Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti

One of the best resort in Senerona! Service is excellent! Will be coming again!

One of the best experiences of my life! I was planning a safari for my 60th birthday and convinced our best friends to join us. Little did we know/expect that this was one of the most memorable experiences that we could do. I started planning the trip several months in advance. I worked with Adela in Reservations. She was reliable and always responded in a timely manner. I not only booked the rooms through Adela, but she helped suggest, plan and coordinate all of our activities while we were at the lodge (8 days), including our flights to/from Kilimanjaro to the Seronera air strip. We were met at the Seronera air strip by our driver for the week, Deo. Greeted with sparkling wine, Mimosa's juices, sandwiches and more, Deo was wonderful. He made our magical trip so much better (more later). Our 1 hour trip to the Lodge was a our first game drive. Seeing elephants, giraffe, zebra and wildebeests, among other animals for the first time in their own habitat was remarkable beyond words. Deo explained so much to us about Serengeti, the 'circle of life', respect for the animals, culture and surrounding. We could not wait until our next 'real' game drive... We arrived at the Lodge and were greeted by Masai and staff. A cold towel and delicious cocktail also were welcomed. We were checked in by Grace, a Front Desk wonder. She was kind, hospitable and very accommodating. Grace coordinated our check-in with aplomb, making the entire experience effortless. Almost daily, we would interact with Grace when we would leave for a game drive or return back. Her smile was infectious and her customer service, exemplary! While in Serengeti, we did half and full day game drives to different parts of the Serengeti. We did a Balloon safari, day trip to Ngorongoro Crater, visit to a Masai village, a Bush dinner and so much more. Adela did such a wonderful job organizing everything and Deo assisted by making recommendations on what to do and where to go on each game drive. Our room at the Lodge was large and very comfortable. A large closet and bathroom were clean and spacious. We had a large terrace overlooking a watering hole, where we saw so many animals close by and zebras drinking and cooling off. There were no complaints and the nightly turndown service always included fresh water, a cloth for cleaning glasses and a leather cord keeper for our many phone and electronics. The Lodge is all-inclusive for food and drink. This also included our sumptuous lunches each day while on safari. AMAZING! There were three restaurants with different menus. One restaurant even had a nightly Masai show during dinner. Our weather was near perfect. Because of this, we preferred to dine outside each evening. The staff were so accommodating that they offered us to enjoy dinner from the menus of any restaurant, which we thoroughly enjoyed. We enjoyed a Bush dinner on our last night. A private chef, wait staff and armed ranger to keep us safe, the foo

Where to I begin with this review, some things were incredible but other things let down the experience overall. To start with, the good: The hotel is impressive and offers a range of services, particularly if you have time to relax. After almost 2 weeks of travel it was a nice place to unwind. The spa was lovely and our massages were 5 star! The pool and bar were amazing, especially the view of the waterhole. The food options were good (3 restaurants) but breakfast was definitely the best. The onsite museum was great to spend time looking through. The rooms had good aspects, we booked a waterhole view which had a great view, big bed, large balcony and bath. Later we were upgraded (due to some mishaps, see below) to the suite with a private pool which was very impressive! Now the not so good: The service was hit and miss as other reviews pointed out. The staff were all lovely but our first night at dinner we ordered 4 courses. The mains came out before the starter and entrees and then when informed them it took over 45 minutes for bring our the starters, and they only brought out 1 instead of one each… they the offered to bring out the rest but by that point we just wanted to shower and sleep. Then came the next issue, we get back to our room, start the bath and halfway though filling we realise it’s cold - no hot water! Reception send staff to fix it and after an hour of having three staff in our room when we just wanted to sleep they tell us it would be at least another 2 hours to fix (it’s 11pm at this point). At that point we just went straight to reception and relayed our concerns. We understand these things happen and appreciated them listening and resolving the issue by upgrading our room to the suite, but unfortunately it wasn’t available that night so we had to go to a downgraded room the first night just so that we could shower and sleep. Caused a lot of unpacking/repacking etc. and we were disappointed they didn’t offer to move us sooner or offer any other remedies. A few other negatives: - the food was hit and miss and some staff relayed information wrong (menu options, opening times etc) - the staff were sometimes too attentive, we were interrupted every meal by a manger checking in to see if everything was good, sometimes multiple times a meal. We appreciate this but sometimes less is more. - the place feels like a big hotel and it is packed full. The walls are not thick so we could hear neighbouring rooms (tv, talking etc.) - the staff appear to be given ‘western names’ rather than using their traditional names as they did at all the other places we stayed.