Sangaiwe Tented Lodge Review: Tarangire National Park Tanzania

We stayed at the Sangaiwe Tented Lodge for one night — the last night of our actual safari — in Tarangire National Park Tanzania.

And this was it — this was our last safari lodge before ending our Kenya & Tanzania safari before we headed off for a few beach days in Zanzibar. By this time, we were worn out — we were tired of the long days in the car, getting jostled every which way on the rugged roads, and to be honest, we were tired of looking at animals. We saw it all; we saw the “Big Five” – each animal multiple times — we had our fill and were ready to move on. Before we got to this lodge, we had a game drive in nearby Tarangie National Park.

Tarangie National Park in Tanzania is known for its large herds of elephants, but by this time of the trip, we saw plenty of elephants that it didn’t phase us anymore. The other cool thing about Tarangie National Park is that it’s home to baobab trees, which we hadn’t seen on our trip. But overall, by this time, we were over it. And it was hot as hell — we had not experienced any extremely warm temperatures on our trip so far until this. Here is my full honest take of Sangaiwe Tented Lodge review.

We cut our game drive short and headed to the lodge. We had experienced all the ups and downs of these safari lodges — from rustic tents to luxury — and we didn’t have high hopes for the Sangaiwe Tented Lodge — for the simple reason that it had “tented lodge” in its name. Ugh.

But ultimately, this place wasn’t that bad. It was one of the better places we stayed on our trip through East Africa. Let’s get into my review:

Arriving at the Sangaiwe Tented Lodge – Where is it?

Sangaiwe Tented Lodge is close to Tarangire National Park but like most of these places, your safari tour operator is going to be booking these accommodations for you, and when you’re on safari, you’re not driving and you’re not going to know where the hell you are at any given time during your trip.

The check in desk is located at the bottom of a hill where your safari vehicle will park. You’ll check in here and get some juice, which was much-needed on this blazing hot day. If you need to use the restroom, there are toilets near the kiosk.

The thing about this place is after check in, you will need to haul ass uphill to your room — and it’s very steep! Porters will take your bags, but there are no golf carts or anything to assist with this walk, so needless to say, the lodge is NOT handicap accessible! I can’t stress enough how steep this is — this is not a proper lodge for anyone with any sort of mobility issues.

Yet once again, we were the only guests at this lodge when we checked in. After we got settled in our room, my sister and I threw on our swimsuits to hang out in the pool and listen for any cars pulling up to the check-in counter down the hill. Nobody came until close to dinner time — there was a couple that appeared to be on their honeymoon, so we were relieved.

Rooms at the Sangaiwe Tented Lodge

Each of these ‘tents’ are more like huts and they’re all on stilts, so you’ll need to walk up some stairs to reach your room. However, they don’t feel at all tent-like — this was much nicer than the Angaata Seronera Camp we stayed at in the Serengeti. We had a room with two queen beds, a huge bathroom and a private porch. The room was huge and was similar to the other lodges we stayed in on safari. The tents are spaced out from each other so you have a decent amount of privacy here.

The one thing different at this lodge is that power is solar power and you are not allowed to use high-powered appliances like a hair dryer. I’m someone who loves my hair dryer so I wasn’t thrilled with that, but hey, it’s one night, I survived. We had no trouble charging our devices or any issues with hot water for showers. But there was only one other guest staying at the lodge; this might be a bigger issue if you stay during a busier time.

Even though the lodge was on a hill, vegetation was much too dense to see a view. Maybe during other times of the year you could see further out, but in late March, there wasn’t anything to see.

RELATED: We booked our entire safari experience through SafariBookings.com

At night, you can hear lions roaring and elephants stomping around right outside your room. I’ve mentioned this before in other safari lodge reviews — part of me absolutely loves this and part of me is scared shitless! It’s really freaky to wake up at 2 am to the sound of a lion roaring much too close to your room.

This is not a fenced property, so if you need to go wandering around after sunset, you’ll need to summon a guide.

Amenities at the Sangaiwe Tented Lodge

Chances are, you’ll be on a full-board package, so you’ll get breakfast, lunch and dinner here. There is a pool, which we used, as it was incredibly hot. Laundry is available but it priced per item — think $4 USD for one pair of underwear. We really needed to do laundry but we ended up just washing our grungy undies in the sink.

Wifi is available near the restaurant, as with most safari lodges.

Meals at the Sangaiwe Tented Lodge

Again, like all the safari lodges we stayed at, it was just okay. Dinner was served family-style, so staff will come around with dishes and you can pick and chose which ones you want, and they’ll serve it up on your plate. Breakfast was a buffet, even though there were only a total of 4 guests, including my sister and I, staying at the lodge. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t amazing by any means.

Final Thoughts – Sanagaiwe Tented Lodge – Tarangire National Park

Overall, it was decent and I guess I’d stay here again. The tents/bungalows were pretty nice and we didn’t have any issues. The pool was relaxing and felt amazing after a hot game drive. Food was mid, but after being on safari, it’s ALL mid, so whattya going to do? There are probably better places to stay near Tarangire National Park, but there are probably worse spots too. Here is the official site if you’re interested in learning more: https://www.bougainvilleagroup.com/sangaiwe-tented-lodge/