Mbalageti Safari Camp — Hotel in Simiyu

Just got back from our 9 day safari, sleeping almost every night at a different hotel and Mbalageti is the one I cannot recommend. Rats, ants, spiders and scorpions, all in one night.... it is just too much. The location was good, it was a beautiful drive crossing a river with monkeys, and looking out from the porch area of the restaurant was beautiful. The pool was full of insects, the bar people were not super nice (could be the only not nice people all trip). The food was very good, beautiful display, tasty indian food and nice staff. The room they gave us at first, 18, was huge but it was clearly not well-maintained with missing railing, literal piles of bat poop around the entire house, rat poop also in little piles along the walls inside, and ants eating crickets on the floor inside. The views were a good distraction from the broken board on the floor and the rotten wooden deck. When i walked in the bathroom two rats ran across and sneaked out through the seam between the rocks and the tent material. I prayed they were gone for the day and didnt say anything to my family. My son discovered ants around the bidet in the other bathroom, and when I sprayed them with mosquito repellents all hell broke lose..... millions, I mean millions of ants came out of the volcanic rock that made the wall, they were pulling out the colony's eggs and were moving in like balls that would fall on the floor.... i have never seen anything like that. Along with the ants a spider as big as my open hand also came out of the rock and jumped out almost to my shirt. House of horrors. We moved to room 1 and everything was spotless, clearly recently cleaned and tidied. Next morning we were informed that our driver was bit by a scorpion that got in his pants as he showered before our drive. They gave him ibuprofen and said he was good to go. They didnt have any antidote or any means to treat anything serious in such a remote location. For these very unpleasant reasons, I cannot recommend this lodge to anyone. I liked the time limit with the electricity, I liked the walkie talkie situation, I enjoyed seeing the baboons stealing our food.... but having been to many tented lodges, this was the worst...

The location in the western serengeti was great! It didn't take long to drive to see the migrating herds of wildebeest.

This is a larger camp and I'm not such a fan of that. The dinner service was only a buffet. It seems like a lot of money for a buffet and the dinner had limited options (usually some indian dishes, pasta, and then some meat/veggies). Breakfast had made-to-order eggs and then the rest was buffet. The lunch boxes were the same thing everyday and not really great (sandwich, fruit, peanuts, water, juice....pretty boring).

I stayed in the tented chalet. Meh, it's not really a tent. It is quite large. It was clean. There is a flush toilet and shower continuously has hot water. Pretty good water pressure and was super hot.

Towels were nice and fluffy and replaced daily.

Bed was rock hard. It was super uncomfortable. First night I had trouble sleeping. Second was a bit better.

There is a single plug for charging devices.

The room has poor air circulation and you can't open all the tent window flaps because there were lights from the main building 24/7.

Wifi was only in the main reception and restaurant and was decent strength, but couldn't do video chat. There was zero cell service at this camp.

One other negative is that the restaurant is a .3 km walk from the main reception.

Overall, it's not a place I'll return to. I really prefer smaller tented camps and for this kind of money I don't expect...

This was by far my favorite place we stayed at on the trip for a number of reasons. After the rough and tumble of camping, walking into a luxury tent with a big bed, a hot shower, and a clawfoot tub was exactly what the doctor ordered. The resort is beautifully situated atop a hill in the Western Serengeti. Each tented cottage is secluded, and they have security bring you around after dark (potentially a bit overkill, but I wouldn’t want to come across an animal at night alone). The main building has a glorious pool overlooking the plains and the restaurant which serves a breakfast and dinner buffet. The food was more American than we had been having with our safari chef, but they were very knowledgeable about gluten free and I enjoyed a nice reprieve. There is wifi in the reception building along with coffee and tea. It is definitely chic for the bush, but I would recommend the splurge for at least one night to get you through. They had laundry services which they rushed for us but were a bit expensive. My only complaint was the bugs flying into your food and drinks at dinner. I wish they had put the screens down earlier. Overall a great stay and...