HOTELS & CAMPS

Ziwani Lodge

SignatureLuxuryUltra-luxuryLake Eyasi

Wilderness the whole way — and then, at the end of it, a small oasis of white walls, stone and timber. What moved us is not the luxury but the sheer improbability of it being there. If Lake Eyasi is on your route and the budget allows, this is where we send you, almost without deliberating.

Why it spans several tiers

At Lake Eyasi we use Ziwani for the Signature, Luxury and Ultra-luxury tiers alike — and the same room type in each. The reason is simple: quality accommodation in the Lake Eyasi area is extremely limited, and Ziwani is the best and most complete option there is. This is not us failing to look for alternatives; it is us refusing to move you to somewhere worse purely to manufacture a difference between tiers. If you would like something different for this night, see the alternative below.

Why we chose it

The drive to Lake Eyasi is a study in contrast: hours deep into remote, dry, empty country with barely a substantial building in sight — and then this appears, a small lodge of whitewashed walls, stone and timber doors, as finished as an oasis that has surfaced in the middle of the bush. It draws on Zanzibari and Arab architecture and has a real character of its own; it is not the standardised safari lodge you meet everywhere else in Tanzania.

And it is not only good-looking. There are just 7 free-standing rooms, each generous, with a large bathroom and its own veranda — though the best view of all is from the roof terrace, straight out over Lake Eyasi and the Rift Valley at sunset. There is a pool, and the whole place is quiet and genuinely private. Guest feedback in recent years on staff, food, room comfort and the setting has been consistently strong.

What to know

It is, after all, in a very remote part of the Lake Eyasi region, and cannot be held to the standard of a city boutique hotel. Power is solar and wind; rooms are cooled by the way the building is made and by natural ventilation rather than powerful air conditioning; and the open design means insects are harder to keep out entirely than in a sealed hotel. Some recent guests have also mentioned patchy in-room WiFi.

One more thing worth saying plainly: it is an excellent hotel for the Lake Eyasi area, but that is not the same as matching the truly top-end luxury camps of the Serengeti on hardware. We choose it because, this far out, it achieves a standard of design, comfort, outlook and service that is genuinely rare.

If it is full

Kisima Ngeda Tented Camp — the other camp of character in the Lake Eyasi area; it prices above Ziwani, so it works as a stand-in at Signature tier and up.

A stone compound with crenellated walls and a square tower, set down on open ground; doum palms across the plain, then Lake Eyasi, then the wall of the Rift Valley on the far shore. There is no second building like it for tens of kilometres — “an oasis in the wilderness” is meant literally.

The lounge: whitewashed walls, exposed timber beams and wooden shutters, brass lanterns, Moroccan-style tea tables and a great many coloured cushions. The Zanzibari and Arab influence is strong — nothing like the usual Tanzanian safari lodge.

The room as it is: hand-finished walls, timber beams, a four-poster under mosquito nets and a solid wood desk — and a door that opens straight onto your own veranda and the light over the palms. There are only 7 of these.

The pool sits in a courtyard enclosed by earth walls, sandstone underfoot, a row of loungers beneath a timber pergola. Eyasi days are dry and hot; this water counts for far more here than it would elsewhere.

Official websitehttps://exclusivepropertiestz.com/ziwani-lodge/(opens in a new tab)

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