Firefly | Established Campground

February 12th, 2024 by twoleolandy.africa

We camped here for three nights. Very chilled and friendly place. 4 toilets and 4 showers all working. 2 wash basins plus a covered area with dish wash up facilities. Great food, cold drinks, use of pool and chill areas. Sort of shabby chic, very relaxing and close to walk to a lot of the local sights. Maasai guards all night

October 4th, 2023 by rjmbeeks

The ablution block has been upgraded and is well maintained. See the additional photos.

October 4th, 2023 by rjmbeeks

We spent two days at the Fire Fly and enjoyed the nice pool and excellent restaurant which has quite great menu. The ablution block has hot showers now and is clean. The staff is attentive and make sure the camp site is secluded. There are some power points available and a generator is stand by. The place is conveniently close to the historical centre.

June 19th, 2022 by ourbucketyear

Wouldn’t recommend, mosque blaring well into to the night and again at 4am…. locals walking through camp very noisy… Ablutions way below standard… Rather travel further up to travellers lodge….

June 18th, 2022 by homesofafrica.com

Not our campsite. Run down, cold water showers, no electricity at the sites, dirty and old ablutions and a lot of noise in the area. The mosque is next door and making a lot of noise besides that people playing music all night. Definitely not a relaxing spot to go. I wouldn’t recommend to stay here. A lot of young people hanging around.

February 13th, 2022 by webinfo123

This is a turn with some old buildings. most of the glory is gone but some of the old colonial buildings are still recognizable. You can walk around yourself.
Close to the beach is the fish market. Fun to walk around and see all the activity. I think this will be move soon to a new building which is called "fish market".
On the market they also sell fruit and other things. They fry fish if you want although it's a bit hard to get a fair price. I think you have to buy your own fish, ask somebody to get it and maybe but some potatoes too.
We didn't hear any noise/music, but it was Sunday.
The campsite is big and there is enough space. A truck for groups started at the campground, but it was not used (by a group). I think it was just parked here.
Pool and bar are great. other restaurants are around the corner.

We paid USD10 pppn (children half) for camping.

January 31st, 2022 by Escapethehague_overlanding

Stayed one night at the campsite but we were not impressed. The campsite is just a grassy field behind the guesthouse that is not maintained and there lots of people just hanging around there. The toilets are also used by the people that stay at the pool and restaurant and were very dirty when we were there. The restaurant and bar are very nice and this is clearly where the priorities lie. We gave them feedback and 2 hours later they were mowing the grass and cleaning the toilets, which showed us that they do care. We moved to the travellers lodge just down the road which is much better value for money for campers in our opinion.

October 17th, 2021 by gerdienvantongeren

As mentioned below. Nice campsite.
Children under 5 free of charge. 5-12 $5.
Expect cold shower, but ok in this temperatures.

No electricity at site. Only in the middle of the campsite at the dishwash building. You need a long extension...

September 4th, 2021 by Linde

Lovely place to stay! Nice atmosphere, lovely little pool and enough spaces to put car in the shade. 10 dollar pp but no charge for children. Nice and helpful owners. We really like the common area with lots of space to relax between the many plants.

May 21st, 2021 by catch-the-wind.com

We decided not to stay. The ablutions were run down and the wifi intermittent and slow. I am sure some would love the hippy feel, but it was not for us. Moved on to the Travellers Lodge next door.

March 11th, 2020 by t_i_g_g_r

What a beautiful place! Really enjoyed our 2 nights here camping in a tent. Pool and chill areas are great. Cold beer 4,000. WiFi variable. Beach within 2 mins walking. Loved watching the cargo boats get loaded up to set sail for Zanzibar. Local area worth exploring! Still $10 pppn. Possible to pay on card in $ but they charge 3% extra.

February 17th, 2020 by haveaniceway.com

We stayed here for 2 nights, one before we went to Zanzibar and one after. It's a lovely place with nice vibe. Ablutions okay, we had no warm water but was not needed with the hot climate.

Remarks on the boat transfer they offer: you should book in advance, as it only sails when a certain amount of people is on the boat. Ask Jo the owner: +255759177393

October 14th, 2019 by lettinglifehappen.com

We passed a quiet night in our RTT. The ablutions were fine. Good wifi. A bit pricey at $10pp to camp in the field but there are trees for shade and access to nice pool and shaded lounge area.

