Ngorongoro Melia Lodge
The property
The rim’s original lodge, reborn in 2023 as sleek ’African Modernism’, glass walls, an infinity pool spilling toward the caldera, a spa.
It rises from the site of the first property ever built on the crater rim, and a three-year renovation completed in 2023 traded the old stone for glass and light while keeping the wooden ceilings and crackling fireplaces. Massive windows make the landscape the protagonist; the infinity pool seems to pour into the caldera, and there is a 24-hour gym and a boutique spa. Refined and serene, on the best-known vantage on the rim.
I
Where it sits
On the site of the crater’s very first lodge from the 1960s, at 7,000 feet, giving the most direct and expansive view of the floor and its soda lake on the whole rim. Reopened in 2023 after a three-year rebuild.
II
The rooms
Fifty climate-controlled rooms angled at the caldera with Maasai-inspired accents; the 215 sq ft Rim Rooms have king beds and floor-to-ceiling glass onto the crater, with interconnecting options for families.
The country around it
Ngorongoro Conservation Area
Read the field guide
Stay at Ngorongoro Melia Lodge
Ask us about Ngorongoro Melia Lodge for your dates.
Direct line
Tanzania office
P.O. Box 746, Usa-River, Arusha