Riverside Camp | Established Campground

April 22nd, 2024 by moderatefrown40

The river is currently (04/2024) completely flooded. Also the campground was partly flooded. They offered for us to use the facilities in one of the rooms as camping facilities were flooded. Paid 10USD pppn for camping which we thought was a lot considering that it’s off season. Paid an additional 10 USD pp for dinner and breakfast which was just Chips-Mayai in the evening and Bread and Eggs in the morning. Way overpriced!

Watching the hippos in the river was nice.

February 9th, 2024 by PopeTravels.com

Lovely place with two hippos swimming in the river. Really enjoyed staying here

January 5th, 2024 by Cynthia

Honestly, we are writing this as a warning to others. We chose not to stay. Truly it didn't look like a camp. More like an old forgotten yard. No brai, no ablution blocks, (we were told to use the toilets and showers in one of the very run down cottages). There were no actual camp sites. Everything was broken or simply didn't exist. If it weren't for the sign we would have thought we were lost. We left and stayed in town.

December 27th, 2023 by Vipepeo-Visuals

We absolutely loved to stay here and extended our stopover with an extra night to spend a day in Katavi National Park. Juma is amazing and does a wonderful job reviving the place. He keeps working to improve the place with new ablutions and rooms. We camped on the riverside, which was wonderful with the animals wandering around. Toilets and showers were good and clean and are cleaned regularly. Water is heated in the morning and also on request. Juma was reasonable on the price for the food and both breakfast and dinner were good for a decent price. Would highly recommend this as a stopover and would also recommend to spend an extra night to go into the park.

December 16th, 2023 by Ambassadorsoffreedom.com

We loved staying here, as you are so close to the animals without having to pay the park fee. We were visited by monkeys (were not disturbing), impalas, hippos and even a big male elephant next to our car.

Mr Juma opened one of the rooms for us so we could enjoy a hot shower and a clean toilet.

November 30th, 2023 by polarsteps.com

The rooms are very run-down and smelly. It is overpriced; $20 per person for a damp room with no fan or curtains.

Dinner was nice, but also pricy. The view on hippos is nice, but it it is not worth the price. When we asked for discount, she said she was asking her dad, but she was just outside the house plaiting her daughter’s hair.

October 11th, 2023 by greta-does-africa.com

A nice enough little campsite with superb views of the hippos in the river.

September 25th, 2023 by more

really great place, listen to the hippo all night 50 m away. camping $10 pp + great news rooms at $ 40. Juma excellent host & full of information on the area, has contact s for guide in mahale as well. expensive( $150) to have your foreign reg vehicle over 2t in Katavi so Juma who is an excellent ex-Tanapa ranger can take you in his game viewing vehicle. fantastic food served as well. highly recommended.

September 7th, 2023 by Amelia#lc

Great for a stop over from Kigoma. Camping right next to the river and pods of hippos. $10pppn. Fire wood available. Coldish showers. Lots of hippo activity at night.

November 12th, 2022 by we-travel.at

We payed 10,- $pp and could park directly next to the river with for sure more than 100 Hippos. An amazing place, so much fun to watch them. The bungalows looked like they got at least new paint recently. We didn't use the bathroom, so no idea how it looks inside.

April 8th, 2022 by my-trip-on-the-wild-side.com

Basic, but nice camp at the river. Everything as described before. Juma is an awesome host, super nice guy. I really enjoyed my stay.

January 8th, 2022 by expeditionconservation.org

Very rundown and derelict place. Juma wasn’t obviously there, only some yuong guys. Donkey doesn’t work, so only cold water shower. Ablution in one of the rooms: bad. First asked for $10/pppn, then would’ve settled for 20000Tsh/pppn, but we didn’t stay. Rather go to the Hippo camp next to this, they at least have a chance for a warm shower and better view to the river with hippos!

December 17th, 2021 by ThisisAfrica

we stayed one night in a chalet/room because it was pouring rain. $USD30 is way too much...no hot water and a trickle of cold..Run down and only attraction is hippos...Drive 30klms to Mwanda and have a lovely room at Mwanda Hotel half the price with breakfast...

September 16th, 2021 by kb44440000

As this place is outside the park it is very cheap compared to the ones inside the park (and it's about the same standard as most). It is still right by the river and there were loads of hippos👍 Plus it is family run and 'Juma' could not do enough for us when we arrived so we definitely recommend this place👍 We had a lovely peaceful night here (and very hot showers)👍

July 29th, 2021 by Nomadic_Hagrid

Nice place for a stop over. Juma is a nice guy and speaks good English. They will heat the donkey boiler for you and give you access to a toilet in one the rooms. Actually nice view over the river with a few hippos and some birds roosting in the trees. Firewood also supplied... We paid 20k tsh pppn..

July 26th, 2021 by vidardfran

Really nice view of the river with hippos but the camping is in bad conditions.
Too basic and we negociated the price and paid 12 500 shillings pp.
hippos close to the camping by night.

