Rhotia Valley Tented Lodge

Rhotia valley tented lodge in Karatu Tanzania is a wonderful place to stay in Karatu; the tents are great (and allow for a real 'tented-safari experience'), the environment is beautiful, the lounge area and restaurants are simply fabulous.

The link with the orphanage that is run by the same owners makes it even more important to stay in this extraordinary lodge. Truly recommended!

I loved Rhotia, and wished I had an extra few days there. An amazing lodge, totally comfortable with nice touches of hot water bottles tucked into our beds.

The food was lovely and everyone working there were friendly and very accommodating.

I loved the fact that all their produce was fresh and most of it was locally grown within the grounds of the lodge.

My friend, her kids and I went to see the Orphanage and we had the opportunity to dance with the children to Swahili music. They are great kids and full of smiles and joy.

There is a lovely fireplace in the open plan area to warm you up for the chillier evenings.

Eco friendly, each tented lodge had a solar panel to warm up the water and generate power for the lights and charging ones camara battery's etc.

Thank you Marise for making our stay wonderful and thank you to the chef and kitchen staff for sharing recipes with me.

Now that when you book, part of the proceeds go towards the Orphanage.

A warm comforting Lodge which I will be going to again

The lodge has an authentic African expedition flair, no excessive or unnecessary luxury, but all the important things: cleanliness, running warm water, good food (grown in their own garden), friendly staff, access to internet (very important as my mobile phone "found" a new owner a few nights before we arrived at this lodge, and I had no way to change passwords before) and general attention to detail.

More Safari Lodges and Holiday Resorts

They run their own generator and the water boiler is powered by solar energy.

The tents are spacious, have an open feel and beautiful views from the decks.

After sundown it can get a bit chilly, so they have a fireplace in the dining area, there are hot coals placed next to you during dinner and we have found warm water bottles in our bed every night.

Moreover, it's hard to put the finger on exactly why, but we had the feeling that the atmosphere was a great deal more relaxed than on other lodges, the staff seemed to enjoy their work more and to interact better with the guests, probably also because of their better English.

Also, from the general aspect of things, we felt we could trust the hygiene of the cooking more than in other places, again, hard to say precisely why.

Due to the high altitude there are no mosquitos. The landscape is beautiful, with the red earth contrasting with the lush vegetation, and one can experience wonderful sunsets from the bar deck, and in the dark one can discern the lights of Karatu in the distance.

As we used this lodge as a base camp for the nearby parks (Manyara, Ngorongoro) we've experienced the road from the main street to the lodge quite a number of times, and yes, it's rough.

Been holding onto the jeep for dear life every time, but it's part of the experience and a good training if you just start the safari ;)