Bongo Camping | Established Campground

Grassy place, but dort Toilette, no shower ist working and there is no power. 15k TS for almost nothing than parking lot. Watchman is begging for food, not a place I can recommend

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Michael is a wonderful host. He helped us in getting a sim card, an Airtel account, airtime and data avoiding a registration with you passport details.

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Well well well !
The first thing you should know is that if you are planing to come here, you must call or message Michael in advance, at least 24 h, so he can organize your stay and arrival.

The second (and most important) thing you should know about this place is that it is situated in the middle of a village... without fences. A very used path goes directly in the middle of the so called camp. So if dozens of kids staring at you for hours isn't your thing, forget about it. If you don't want to hear children screaming for hours and don't want to see dozens of locals passing by at 3 metres from your table and chairs until you finally decide to go to bed, forget about it. If you don't like to hear a dude running his chainsaw 40 metres from your car from 7pm til 8pm, forget about it. If you don't like to be woken up by loud dudes listening to music and hanging out around your truck for no reason, forget about it. If you dont like dogs barking all of the night and loud african music, forget about it. If you want peace and privacy, forget about it.
If you want a priced experience in an african village because you dig this kind of stuff for your Insta, come on in !

We arrived at 3pm and found no-one, just a bunch of kids who followed us to the camp. We sent a WhatsApp to Michael but he didn't respond. We had a walk in the village until we found someone willing to help us. That person called Michael for us and told us he will arrive in 2 hours. Michael finally showed up at 8pm, so 5 hours later, just in time to hear the chainsaw screaming.
Bathrooms are, as said before, very rundown. Absolutly not a single penny went into those bathrooms since they were built (probably 20 years ago) so they have no excuses. For 10USD, they can buy bleach and some paint : in one or 2 days, the bathrooms could look at least clean... Before improving a place, maybe it's better to maintain it first. No water, no shower, no sink, just 2 dirty and decrepit squat toilets with one bucket (one bucket for 2 toilets, dont know what happen if the 2 toilets are beeing used in the same time for #2). To fill up the bucket, we had to go to the neighbor's house 50 m away and use the tap in his garden.

Michael was very friendly, as everybody in the village, and we have nothing against him. He was very willing to help and everything but I have to be frank and I refuse to be delicate with Africans just because they are Africans : this place sucks. It's not a camping, it's a "come and pay to sleep at my village with no facilities" kinda place. Thats the worse place called "camping" we have ever stayed in one year in this continent. There is no pros ! Ok maybe one : they brought us toilet paper the next morning.

Michael asked us 25 k (10kpp plus 5k for the car) wich is highway robbery. We gave him 10k and explained him why we will never come back here.

I hope we are leaving Tanzania tomorrow.

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Absolutely recommended to stay here if you like to support the community and experience some Tanzanian life! We had a great time playing with the kids of the village and having good chats with Michael. The ablutions are very basic, but a hot water bucket shower was available when we asked. Also had some nice breakfast provided by a local women from the village. As said before, the campsite has been hit by Covid-19, but Michael has a lot of ambitions and is saving up to improve and invest in the campsite and the community.

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Very nice place and good way to help community. Michael is very helpful and kind and he needs money to improve the place.
So come here! It’s 15k for camp; bucket shower(at the moment..) and it’s possible to get food from local women. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! It’s better call Michael first (number on previous posts). He can also organize trekking on nearby attractions

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nice simple place with lovely people.
it is a community camping. you have to stop there!
if you call +255757008418 before, he will arrange tours : tea plantation, waterfall, god's bridge, crater lake, cooking pot
they can provide food also, have a look at the pictures
price around 8000 tsh pppn and 5000 for car. a bit négociable

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Basic place, grassy campsite, used to be a small (pre?)school. Simple traditional ablutions, no shower. water can be warmed for bucket shower. very friendly caretaker, neighbourhood kids come to play if you have kids and share the toys. quiet and relaxing for an overnight stay before or after the border.

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This place is OPEN again - was closed during Covid ... fortunately, Michael (who runs the campsite) saw me ride into Tukuyu & asked me if I was looking for a place to camp, so directed me here ... bumpy track from the main road, but possibly easier when tackled in daylight ;)

No running water, but hot water provided by my host for a refreshing bucket shower :)

Michael is a friendly (ever smiling) guy who halved my camping fee to 5000tsh !

