The 2025 Safari Awards Winners Announced:  Best Safari Operator in Africa - Jack's Camp ........ Best Safari Experience in Africa -  Sirikoi ..........Best Safari Property Location in Africa - Greystoke Mahale..........Best Family Safari Experience in Africa - Sirikoi ..........Best Marine Safari Experience in Africa - Azura Benguerra ..........Best Safari Guiding Team in Africa - Cottars 1920's Camp .......... Best Safari Cuisine in Africa - Chem Chem .......... Most Romantic safari Property in Africa - Jack's Camp .......... Best Safari Spa in Africa - Royal Malewane .......... Best Riding Safari Operator in Africa - Ride Botswana .......... Best Mobile Safari Operator in Africa - Nomad Tanzania Mobile Safaris .......... Best Walking Safari Operator in Africa - Robin Pope Safaris .......... Best Value Safari Property in Africa - Flatdogs .......... Best New Safari Property in Africa - Onguma Camp Kala .......... Best Safari House/Villa in Africa - Mkombe's House Lamai .......... Best Ecologically Responsible Safari Property in Africa - Grootbos Garden Lodge & Qorokwe Camp .......... Best Community Focused Safari Property in Africa - Singita Pamushana .......... Best Wildlife Conservation Organisation in Africa - Mara Elephant Project .......... Best African Tourism Board - Rwanda Tourism Development Board .......... 

Ndutu Safari Lodge

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Ndutu Safari Lodge

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Best Value Safari Property - 2025: Finalist
Best Value Safari Property - 2024: Finalist

All you need to know

Intro

Ndutu Safari Lodge is a traditional Safari lodge in an outstanding wildlife location.

Steeped in history and famous for our homely warmth and generous hospitality, Ndutu offers peace, tranquillity and exceptional wildlife viewing throughout the yearWe have built a reputation over the past 50 years as consistently being the choice of expert guides, professional wildlife photographers, film-makers and biologists alike. The reason? It is simply the best place in the Serengeti eco system to watch and enjoy predators and prey, herds and hunters and is one of the finest locations to witness the extraordinary speed and spectacle of cheetah hunting their prey.

Ndutu Safari lodge is located in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area on the edge of the Southern Serengeti plains filled with acacia trees and wide views across Lake Ndutu. Our Lodge comprises thirty four comfortable stone and thatch en-suite cottages beside a relaxed convivial dining, sitting and bar area all overlooking the ever-changing waters of Lake Ndutu.

We are a family at Ndutu and immensely proud of what we do and our dedicated team are key to the success, they are what makes staying with us a very special experience.

 

Highlights

Wildlife in and around the lodge
Ndutu is famous around the world as being one of the finest areas to witness the natural spectacle of the Great Migration. Every year over two million wildebeest and zebra are drawn to the Ndutu region to have their babies. Ndutu safari lodge is a wonderful place to base yourself to see this and it is also a special place to sit back and enjoy the wildlife that lives actually around the lodge. . Just the other day a lion was seen lounging under one of our nearby acacia trees.

Dining under the stars
Watching a sundowner in the Serengeti is a moment that will leave you in awe, watch as the warm colours of a sunset dance on the horizon and the bright stars start to light up the vast night sky. What better way to experience this than with a lantern lit dinner at Ndutu with your loved ones or cherished friends?

Campfire
The evening campfire is a legendary part of life at Ndutu where stories have been shared under the stars for decades. Sit as the sunset fades across the plains and enjoy a drink or two in the firelight of the daily campfire, share some tasty pre-dinner nibbles and absorb the silence descending around you as night falls.

Safaris

Your morning at Ndutu might start with an early morning game drive in one of many distinct landscape areas within the Ndutu Conservation Area: marshlands, acacia woodlands, soda lakes of Ndutu and Masek or the vast expanse of the Serengeti plains are all within easy reach – each with its own distinct wildlife populations and seasonal visitors. The marsh areas for example are favoured by big cats to bring up their young, whereas the short grass plains are where Wildebeest babies are born during the Great Migration.

