Luxury Hotels Atlas / Places / Tanzania / Chem Chem Lodge / Chem Chem Lodge
Chem Chem Lodge
Chem Chem Lodge, Tanzania · Independent · High Luxury
A Swiss ex-banker and a French former hunter who met diving in the Bahamas turned a poached, over-grazed hunting block into this eight-suite Tanzanian retreat. Opened in 2011 on the edge of Lake Manyara, it sits in the Kwakuchinja corridor between two national parks, where the founders' nonprofit has spent years reviving 4,000 hectares of ravaged bush. Game walks, private vehicles, and a swimming pool overlook plains that wildlife has returned to reclaim.
- 8 rooms
- Opened 2011
About Chem Chem Lodge
- Co-founders Fabia Bausch, a Swiss former investment banker, and Nicolas Negre, a French former professional hunter, met while diving in the Bahamas before building the lodge together.
- The lodge sits on a former 4,000-hectare hunting block that had been decimated by illegal logging, poaching, and overgrazing by 60,000 cattle before restoration began.
- It pioneered the 'Slow Safari' concept, offering private vehicles, flexible dining times, and walking safaris across its eight suites.
- Construction of the lodge created more than 300 local jobs, and the founders established the not-for-profit Chem Chem Association in 2008 to restore the surrounding wildlife corridor.
History
Chem Chem Lodge opened in June 2011 in northern Tanzania, the first safari property created by co-founders Fabia Bausch, a Swiss former investment banker, and Nicolas Negre, a French former professional hunter and safari guide, who met diving in the Bahamas and later reconnected in Zurich. In 2007 they signed a lease for a former hunting block on the edge of Lake Manyara - a 4,000-hectare tract in the Kwakuchinja wildlife corridor between Tarangire National Park and Lake Manyara that had been decimated by illegal logging, poaching and overgrazing - and in 2008 founded the not-for-profit Chem Chem Association to restore the corridor.
The lodge, whose construction created more than 300 local jobs, comprises eight stone-and-thatch, tent-style suites (including a family suite) and pioneered the 'Slow Safari' concept, with private vehicles, flexible dining and walking safaris. 'Chem chem' means 'spring' in Swahili, and the property later grew into a trio with Little Chem Chem (2013) and Forest Chem Chem.
Awards
- Africa's Leading Luxury Safari Lodge 2025 (World Travel Awards) (2025)
- Tanzania's Leading Luxury Safari Lodge 2025 (World Travel Awards) (2025)
Open Chem Chem Lodge in the atlas for live weekend rates, photos, and the full folio.