Serengeti Explorer by Elewana
Large refurbished lodge · Nyaruboro Hills, south-western Serengeti · Elewana Collection
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Mid-range
Inside the park
Safari company
Serengeti Explorer is the former Serengeti Sopa Lodge, refurbished and reopened by the Elewana Collection in 2025 on the site of "one of the oldest safari lodges in the Serengeti", in the Nyaruboro Hills of the south-western park. TANAPA's 2025 register still lists it under the old name. It is the most family-minded lodge in the Serengeti on paper: children under 12 sharing with an adult stay free, 12 to 17 pay half, babysitting starts at two years and there is a Kids' Bushcraft Centre for ages 4 to 12. It also has four interconnecting rooms and two wheelchair-accessible rooms. Guided bush walks are for 16 and over. Choose it for a family safari; skip it if you want a quiet small camp.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Children under 12 sharing with an adult stay free
- Kids' Bushcraft Centre and babysitting from age two
- Two wheelchair-accessible rooms and four interconnecting rooms
- Game package available, so the lodge can run your drives
Cons
- Only a January 2025 rate is published; no 2026 sheet
- A 74-room lodge, far from a small-camp feel
- 75 minutes by road from Seronera airstrip
- Bush walks only from age 16
What's here
- Restaurant
- Family rooms
- En-suite bathrooms
Arranged from the lodge:
- Game drives
- Guided walks
Read from Serengeti Explorer by Elewana'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 Serengeti Explorer by Elewana
From $750 per room. Opening rates in Elewana's January 2025 newsletter: from $750 per room on full board and $1,230 per room on the game package for two adults and a child under 12. We found no 2026 rate sheet. The newsletter does not say whether TANAPA fees or VAT are included; on Elewana's other Serengeti camps park fees are extra.
It depends which package you book. This camp sells more than one basis, from self-catering up to fully inclusive. The rates note says what each one covers.
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 Serengeti Explorer by Elewana
Is Serengeti Explorer the old Serengeti Sopa Lodge?
Yes. Sopa announced in December 2023 that Serengeti Sopa would reopen as Serengeti Explorer after refurbishment, and Elewana announced the opening in January 2025. TANAPA's register still uses the old name.
What is the child policy at Serengeti Explorer?
Elewana's FAQ: children under 12 sharing with an adult stay free (the adult pays the single rate), children 12 to 17 sharing with one adult pay 50% of the adult sharing rate, babysitting is available from 24 months and the Kids' Bushcraft Centre takes ages 4 to 12.
How do you get to Serengeti Explorer?
Elewana says Seronera is the closest airstrip, an hour's flight from Arusha, followed by a 75-minute drive to the lodge.