Ndutu Safari Lodge
Stone-and-thatch cottage lodge · Lake Ndutu, Ngorongoro Conservation Area · Ndutu Safari Lodge (family-run)
Mid-range
Outside the gate
Owner-run
Ndutu Safari Lodge is a family-run lodge of 34 stone cottages on Lake Ndutu, "located in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area on the edge of the Southern Serengeti plains". It is outside Serengeti National Park, so you pay NCAA fees here, not TANAPA's, though the calving herds from December to March ignore the boundary. It has been a photographers' base for decades, and it hires vehicles with driver-guides, which makes it one of the few places here that works for travellers without an operator. Its child rates are published. Its newest rate sheet ran to December 2025, so confirm 2026 prices. Choose it for the calving season at mid-range cost; skip it if you need to be inside the national park.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Mid-range full board on the calving plains
- VAT and levies included in the rate
- Vehicle and driver-guide hire on site
- Published child rates; under 5 free
Cons
- Outside the national park, in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area
- Latest rate sheet expired 15 December 2025
- Drinks and NCAA fees extra
- $410 in the Migration Season
What's here
- Family rooms
- En-suite bathrooms
Arranged from the lodge:
- Game drives
Read from Ndutu Safari Lodge'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 Ndutu Safari Lodge
From $305 pppn. Predator Season, 1 April to 15 December, per person sharing; $410 in Migration Season (15 December to 31 March), on the rack sheet valid 15 December 2024 to 15 December 2025, the newest on the lodge's site on 6 October 2026. Full board, meals but not drinks; service charge, Tourism Development Levy and VAT included. NCAA fees are extra: $70.80 entry per 24 hours and $59.00 concession per adult per night. Drinks package $45 per person per night; vehicle with driver-guide $280 to $350 a day. A day in Serengeti National Park adds TANAPA's $82.60 conservation fee.
Full board. Meals are included; drinks, activities and park fees are not.
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 Ndutu Safari Lodge
Is Ndutu Safari Lodge in the Serengeti National Park?
No. The lodge says it is in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area on the edge of the southern Serengeti plains. You pay NCAA fees, not TANAPA's.
What is the child policy at Ndutu Safari Lodge?
On its 2024 to 2025 rate sheet: children 0 to 4 sharing with an adult stay free, children 5 to 12 pay $199 in Migration Season and $100 in Predator Season, and a family room for two adults and two children of 5 to 12 costs $1,161 or $609.
Can you hire a vehicle at Ndutu Safari Lodge?
Yes. The rate sheet lists a vehicle with driver-guide from $280 to $350 a day.