Reviews of Kigelia Camp
Wildlife sightings and reviews
36 independent comments and wildlife information from our travellers who have visited Kigelia Camp and kindly agreed to share their thoughts. They do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa
93% success
60% success
20% success
27% success
100% success
100% success
100% success
90% success
83% success
80% success
73% success
30% success
27% success
14% success
0% success
0% success
"Night safari is fantastic!"
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
Buffalo
3 sightings
Eland
2 sightings
Elephant
10 sightings
Giraffe
10 sightings
Hippo
2 sightings
Leopard
1 sighting
Lion
4 sightings
Spotted Hyena
1 sighting
Zebra
7 sightings
"I liked almost everything about Kigelia Camp."
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"
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
Buffalo
1 sighting
Elephant
6 sightings
Giraffe
6 sightings
Hippo
3 sightings
Lion
4 sightings
Spotted Hyena
4 sightings
Zebra
5 sightings
"A proper bush camp"
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
"Good stay and activities"
Good lion viewing and bush walks" See all these reviews: 9n in Tanzania
"Great stay and game viewing at Kigelia camp"
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
"Kigelia Camp review"
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
"Amazing experience"
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
"Great bush experience at Kigelia Camp"
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
"Excellent camp, great guiding"
Extremely well run by Ken the camp manager and everything worked like clockwork, seamlessly. We never had to ask for anything and the little touches (like hot water bottles on your car seat on cold mornings) were wonderful.
The food was good, best breakfasts we had were here, and lunch and dinner were lovely.
The game viewing was excellent, we saw so much and with our fantastic guide, Joe, we learnt so much.
We wished we could have had another night!" See all these reviews: 16n in Tanzania
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