Lemala Ngorongoro Camp

Each of the standard en-suite tents faces out to a private verandah where you will be able to admire the lush green lawns framed by acacia trees. The bedrooms are elegantly designed, with a canopy of canvas above you. Lie back on one of the two queen-size beds, fitted with soft linen and a snuggly duvet to keep you warm at the camp’s high altitude. Wooden cabinets and chests are provided for storing clothes and personal items, and the wooden floors are adorned with beautiful rugs.

The en-suite bathroom consists of a flush toilet and a large safari-style shower with hot and cold running water. 24-hour solar lighting is provided, as well as outdoor sun loungers for relaxing in the evenings with a refreshing drink as the stars above begin to emerge and light the night sky. There are also 3 Family Tents, which are identical to the standard tented accommodations, but also have the capacity for an extra bed – catering for up to 4 guests instead of 2.

Guests can look forward to 3 delicious meals each day in Lemala Ngorongoro Camp’s mess tent, which overlooks the acacia forests and lush vegetation. The communal meals allow guests to interact and share exciting safari stories or anecdotes about visiting the local villages. Start your day with a selection of cereals, yoghurts and bread from the breakfast buffet, before ordering a hot meal cooked to your preferences. Lunch is served once you return from your first activity of the day, and a three-course dinner will await you in the evenings. Any dietary requirements can be catered for as long as the camp is given an advanced warning.

Embark on a full day game drive along the floor of the world’s largest inactive, intact and unfilled volcanic crater. The 2,000 ft deep Ngorongoro Crater was formed when a volcano collapsed in on itself over 2 million years ago. It is estimated that the original volcano would have been between 15 thousand and 19 thousand feet high. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area which surrounds the caldera is home to an abundance of birdlife and wildlife, with a resident population of approximately 25,000 large mammals, including the Ngorongoro Lions who live within this natural enclosure.

Guests visiting during January and February will also be able to witness the wildebeest calving season, where 8,000 new calves are introduced to the world each day. The specially designed safari vehicles have pop-up roofs and include charging facilities and a mini-fridge filled with refreshing beverages. Admire the incredible wildlife that lives within this protected oasis, and learn about them from professional guides.

Enjoy a delicious hot lunch from the comfort of the shade of an acacia tree. Admire the breathtaking views as you taste traditional African cuisine and refreshing drinks of your choice while your personal butler attends to your every need. Take in the astonishing sights of the dense woodlands, sweeping grasslands and abundant wildlife after a morning game drive to a private location where a team will be waiting to serve you.

Watch the sun sink in the sky, leaving colourful trails in its wake, while you sip on delicious cocktails around the campfire. Admire the breathtaking view as you partake in a celebrated African tradition and form lasting bonds with your fellow guests as you share the unique experience of witnessing the shade of the crater’s rim pass along the land and bring it into the night.

Meet local members of a Maasai Village and discover a completely different style of living as you learn about the culture and heritage of the Maasai people around a roaring fire. Enjoy conversing with Maasai people, participating in cultural activities, and learning about surviving alongside Tanzania’s incredible wildlife while gathered around a boma. This tradition goes back to when tribal leaders would gather around a boma in a similar fashion.

Take a stroll along the Ngorongoro Crater and take in the beautiful sights of the acacia woodlands, forests and lush oasis that exists below. This experience can be particularly special for birdwatchers, as it is the only place in the area where Schalow’s wheatear and mountain white-eye can be spotted. You may also see golden-winged sunbirds, white-eyed slaty flycatchers and mountain buzzards.

Lemala Ngorongoro Camp has a range of fun activities to keep children under the age of 12 entertained, allowing parents to take a break and enjoy time together. Lemala Cubs offers young guests the chance to participate in educational and exciting pastimes including learning how to throw blunted spears and how to use a bow and arrow like the ancient Maasai people. Children can also go on walks with Maasai people, where they will hear stories that describe Maasai culture and how people can survive out in the bush, learn to identify a variety of animals and birds and how to track wildlife.

Take a trip around the local village, Mto wa Mbu and in a tuk-tuk, and explore the area. Guests will pass rice fields and banana plantations where you will be treated to a delicious lunch made locally. Meet Makonde carvers and tinga-tinga painters and learn about a different way of living.