Wildlife

Ndutu has retained its cherished status as a gem of the Serengeti plains since it was created by George Dove in 1968 as the first permanent camp in the area. Ndutu quickly established a reputation for warm hospitality and delightful food, fast becoming a favourite stopover for pioneering naturalists, distinguished zoologists and photographers such as celebrated primatologist Jane Goodall and renowned wildlife filmmaker Hugo van Lawick who researched, filmed and wrote about wild dogs in the area. The animal sightings around Ndutu are like no other. From Lions and Cheetahs to Cape Black Buffalo and Zebras, Leopards and Spotted Hyenas to Honey Badgers and Flamingos.

The Lodge itself is also home to a long standing population of sleek and graceful genets – patterned to camouflage into the shadows, these elegant nocturnal creatures can be glimpsed perching on the rafters of the dining area. The genets have come to enjoy the relaxed atmosphere as much as Ndutu’s visitors.


Ndutu Safari Lodge is also a proud support of KOPE Lion and Serengeti Cheetah project. Researchers rely on the photos sent in by tourists to help monitor the population and movements of these elegant creatures. If you send the Serengeti Cheetah Project your photographs, together with some basic information about where and when your cheetahs were seen, you will be helping to keep track of individual cheetahs across the country. In return, if the cheetah is known to them, they will tell you a little of their story and history.

Through our KOPE Lion partnership the lions of the Ndutu area are very well known to us, and we follow their stories and ever changing lives with great interest. We can identify the pictures you take by their unique whisker spot patterns, ear notches and scars; close up photos are most useful if they include side shots of the lion’s face.

You can view the sightings of wildlife seen in the previous seasons here.

Quick Facts

Region
Africa
Property Type
Safari Lodge (more than 20 rooms)
Average Stay

The average stay at Ndutu is 1-2 nights, though we welcome guests for any length of stay.

Average Price

The average varies depending on age, season and the type of cottage you want to stay in. We often have special offers on that may be relevant to you, so it is always worth contacting agents to enquire about the price. You can view a price breakdown here. Migration season rack rates are 310 pp per night and Predator season rack rates are 246 pp per night, all rates include food and accommodation (no drinks).

Child Policy

Children of all ages are welcome; children 0-4 go free.

Accommodation

We have thirty four en-suite cottages at Ndutu which range from double, twins, triples and a quad room and all are built from local materials. Our stone and thatch cottages are naturally cool due to the thick walls and they provide simple and comfortable accommodation. Each room has an en- suite bathroom with hot showers, sink and flushing toilet.

All of the cottages have a private veranda overlooking the natural unfenced landscape of indigenous trees and shrubs outside your cottage door ensuring you are never far from the host of birds and mammals who call the Ndutu area home. The cottages extend from a warm and welcoming central dining, seating and bar or ‘mess’ area which has long been a gathering place for friends old and new.

Accolades

Trust Pilot- 5 Star.

Season

We are open all year around.
Predator Season (April-Mid December)
This is a great season to really enjoy the resident predators of Ndutu and indeed Ndutu is a favourite of expert guides, scientists and biologists for its high numbers of cats including lion, leopard, cheetah, civet, serval, wild cat and caracal. The resident predators are territorial and so once they have had their young they remain at Ndutu in the local marsh areas which stay wet all year round and are an essential fresh water source for the herbivores therefore attracting predators. Migration Season(Mid December-April)
Travelling down from Kenya every year the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCAA) plays host to one of the world’s great natural spectacles – The Great Migration.
The Ndutu area is famed for its short grass plains which grow grass which is particularly rich in nutrients and sustains the migratory animals whilst they have their babies. Traditionally the wildebeest and zebra tend to calve on these plains with a peak around February which makes for a beautiful natural spectacle and some exciting predator hunting behaviours.

You can view our predator stats here.

Region
Africa
Property Type
Safari Lodge (more than 20 rooms)

The Safari Awards Preferred Safari Specialists for Ndutu Safari Lodge

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