Mbalageti Serengeti
Hillside lodge with tented chalets · Mbalageti River, Western Corridor · Mbalageti Serengeti
Mid-range
Inside the park
Ownership unconfirmed
Mbalageti Serengeti is a hillside lodge with rooms, tented chalets and suites "located in the western corridor of the Serengeti National Park", looking over the Mbalageti River and the Dutwa plains. Its site does not say who owns it. It lists walking, camp fires and a swimming pool; walks inside the park need a TANAPA ranger, so ask how the lodge arranges them. The Western Corridor sees the herds pass in the middle of the year and is quieter than Seronera otherwise. One warning: the old domain mbalageti.com now carries an unrelated spam site, so book only through mbalageti.co.tz. Choose it for a mid-range base in the west; skip it if you need published rates before you enquire.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Wide views over the Western Corridor
- Swimming pool
- Walking listed on the lodge's own site
- Mid-range option in a region dominated by top-end camps
Cons
- No published rates or room total
- The old domain mbalageti.com is now spam
- How walks are arranged inside the park is not explained
- We found no published child policy
What's here
- Swimming pool
- En-suite bathrooms
Arranged from the lodge:
- Game drives
- Guided walks
Read from Mbalageti Serengeti's own website in July 2026. Anything not listed we could not confirm, which is not the same as it being absent.
What the park charges on top
The rate above buys you a bed. Serengeti National Park charges its own entry fee for every day you are inside. Here is what that adds up to.
- Park entry$70 plus 18% VAT, so $82.60, per 24 hours from 16 May to 14 March; $70.80 from 15 March to 15 May.
- $83per person, per day
- Vehicle$40 plus VAT, so $47.20, for a foreign-registered vehicle up to 2,000 kg; a Tanzanian-registered safari vehicle pays TSh 20,000, about $8 at TANAPA's TSh 2,555 to the dollar.
- $47per vehicle, per day
Three nights means three days inside, so two adults sharing one vehicle pay $639 in park fees before anyone pays for a bed.
A lodge or camp inside the park adds TANAPA's concession fee on top: $70.80 per adult per night from July to September and $59 from October to June, VAT included. Arriving by road from Arusha adds the Ngorongoro permit of $70.80 per adult each way.
The full fee schedule for Serengeti National ParkRates at Mbalageti Serengeti
Rates on request. Mbalageti publishes no rates on its site. TANAPA fees come on top for every guest inside the park: $82.60 conservation per adult per 24 hours (16 May to 14 March) and $70.80 (July to September) or $59.00 (October to June) concession per adult per night, VAT included. Whether VAT is in the lodge's own rate is not stated.
What the rate covers is not confirmed. We do not know yet whether meals, drinks and activities are included, so read this as the bed only.
Every figure on this page is in US dollars.
Rates checked on 6 October 2026 against each operator's own website or rate sheet, in US dollars per person per night sharing unless the entry says otherwise. Two figures are per room, not per person: Serengeti Serena's $728 and Serengeti Explorer's $750 (a January 2025 opening offer). One figure is a reseller's, not the owner's: Africa Safari Serengeti Ikoma's $154 a night on Priceline (6 Oct 2026, basis not stated). Ndutu Safari Lodge's figures come from a rate sheet that ran to 15 December 2025, the newest on its site. Unless the entry says otherwise, TANAPA fees come on top of every rate inside the park: the conservation fee of $70 plus 18% VAT ($82.60) per adult per 24 hours from 16 May to 14 March, $70.80 from 15 March to 15 May, and the hotel concession fee of $70.80 per adult per night from July to September or $59.00 from October to June, VAT included. Camps at Ndutu and Lake Masek pay the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority instead: $70.80 entry per 24 hours and $59.00 concession per adult per night. Wilderness Usawa is the one rate we found that includes park fees.
Questions about Mbalageti Serengeti
What is the real website of Mbalageti Serengeti?
mbalageti.co.tz. The older mbalageti.com now shows an unrelated site, so do not book through it.
Is Mbalageti inside the Serengeti National Park?
Yes, on its own words: "located in the western corridor of the Serengeti National Park".
Does Mbalageti offer walking safaris?
The lodge lists walking expeditions. Walks inside the park are led with a TANAPA ranger and cost $20 per adult for one to four hours under the tariff; ask the lodge how it books them.