Chem Chem Safari Lodge Crowned Africa’s Best Safari Hotel: Here’s Why

WEDNESDAY July 2, 2025

By The Tranquility News Correspondent, Tanzania

Chem Chem Safari Lodge sandwiched by Tanzania’s Tarangire and Lake Manyara national parks in Babari District has disclosed the secret behind two prizes it scooped at the World Travel Awards (WTAs) Africa and Indian Ocean Gala Ceremony 2025 concluded in Dar es Salaam over the weekend.

Tanzania hosted the ceremony for the first time since its inception in 1993, giving room to at least 10 of its national parks as well as investors in travel, tourism and hospitality industries to effectively participate in it.

Chem Chem Safari, a stylish and secluded five-star hotel from where the ‘Slow Safari’ model was curated for a lifetime experience, emerged the winner in two categories of the awards, namely The Best Luxurious Lodge in Tanzania and The Best Luxurious Lodge in Africa.

The model comprising walking safaris, giraffes tracking on foot along with Maasai pastoralist community warriors, and savouring sundowners on the edge of Lake Manyara National Park apparently attracted large numbers of enthusiasts and subscribers to the WTA platform to vote for the lodge.

Nestled within lush greenery of Burunge Wildlife Management Area, a tourist just has to stand at his or her bedroom window and, at a close range, to stare at a tower – a collective name for giraffes, thanks to the majesty and stature of the world’s tallest terrestrial animals.

Babati District Commissioner Emmanuela Kaganda and Jorg Weytjens, Chem Chem Safari Lodge Operations Manager, however, say quality service, customer care, discipline, dedication, and cooperation among staff equally contributed to the victory.

“This is without forgetting Fabia Bausch and Nicolaus Negre jointly investing in the godsend and the Samia Suluhu Administration creating a friendly environment for tourists to flock into the country, leaving behind the much-sought foreign exchange and promoting the industry back home,” DC Kaganda says.

On behalf of President Samia Suluhu Hassan, she adds, efforts of Babati District, Manyara Regional Commissioner Queen Sendiga, and the regional administrative secretariat in advocating for conservation and promoting tourist hotspots in the region are now beginning to bear fruits.

Besides the lodge, the WMA with high density of wildlife animals on the fringes of Lake Manyara, among other sites, also offers game drive and photographic tourism. The government has, in its bid to conserve the area and ward off persistent poaching crimes, devised a land use plan.

Weytjens stresses that cooperation among staff and with the surrounding community, the government, and other travel, tourism, and hospitality industry players is high on agenda of the lodge credited for accommodating eminent personalities and super stars.

“We’re excited to clinch these awards. Indeed, the dream of our founders, Fabia and Nicholaus, to provide finest services on the continent has come true,” says Chem Chem Safari Lodge Manager Elizabeth Wambui, commending the entire Burunge community for practicing hospitality.

Mouth-watering cuisines prepared contribute to attracting tourists from across the globe, Chem Chem Safari Lodge’s Chief Chef Jimmy Ngira observes.

“Last year we were declared the winner in this category in Africa,” he explains.

Tanzania bagged 27 awards in this year’s WTAs African and Indian Ocean Gala Ceremony, with conservation and tourism state-run institutions alone clinching 11 of them, including in categories of best attractions, best tourist board, best safari tourism country, and best airports, with an eye on national parks’ air strips.

The private sector swept 16 awards, in turn, in categories of best hotels, best safari tourism outfits, hotels with best services, and best beach hotels, among othersΩ