Seronera Cottages
Park cottages · Behind the Seronera Visitor Centre, central Serengeti · TANAPA (Tanzania National Parks)
A drawing, because nobody has sent us a photograph of Seronera Cottages yet. Send five and this page changes the same week.
Budget
Inside the park
Park-run (TANAPA)
TANAPA's register lists Seronera Cottages with the same wording as its rest house: "managed by TANAPA" and "just behind the Seronera Visitor Centre" in the central Serengeti. That is nearly all the authority publishes. There is no cottage line in the 2023/24 tariff, no room count and no photo, so you need to ask TANAPA what a night costs and what the cottages hold before you plan around them. If the price matches the rest house, they would be the second budget bed with a roof inside the park. Choose them if TANAPA confirms a booking; otherwise plan on the rest house or a public campsite next door.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Run by the park authority, so fees go to the park
- Central position behind the Seronera Visitor Centre
- A roof at Seronera without lodge prices, if the rate matches the rest house
Cons
- No published rate: TANAPA's tariff has no cottage line
- No room count, facilities list or photos published
- We found no published child policy
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 Seronera Cottages
Rates on request. TANAPA's tariff has no separate line for the Seronera cottages, so ask TANAPA for the rate when you book. The conservation fee of $82.60 per adult per 24 hours (16 May to 14 March, 18% VAT included) is on top, and TANAPA does not say whether VAT or the concession fee apply to the cottages.
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 Seronera Cottages
How much are the Seronera Cottages?
TANAPA publishes no rate for them. The tariff has a rest-house line of $30 per head plus VAT but no cottage line, so ask TANAPA when you book.
Where are the Seronera Cottages?
TANAPA places them just behind the Seronera Visitor Centre in the central Serengeti, beside the Taji rest house.
How do you book the Seronera Cottages?
Through TANAPA, by its online reservation system at ors.tanapa.go.tz or a licensed operator. TANAPA says prior booking is required for its rest houses and hostels.