Mwiba Lodge

You fly into Kilimanjaro International Airport on your international flight, and from Arusha nearby we put you on a light aircraft to the airstrip serving the private Mwiba reserve on the southern boundary of the Serengeti, from where a game drive brings you to camp. We build these connections into your itinerary so the timings line up in a day.

Seats are shared and the exact departure is fixed the day before, once the airline sets its routing, so the final timings firm up close to the day. If you would prefer your own timings, we can arrange a private charter, typically a Cessna Caravan or Pilatus PC-12, direct to the Mwiba strip. Luggage is soft bags only, with a weight limit of around 15 to 20kg depending on the airline, which we confirm with you before you pack.

Yes. The Serengeti sits below 1,800 metres, and current UK guidance from TravelHealthPro treats all of mainland Tanzania below that height as a malaria area. The cooler nights at this altitude reduce the risk compared with the coast, but they do not remove it, so the camps provide screened tents, nets and repellent, and antimalarial tablets and covering up after dark remain the real protection.

Health advice can change from year to year, so we always ask you to confirm the current position with a travel clinic or your doctor before you travel, and to take the usual care against bites after dark.

The Serengeti is warm by day, usually in the low to high twenties, and cooler at night and in the early morning, often in the mid-teens, so dawn drives in an open vehicle feel cold.

Pack light layers with a fleece for early starts, in neutral colours, plus a wide-brimmed hat, sunglasses and good sunscreen. If you travel in the green season, add a light waterproof; the long rains of March to May are the wettest stretch.

Mwiba sits on the southern boundary in its own private reserve, close to the short-grass plains where the wildebeest calve. From roughly January to March the calving draws great numbers of wildebeest and their young into the southern Serengeti, and Mwiba's position gives you a private view of it. Outside those months the going is less certain here, with game density varying more than in the park's core corridors.

Being a private reserve, every booking comes with a private guide and vehicle, and the guided walks and night drives the national park never permits. Because the ground is shared with only a single sister camp, vehicle numbers stay low and the plateau can feel like your own for days, so three nights repays it well and pairs with a northern camp or Ngorongoro.

Yes. Two pairs of suites interconnect for families, and the reserve's freedom to walk, drive at night and visit the Hadza, Datoga, Maasai and Sukuma communities gives children more than drives alone.

The suites step down a granite slope on walkways, so tell us the ages and we will confirm the layout and how the lodge sets up the days.

The Serengeti has patchy coverage that is better than Tanzania's remote south and west but far from guaranteed. Expect wifi in the main area of camp, often slow, and some mobile signal that comes and goes and disappears out on the plains.

It suits messages and email rather than calls or streaming. Tell us if you need to stay reliably reachable and we will confirm what this camp currently offers before you travel.