Minor Hotels’ Elewana Collection has recently launched its new Explorer brand, with the first lodge to open in the Serengeti next year. Elewana has 16 luxury properties across East Africa.

Serengeti Explorer is scheduled to open in March, Ngorongoro Explorer will follow later in the year, and Tarangire Explorer is scheduled to open in 2025.

Serengeti Explorer will offer a central, yet private location with panoramic views, extensive facilities and a competitive price point catering for an underrepresented market between budget and full luxury.

The lodge is high up on the Nyaboro Hills and offers an ideal location from which to see the Great Migration. It has 68 well-appointed explorer rooms and six suites. All rooms have a private balcony and configurations that cater for couples, friends, families and special groups of all sizes, with interconnecting rooms and rooms with wheelchair access.

A wide selection of dining options range from a chef’s table located within an extensive wine cellar with an on-site sommelier, to a Boma restaurant offering a bush dinner of African and Swahili signature dishes under the Serengeti sky.

The main restaurant, poolside bistro and bar, and deli and coffee shop will all serve up an array of dishes celebrating the farm-to-table culture.

Serengeti Explorer aims to offer guests a fully immersive holiday experience, with a range of activities as well as game drives. A children’s bushcraft centre will cater for families, while an outdoor cinema will show African movie classics as well as more current releases.

African culture will be a central theme of Serengeti Explorer with an art gallery showcasing local talent as well as local crafts available for purchase in the retail centre.

A creative photo studio equipped with useful technology and an on-site expert ensure that guests take away their best images from the experience. Walking safaris with experienced guides will also be available.

A stargazing deck with an on-site astronomy guide allows guests to enjoy a night safari under the African sky. 

Serengeti Explorer is built on the site of the previous Serengeti Sopa Lodge and reconstruction will not cause unnecessary disruption to the environment. The room count is exactly the same, to avoid adding extra population pressure to the fragile ecosystem.