Osonjoi Lodge

Inside the Gate, Above the Eastern Descent

Osonjoi Lodge sits on a forested hill just back from the eastern rim of the Ngorongoro Crater at about 8,000 feet, inside the park gate and a few minutes’ drive from the eastern descent road. Crater’s Edge and Lion’s Paw are its neighbors, and the three together give us the best position on the crater.

• First Onto the Floor: The eastern descent road is faster and far less used than the western roads, and from the lodge guests reach the crater floor within 15 to 20 minutes. The gate opens at 6:00 am, and the vehicles that go down in the first half hour have the floor to themselves until the lodges on the western rim arrive an hour later.
• The Quiet Quadrant: The eastern descent lands you in the Rumbe Hills and the eastern plains, the part of the crater with the fewest vehicles, especially in the early morning and late afternoon when the lions and hyenas are active.
• A Full Day Below the Rim: The lodge packs a private catered hot lunch to a site on the crater floor, so a full day can be spent below without the climb back up at midday. Ngoitokitok Springs, with its hippo pool, is the classic picnic site.
• Cold Nights: The rim is high and the temperature can drop toward freezing before dawn. Bring a warm jacket, a hat, and gloves for the descent, and expect to shed them all by mid-morning on the floor.
• Getting There: Osonjoi is the last stop on most of our itineraries, reached by road from the southern Serengeti via Naabi Hill and Olduvai Gorge, or from Tarangire and Lake Manyara, with the Lake Manyara airstrip the nearest for fly-in guests. Arusha is about three and a half hours by road.

The lodge is unfenced. Buffalo and the occasional elephant wander through the forest around the suites after dark, bushbuck and waterbuck graze on the slopes, and Maasai askaris escort you to and from your suite.

Africa’s Garden of Eden, From the East Side

The Ngorongoro Crater is the largest intact volcanic caldera on earth, roughly ten miles across with walls 2,000 feet high, a natural amphitheater holding some 25,000 large animals year-round at the highest predator density in Africa: around 60 lions in several prides and spotted hyena clans that, unusually, do most of the killing here with the lions scavenging from them. Osonjoi’s eastern descent puts you into the quietest part of it first.

• Rumbe Hills: The long-grass hills at the foot of the eastern descent are the first thing you see each morning and typically offer extraordinary predator viewing, lion and hyena especially, in the early and late hours. The crater’s big buffalo herds graze here, with the resident lions and hyenas rarely far from them, and the long grass is the best place in the crater for serval.
• Central Plains: The heart of the crater floor, open grassland where the lion prides, hyena clans, and the crater’s few cheetah hunt in full view, and where the black-maned lions of Ngorongoro, anything but tame but long used to vehicles, can often be found seeking shade in the shadow of your Land Cruiser. Wildebeest, zebra, gazelle, and eland graze here in numbers that never leave.
• Lake Magadi: The soda lake at the center of the floor draws thousands of flamingos to the shallows, with golden jackals and hyenas patrolling the salt pans around it and the lions of the Magadi side ambushing along the shore.
• Lerai Forest: The yellow-barked fever tree forest on the western edge of the floor is where the crater’s enormous old bull elephants, some of the biggest tuskers left in Africa, spend their days among the acacias, and where leopard rest in the boughs. Emerge onto the open floor from here with your eyes open for black rhino.
• Gorigor Swamp: A permanent wetland in the southern crater where the old bull elephants graze in the reeds, hippo surface in the pools, and lions lie up in the papyrus; one of the most reliable places on the floor for big game in the dry season.
• Munge Stream and Mandusi Swamp: The stream that drains the northern wall feeds the Mandusi Swamp, a water source for birds, hippo, and the black rhino that come to drink here. The crater holds one of the last viable black rhino populations in Tanzania, and the northern swamps and the open ground near them are where most sightings happen.
• Ngoitokitok Springs: The classic crater picnic site, a spring-fed pool on the eastern side where hippo grunt a few yards from the picnic tables, black kites dive for sandwiches, and the view takes in the whole floor. Osonjoi’s private catered lunch sites are nearby, so the eastern rim lodges can make a full day of it.

On the Rim

Buffalo and the occasional elephant in the forest around the suites after dark, bushbuck and waterbuck on the slopes, tree hyraxes screaming in the mist, and the crater’s black-maned lions sometimes heard from the deck.

Twenty Suites With a Wood Stove in Every One

Osonjoi Lodge has 20 suites spaced well apart through the forest, among the most spacious on the crater rim, each with large picture windows and a private deck facing the trees.

• Suites (18): An oversized bedroom with a king bed (twins on request), a separate lounge with a sofa, a hidden nook with a daybed beside the fire, a dressing area, and an en-suite bathroom with a double vanity, walk-in shower, and a freestanding bathtub set in front of the window. A third bed can be added for a triple.
• Two-Bedroom Suites (2): Two bedrooms and bathrooms sharing a central lounge, for families or two couples traveling together.
• In Every Suite: A slow-burning wood stove, winter-weight duvets, and hot water bottles at turndown for the cold highland nights, plus WiFi, safe, hairdryer, tea and coffee, bathrobes, fridge, mosquito nets, and charging points. Fully solar powered.
• Families: Children welcome, with a kids’ activity program for ages 12 and under.

• Full Board with House Drinks: All meals with menus built around highland seasonality, house wines, beers, spirits, and soft drinks included, with champagne and premium labels extra. WiFi and laundry included.
• Indoor Heated Pool: The crater’s only indoor pool, solar heated and glassed in with floor-to-ceiling windows onto the forest.
• Forest Spa: A separate spa suite among the trees with massages and treatments daily.
• Lounge, Bar, and Library: A double-height main pavilion with a fireplace lounge, bar, dining room, and a curated library.
• Fire Deck and Sundowners: An outdoor viewing deck with a roaring fire where sundowners are served every evening as the mist comes over the rim.
• Crater Floor Lunches: A fully catered private hot lunch set up on the crater floor so you can spend the whole day below the rim, or a gourmet picnic breakfast for the dawn descent.
• Guided Walks: Escorted walks in the highland forest and along the crater rim with an armed ranger and a Maasai guide.
• Cultural Visits: The nearby Irkepushi Maasai boma, and the Mto wa Mbu village tuk-tuk tour on the way to or from the crater.
• Practical Comforts: Maasai askari escorts after dark, credit cards accepted, a small shop, and daily laundry.
• Sustainability: Fully off-grid and solar powered, no single-use plastics, local and recycled materials, and furnishings from local women’s cooperatives.