GUIDE ON TLOMA LODGE NEAR NGORONGORO CRATER - HIGHLANDS

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Tloma Lodge is a beautiful African safari retreat set in delightful grounds opposite the eastern escarpment of the Ngorongoro Crater. A superb, hanging waterfall cascades 150 meters down the forested slope of the highlands area, which is a jewel in itself, clean, neat and well-designed amid restful gardens overlooking a large coffee farm bordering the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) in this part of northern Tanzania.

At some distance from its larger, sister Tanganyika Wilderness accommodation at Ngorongoro Farmhouse, Tloma Lodge is reached by a short, rough track from a shared access road. Since 1979, the NCA has been a UNESCO World Heritage site. Now it combines wildlife conservation with multi-use occupation and eco-tourism.



Outside the Ngorongoro Crater, which is a tourist lodestone on safari to Tanzania. Famed as one of the best game-viewing sites in the whole of Africa, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area permits pastoral and agricultural communities to carry on their traditional lifestyles alongside tourist guest accommodations and wildlife protection initiatives. In turn, wildlife attracts AfricanMecca tourists on Tanzania vacations, who provide the revenue for community development and conservation as well as job opportunities and a market for agricultural produce and ethnic crafts.

Amidst spectacular volcanic highlands, Ngorongoro Crater is outstanding as the largest un-flooded caldera basin. It is a haven for up to 30,000 mammals, with a good population for wildebeest and zebra, but also home to several prides of black-mane lions, cheetahs, huge old male elephants with enormous ivory tusks and black rhinoceros, protected from poachers who threaten them anywhere else you may travel in Africa.

Accommodation At Tloma Lodge

Built on the pattern of an old colonial farm, 36 cottages offer generous African vacation accommodation, four of them with interconnected rooms, providing twin, double, and triple sleeping arrangements. All have en-suite bathrooms with showers, large, comfortable beds with mosquito netting drapes, stylized, original wall-hangings depicting native plants and birds and sliding glass doors to private verandahs with views of the Ngorongoro Highlands.



Each suite has a fireplace to cheer up cool evenings in the montane forest climate and contains a telephone with limited landline access. Although tap water is safe to drink, a supply of bottled water is provided is available. The main building houses the dining room, furnished with long and circular tables for friendly dining as well as a cozy lounge, bar, and a viewing terrace to look out over well-stocked gardens, trim lawns, forested crater hills and valley farmlands. There is Internet access and a small shop stocking quality souvenirs or forgotten necessities of your African tour.

A full-size, heated swimming pool makes a welcome addition to the facilities on offer for athletically inclined AfricanMecca guests, whilst the gardens invite you to follow relaxing walkways through well-planned displays of shrubs and flowers which attract hundreds of fascinating wild birds.

Safari At Tloma Lodge

The most popular activity on offer on a Tloma Lodge safari is a game viewing drive to Ngorongoro Crater, where, during six-hours allotted to visitors to explore the amazingly varied topography, you may see hippo in the marshes, monkeys near the woods, thousands of hoofed animals on the grassy plains and flamingo in the central Magadi Lake (Read more on the best time to visit Ngorongoro). Your guide has radio communication with other guides on game drives to share wildlife tracking intelligence to maximize the possibilities of greater action in store for its guests.



You may lucky enough to spot all the “Big Five” -- lion, buffalo, rhinoceros, elephant, and leopard in one single trip to unforgettable Ngorongoro Crater. Magnificent Lake Manyara proffers another opportunity to sample the unique fauna of the area, including impala, topi, and giraffe not seen in the crater. The volcanic highlands present an active volcano, the “Mountain of God” ~ Ol Donyo Lengai as well as soda-rich Lake Natron whose sterile waters protect the breeding islands of thousands of lesser flamingos.

At Olduvai Gorge Museum, you can trace the discovery of our 1.7 million-year-old hominid ancestors. Cultural visits to farm, village market, brick quarries, church, and school show how the Ngorongoro Conservation Area is meeting its goals. Maasai cattle graze alongside zebra. Meet the nomadic, pastoral Maasai or the Wairak or Iraqw people, only a generation from a hunter-gatherer society, whose children attend computer classes. So much to do, so much to see and to learn on a tour of Tanzania with AfricanMecca. So much to take home and never, ever forget.

Dining At Tloma Lodge

Meals may be eaten indoors or out, or by arrangement on your own verandah. Most meals are served from a buffet in the main dining room, or, at lunch time, a buffet may be put out by the pool. Fruit, vegetables, and dairy products are fresh, wholesome and organically grown on the adjacent farm. Special diets can be catered for by prior arrangement. The cuisine is varied - local and international.

A nice touch is the opportunity to pack your own lunch box to take on your Ngorongoro Crater tour which begins before dawn with a wake-up cup of tea before you set out in a customized 4x 4 transport driven by a skilled and experienced AfricanMecca guide to cover the winding road through the conservation area, through forest and farms, startling nocturnal animals as they slink back to their dens after night-time foraging.



As you discuss plans with your guide, you may see leopard and porcupine or rare reed buck in dawn mists rising from highland forests and valley farms on your way to the main Ngorongoro Crater gate. Return to Tloma Lodge in time for afternoon tea and sip sundowners on the decking or around the pool as the sun sets dramatically beyond the distant escarpment.

After dinner, a Maasai warrior will escort you safely back to your rooms where a flickering fire will keep you pleasantly warm as you lie in bed, listening to the distant echoes of the grunts of buffalo, the deep throated roar of lions defending their territories and the manic laughter of hyenas.

Related Pages

1. Ngorongoro Crater Safari Park Guide	2. Best Time & Weather To Visit Ngorongoro Crater
3. Ngorongoro Crater Map	4. Safari Lodges, Camps & Hotels In Ngorongoro Crater