He let me put my tent inside the main building to stay out of the rain & went to every length to make my stay as comfortable as possible - speaks good English too :)

Direct (local) line: 0757008418

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After discussions with the locals,we realised that this place is now closed.

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We passed 2 nights in our RTT at this campground/mission. The grassy area was clean. The ablutions were very simple and no hot water but clean and with lights. Christop, the young caretaker, was very nice to talk to and helped us arrange a guided hike up Mt. Rungwe. It's simple but cheap (6000pp) and your money helps support educational classes for locals.

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All is said with below comments, however one additional problem besides the very run down ablutions is the access road, it's in a very bad condition, a lot of potholes, drive carefully!!

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A shocker. On the positive the campsite is level and grassed and there is water available.
On the negative there was litter all over the site, the ablutions were filthy with faeces on the lip of the loos, unclean. No lighting in the toilets and the wash basin has no drain connected. We paid on arrival and upon leaving the next morning were asked for additional funds which we rejected.
Don’t stay here unless you need a quick and dirty stopover

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Beautiful surroundings. Nice people. Shower on low pressure, but pleasantly warm.

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Nice grassy area, but ablutions completely run down, no water pressure for shower. You can order food but don't order chicken. Looks like the chicken turned into stone and it was almost impossible to eat. Two boys run this vamping. They do ask since a few months donations to go and study abroad. However, they don't have really a plan how to do that. We told them to look for an organisation to help them, look for burseries online, estimate all the costs including plane etc. Please follow up on their plan.

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6,000 pppn and 4,000 for vehicle. Nice, simple campsite within community. Ablutions run down.
Children called to us over the fence, some asked for things, others just practising English, they didn't hassle us.

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A lovely place with friendly staff. With two motorcycles and one tent we paid 6000 pp, so 12000tsh in total for a night.
There were no kids in the building so it was calm in the evening as well as in the morning. The area is fenced and quite isolated from the rest of the village.
Still no pressure in the showers...

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Indeed a nice and lovely little Campground. Green Grass, in the middle of the Village. There is enough Space for a lot of Ground Tents and Cars with Roof Top Tents (but little Shadow). There is also a small House with a Veranda where you can sit and relax. The House also hosts a School. Therefore we had a lot of Kids playing around at the Campground all the Time and especially in the Morning. But they were friendly and polite and did not bother us. At Night it was very loud two Times when all of the Villagers Dogs went crazy. Apart from that it was quite. Ablutions are indeed completely run down but at least we could flush the (Standing) Toilets, Taps are fixed (not leaking any more) but Showers are worthless - no Water Pressure at all). So better bring your own Bucket/Bottle to the Shower and fill it at the Taps. Still 6.000 TZS (2,30 Euro) pppn and 4.000 TZS (1,50 Euro) per Car per Night. Friendly People.

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as mentioned before. Now it costs 4000 per car and 6000 p.p. per night. No running water, shower with a bucket. But has electricity if you bring long extension cable.

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Nice camp site on grass and friendly staff.
There is possibility to order food (Chapati are quite good)
Ablution bloc is completely run down. No hot water, the solar heating boiler is broken and a cascade of water runs all day and night because all the taps are broken, even the main one... what a waste!

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Campsite is alright for one night though ablutions are run down as written before. Campsite itself is in the middle of the village so you can have a lot of fun with the kids. Very friendly staff. It looks like they have a restaurant so we ordered chicken with chips. The guys went through a lot of trouble to get the food and mixed it up with fresh avocado and fruit. Was very nice.

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Rustic secure camping ground hedged off but within the community. Space for overlanders, offer food and has running water (rainy season). Good stop over for border crossing to and from Malawi.

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open grass place, no fence, french toilet, shower with bucket, no water supply

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Like previous comment, price per person 6000 shillings and 4000 shillings for the car, its a community based campsite

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We stayed here one night on route to the border. Very nice grassy area for camping, there is space for Overlanders vehicles. They will cook you food if you ask. African dishes, nothing fancy, homemade food. They also offer tours. The bathroom is basic and not great, but the place is a nice camp spot in the middle of a community. Costs 6000shillings pp to camp and 8000 pp for dinner. Friendly staff and loads of local kids - but they will not bother you if you do not invite them.

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