Built in 1929, Gibbs Farm is a working coffee plantation set into the rolling hills of Karatu. Well located between Lake Manyara park and the NgoroNgoro crater, it offers luxury guest accommodation for those looking for a break from safari tents.

On this well-preserved terraced farming estate Arabica coffee is grown alongside 10 acres of fruit, herbs and vegetables, an on-site dairy. There are 17 guest cottages scattered amongst the trees around the huge property; for some this translates to quite a walk to the main house for dinner, while for others it equals a private haven with a sense of serenity. The cottages are designed more like private houses than hotel rooms: spacious and comfortable patios with commanding views and living areas lead to expansive rooms with indoor and outdoor showers. Each room is elegantly decorated with handcrafted furniture and designed individually around a different theme, thanks to the local artist-in-residence program.

In the elegant dining room guests are served fresh farm-to-table dishes with vegetables collected from the gardens, and home-baked goods from the bakery. The food is inventive and delicious, and the chef and her team go out of their way to cater to every kind of dietary requirement imaginable, from gluten-free to low-carb. Staff are smiling staff and ever-attentive.

The farm also has plenty of activities both on site and in the surrounds including walks, tree planting, carpentry, and farm tasks, like harvesting vegetables for dinner. Or you can just kick back and do nothing. After a long day on safari or sightseeing at the two nearby national parks, kick off your shoes and find yourself some shade under the trees, and enjoy the sweeping view out over the plantation fields and valley below while having a spot of afternoon tea with home-baked muffins.