Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti

Elephants come to drink at a waterhole just below the infinity pool at Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti, which opened in 2009 inside Serengeti National Park, north of the Seronera valley. The lodge's 77 rooms, suites and villas are joined by raised wooden walkways, so that the bush runs on beneath the buildings and animals can pass under the guests' feet.

History

Four Seasons opened the lodge in 2009 as its first safari lodge. It stands in a park with a long conservation story. Serengeti National Park was established in 1951 and took its present shape in 1959, when the Ngorongoro Conservation Area was separated from it. That same year the German zoologist Bernhard Grzimek and his son Michael published Serengeti Shall Not Die, and their film of the same name won an Academy Award. Michael was killed when his light aircraft struck a vulture during the filming, and he is buried on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater. UNESCO listed the park as a World Heritage Site in 1981.

Architecture and design

The buildings are low and spread out on a gentle rise, built of stone and timber in earth colours that sit quietly against the grass. Everything stands off the ground. The walkways are lit at night, and because the lodge is unfenced, staff walk guests to their rooms after dark. The main pool and its deck face the waterhole, which is the centre of the place: elephant, buffalo and antelope come to it through the day, and the restaurant terraces and bar look over it too.

Rooms and suites

Of the 77 keys, most are rooms with a balcony facing the plains or the waterhole. The suites add sitting rooms, and the villas, set further out, have private plunge pools and space for families. The lodge takes children of all ages, which is unusual in the Serengeti, and runs a children's programme alongside the game drives.

Dining

Meals are served in the main restaurant, on terraces over the waterhole or, on request, out in the bush. There is also a grill and a bar, and breakfast is laid early for guests leaving on dawn drives.

Wellness

The spa has treatment rooms looking out over the plains, with a fitness centre beside it, and the infinity pool doubles as a viewing platform. The Discovery Centre, run by the lodge's naturalists, explains the ecosystem through displays and talks, and children's activities are based there.

Weddings and events

The lodge hosts small safari weddings, with ceremonies on the decks or in the bush, and its indoor rooms take meetings and incentive groups. The size of any group is limited by the number of rooms and by the light aircraft that serve the park.

Location

The central Serengeti has resident wildlife all year. The Seronera valley, south of the lodge, is one of the most reliable places in East Africa to see leopard, which rest in the sausage trees along the river, and its lion prides are among the most studied anywhere. The migration crosses the central plains each year, usually heading north and west around May and June and returning south towards the end of the year. Hot-air balloon flights leave from the Seronera area at dawn.

Most guests reach this luxury lodge in the Serengeti on a light aircraft from Arusha or Kilimanjaro International Airport, landing at the Seronera airstrip, the busiest in the park, and finishing the journey by road.