I enjoyed staying at the Serena Seronera Lodge. The lodge is actually a main reception and restaurant area surrounded by a few dozen small buildings each with 4 guest-rooms in them. Some of the rooms were a bit of a walk from the central area, but ours was right nearby which was nice.

The lodge is located about 30 minutes from the nearest airstrip and park visitors center (which is near the best animal-viewing areas) so every trip out started with a 30 minute drive along bumpy Serengeti roads. The lodge is situated on a mountaintop and would have spectacular views of the Serengeti plains except for all the dense foliage blocking almost all of those views.

The buildings, built in the 1960s, had just a bit of that feel to them with very dark wood stain used everywhere, but they have held up well. They had a distinct African feel to them (or maybe a Disney-version of Africa). Either way, we liked it. They even played African music rather than American Country, like they did at the Serena Mountain Village.

The best part of the Serena Seronera Lodge was the food. Every meal was a buffet (all included in the price of the room) and most of the choices were good. My favorites were their beef stroganoff and their spaghetti with meat sauce. Another real surprise were the box lunches they give you to take on your game drives. They were packed with good eats.

The only drawback to this lodge (and I suspect any place to stay in the Serengeti) is the Tsetse flies. They weren’t disease-carrying, but they are big and very annoying. Also apparently their bite really hurts, but I was fortunate enough not to find out. I wanted to hang out by the pool, or to sit and have a drink at the one spot with a view of the plain, but the flies were so annoying I ended up running out there, getting one quick picture, and running back in.

Every night some of the staff puts on a show in the lounge area: mostly singing, dancing, and acrobatic stunts. It’s pretty good if you are in to that sort of thing. I’m not, but my son and most of the kids there loved it. The beds were hard and uncomfortable and I did have trouble sleeping because of it. (This seems to be the case everywhere in East Africa)

Overall I enjoyed the Serena Seronera Lodge. If I go back to the Serengeti, I might try a different lodge, just to compare, but I would still recommend this one.