Octagon Lodge
Small garden lodge · Karatu, 20 minutes from the Ngorongoro gate · Octagon Lodge
A drawing, because nobody has sent us a photograph of Octagon Lodge yet. Send five and this page changes the same week.
Outside the gate
Ownership unconfirmed
Octagon Lodge is "a small and private lodge located twenty minutes from the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Gate in Karatu", the last town on the road from Arusha before the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, which you cross to reach the Serengeti's Naabi Hill Gate. It has rooms, an annex and family cottages for two to four with a kitchenette and two bathrooms. Its rates page was down when we checked, so ask. A night in Karatu lets you start the NCA crossing early, which matters because the NCAA permit is valid for 24 hours from entry. Choose it as a road-safari stop before or after the Serengeti; it is not a park lodge.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Family cottages with kitchenette
- Twenty minutes from the Ngorongoro gate
- No park fees for the night
Cons
- Several hours' drive from the Serengeti
- Rates page down when we checked
- Ownership not stated
What's here
- Family rooms
- En-suite bathrooms
- Self-catering
Read from Octagon 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 Octagon Lodge
Rates on request. The lodge's Rooms & Rates page returned an error on 6 October 2026, so no rate is published. No park fees apply in Karatu. On the way to the Serengeti you pay the NCAA's $70.80 entry per 24 hours to cross the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, then TANAPA's $82.60 at Naabi Hill Gate. Whether VAT is in the lodge's 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 Octagon Lodge
How far is Octagon Lodge from the Serengeti?
It is in Karatu, 20 minutes from the Ngorongoro Conservation Area gate. From there the road crosses the NCA to the Serengeti's Naabi Hill Gate.
Does Octagon Lodge have family rooms?
Yes, family cottages sleeping two to four with a kitchenette and two bathrooms.
How much is Octagon Lodge?
Its rates page returned an error on 6 October 2026; ask at sales@octagonlodge.com.