The Ngorongoro Serena Lodge is located on the very rim of the world-famous Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania. Its views down into the crater of this extinct volcano, now the protected home for thousands of animals, is breath-taking. The public areas - dining room and bar - allow you to sit and take it in, as do the private verandas that all rooms have. It means that your visit to the crater begins and ends when you arrive and leave the lodge, not just on the game drives you enjoy in your private safari vehicle.

The Ngorongoro Serena has seventy-five rooms and is built from local granite river rocks over which ivy and other indigenous plants have grown. Each of the hotel's rooms has a balcony that is enclosed by rocks. It was built to be a perfect, fit with its environment but this does not mean that the rooms are not luxurious. The Ngorongoro Serena boasts all the amenities of a deluxe hotel anywhere in the world. All of the rooms are air-conditioned and include telephones. Among the various aesthetic touches: the interior of the hotel is decorated with cave paintings and in the centre of the building there is a fire that is kept burning perpetually. The fire and the cave-paintings are references to the idea that this part of Africa was the birthplace of humanity.

The local game that can be seen in the area include the black rhinoceros, elephants, and lions. As for the local people, they belong to the Masai tribe which came to inhabit the area in the 19th century. There are tours of the area offered, including a guided walk to the rim of the caldera and trips to Masai villages. The Olduvai Gorge, an important source of prehistoric artefacts and evidence of early mankind, is also nearby.

The Ngorongoro Serena Hotel is located right on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater. The crater is actually a caldera, or dormant volcano. The hotel's location gives visitors spectacular views of the crater below, while the building's design hides it from view while on the crater's floor.

The Ngorongoro conservation area allows local tribesmen to live there while at the same time providing protected status for the area's animals. The Ngorongoro Crater is a part of the conservation area and is considered to be one of the wonders of the world.

Who should visit the Ngorongoro Lodge? Those interested in African archaeology would certainly find the experience worthwhile given the hotel's location. Likewise, those interested in anthropology may enjoy the stories and artefacts of the Masai, who perform nightly dances for guests. Anyone interested in photography, and pictures of nature in particular, should certainly find the views of the crater worth a few hundred pictures. For those who want a simpler kind of vacation, the Ngorongoro Crater offers the opportunity to enjoy luxury in an environment unlike any other.