Kigelia Ruaha
Africa, Eastern Africa | Tanzania United Republic Of | Adventure, All Inclusive, Eco Friendly, Escorted, Family, Group, Honeymoon, Safari, Solo, Sustainable, Tailor Made | Safari Tented | National Park | comfort
Situated in Southern Tanzania within the expansive Ruaha National Park, Nomad Tanzania’s Kigelia Ruaha is the perfect destination for avid safari enthusiasts and nature connoisseurs, or anyone looking for an unforgettable experience that deviates from convention. Featuring the largest lion concentration in Africa, there’s no shortage of big cats for you to view, let alone the many other staple safari creatures that call these southern plains home. Here, lodgings are comfortable and designed to blend seamlessly with the surrounding environment, featuring en-suite facilities, comfortable beds and an aesthetic to compliment the safari atmosphere. A diverse array of spectacular safari activities await you, featuring 4×4 game drives (day & night), bush walks, bird watching and general nature excursions, all led by experienced Nomad guides, familiar with the lay of the land and the wildlife that defines it – not to mention a friendly face. Feel free to bring your little adventurers too, as all guests over 8 years old are welcome.
6° 48' 26.388'' S39° 15' 15.696'' E
Southern Tanzania is home to the largest national park in the country, Ruaha. Ecologically this area sees the meeting of the Eastern and Southern African biomes, resulting in a melting pot of species unlike anywhere else on the continent. This diverse landscape is comprised of vast plains interspersed with baobab forests, hidden corners of woodland and dry snaking riverbeds. The dry season runs from June to the end of October, featuring herds of buffalo gathering in their hundreds, followed closely behind by vast quantities of lion prides, as Ruaha is home to 10% of Africa’s lion population.
When the rains arrive in November, the landscape of Ruaha is completely transformed. The grass bursts to life shortly after the first rains fall, displayed by the trees and shrubs which begin to flower. Many antelope species birth their offspring over the rainy season, making the most of the abundant food in the park. Birding is at its best, with many migratory species arriving and donning their impressive breeding plumage, coalescing in a vibrant array of avian visitors. Kigelia is a 2½-hour flight from Dar es Salaam, followed by a drive of approximately 45 minutes to an hour to the camp itself. Accessible via flight and transfer.
- Comfortable 4-star safari camp in Ruaha National Park
- Fully inclusive rates, including all featured food and beverages
- Tented en-suite accommodation comprising standard and family sized units
- Exciting safari activities led by experienced Nomad guides
- Highest lion concentration in all Southern Africa
- Unpolluted night skies enable pristine evening stargazing
- Opportunities for night drives in privately rented 4×4 safari vehicles
- Children aged 8 years and older welcome
Kigelia Ruaha features 24-hour camp security, ensuring complete safety around the clock for all visiting guests. The camp also features a complimentary laundry service and battery charging facilities for camera equipment and mobile phones, a thatched mess area, bird baths, swing seats and a campfire for evening sundowners. Dining is communal with other guests; however, private dining can be arranged on request, perfect for romantic meals or special family occasions. Fully inclusive rates mean that all guests staying at Kigelia Ruaha are free to indulge in a locally sourced range of alcoholic and none-alcoholic beverages at their own leisure when available, which features the three meals and complimentary snacks included throughout the day. The languages spoken at this camp are English and Swahili.
Depending on what time of year you decide to visit (with the exceptions of February to May when the camp is closed) you may wish to pack accordingly. Generally, temperatures soar during the day, so you should bring light and airy clothing; ideally neutral colours such as cream or khaki. Bring shorts, a comfortable pair of walking shoes/boots and a sunhat. You are advised to bring sunblock and lotions. Temperatures drop in the evening and do not begin to rise until the late morning, so make sure to bring a jacket and other warm articles of clothing along with you.
These rustic tented units, numbering six in total are nestled among a grove of Kigelia (sausage trees). Prepare for camping as you have never experienced it before, with airy safari tents that provide ample shelter from the elements without detracting from the beauty of the natural bush setting. These units are well furnished, featuring locally crafted pale wood furniture, a hot safari-style bucket shower and an en-suite toilet.
Amenities Include:
- En-suite bathroom
- Al fresco shower
- Veranda
- Cotton linen
- Complimentary laundry service
This one unit, designed specifically for families visiting Kigelia is comprised of two full size en-suite rooms under one tented thatch roof. Similar in design to the standard Kigelia Ruaha safari tents, these two interlinked tents bring families closer together, featuring all standard amenities and furnishings, this is the perfect accommodation for the ideal family safari.
