Under the Shade Safari Lodge

Under the Shade Safari Lodge sits in mature gardens on the edge of Arusha, far enough from the town centre to be genuinely quiet, close enough to keep transfers short. Rooms open onto lawn and shade trees, and the pace is deliberately unhurried — this is a place designed for the hours either side of a long-haul flight.

Most guests spend a single night here at the start of a safari and, where the itinerary allows, one more at the end. Meals are straightforward and well cooked, the pool is welcome after a day in transit, and the team is used to early departures, late arrivals and the small logistics of safari travel.

What a night here feels like

You arrive in the dark, are handed a cold drink and shown to a room that smells of clean linen and cut grass. In the morning there is birdsong in the trees, coffee on the terrace, and a vehicle waiting. That is really the whole point of this lodge — it removes friction from the two hardest days of any safari.