June 21st, 2019 by ronelle.duck

We loved this place and stayed for a week and made use of their ferry to Zanzibar. We left our truck while we were in Zanzibar at no extra charge. $40 pp for the ferry one way. Rustic backpackers with great relax/chill areas. Call to pray is part of, especially the coastal region and not specific to firefly and it didn't bother us. The fish market also not a big deal. The property is fenced now with Masai guards. Never felt unsafe. Food a bit pricey but the lunch we had was delicious. Hot showers in the mornings and evenings as indicated on their notice. With a big group you better get in there first. We only had one night with an overlander tour group but no issues.

June 6th, 2019 by SafariNdefu2019

Ablutions a bit dingy but adequate. Showers cold. Nice pool area etc, didn’t eat. Located next to a rather smelly fish market, but smell didn’t bother us too much. Friendly staff and helpful manager. Neighbours pumped music the whole night - but it was Eid so not sure if they always do that. Kids half price.

May 9th, 2019 by Billie Whizz travels

Excellent place to stay. Great little bar, food, swim pool area. Staff very friendly and attentive. Taffy, the boss, is a good lad. $10 per night incl electric hook up to truck.

February 4th, 2019 by mart_zwan

We loved the place! Enough space to park your car and pitch a tent. It’s very cosy and nice atmosphere. They have a swimmingpool in the middle of the bar/restaurant. The food is good. The showers must be warm in the morning and evening, but they aren’t. But maybe because there was a overlanding bus before us. It was also not real cold.
Quiet at night because you only hear the wind above some noise.

December 15th, 2018 by fernwehafrica

Great place, good food, warm (fresh water showers) it had great vibe and was worth the money. We paid $10 pp. Has a good camp kitchen on site and access to water. Whole area is clean and all close together. Great pool for cooling off.

December 9th, 2018 by 2wrinkledtravellers.wordpress.com

Safe camp to explore Bagamoyo. Very noisy due to nearby disco, mosque and fish market - hotel not at fault. Shade, grass, electricity from center kitchen area.

September 26th, 2018 by riaandaglish

wow what a place. bit expensive compared to our usual local guesthouse accommodation but totally worth it, paid 16 usd each for dorm beds but no one else around and this place is an oasis. friendly staff , good coffee and food reasonably priced. Nice cats. no issue with security, kept our motorbike in the carpark/camping area.

May 7th, 2018 by thepioneeringspirit.com

Still rough and unkept. Very disappointed with the camping. Grounds littered with trash. We spent two nights there, so we could go into Dar to restock on groceries. 75% if the time we were there there was no power, which meant no water and no flushing toilets. Showers are a bit of a joke, cold and a spray nozzle like one has at their kitchen sink. They were out of cheese and Gin in the restaurant/bar. We went to town and found multiples of these items.
Though staff is very nice, the French press coffee good and no complaints on a breakfast they served... the rest of the experience was disappointing. Should we find ourselves back in that area, we would opt to spend more money for decent accommodation as campers elsewhere.

Also, fence around grounds not secure and people walking through broken spaces. Did not feel safe and secure. Hard to tell who was security or staff vs. transient.

August 23rd, 2017 by treefrancois

Amazing place. Nice touches everywhere, they are involved in community projects like beach cleanups and recycling. Very pleasant people, one gets the feeling that your money is well spent.

January 9th, 2017 by mrwinn13

chilled out place near the sea

November 29th, 2016 by Maggie in Africa

Grassy & shady campsite near beach but not on beach. A bit rough around the edges and unkept, but I think they are aiming for the hippie vibe. A restaurant which was only serving nachos and pasta (whomp whomp). Big overland truck was there with about 20 people, making for a cramped but not terrible pool area. $10pppn, too expensive for what it is so we left looking for something better.

October 5th, 2016 by slowbru.com

The lodge is an old historic slave trade building that has been converted into several rooms. Out front is a lovely swimming pool and restaurant. Down below is the camping site with cooking/seating Banda. Camp site can be a bit smelly when the southerly winds blow over the fish market and into the camp site.