HOTELS & CAMPS

&Beyond Grumeti Serengeti River Lodge

Ultra-luxuryWestern Serengeti

It has a bend of the Serengeti’s Western Corridor almost to itself — there are very few lodges out here, and the neighbours are big lion prides, a resident pod of hippo and the only black-and-white colobus in the Serengeti. Rebuilt in recent years as ten suites with private plunge pools, indoor and outdoor showers and oversized tubs, its circular plan nods to a Maasai manyatta: exclusive-use privacy joined to genuine riverfront luxury.

Why we chose it

The great value of the Western Corridor is privacy — it is remote, there are very few lodges along the river, and it feels close to having the Serengeti to yourself, with no jostling for a sighting. Grumeti sits directly on a tributary of the Grumeti river, and the water is its trump card: you look down on hippo from the pool deck and the terraces, and the riverbank is busy day and night. Around June and July the wildebeest cross the Grumeti with Nile crocodile waiting below — a spectacle particular to this corridor.

The standard of the stay is properly Ultra-luxury: ten suites, each with a private plunge pool, indoor and outdoor showers and an oversized tub, and public areas arranged in a circle that produce an audible reaction as you walk in. &Beyond runs well-developed children’s programmes and takes all ages; with so few rooms and near one-to-one service, the butler learns your preferences quickly. It puts the most private position in the Western Corridor together with genuine riverfront luxury, which makes it our first choice out west at this tier.

If this camp is the one

&Beyond also sells safari packages run by the brand itself. If this is the lodge you want, you can book that package directly — the full write-up and more photography live on the package page.

See its safari packages →

If it is full

The obvious same-tier, same-area alternative is Singita Grumeti (Faru Faru / Sabora / Sasakwa) — the private reserve adjoining the Western Corridor, also Ultra-luxury, also river and plains.

The main building and the river at dusk: the timber public areas lit right through, their reflection carried out across the water, and a large pod of hippo lying in the river — you can count more than twenty in this frame. "Looking down on hippo from the deck" is not a figure of speech; the riverbank is never quiet, day or night.

The sunken circular fire pit: timber decking wrapped in a full ring of seating around the fire, banked with African-print cushions and bolsters and lit by hurricane lamps; the river lies just below the grass on the left, hippo backs showing in the water. This circular enclosure is the nod to a Maasai manyatta the copy describes.

Inside a suite: a ceiling woven from fine timber strips, a beaded chandelier hanging from it, and a panel of African print set over the sleeping area. Besides the bed, carved low table and upholstered sofa, a full wall of sliding doors on the left opens onto your own deck and day bed, with riverine forest beyond.

Afternoon tea on the river deck: a butler walking over with a tray of drinks, African-print rope armchairs drawn around low round tables laid with tea things, fruit and cake; past the edge is the river with hippo in it, and beyond that the plains and low hills of the Western Corridor.

Official websitehttps://www.andbeyond.com/lodge-editorial/grumeti-serengeti-river-lodge/(opens in a new tab)

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