Amenities Include:
- En-suite bathroom x 2
- Al fresco shower
- Veranda
- Cotton linen
- Complimentary laundry service
Kigelia Ruaha invites you to heighten your culinary inhibitions with a mouth-watering selection of deliciously prepared bush cuisine, served fresh for you to enjoy each day. Fully inclusive rates means that you are free to indulge in a sumptuous selection of locally sourced alcoholic and none-alcoholic beverages at your own discretion, which also includes three meals served daily. A hearty continental bush breakfast is served each morning to sustain you for the exciting day’s safari activities that lie ahead, followed by an al fresco lunch served between activities.
Evening dinner is the most lavish of the three daily meals, featuring a three-course banquet comprised of the freshest local ingredients, offering options ranging from light and healthy to lavish and indulgent, there are options to suit all hungry guests, including youngsters! Dine beneath the shade of kigelia, and top off the perfect evening with fire-side sundowners in the company of friends and family.
Set forth for the vibrant landscape of Ruaha National Park and witness the spectacular sights of nature that lie instore. Seasoned guides, familiar with the lay of the land and the abundance of wildlife that roams it will lead you on a safari game viewing experience of a lifetime. Exotic Big 5 game viewing awaits your gaze, with regular sightings of all the big cats and predator and prey alike as you survey the landscape in open 4×4 safari vehicles. Night drives are permitted in Ruaha National Park, enabling sights of the treasure-trove of nocturnal creatures that rise in the night to hunt for food and socialise with one another.
For all those in search of an authentic, grass-roots great plains safari excursion, a guided bush walk will allow you to soak up the intricacies of nature while traversing the land at a more intimate and insightful pace than conventional game drives. Knowledgeable guides will discuss with you the features of the land while pointing out local flora and fauna. Watch birds, walk in the footsteps of a lion herd or wildebeest, sit in stillness of the shade of an ancient tree, unravel the stories behind animal tracks or simply enjoy the vistas.
Ruaha National Park features over 500 exotic species waiting for you to discover. Bird watching in Ruaha is phenomenal year-round, but at its absolute best during November through April. Not only is this when European and North African migratory birds are present, but it is also nesting time for resident species. Keep your eyes peeled for the likes of the black-headed gonolek, Fischer’s lovebird and Verreaux’s eagle.
Take in the atmosphere of the tantalising Serengeti night sky while gathered around a cosy campfire in the company of friends and family. Untarnished by light pollution, the remote areas of the Serengeti bush provide the perfect arena for a picturesque star-gazing experience. Marvel at the infinite sky, which features the Big Dipper in the northern hemisphere and the Southern Cross and Pointers in the south.
Kigelia Ruaha is a Nomad Tanzania camp. Nomad utilises planes, cars, camps and their teams in order to offer aid to the more remote and isolated regions of Tanzania and provide educational support. Nomad donates safari experiences to auctions in order to raise money for these projects. Nomad’s educational support includes investing in nursery centres and meal programmes to provide children with an education as early as possible, and the nutrition to get them through the school day.
Nomad also funds scholarships for gifted children and provides internships within their camps. This gives youth a chance to learn about the tourism industry and how they could forge a career here. Additionally, Nomad works with partners who support education programmes that centre around sustainability and conservation.
The Nomad Tanzania Trust also provides support to medical facilities so that they can reach remote people in need. Nomad has partnered with The Plaster House in Arusha, a facility that offers corrective, orthopaedic, plastic surgery, neurosurgery and post-op care to children with disfigurements. This means that children can get the care they need and prevents them from being hidden by their families.
Nomad also provides medicines, vaccinations, and mosquito nets for village clinics so that they can support the local communities. Additionally, they run health education and awareness campaigns and projects so that communities can learn basic health protocols and protect themselves from common and preventable illnesses. This includes teaching the community about sanitation, safe water, and pregnancy and childcare.
Nomad Tanzania sources local ingredients and materials and employs local people to invest in the communities in which they operate. This supports the local economy and provides an income for the families that live alongside Nomad’s camps. Biashara means ‘business’ in Swahili. The way in which Nomad conduct their business in Tanzania is a huge part of what makes them the company they are today. From inception, their founders have always believed in investing in local communities and providing opportunities for both staff, and the wider community. From the way Nomad camps are built, to the ways in which they source and purchase their interiors, to the microfinance model that is unique within the industry.
Many villages on the outskirts of National Parks are sustained on a shoestring of resources and are in serious need of support. Nomad are staunch advocates of these communities and seek to offer help and support in whatever way possible, with a firm belief that they too should share in the spoils of tourism. As such, Nomad work to improve the basic healthcare and education opportunities for these communities, seeking to improve the situation faced by all individuals wherever possible.
The Watato Go Wild programme seeks to welcome local Tanzanian school children into various Nomad camps to identify top performing students and provide them with future career prospects by imparting first-hand skills and knowledge of the tourism industry. Collaborating with local schools, children can broaden their horizons by partaking in wildlife lessons and workshops, headed by experienced Nomad guides while embarking on safari game drives.