All of Lemala’s camps and lodges employ the majority of their staff from the communities in which they operate so that local people are able to find nearby employment in order to help support their families. Lemala has also recruited 9 employees from a homeless shelter in Arusha, giving the young men the opportunity to gain employment and restore their lives. Lemala’s staff are given training so that they can excel in their roles, and receive promotions within the company, broadening their opportunities for the future.

‘Of a workforce of 335 staff, less than 5% are foreigners of which 3% are East Africans. Our Lemala ExCo Team’s Senior Management includes a strong female presence, made up of 6 females and 1 male.’

Lemala Camps and Lodges are working to remove plastic waste from national parks and conservation areas by gathering the waste plastic and storing it in collection bins (made from recycled plastic). The waste plastic is then used to construct school chairs and desks by Dunia Designs, a sustainable company in Arusha. Each of these collection bins can hold approximately 375 – 400 1.5 litre bottles or equivalent, which can be used to make 2 chairs and a desk.

‘The plastic collected from each bin is approx. 10 –15kg of plastic, which would be the weight of the plastic used in the creation of one school desk and 2 chairs, and NOT ending up in a landfill or our wilderness. Keen conservationist Maasai Chief Lobulo is also a keen believer in education. His determination and vision is an inspiration to us all and we at Lemala Camps and Lodges have supported him via our CSR project, money donated by our guests and fundraising through the purchase of these plastic school desk & chair sets to build his first school called Eluway Primary, paying school teachers, providing clean water and education materials.’

Lemala encourages sustainable fishing within the local community by offering significantly higher prices for bigger fish. This results in fishermen catching fewer, larger fish and helps to protect marine populations while offering fishermen a fair price for their work. ‘The fish are purchased directly from the fishermen each morning at market prices ensuring the fisherman gets a fair price for his catch and that the proceeds of his efforts go directly to his family that all live local to Wildwaters.’

Lemala hosts an annual leadership academy for youths aged between 14 and 18, where speakers are invited to talk about their backgrounds, where they have come from and where they are now. This inspires and empowers young people and encourages them to consider career prospects. Lemala also supports a woman’s shelter.

‘Each day we donate something and on the 22nd of the month, the teams deliver in person to Pippi House which provides an empowering, supportive environment for women to seek refuge from the streets.’

Lemala Tented Lodges operate completely off the grid, producing zero emissions except in the event of power loss when they must use a backup generator. Lemala Ngorongoro Camp is powered by solar energy, a clean and renewable source that leaves no carbon footprint.

‘Our power plants include a 45Kw plant in Kuria Hills and a 65Kw plant in Mpingo and Nanyukie. We are proud to say that we have saved 150 tons/year of CO2 going into our atmosphere and have to date produced approximately 210 Mwh power/year.’

Lemala Tented Lodges have installed Reverse Osmosis Plants in each of their tented lodges in order to provide clean drinking water and negate the need for plastic water bottles.

‘We have now included state of the art pumps that communicate wirelessly to ensure that the water pressure remains constant. Every drop of water that comes out of the taps has been filtered and passed through a UV light to kill bacteria. In the new system we also constantly circulate the water in the holding tanks to ensure it does not stagnate and in this circulation we pass the water through a UV light.’

The main area at Lemala Ngorongoro Camp includes a new floor entirely constructed from recycled plastic bottles which were mostly collected from Lemala Camps and Lodges. This collaborative project with Dunia Designs has repurposed plastic so that waste plastic does not enter rivers or water sources where it causing irreparable damage to aquatic life. Additionally, Lemala Camps and Lodges do not use any plastic straws.

Lemala Camps and Lodges recycle all waste that can be repurposed in order to prevent pollution and to reduce the amount of rubbish that goes to landfills. In May 2008, the company was the first in Africa to offer guests plastic-free, biodegradable lunch boxes and 30% of the steel that was used in the construction of Lemala Tented Lodges is recycled from scrap metal. Glass bottles are also recycled and used by Shanga, a community project that employs people with disabilities to craft jewellery and glassware out of recycled glass, which can then be purchased from their shop.