Banana Farm Hostel

It's amazing place nice food and lots of activities to do , visiting the banana farm and a walk down to the stream,art sensions,movie night Nice people,you meet travelers,camp fires every night, lovely staff. I enjoyed my stay and we will surely be back. Thank you

I am Rating the Safari experience wie made with Banana Eco Hostel, Not the Hostel itself: While the first two days in Tarangire and Manyara were very nice, we started having problems with our car on the first day already and had to be picked up by another guide in the evening. On the third day the problems got way worse. While going to Serengeti, our car broke down. After standing there for about 1 hour, we were then brought to the gate by some other guide where we waited for another 2 hours for our car to come back. In the end, we could not do a game drive in the evening. We had to bring the other people joining us to their camping and after that arrived at our lodge at 10:30 pm. We were driving in the dark without finding the way properly. Also, as the windshield wiper did not work anymore and the roads were wet, the vision was really bad. We ended up having a little accident with a bus as well. All in all, this was extremely scary. On the next day, we did not do the morning safari as planned but startet at 8:30, and then obviously had to pick up the other people again. We then waited at the camp for about 1 hour to get the car packed. So in the end we spent over 4 hours just driving from camp to camp and waiting for the car to be ready to go. Instead of starting the safari, we then went to the visitor center and after that had only around 1,5 hours of safari in Serengeti left where we barely saw anything. Then our car broke down again. After waiting for about 1 hour, another guide could pick us up and bring us to Ngorongoro Crater. So all in all, we spent most of the 2 days in Serengeti waiting for our car to work again or someone to pick us up, or driving to pick up other people. As you can imagine, this is not exactly how we pictured it. Especially when paying 600 dollars per day for this experience. Also, as our car was so bad, we had to go very slow all the time, which took additional time. We experienced that with the many cars that had to pick us up during these days, each one of them was in a much better condition and could go way faster. Also, our car did not have radio call and no chargers as was stated in the tour description. So while we had great first 2 days, this was way below our expectations and overall a bad and frustrating and sometimes even frightening experience. What was also very frustrating is that we did not get any response to our complaints Even After contacting the Hostel over several Channels multiple times.

We stayed here one night in one of the cabins. It was affordable, beautiful and very clean. Breakfast was delicious and included coffee and banana pancakes. Keep in mind it is outside of the main city area of Arusha (about a 12 minute drive) Highly recommend

Probably the most beautiful place I've ever stayed. The staff are amazing. The tour of the farm site and valley was breathtaking. The food was delicious. Everything comes from the farm and you can enjoy free bananas and other fruit. My only regret is that we couldn't stay longer. If you're in the area you just have to visit. It's truly a small utopia and inspirational for what you can do to live sustainably and in harmony with nature.

I had spent 3 nights in this beautiful, ecological sanctuary. Veronica, Regina, Victor and all the others has made this experience amazing (although I wasn’t really in the right mood due to what’s happening in the Middle East). The farm tour is a must it shows the biogas plant and the circularity around it, manure, the cows, the goats, the many different types of the banana, coffee including the coffee process that they do on the farm. Victor gave us a 2 hours looking also into different plants and their properties. You can also ask them to book tours with reasonable prices. The spaces they’ve created permitted liaising with other people who stayed there; fireplace each evening, open cinema down the banana fields. Amazing view of the Meru mountain… really enjoyed the cooking class. Breakfast/lunch and dinner possibilities with yummy organic (mostly from their garden) vegetables and legumes at a very affordable cost. Coffee is really good and it’s their own production. One thing to know is that electricity (as in many places in Tanzania) is not always working so bring a power bank or just charge the phone whenever you can. In the room you’ll have always light (an emergency one). Suitable for families (also possibility for a cabin), couples and solo. Bananas are offered for free all time of the day. There’s a way to fill a gourde with purified water, but also buy drinks. Highly highly recommended for those who appreciate permaculture and sustainable life! Asante Sana!!!!

Small rooms, chunked bed, not really appropriate for more than 1 night. Worst is the restaurant: the food is untasty and the staff members offer very poor service - they are obviously neither concerned by our presence nor our requests. In a word, you don’t feel welcome, rather a nuisance.