tens of thousands of hoofed animals roam in a constant and unremitting search for the fresh grasslands upon which their survival depends.
The million-plus wildebeest are the predominant herbivore and also the main prey of a huge cast of large carnivores, principally lion and hyena. Whilst the annual migration is the Serengeti’s most famous attraction, the Park is also renowned for its lion, many of which have been fitted with radio-transmitter collars so that their movements may be tracked, and additionally for its wealth of cheetah, zebra, giraffe, Thomson’s and Grant’s gazelle, eland, impala, klipspringer, hippo and warthog.
The Serengeti, whose Maasai name ‘Siringet’ translates as ‘the endless plains’, offers unparalleled ornithological opportunities and an unrivalled natural arena wherein the glory and harmony of nature can be appreciated as nowhere else on earth.
The Migration: Twice a year, propelled by the rains, 1.3 million wildebeest, 200,000 zebra and 300,000 Thomson’s gazelle gather to undertake an 800 km trek to new grazing lands. The precise timing of the migration varies but generally the herbivores congregate and move out at the end of May, sometimes over a period of weeks, sometimes over a period of as little as three or four days. They then head west on the first leg of a roughly triangular 800-km circuit that takes approximately 3-4 months and ends in the Masai Mara National Reserve of Kenya. When the grazing here is exhausted the tide of herbivores turns and reverses its progress returning to the short grass plains of Tanzania.
Activities at Serengeti Serena Safari Lodge include:
- Action-packed game drives through the magnificent ecosystem of the Serengeti.
- Morning wildlife walks around the lodge with our resident naturalist.
- A full safari breakfast, cooked in the bush.
- A ‘Bush Barbecue’ lunch, evocatively staged on a bluff overlooking the Mbingwe Valley, wherein is enacted the world-famous wildebeest migration.
- Atmospheric ‘Sundowners’ in our own bush camp as the sinking sun sets the Serengeti ablaze.
- Traditional displays of dance, music and cultural performance.
- Nightly wildlife and cultural talks, videos and film shows.
- A ringside seat at the ‘Greatest Wildlife Show on Earth’, the wildebeest migration.
- Spectacular game drives around the stunning Serengeti ecosystem.
- A night’s adventure in a traditional khaki-and-canvas ‘fly camp’ pitched in the midst of the bushGentle nature trails around the Lodge in the company of our resident naturalist.
- ‘Scenic swimming’ in our stunning ‘vanishing horizon’ swimming pool.
- Relaxing ‘après active’ massages.
- Balloon safaris over the plains followed by a champagne breakfast at the bush-landing site.