Most overland routes through northern Tanzania pass within a few kilometres of our gate. Dolly Escape is a campsite near Arusha on Dolly Estate, a private wildlife estate of around 200 hectares below Mount Meru at Usa River, about 35 minutes from Arusha town and 45 minutes from Kilimanjaro Airport. You pitch your own tent, or sleep in the roof tent, on a shaded pitch above the Usa River, and use the same kitchen, pool and fire as the guests in the safari tents.
What a campsite near Arusha should have
The pitches are spacious and shaded, and they take a ground tent or a rooftop setup. There are clean, stone-built toilets and hot showers, a camp kitchen where you can wash up and plug in, and a barbecue area if you travel with your own grill. Evenings are around the campfire. There is night security, and the estate is bushland rather than a yard beside the road: eland, zebra, wildebeest and gazelle live on it, and over 400 bird species have been counted here. Pets are welcome.
If you would rather not cook, the restaurant and bar look over the river. Breakfast is served there, and lunch and dinner come from the Chef’s Table. There is no menu. Tell the kitchen what you cannot or will not eat, and it cooks around that with whatever the organic farm picked that morning. Wi-Fi reaches the common areas and works for everyday use. The camp, the pool and the river are described on the camp page.
Stay three nights and the estate is yours
Overlanders who pitch for three nights or more at this campsite near Arusha get the same run of the place as camp guests: the horses, the farm walk, the pool and the Chef’s Table.
The horse safari is 90 minutes at a relaxed pace, straight out of the camp with Jackson, our guide, among the eland and zebra. All levels, two riders at a time, closed shoes, long trousers, and a rider weight of up to 95 kg. The farm tour, about 45 minutes through the gardens that feed the kitchen, is our gift to every guest.
The 4×4 experience is an hour and a half through the estate in Willi, our 1960s Land Rover, for a minimum of two guests. There is a tea ceremony in the medicinal garden, a massage by the river if you book a day ahead, and bikes with helmets if you want to see the estate on two wheels. Nothing is scheduled until you want it to be; book the first activity when you reserve the pitch and decide the rest at breakfast.
Service the vehicle, and yourselves
A few nights in one place is when the kit gets dried, the dust gets washed off and the vehicle gets the attention it has been asking for since the last corrugated road. The estate is a good place for that before the next leg, and a campsite near Arusha has a practical advantage: town is about 35 minutes away for anything you need to buy.
The other thing a campsite near Arusha gives you is Arusha National Park next door. Most itineraries skip it, which is a pity: the Momella Lakes, Ngurdoto Crater, the forest on the slopes of Mount Meru, and black-and-white colobus monkeys, which you will find here but not in most other northern parks. It works as a half day or a full day, and you can canoe on the Momella Lakes inside the park, or on Lake Duluti nearby. Further out: a coffee village on the slopes of Kilimanjaro, the waterfall at the foot of Meru, the markets in Arusha and 18 holes at Kiligolf.
Ending the trip at Kilimanjaro Airport
Many overland journeys begin or end at Kilimanjaro Airport, 45 minutes from the gate, which is the other reason to pick a campsite near Arusha for the last nights. Campers often combine a few nights on the pitch with a last night or two in a safari tent: a proper bed under a mosquito net, a hot shower, an en-suite toilet, and a terrace a few steps from the water. Check-in in the tents is from 14:00 and check-out by 11:00.
If you stay four nights or more in a tent and book directly with us, the return transfers to Kilimanjaro Airport are included. Otherwise a transfer is USD 50 per vehicle, which generally takes four people with luggage, or six without.
How to book a pitch
Camping at this campsite near Arusha is reserved directly with us, not through the online booking page. Send a WhatsApp to +255 762 987 712 or an email to reservations@dollyescape.com with your dates, the number of people, and whether you bring your own tent or a roof tent, and we confirm availability by return. The details are on the camping ground page.
For a tent at the camp before or after your pitch, check availability at dollyescape.com/book-now.
