Tawi Lodge, Amboseli

Where Tawi Lodge is

Tawi Lodge sits on a private conservancy of 3,000 acres, five minutes from Kimana Gate, the eastern entrance to Amboseli National Park, at the foot of Kilimanjaro. You get a private setting and quick access to the park, the best of both worlds for travellers who want quiet in the evening and full game drives by day.

The lodge can host up to 30 guests, which keeps it unhurried. The lodge compound has a solar-powered electric fence, and power is mostly solar with generator backup.

Getting to Tawi Lodge

The lodge is five minutes from Kimana Gate, which is reached from Nairobi via Emali and the tarmac Loitokitok road. Ask us about road and flight arrival options for your dates. Once you arrive, your driver-guide takes you into the park in minutes, so even a short stay holds full game drives.

Kilimanjaro views, honestly

All 13 cottages face Kilimanjaro, and the lodge describes a spectacular view from each one, with the pool deck and main lounge looking over a waterhole. Clear views depend on the season and the time of day. The mountain is in Tanzania, and early morning gives you the best chance of seeing the full summit, with a second window around sunset. Your odds are best from January to February and June to October and lowest from March to May. A stay of two nights or more gives you more than one dawn to try.

At sunrise the lodge brings trays of hot tea and coffee to your cottage, which is a lovely way to check the summit before your game drive.

Cottages and the suite

There are 13 individual cottages on either side of the main lodge building. All are en suite, each with a large lockable wooden chest, spacious hanging cupboards and a fireplace, and one cottage suits wheelchair access. The suite has one double room and one twin room, each with its own entrance and a private veranda with a plunge pool, joined by a lounge, dining area and personal kitchen. It suits families or friends travelling together, and a kosher chef is available for guests who need one.

Facilities and meals

Meals are served in the main dining room or the garden, with picnic breakfasts and lunches on request and special diets catered for with notice. The lodge has a swimming pool with sunbeds on wooden decks overlooking the waterhole, a main lounge with a fireplace and bar, an upper deck lounge, a gift shop, a spa offering massages, manicures, pedicures and reflexology, and an outdoor hot tub. Wi-Fi is free in the main lounge.

A typical day at Tawi Lodge

A tray of tea and coffee arrives at your cottage at sunrise. You set out for a dawn drive, with a picnic breakfast if you prefer, and reach the park within minutes of leaving the lodge. Midday is for the pool above the waterhole or the spa, and the evening is for the fireplace lounge or the outdoor hot tub.

Who Tawi Lodge suits

It suits couples, small families and friends who want privacy, a slower pace and an evening at a waterhole. It pairs with our luxury safari and honeymoon safari, and the suite makes it a strong choice for a family safari. See the full picture on our lodge comparison.

How Tawi Lodge fits our packages

Tawi Lodge is our choice for slow, private stays:

• Amboseli Luxury Safari: four days and three nights with a private guide and an unhurried pace.
• Amboseli Honeymoon Safari: four days and three nights built around quiet drives and a candlelit dinner.
• Amboseli Group and Family Safari: a relaxed pace for families and groups.

Rates at Tawi Lodge

Rates on request: ask us for the current rate for your dates. What a rate includes differs by property and season, so we confirm the price and what it covers in writing before you pay.

Book Tawi Lodge with us

Send your dates and who is travelling. We confirm the cottage or suite and plan an unhurried safari around it.