Reviews of Kigelia Camp

"Wonderful camp.

Very authentic, bush feel. Very friendly staff, and excellent service especially by Nico for lunch and dinner. Good luck, the stand in manager was very friendly and helpful too. All the staff were excellent. Fantastic bush breakfasts twice organised by Mel our wonderful guide.

The staff have high praise of nomad and Mike the owner, who helps local communities.

The rooms were good, and the star bed very special. We were here 3 nights and only really plucked up the courage to sleep out on the last night… but we had the best sleep of all in the star bed! The sky was beautifully clear and we could see all the stars. Indeed it’s a great camp for star gazing… on our first night around the damp fire we saw the Milky Way! Very clear skies.

Food was Amazing. We are a meat eater and non meat (just fish) eater and the chef created some truly amazing dishes… truly a la carte level..excellent.
I have only praise for Kigelia, and the staff.

Our guide was exceptional, incredibly knowledgeable and very easy to talk to, he taught us so much not only about the animals but about the flora and plants too. He also had a good knowledge of photography, so understood when I asked to stop to take random photographs of baobab trees or landscape as well as the animals. He took us to the river bed for 2 lovely breakfasts in the peace and tranquillity of the river, where we could just relax and enjoy and absorb the atmosphere of wild Africa. Truly memorable.

We saw a good variety of wildlife, especially lots of giraffe, elephants, impala, lesser kudu, eland, two cheetahs, plus several lions. Mel was able to point out lots of birds too, including the pied kingfisher, giant heron, bustards, eagles, and lilac breasted rollers. We were joined by Rafa (Raphael) for a couple of days and he was a great asset, a good spotter (saw the cheetahs in the undergrowth ) and a lovely character.

Mel’s interest in conservation came through and added to our awareness in a good way, as I am interested in conservation also.

All in all I would highly recommend Nomad and Kigelia. Ruaha is an amazing national park with lots of very ancient Baobab trees. We saw on which was over a thousand years old! Plus good wildlife." See all these reviews: 8n in Tanzania

"Do not recommend night drive: only an occasional small animal.

Guides very competent." See all these reviews: 9n in Tanzania

"Excellent camp with a good “bush” feel and quality guiding.

Nomad should make it clear that bush walks are not available early in the season for safety reasons (we expected that but other guests were disappointed)." See all these reviews: 8n in Tanzania

"A lovely camp with delightful staff.

Our tent was very comfortable and equipped with everything we needed and the bucket showers were effective and fun! They were filled up very quickly whenever we asked.

The food was very good, with the lunches in particular having lots of imaginative salads and vegetables, and the picnic breakfasts very enjoyable.
The waiters were charming and very patient with my attempts to learn to count in Swahili!

Our guide Goodluck, who was also the Manager, was a very kind, gentle and knowledgeable man. He quickly worked out that we like birds and made sure we saw lots of them!

Our stand out moment was when he noticed a lone female giraffe and realised she had given birth about 2 minutes before.
We spent an amazing hour watching as the baby eventually managed to stand up, and then walk enough to follow its Mum to a safer place.
Magical!" See all these reviews: 8n in Tanzania

"This is our third visit to Ruaha and we saw more of the park than we have on previous visits.

Kigelia is an excellent bush camp.

The staff are first class, accommodation excellent, food excellent, guiding and night drive very good." See all these reviews: 10n in Tanzania

"Very happy overall with this camp. Lovely setting on a dried up riverbed.

Wildlife in the area was plentiful. Safari drives were excellent.

We did 2 bushwalks and did not find them very interesting. Would not return to this camp for walking." See all these reviews: 8n in Tanzania

"What a beautiful camp and lovely staff. We were the only guests for a couple of nights as it was the very end of the season but this did not affect our level of care.

Excellent food and tents and communal area. Very attentive staff.

