Reviews of Kigelia Camp

"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

"Dinner under the stars every night was truly special. The staff almost bend over backwards to respond to your slightest desire. Food and drinks were excellent. The tents are well separated, so you have a great sense of privacy. They are very roomy, and the bathroom area is also very large, with the shower outside. This is good and bad. If you take a shower before or after lunch, you bake in the midday sun, but having it outside keeps the tent nice and dry. It was really nice to sit out front and enjoy my morning coffee (dry season - no bugs!). It was certainly different to have a "Wifi area" where you went if you needed to connect with the outside world, but having that option was very welcome, that far from civilization

Hands down, our favorite activity was the night safari. It's an extra $59 per person charge, payable in cash, but definitely worth it. We were taken out for over 3 hours, and saw an amazing variety of animals. We were even so lucky as to see a leopard!

After being with the guide at this camp (very average), we realized how great we had had it with our previous extremely knowledgeable guides. This was our first safari trip, so we had no expectations or comparisons." See all these reviews: 15n in Tanzania

"Every creature comfort is met at Kigelia Camp. It is a lovely place to sleep and eat in the wild.

My only comment is about the safari guides. Where at Manza Camp the Safari truck always had a driver and a guide (and both were excellent), at Kigelia Camp the Safari truck was driven by the guide. The driving on severely rutted road is exceedingly difficult and even dangerous and takes incredible concentration. It is literally impossible for a driver to also be looking into the bush for animals every minute. It is also impossible for him to give as much detailed information about the animals as a guide who is not driving. The difference between the quality of the bush experience in Kigali and Manza was striking for this reason." See all these reviews: 8n in Tanzania

"Kigelia Camp was fantastic, guides were knowledgeable and very educational.

Staff were very attentive, loved hot water bottles in the evening bed and seats for very early morning departures." See all these reviews: 8n in Tanzania

"A real bush camp which blended perfectly with its surroundings. The forests of baobabs in this part of Ruaha are spectacular and we were impressed by the variety of habitats in the park.

Our preferred routine of early start and back for brunch was again organised for us.

Our guide, Husain, had very good eyes and was a good birder but had a tendency to ask us where we wanted to go, which wasn't really what we needed. He only had one speed of driving, which was slow so we didn't get as far in the park as some other guests but this is nit-picking as he was a good guide but I suspect he lacked confidence.

Our last night was somewhat spoilt by the arrival of a French VIP group, who rather took over the camp." See all these reviews: 16n in Tanzania

"Park was a bit more crowded than I had expected.

Good lion viewing and bush walks" See all these reviews: 9n in Tanzania

"We enjoyed our return to Ruaha and much preferred Kigelia camp to where we stayed last time. Kigelia camp was well run by Ken, very friendly with good service and the tents were comfortable and cool under a thatched roof, The meals were very good and varied.

We did not have the exceptional game viewing of our previous visit to Ruaha as this time the park was very very dry and the river had stopped flowing with little water remaining. However our guide Eliasat was very knowledgeable and worked very hard to give us really good sightings which included leopard, more than one pride of lions and wild dog. We also saw big herds of buffalo, amazing birds a python and numerous other good animal sightings. We had a good night drive seeing lions in love, hyena, jackal and civet. We also had a lovely walk along side the Great Ruaha River bed which had ponds full of hippo and crocodile catching fish.

We hope that the the Great Ruaha River water flow is managed and the park gets lots of rain in the next rainy seasons" See all these reviews: 14n in Tanzania; 3n in Zanzibar; 1n in Kenya

"For us, our time at this camp was made by the excellent range of game that we were able to view. Our driver/guide was outstanding.

With just six tents, the camp is small and in fact for most of the time there we were the only occupants. This was a contributory factor to the excellent and friendly service received, although it meant that there was a lack of atmosphere that is typically generated by a group of guests returning from a game drive.

The food was rather disappointing, probably made worse by the low level of consumption." See all these reviews: 10n in Tanzania; 7n in Zanzibar

"With just 6 tents, this is a small and intimate camp. During our visit only 4 were occupied and on the last day only us.

The tents were simple with a bush shower on demand and the bedroom with a nice double bed and bedside tables and a simple storage unit for clothes. Food was taken in the main tented area and was excellent as was the service. We loved this camp with its simplicity and yet luxury at the same time.

The staff were great, our guide fantastic, and for the most part, ours was the only vehicle in the whole area. We saw lots of animals and birds of all kinds and came away very happy indeed." See all these reviews: 16n in Tanzania; 4n in Kenya

"We love real African bush experiences and this camp gave just that. The attention given to us by the camp staff was second to none. The phone contact in each tent worked very well. Any request was immediately taken care of and there was no wait for an escort to dinner.

Bush walks were very professionally carried out, informative and really enjoyable with breakfast at the end. We actually spent quite a while watching an 8 foot python slithering through a bush. None of the guides had actually seen one out on a walk before so this was an experience for them as well. The night drive was also really well run and we had great sightings of genets, bat-eared foxes, lions etc.

We had Ken as our guide most of the time. He was excellent, very knowledgeable, an excellent spotter and easy to get on with.

Accommodation was very comfortable, well serviced, private, with everything you needed. Hot water was provided any time you requested for a wonderful bush shower.

We had great experiences of elephant very near and round our tent, giraffe close by, a dwarf mongoose family coming to drink at our garden basin, a shy bush buck and a herd of elephant digging to drink water in the river bed in front of us. A great stay." See all these reviews: 10n in Tanzania