Mbalageti Tented 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...

We stayed 3 nights here with my husband and 2 kids in the middle if August while on safari through Serengeti. It was not the time to be in the Western Corridor and this place was not crowded. This place is just amazing and it stole my heart. It is really off the beaten track - you drive at least half and hour from the “ main” road and you need to cross a river to get to the lodge. Once there, it;s just a different world. The house we were allocated was huge, the kids had their own big room and bathroom; we as well and on top of that we had an enormous living room. The houses are half house, half tent - some of the outside walls are from a tent material and this gives an incredible feeling, in the night you can hear the animals - lions roaring, hyenas, just amazing!There are no fences so you can see the zebra’s and wildebeests walking outside the houses. The rooms were decorated with such an eye for detail and respect for the African culture - there was even a real Masai whistle in a little box in each room. The houses are built in such a way that they absolutely don;t distort the nature around, there is enough space between each house that you really have your privacy, the area is also huge - we needed to walk probably 300 meters to reach the swimming pool area and the restaurant (in the evening we were escorted); on the way you can see the wild life everywhere. Once in the restaurant - this is where the true magic happens - it is higher so you have amazing view over the plains - zebra’s, buffalo’s, wildebeests graze just below and you can see them walking to the river; there is a local lion family that you can see almost every day and if you are lucky you can even see a live kill. Definitely take your binoculars. Staff is amazing and food is very good. Swimming pool is small but there is enough space to lounge in the sun.|This is by far my favourite place in Serengeti. It is not a luxurious place by western standards, but it has something magical … if i am to return to western Serengeti, this would be the place...

We traveled to this camp on the far western area of the Serengeti to see the Great Migration. Although we were a week or so too early for the herds to reach the Grumeti River crossing, we were not disappointed. We found thousands of wildebeest and zebra massing together on their journey in this area. |The camp is magnificent, spread across a hill top with impressive views out across the Serengeti plains. The accommodations are in individual tent/cottages, and ours was more than comfortable had a wonderful view. There is significant walking on dirt trails from the dining/reception area to the tents. |Staff were friendly and helpful, including the proud chefs serving their food at the elaborate dinner buffets. |Unfortunately our time in the Serengeti was marred by intensive smoke from planned burning of large expanses of grasses in the Western and Central Serengeti areas. This impacted the views from this property and was unpleasant to say the least. It is our understanding that these controlled burns occur in June, but are not predictable. It was not the fault of this lodge that the experience there was less than ideal, but the burning should be considered in...