Elewana The Manor at Ngorongoro

Each of the Manor Cottage Suites incorporates traditional Cape Dutch architecture and interior design, providing an elegant and luxurious space for you to relax throughout your stay. The suites all have their own independent entrances to allow you maximum privacy. The spacious bedrooms consist of a plush king-size bed, fitted with soft and breathable linen. There is also enough space for an additional bed if necessary. The bedrooms connect to a comfortable living area with sofas, armchairs and a log-burning fireplace. Each room has a private bathroom which features a Victorian-style claw-footed tub, twin basins, and a luxurious rainfall shower. Soap, shampoo and conditioner will be provided for you, as well as bathrobes and slippers. Guests can make use of the tea and coffee making facilities, which can be enjoyed alongside your complimentary jar of cookies.

The Stable Cottage is ideal for families, consisting of three bedrooms and bathrooms. The master bedroom and a twin bedroom are located on the ground floor, with an additional twin room on the second floor. Downstairs also features a lounge with sofas, armchairs and a log-burning fireplace, a TV room and a dining room. Guests staying at the Stable Cottage can choose to dine privately in the cottage or to join their fellow guests at the manor’s restaurant. Enjoy the sweeping views from your private sun terrace, and take this amazing opportunity to spend time together, surrounded by a beautiful landscape.

Each of the bathrooms includes a Victorian-style claw-footed tub, twin basins, and a luxurious rainfall shower. One of the bathrooms is a Toddler’s Bathroom, specifically designed to cater for younger guests. Soap, shampoo and conditioner will be provided for you, as well as bathrobes and slippers. Guests can make use of the tea and coffee making facilities, which can be enjoyed alongside your complimentary jar of cookies.

Guests at The Manor at Ngorongoro can look forward to 3 delicious meals each day, all made with fresh ingredients which are mostly grown on the manor’s farm. Start your morning with a selection of cereals, muesli, fruits and bread. Order from a range of cooked breakfast options including freshly-made pancakes, toasted brioche, or a full English. Lunch can be enjoyed either at the lodge or on the floor of the crater. Guests dining at the manor can enjoy a range of options from the a la carte menu including salads, pasta and burgers, as well as a sweet dessert. Dinner is served from 7 pm onwards and is a five-course affair. Enjoy appetizers, a starter and three main dishes before indulging in a delicious dessert. Vegetarian options are available and the manor can cater for other dietary requirements if notified in advance.

Venture out in one of Elewana’s specially-designed safari vehicles and visit the Ngorongoro Crater, the world’s largest inactive, intact and unfilled volcanic crater which was formed when a volcano collapsed in on itself over 2 million years ago. The crater is 2,000 feet deep and it is estimated that the original volcano would have been between 15 thousand and 19 thousand feet high. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area which surrounds the caldera is home to an abundance of birdlife and wildlife, with a resident population of approximately 25,000 large mammals, including the Ngorongoro Lions who live within this natural enclosure. Guests visiting during January and February will also be able to witness the wildebeest calving season, where 8,000 new calves are introduced to the world each day.

Explore the estate and coffee farm on horseback and take in the incredible sights around the manor. Guests can enjoy wandering through the grounds, admiring the lush greenery and abundant coffee plants. The stables have a selection of horses and ponies to cater for different ages and levels of experience. Spend an afternoon with one of these beautiful and intelligent creatures and enjoy exploring together.

Guests can take a day trip to either the Lake Manyara National Park or the historic Olduvai Gorge. Lake Manyara National Park features a range of diverse landscapes including dense forests, sweeping grasslands and Lake Manyara – a soda lake that covers a large portion of the park and attracts thousands of pink greater and lesser flamingos. Lake Manyara National Park is home to a range of wildlife including tree-climbing lions and a large population of elephants.

Olduvai Gorge is an incredible historical site, where palaeontologists have found fossilized bipedal footprints that are over 3 million years old. The Laetoli footprints show the development of our early ancestors as they learned to walk on two feet. This site is also where the first Proconsul skull was discovered – belonging to a direct ancestor of homo sapiens. Guests can also wander along the Shifting Sands, black volcanic ash dunes that span 9 metres in height and 100 meters in curve length.

