Fleewinter

There are 20 luxury en suite tents with either king size, twin or triple beds. Each tent is built on a raised platform with a veranda offering lovely views of Lake Masek and ideal place to watch the wildlife.

The bedroom area is spacious with tasteful furnishing and the bathroom has twin wash basins, standalone bath plus an outside shower - the perfect way to really feel part of the bush!

The camp is eco-friendly with all the electric power supplied by solar panels and water is collected during the rainy season. All the products used are biodegradable in order to ensure that the environment is kept pristine.

The main house has a lounge and dining are with a large veranda offering a commanding view over the lake. The lounge has comfortable sofas and armchairs grouped together to add an extra feeling of 'cosy'.

All meals are enjoyed in the dining area or outside on the veranda. Bush breakfasts and sundowners in private areas of the park can also be arranged on request.

Lake Masek Tented Camp is located by the shores of Lake Masek in Ndutu, situated between the vast plains of the Serengeti National Park and the northwest side of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Your stay is on a full board basis including house drinks and game drives. You also have the opportunity to walk with an experienced Masai guide who can give you insight to their culture and on request a visit to a Masai home is possible.

From Lake Masek Tented Camp you can visit (some activities are an extra charge):
Olduvai Archeological site - 1 hour from lodge
Laetoli Archeological site - where footprints of 2 Australopithecus afarensis were discovered
Ballon safari to see the migration

The camp is an ideal start to your East Africa holiday and welcomes couples and families.

Southern Serengeti Plains & Ngorongoro Conservation Area
This area is dominated by the vast and seemingly endless short grass plains, between Ngorongoro Conservation Area and Serengeti national Park. Highlands directly south, the Maswa woodlands in the south west and the dramatic Gol Mountains and open plains of Loliondo to the south east and east respectively. The southern plains are at their best between mid December and late May when this whole area comes alive as millions of wildebeest move onto the plains in search of the fresh greengrass after the first rains.

These areas are rich in the phosphorous-rich grasses the wildebeest are after, but after the rains there are few if any sources of permanent water so the grasses rapidly dry out forcing the wildebeest to move on. It's on these surrounding plains that the wildebeest cows will congregate to give birth, in an extraordinarily effective coordinated bout of calving for a period of a month or so around early / mid February. The intention is to overwhelm the predators by sheer numbers when the young calves are at their most vulnerable so, as you'd expect there is lots of lion, hyena and cheetah action during this time and always plenty to see.

In the midst of this space, the Ndutu area with its two shallow soda lakes, provides stark contrast, as the woodlands fan out over the otherwise treeless plains, where the headwaters of Olduvai Gorge have eroded through the hard volcanic pan.

From March to early May,. the air is brilliantly clear from the sporadic storms that can sweep dramatically across the plains at this time of year but which are the saving grace of these months - when amazing flowers, insects & birdlife vie for your attention with the astonishing game concentrations.

As things start drying out by mid May, the herds will start to drift off the plains, gradually heading north west through Moru Kopjes and, by mid June, onwards to the west. Large numbers of gazelles will continue to hang around on the plains, and they in turn keep the cheetah here. Lion and even leopard are never far away, but by June you always have to work a little harder to see predators in this area, after the green months of plenty.

Even as the plains start drying out, there's a good chance of decent elephant sightings in the woodland and cheetah around the edges and we quite often see the smaller cats such as Serval and Caracal, close to the lakes.

The lakes are always sublime and in complete contrast to any other part of the Serengeti, drawing large numbers of flamingos. There is always good bird life around the lakes and in the woodland it is superb, often to people's surprise, even in the dry season.