Reviews of Kwihala Camp

"" See all these reviews: 9n in Tanzania

"Pietro is a great guide-possibly the best I have found in 50 visits to Africa.
If he ever moves I will go to wherever he goes.

All the guides at Kwihala are excellent and the camp should primarily be recommended to experienced safari visitors.The guides are wasted on first time visitors unless they can accept quality of sightings rather than quantity. For instance we watched a buffalo herd slowly coming to drink by a river for 2 hours while watching a lion pride slowly take up position. We were rewarded by seeing the kill of one buffallo and the escape of another. We were the only tourist vehicle who saw the incident although documentary maker also filmed the proceedings." See all these reviews: 6n in Tanzania

"We had the best and most memorable experience staying at Kwihala. From the moment we were collected from Ruaha airstrip by Leverd and his colleague, our safari began.

Sara was a great manager, always on hand to offer help and advice (and toothpaste!) and the guiding was awesome!! Lorenzo was everything you could wish from a guide, and more. His passion for the animals and birds was obvious and his enthusiasm was infectious, sharing with us the sights, sounds and smells of Ruaha. Our highlight was seeing a female leopard in a 'sausage tree' shortly after sunrise - magical!

We loved the genuine friendly and relaxed atmosphere at Kwihala and the sharing of stories between guests, guides and management around the camp fire each night, followed by dinner round a big table outside under the stars. We will never, ever, forget Kwihala." See all these reviews: 7n in Tanzania

"We loved Kwihala which lived up to all our expectations. We were in this part of Ruaha last year. Our excellent informative guide Pietro assisted by Toni made sure we saw almost every possible animal and bird including leopards, cheetah, lions and the touraco. We did 2 game drives a day and each one was different and rewarding because of the expertise of our guide.

Our hostess Sarah was helpful and attentive. The food was very good and we enjoyed the communal bonfire and dining, and we were thoroughly entertained by the guides Pietro, Lorenzo and Festu during the meals. We liked our tent No 4, but it did not have a good view and was not as private as some of the other accomodation we experienced. This camp is semi-permanent and so the tents are not as grand as in the other places we stayed, but they were more than adequate and we really liked the feeling of being more in the wild.

The night time sound of lion, hyena and elephant were thrilling, and we especially enjoyed the night of the elephant invasion which resulted in some amusing diversionary tactics." See all these reviews: 14n in Tanzania; 3n in Mozambique

"We had a three night stay at Kwihala and it was an amazing experience. The guiding was superb and the passion of our guide Lorenzo and his trainees was infectious and their knowledge truly incredible. The camp is fairly basic but perfectly adequate and comfortable although my daughters had some issue with the bucket shower which was readily rectified. We all especially liked the friendliness around the campfire and dinner table where the all ate together, swapping drive tales!

The food was good but not to the standard of Siwandu. Again we were celebrating another birthday (mine) and also our 25th wedding anniversary and Sara the camp host very kindly had a bottle of the particular wine we had been drinking put in our room which was a lovely touch - thanks again Liz! On the subject of drinks, on arrival we were given the option to pay $15 per person per day for unlimited drinks whilst in camp. Any drinks ordered for sundowners at the end of the second drive of the day are included in the package but everything apart from water is charged and needs to be paid in cash at the end of your stay (your notes say "all inclusive" and "nothing to pay for" in one bit and drinks extra in another paragraph by the way!)

Please note I am awarding "good" instead of "excellent" for food but in no way does this take away from the overall wonderful experience we had. FYI my daughters aged 22 and 19 both preferred this camp because of the great atmosphere and felt the style of Siwandu was for "older people". Also on arrival we were asked by Sara if we had any food in our bags as it is not recommended to have food in the tents as honey badger will come after it!

I had taken the comments in your brochure on board and stocked up with snacks just in case( but never needed!) so surrendered them for safekeeping in the kitchen. Lastly, every day we opted to leave early at 6:30am for our morning game drive which meant it was very chilly, especially on the vehicle so would definitely recommend lots of layers, even a hat and possibly gloves to keep you warm until the sun had warmed up around 9:30!!" See all these reviews: 6n in Tanzania; 3n in Zanzibar

"This was my second visit to Kwihala, and my third to Ruaha. Kwihala has become one of my favourite camps in Africa- they're doing everything right here. The guiding is excellent, and the atmosphere in camp is fun and sociable. We had fantastic game viewing, with lots of predator sightings and even a cheetah kill!

If I was going to be really picky, I'd say one of the vehicles we had (the Defender) was really rather tight on legroom and got a bit uncomfortable on some of the longer drives. We got swapped to one of the other vehicles half way through our stay, which was a lot better." See all these reviews: 11n in Tanzania; 4n in Zanzibar

"2nd part of 1st ever safari - didn't think it could get any better - but ......." See all these reviews: 12n in Tanzania; 2n in Zanzibar

"My third trip here and even better than before.

Fabulous guiding resulting in wonderful sightings. This must be the best place to see lion in Africa." See all these reviews: 6n in Tanzania

"We are so so pleased that we decided to combine our trip to Selous with Ruaha, they really are a fantastic contrast to each other. Kwihala camp was very stylish, the tents whilst being luxurious were very much part of the bush and we loved the bucket showers! The service was excellent and the food delicious. We particularly enjoyed the communal lunches and dinners under the stars.

We can't recommend Kwihala highly enough, the guided was outstanding. We had both Lorenzo and Festo as guides, who were both extremely knowledgeable and we were so impressed at the amount of wildlife they both managed to track. Ruaha is a stunning park, sometimes we didn't see another vehicle on a game drive. The wildlife was beyond our expectations and through the expert guiding, we were lucky enough to spot cheetahs, nurmerous leopards and lion prides.

We only hope we can return there one day!" See all these reviews: 10n in Zanzibar; 6n in Tanzania

"Kwihala Camp has a great location and a warm, friendly and attentive staff. There is a real feeling of camaraderie at the camp.

But Kwihala's most notable feature is the quality of its guiding. This was my second visit to Kwihala, and again I found the guiding to be absolutely top-notch.

Thanks to Festo, Tony, Lorenzo and Pietro for an excellent visit with a lot of great sightings." See all these reviews: 10n in Tanzania