June 27th, 2021 by Miss Daisy

We first went to Hippo Garden Hotel, it looks abandoned and not suitable for big rigs. We went to River Side Camp and we really liked it. You can park with the truck on the grass by the river. They let us connect to electricity and fill our water tank from one of the rooms. They heat the water for the shower with Donkey, and the water source is waterhole. 10$ pppn. Good Vodacom signal. Since the price for enter the Katavi NP with a truck is 200$ we took a safari for about 10 hours for the same price. We recommend Juma +255673092853

June 23rd, 2021 by antoine.warrant

Highly recommended! Beautiful place to sleep (I wouldn't sleep in a tent as we saw hippos crossing the hotel). No hot water but electricity, nice mosquito net, breakfast and food good and consistent, network available. Juma the owner is a really helpful guy.We broke one of our tyre and helped us a lot to get a new one etc. He has cars himself and can organise with him as guide in the park. We spoke Swahili most of the time but his English seems pretty ok.

May 22nd, 2021 by Khayaonwheels

It is really not that bad, use of a bathroom in a room and 15.000tsh for me and my house on wheels. The reception wasn’t that welcome but the 2 shy brothers are quite friendly so I enjoyed my stay!

April 12th, 2021 by Esther&Thomas Morf

run down, NO hot shower. $10 is to much!!

January 30th, 2020 by hippysquared.com

Great hot donkey boiler shower evening and morning. Opened a chalet to use toilet. Basic but clean . Good stop

June 29th, 2019 by futsoid

They wanted 20000tsh pp, but then we said we would go next door. We got it for 10000tsh pp. Shower is a hot donkey shower with good pressure. Both European and long drop toilet. Ablutions need TLC. We had some hippos in the river and nice birthlife. The manager is also a guide at Katavi National Park, he is very friendly. They made a fire for us.

June 28th, 2019 by patreon.com

All info still the same except they have hot showers now. They built a donkey while we where there. We negotiate for 15 USD for 2 people camping. The facilities was basic but clean. About 20 Hippos in the river.

June 19th, 2019 by martie293

We camped close to the river, basic toilet and cold water shower. Staff friendly and brought hot water for dishes.We were entertained by hippos

April 5th, 2019 by JordyJ

I didn’t sleep here because rain coming and I saw just 2 hippos.

He asked me -10.
I say - 10 thousand ?
He say after 5 seconde of silent -yes 10 000 shillings for camp !

I try to go down the price ( I m player ) at 5 000 but he don’t want 😁

Room was 20 000.

Price is down because it s rain saison maybe ...

January 26th, 2019 by roundnround

Stayed in the off-season, but still saw a few hippos. Owner was incredibly knowledgeable about the area, very friendly, and organized dinner and breakfast for me, but somewhat overpriced. Stayed in one of the rooms for 20,000 without negotiating.

October 26th, 2017 by afrika-drimslar.de

Awesome Campground! Not because of the Site itself but because of its Location at the Hippo River. The Chalets and Camp are pretty run down, Campground under Trees offers nothing special. Ablutions were okay, we had worse. Flush Toilet (a bit dirty) and cold Shower with low Pressure. No Electricity. But the River is just nearby. When we visited (also End of the Dry Season) there were about 400 Hippos in the River and in the Pool just in front of us (no Exaggeration, we counted). It's a bit sad for the Hippos as they almost lie on each other but an Experience and View you will probably never forget. During Daytime you can get as close as 5 m to them. Around 7 pm they start to get active and roam the Area in Search for Food, also around the Camp as there is no Fence - spectacular from the Roof Top Tent! It only was a little bit smelly when they all got out of the Water, otherwise nothing at all. The only real Downside was an extremely loud chirping all Day and Night. They wanted 10 USD pppn but we also negotiated 15.000 TZS (5,80 Euro) pppn.

By the Way: The Road from Kigoma to Tunduma is around 50% Dirt Track (mostly good condition) and 50% Tarmac (mostly new). Be aware of the very aggressive Tsetse Flies when crossing the Katavi National Park.

August 6th, 2017 by hugmin42

Very rundown place, but at least we saw the hippos. Also negotiated down to 15 000 TZS as it is definitely not worth $10.

February 23rd, 2017 by Cruisecanary

Not bad. Toilets and showers are okay. Hippos are great. Bit scary though, as there is no fence between you and the hippos. I arrived after dark and found out the next morning I was less then 10 meters away from the river. No facilities. They charged 10 dollars but negotiated it down to 15.000 tsh.

February 4th, 2017 by chasibgblueskies

negotiated to $7.50ppn after they asked for $10, as the facilities are quite run down/basic. flush toilets, cold shower. Nice that it's on the river though with all of the hippos

May 28th, 2016 by matatu.ch

Nice spot but 10$ pp/night is too much for what you get.
There were only 4 Hippos. If you wanna see there is 400 Hippos, then you have to go there after end of June when they coming down from the lake.

December 17th, 2015 by facebook

Simple place flushing toilet, cold shower, paid $10,- for the 2 of us ( normal they ask 10 usd each) best of all is the hippo river on the campsite 50 meter from the car.

November 11th, 2015 by alles-selbst-erlebt

Basic camp, but friendly host. Hundreds of hippos around (beginning of rainy saison). Keep in mind: hippos See smelly!

October 31st, 2014 by Tucks' Truck

Very basic camp with poor facilities, but had over 100 Hippos in the river at the side of the camp ground (end of the dry season).

August 11th, 2013 by kapp2cape-blog.net

Basic campsite just outside the park. Ablutions were closed/run down when we were there so had to use shower and toilet in one of the rooms. One campsite has electricity. Hippos in the river right by the campsite.

Cost:USD10