In the Beds for Meds initiative, Nomad staff actively search for spaces within camps, or an empty safari vehicle and guide, and use any opportunities to organise a medical outreach clinic for neighbouring communities. Working with health professionals from hospitals in Arusha and beyond, citizens of all ages from neighbouring villages are brought into camp to receive medical treatments. This initiative helps to fill the gaps in health services in remote communities. Camp teams are requested to remain vigilant, and upon finding individuals in need of plastic surgery or other specialised cases, they are put on planes to get the treatment they need from programme partners in Arusha.
Community training workshops are actively run-in neighbouring communities, focussing on relevant eco-friendly activities that can help families become more self-reliant and secure by diversifying their income options. Employment opportunities in villages bordering National Parks can often be quite limited, causing many communities to live off the land with few other available prospects, despite the risks and challenges. These workshops seek to educate, encourage and equip communities to be able to engage in ventures more financially sustainable, while promoting ecologically friendly land practices.
Nomad utilise their presence in Tanzania’s wild areas, and partnerships with well-established conservation institutions in order to help organise and fund internship opportunities for determined, conservation-minded young Tanzanians. These opportunities provide keen young adults with conservation focused field experience and the knowledge and understanding to be ambassadors for the environment back in their own communities.
The Frankfurt Zoological Society works to protect Serengeti’s wildlife, using patrol teams to remove snare-traps one by one. For every night’s stay at one of Nomad’s camps, one dollar is donated to the de-snaring Serengeti Programme.
Numerous Mogumu Hope Centres are based in the villages that border the Serengeti National Park, offering refuge to young girls fleeing from female genital mutilation (FGM). Although FGM is illegal in Tanzania, it is sadly still practiced in some rural villages. The centre works to ultimately reunite the girls with their parents on the agreement they will not be at risk of FGM or early child marriage, as well as raising community awareness, changing minds, and standing up for girl’s rights.
Nomad Tanzania works to protect the wildlife and environment from harm. Nomad tackles the threat posed by poachers and illegal bushmeat traders by supporting conservation organisations that monitor wildlife populations and protect these creatures from humans. Many communities face conflict with wildlife, especially when livestock are attacked, threatening the livelihood of local people. Nomad runs campaigns to persuade people to live harmoniously with wildlife and offer training for alternative sources of income to livestock agriculture, such as beekeeping and composting projects which both benefit the environment.
Nomad Tanzania runs several village clean-up projects in the villages that lie close to their camps and border the National Parks, gathering large groups of volunteers including football teams, schoolchildren and fishermen to help pick up rubbish and keep the villages clean. After this, rubbish is sorted and appropriately disposed of. Nomad also runs village film nights that display documentaries focusing on the challenge of waste disposal and the issues posed by waste plastic. These films educate the local communities and help to persuade people to keep the villages and surrounding areas clean and plastic-free. Nomad limits the amount of plastic used in their camps as much as possible to reduce the amount of waste plastic produced.
In the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, the Maasai have lived alongside wildlife for decades, but as human populations increase, conflicts and pressure inevitably mount, sadly resulting in the decline of local lion populations. KopeLion is an initiative that seeks to alter this trend by employing former lion hunters and equipping them with the skills needed to actively protect the remaining lions and reduce conflicts with their local communities and villages.
Through the conservation and protection of grasslands, measures can be implemented to ensure healthy herds of wildlife, as well as communities of local Maasai and their livestock are able to contribute indefinitely to the overall health of the Maasai Steppe ecosystem and Tarangire National Park. The degradation of this delicate ecosystem poses devastating implications for local communities, and as such, the only way to combat this threat is to implement regulatory grazing measures to ensure lands are not left barren.
The Selous Game Reserve has unfortunately been severely affected by ivory poaching in the last decade, and the elephant population has suffered tremendously. Nomad are a firm supporter of the Selous Elephant Research Programme run by Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI). Monitoring the population movements and more, the TAWIRI team aim to provide valuable data and knowledge to ensure their long-term survival.
Ruaha Carnivore Project, part of Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, works with local partners to come up with effective conservation strategies for carnivores within the wider Ruaha eco-system.
By sharing technical expertise, building local capacity and empowering women and girls, the Tuungane project is providing local people with the practical tools and information they need to build healthy and prosperous families, secure fish stocks, wildlife habitats, and adapt to climate change.
This educational campaign aims to halt non-retaliatory killings of endangered lions in the Katavi ecosystem. Through fostering education in surrounding communities, they aim to protect the population for generations to come, thereby ensuring that endangered lion populations can grow throughout subsequent generations.
Kigelia Ruaha welcomes all families with children aged 8 years and older. Please note, children under 12 years are not permitted to partake in walking activities. Due to the potentially hazardous and sometimes unpredictable nature of the environment, children must be supervised by an adult at all times.