KIWAYU SAFARI VILLAGE
Voted by international magazines and newspapers ‘as the finest seaside resort in Kenya’
Kiwayu Safari Village is situated thirty Kilometers North of Lamu on Kenya’s remote North Coast in the Kiunga Marine Reserve. It nestles amongst sand dunes opposite Kiwayu Island and overlooking a sheltered lagoon and the Indian Ocean.
Kiwayu has been built in 1973 and is owned by the Italian Pelizzoli family. The theme at their camp is informality – a swimming costume, kikoy and hat are all you really need.
Kiwayu Safari Village is a natural, simple but luxurious and secluded retreat. It is a place to disappear and restore your soul. Miles of deserted beaches with soft white sand and the soothing sound of waves will soon awaken the senses and lead you back to nature’s eternal rhythms. Kiwayu offers a retreat to those discriminating people who are tired of superficial sophistication, who wish for a return to a natural lifestyle and who desire contact with the best and simplest seafaring life that Kenya can offer.
You will find no concrete, only thatched bandas, ensuite cottages, which blend in into the dunes and sway with the monsoons. There are eighteen bandas between the waves and the dunes… Each banda consists of a spacious bedroom with antique Swahili furniture, a dressing room, a safari-style shower with running water and a lavatory. Each hammock-strung verandah offers privacy and panoramic views over the lagoon. The dining room, lounge and bar are also built with palm-thatched roofs and woven matting floors with bright, colourful scatter cushions on the seats. There is also a small gift shop.
There are few places in the world which can boast such seclusion. The camp is visited only by fishermen, the dhows that come to collect water and the occasional sports fisherman in search of the magnificent marlin, which are then released back into the sea.
Kiwayu Safari Village offers a mixture of Italian/Mediterranean/ Swahili cuisine. It’s hardly surprising that the food is mainly from the sea: tonno tonnato, spaghetti alle vongole, crab kalaloo, charcoal-grilled lobster with tarragon sauce, giant crabs with fresh basil and olive oil are just some of things on the menu. All simple but delicious dishes. Fresh bread is baked daily in the most ingenious style of oven. The cooks are always happy to show visitors around the kitchen.
Activities include snorkeling, dhow trips to the island or picnics with maybe cold crab, lobster, fresh bread, wine and mango in far-off coves. Fishing for rock cod, barracuda and snapper in the wide channels that thread through the magnificent mangrove forests, windsurfing, water skiing in the sheltered lagoon, laser sailing and walks on the sandy beaches or over the dunes. Or pick your own rock oysters.
Deep-sea fishing can be organised on the “Elusive “ our 28 ft Bertram, crewed by experts, and a typical catch from mid October to April may include Sailfish .Yellow fin tuna, kingfish, wahoo and striped blue and black marlin.
At times, you can watch turtles swimming in the bay and off the coral reefs and, if lucky, view them emerging from the sea and laying their eggs in the dry sands beneath the dunes. Watch out, too, for pods of whales heading south with the northerly monsoon.
All activities, with the exception of deep sea fishing and the long boat trips, are included in the price of your stay.
The temperature at Kiwayu is fairly constant but the months of August and September can be windy. The southern monsoon begins to change in early October and becomes a gentle and cooling breeze. The average temperature is 27 to 28 degrees in the shade. February and March are the hottest months and towards the end of March the northern monsoon veers to the south.