Gibb’s Farm Karatu

Gibb's Farm sits on the outer slopes of the Ngorongoro Highlands, about 5 km from Karatu, halfway between Lake Manyara and the Crater. The Ngorongoro gate is about 30 minutes away.

A Working Organic Farm

This is a historic organic farm and family coffee plantation of more than 80 acres. The land was first planted with coffee in the early 1900s, and James and Margaret Gibb opened it as a guesthouse in the 1970s. Today thirty acres are under coffee, ten grow vegetables and fruit, and five are given to flowers and herbs. There is also a dairy and a pig farm, and the farm keeps Red Maasai sheep. Fertiliser and compost are made on the property.

Meals are cooked daily from what the farm grows, and the coffee is grown and roasted here. Guests can join in farmyard work, milking cows included, or walk through the gardens, and there is a boutique for gifts. A spa, Tulia, offers treatments.

Cottages and Houses

One-bedroom cottages are spread around the grounds, with twin queen or king beds. Each has a private terrace, a sitting area, an en suite bathroom with an outdoor shower, and a view over either the garden or the valley. Local art hangs throughout, much of it from the farm's artists in residence. Zamani Cottage was rebuilt in 2014 on the site of one of the original guest rooms. There are also two family houses, Bustani and Deutsches.

Place on the Route

The farm lies on the road from Arusha towards Tarangire, Lake Manyara and Lake Eyasi, then north to Ngorongoro and the Serengeti, so it works as a start, middle or end to a safari. Biking and walking safaris leave from the farm. Guests staying two nights or more are met at Lake Manyara Airport at no charge.

It suits families and anyone who wants a slower, grounded stay between game drives, with days shaped by the farm and the evening fire rather than a timetable.