Our driver was excellent with superb knowledge of animals and all flora and fauna.
We loved the walking safari and night drive and enjoyed our sundowner stops." See all these reviews: 13n in Tanzania

"Kigelia is a very special feeling camp, on the banks of a dried up riverbed. The elephant viewing here is phenomal, and we had elephants literally all around our tent. We have video of a bull elephant standing right outside our tent sniffing the netting. It was a life-changing experience - just sitting there quietly observing. If you want to be up close with elephants - they are HERE! Also, the monkeys run all over your thatched roof - which is quite entertaining.

That being said, we didn't love Ruaha overall as a park. There are supposed to be a lot of lions - we barely saw them while there. We saw a lot of elephants and endless giraffe but it didn't feel like we saw much else. Although on the last day while driving to our departing flight, I did spot a leopard hiding way up high in a tree and we watched her get chased out of the tree by baboons (that was an experience!). Still, Ruaha felt like driving through a lot of dense bush grass. To be fair, we had been on safari for a quite a while at this point, and the long drives were starting to feel a bit tedious (I know I know that shouldn't happen!).

We loved the Kigelia Camp though. The rooms are awesome, and we particularly enjoyed the outdoor shower. It was so warm in Ruaha that taking a midday shower in the sun was the best thing ever. Additionally, the camp sets up a bonfire and all the guests sit and talk around it, which was so pleasant. The staff at the camp makes delicious drinks throughout the day, and our host had a lot of fun manning the bar after dinner. Food here was so good - I'm still trying to figure out how to make some of those recipes!

This camp experience was truly one of my favorites!" See all these reviews: 7n in Tanzania; 5n in Zanzibar; 5n in Kenya

"We had 4 nights at Kigelia, and again, all was good there. The staff, the food, the guiding were all excellent." See all these reviews: 12n in Tanzania; 4n in Zanzibar

"I am so happy that Kigelia was the camp we chose for our first safari experience, with Sand Rivers in Selous as our second stop. We went to Africa with our family of 4 including our son and daughter (15 and 12). The camp itself was so well-thought out. The tents were luxurious, much more so than glamping, and the outdoor bucket shower added to the experience. Eating an amazing dinner under the stars each night was fabulous. The food was always fresh and delicious with a gorgeous dessert.

I had selected this camp because of the slightly more rugged feel to it and the closeness of the animals to camp given the camp's placement next to a dry river bed. I was not disappointed. We had elephants roaming through camp a couple nights and vervet monkeys playing around our tent during the afternoon. There were also many species of birds enjoying the bird baths outside the tents and communal areas. There is wifi in the communal area so an occasional check-in with the outside world is possible.

Ruaha is vast and beautiful. We had so many sightings of elephants, giraffes, zebras, lions, buffalo, and even a honey badger, which we were very excited about. The night game drive was an interesting experience. Our game drives overall were very enjoyable. I was concerned that my hard to please kids (teenagers are a challenge) would get bored with constant game drives, but they loved the experiences. We are also avid birders and saw more than 100 species during our trip.

Lastly, the best part of this camp was its people. We were very fortunate to have Ken, the camp manager, as our guide. We learned so much about the animals including birds, their behaviors and habitat, Tanzania, and his view of the world. Ken is amazingly in tune with current events although he lives in such a remote area. He runs his camp so efficiently (e.g., we always received cold towels upon returning from our game drives and hot towels on the night drive and our bucket showers were always ready upon returning from a game drive). But best of all, there is a very warm atmosphere created by the people working there. We enjoyed talking to Steven, Pinny, Nicholas, Oscar, and especially Joseph, who announced the menu around the campfire each night.

After we left, the kids still talked about missing Ken and Joseph, which is unusual for them. If you wonder whether teenagers would like going on safari, don't hesitate. My husband, who wasn't keen on going on safari because it was so far from Los Angeles where we live, has talked about going back to do another. This was such a bonding experience for our family. We enjoyed our dinner conversations each night (without electronics) and even heard our son and daughter talking and laughing together each night after we were escorted back to our tents, so it was a good sibling bonding experience as well. It felt like a once in a lifetime experience, but we hope to experience it again soon. Thank you, Ken and your staff, for making our first visit to Africa so special." See all these reviews: 9n in Tanzania