Guests are invited to take a guided walk around the Shangri-La coffee estate and learn about the process of growing coffee and harvesting the beans before drying them and using them to create the plantation’s signature coffee blends.

Explore the grounds’ picturesque gardens and 1500-acre coffee estate on two wheels on an exciting mountain bike ride. Guests can enjoy the stunning views from the trail that wraps around the hills that surround the estate and take in the beautiful scenery at their own pace.

Elewana is a steadfast partner and supporter of the Land and Life Foundation, a charity committed to supporting local people and preserving wildlife and their habitats. Because Elewana covers 100% of their operational costs, all donations can go straight towards their amazing projects. The Foundation focuses on 4 types of programs to achieve its goals: the Wildlife Warrior Program, nature conservation, medical support and education support.

The Wildlife Warriors Program was designed for the purposes of sharing conservational knowledge between generations, encouraging innovative thinking and proactivity in wildlife conservation. It’s the ultimate aim to take the most talented children through to tertiary levels of education so they can become the top conservationists of the next generation. Across Tanzania and Kenya, there are already over 2000 children as part of this program, and around 40 have been awarded scholarships that will take them all the way through their primary and secondary education.

The Land and Life Foundation works to ensure local communities in Laikipia and the Maasai Mara have access to quality healthcare. They have been supporting the Aitong Health Centre in the Maasai Mara for 8 years through providing medical supplies and hold free clinics, and in 2018 they partnered with Ewaso Dispensary in Laikipia. So far, 4,520 patients have been treated free of charge and donated vast sums of medical treatments/equipment including:

• Antibiotics, antihistamines and multivitamins
• Hormonal contraceptives and pregnancy tests
• Blood pressure machines and cuffs
• Syringes and needles
• Oxygen pumps and gauges
• First-aid kits

Land and Life Foundation supports a number of schools in key conservation areas across Tanzania and Kenya as they understand the need of ensuring that communities in these areas can actively benefit from tourism. Elsa’s Kopje Meru is nearby to Ura Gate Primary School, one of the schools supported by Elewana and the Foundation. Currently, there are 385 children and 15 teachers. Fundraising has helped the school’s infrastructure to support this student population through developing 12 permanent classrooms, a dining hall and kitchen, a toilet block, a computer room and 3 houses for teachers.

Elewana is committed to its responsibility of nature conservation, with a focus on protecting areas that fall outside of national parks and reserves. The Land and Life Foundation is working on a large scale project to mitigate conflict between human and elephant populations. Elephants will often leave protected reserves and raid the crops of nearby villages, which in turn causes retaliation from the farmers who are losing their livelihoods. For this reason, there are programs designed to negate these hostilities by protecting farming lands and providing safe deterrents to ward away the elephants without harming them before they can damage crops.

Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers founded Zoo Check in 1984 to fight against the mistreatment of zoo animals and for their welfare after the premature death of an orphaned elephant Pole Pole. Zoo Check would later become the Born Free Foundation in 1998. The Foundation now encompasses numerous campaigns including Zoo Check, the Elefriends Campaign, Wolf Campaign, Dolphin Campaign, Primate Campaign, Big Cat Campaign, and the Bear Campaign. It’s their aim to change attitudes towards animal captivity and promote the welfare of animals across the globe.

Elewana has banned plastic bottles at their camps and lodges and provides each new guest with a reusable aluminium bottle that can be filled up at the properties.

‘Historically, when reusable bottles were introduced to six of Elewana’s camps in Kenya, this was shown to prevent over 160,000 non-biodegradable plastic bottles a year from ending up in landfills. At the beginning of 2019, we were the first in East Africa to eliminate the use of plastic straws. We now offer biodegradable paper straws and encourage guests to go to ‘War with the straw’.’

Elewana’s camps and lodges also employ recycling systems to reduce waste. For instance, glass is sent to the Shanga workshop in Arusha, where disadvantaged Tanzanians are able to use the glass for creating artwork and jewellery which are then sold to provide the artists with an income to support themselves and their families.