Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge — Hotel in Arusha

We only stayed here one night at the conclusion of our safari but it was beautiful stay.

POSITIVES: Nice rooms. Not the largest but nevertheless comfortable. If there is anything negative to say, it's that the toilet and shower is right next to the walkway for the rooms. Breathtaking views of the crater, not just from the bar area and restaurant but also from your room. I was able to get a spectacular sunrise time lapse from our room. They have an area just outside the dining area where a real Massai couple sell their work. Surprisingly, they are all well priced with some room for negotiation so if you want to support Maasai and get genuine products and not overpay, you can do so here. The service was great. Unlike a another Serena lodge where we stayed for two nights, we felt welcomed here by that staff. They seemed happy to work there, were eager to help, and did not make us feel like all they wanted were tips.

NEGATIVES: Food could be better. I would not rate it bad but at the same time, I can't say it was great. The main reason I dropped my rating to 4* was that they put nuts in their dessert without any signage or warning. My sons both grabbed what looked like an éclair from the dessert table. My older son bit into it and tasted peanut and immediately warned his brother (who has a peanut allergy) but it was too late; he had already bitten into it. Needless to say, his night was ruined as even with administration of Benadryl right away, he typically needs to vomit several times (which he did) to clear it. We mentioned this to the waitress who talked to the chef who said that there were no peanuts but cashews. However, my wife also sampled the éclair and said it was definitely a peanut. I looked at the dessert table and there was another item with definite peanuts on there, not cashews (unless African cashews look different).

Don't get me wrong. This is a wonderful lodge with spectacular views and a wonderful staff. However, the taste of the food could be improved but more importantly, if you are going to be putting any nuts in your food, you must warn diners about it. My son's peanut allergy is moderate and can eat other nuts without a problem. Others are not so lucky and some have nut allergy so severe that they could have easily had a more severe or even...

MUST READ WARNING: We stayed here on Sept 24/25 for 1 night. Lodge itself was great for its location and view of the crater. The game drive within the crater was one of the best ones we had during the week long trip to the Serengeti.

We arrived to the lodge just before dinner to check in. Quickly dropped our bags/lugagge in the room to head for dinner. Came back to our room to find out a turn down service was done (no issues) but that's when we noticed that my bag /purse was moved and I unzipped my bag to find out some cash (bills) were stolen! We had different currencies on hand, but the employee decided to only take a bill from each currency to make it not so obvious, total about $130USD was taken. My husband went to front desk to address the issue and asked to speak with the manager (Vincent). My husband had to tell a story of saying we had the theft caught on camera in order to get our cash back. After back & forth the employee admitted to taking our money and gave it back. But if we had not told the story of having the incident caught on camera, I'm not sure if we would of got the cash back as it would of been a he said, she said situation. We just felt so violated and couldn't trust anyone while in Africa afterwards.

The only reason I gave 2 stars for the lodge is because Vincent (lodge mgr) was understanding and rectified the situation by assuring us the employee was to be terminated and hopefully situation won't happen again. Did the employee really get terminated? We don't know for sure. But I have feeling this employee has been stealing for a while working there but never got caught until now. And are there others doing the same? Perhaps working as a "team" in stealing from its guests? Who knows but it's possible as long as they don't get caught.

On our part, we shouldn't have left any valuables including cash in the room. But we were in a hurry to eat a quick dinner and didn't think much of it since we didn't expect a turn down service or anyone to go into the room. But it's a lesson learned.

Proceed with caution when booking this lodge. No one deserves to have things stolen while...

Our first stop was Tarangire, then Serengeti (we stayed in serenaLodge as well - Check my review) and then we went to visit Ngorongoro park and decided to go with SerenaLodge again.

We were advised to book this hotel from our wonderful Travel Agent Talib from MakeMySafari (check my review if you are undecided).

Talib wasn't wrong, first he knew that we had 2 kids (and we were 4 adults) so comfort was important to us.

The view is what strikes you first. You really do feel on top of the world and you can keep your eyes off the view, it's unbelievable. The hotel is just amazing and wonderful, you won't regret taking this leap of faith and you won't forget the beautiful the sunrise (we even woke early to enjoy it to the most) and sunset is over there. My only regret is that we only stayed 2 nights!

There was entertainment with beautiful dances from Maasai people and acrobatics/music. The Staff was once again so welcoming and nice! We enjoyed our very big rooms and the hotel to the most, we even encounter an elephant closed to the rooms (unbelievable!) Also, we indulged ourselves with African massages, and it was just so relaxing we all thought it lasted hours! The bars and restaurant have views of the crater so you are eating while looking at it. It's just feel like you won't want to look at something else ever again (I'm exaggerating but you get the feeling).

The Ngorongoro park is a very close 2nd to the Serengeti park in my point of view. You will find some similarity in the animals, but then some difference as well (no Giraffes, but rhino, more birds, more actions as well as its smaller you get to see a bit more). Check my full review on the park, but if you're not sure, well sorry but you have to go. And SerenaLodge will provide you the experience, prime quality and comfort, you will remember all your life. Your choice but I highly...