Ngorongoro Crater Camp

Ngorongoro Crater Camp sits on a hillside in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area with wide views across the Serengeti plains, a short drive from the rim of the world's largest intact volcanic caldera. The crater floor holds some 25,000 animals including all of the Big Five, black rhino and some of the largest bull tuskers left in Africa, and the camp's guides take guests down early, before the crowds arrive.

Recently refreshed without felling a tree, and now 90% solar powered, the camp has just ten tented suites spaced at least 15 metres apart. Each is 68 sq m, with a king bed, hairdryer, minibar, tea and coffee station, overhead fan and mosquito net, a spacious en-suite bathroom with double vanities and a shower, a raised private deck with Leica binoculars for scanning the plains, and electric heaters for the cold rim nights. Three suites face Mount Makarot and seven look over the Serengeti.

Interiors were made in collaboration with an East African design studio: 97% of the decor is locally made, from a three-metre chandelier of painted jacaranda seed pods to a room divider hand-woven on site from sisal rope. The lounge, Explorer's Lounge, circular bar and boma are angled to catch the sunset. Game drives onto the crater floor are included, and the days can take in Maasai boma visits, the Olduvai Gorge Museum, the Shifting Sands and, from December to March, the wildebeest calving on the Ndutu plains.

Stays are fully inclusive of meals, drinks, game drives, laundry and the transfer from Manyara or Ndutu airstrip. Park and concession fees, the crater service fee and Tanzania's Tourism Development Levy are charged on top. The camp closes each April and May and welcomes children aged 6 and over.