Kigoma Hilltop Hotel — Hotel in Kigoma Region

The hotel oversees a hilltop about three km out of Kigoma city center (the roundabout at the train station). It offers magnificent views over the lake, nice cottages at different sizes, from regular hotel room-sized ones to sizable little houses. They are tastefully decorated, dated but quality furniture and generate safari- lodge feeling. The showers are good, plenty of warm water, dated but fully functional sanitary equipment. The compound is very large, features the best (and probably largest) pool in the Kigoma area located on a concrete deck overlooking the lake. There are tame animals roaming freely, including a zebra, ducks, some others. The resident velvet monkeys are fun to watch, curious but shy enough not become cleptoctats like in other places. The park is nice and very green, requires lots of care and attention. There is a private beach about 15 min on foot down the hill, very good kayaks are available and it is every enjoyable to spend some hours in the water. There are NO crocodiles - also, the hotel offers lots of other activities such as safari tours to Gombe and also has a boat, quads etc. (haven’t done this, but pricing is reasonable). The restaurant is a bit ambivalent. Some of the staff are outstanding and very entertaining, professional and fun to talk, others are rather lackluster and seem not to be interested in their work or their guests at all. Same for the menu options: it’s dated and needs to be revised - too European-focused for me and almost no local / limited Indian choices. Breakfast needs to be expanded to healthy choices such as e.g. a BLT sandwich or wraps. This at the side, the view from either the wooden deck or from inside the open hall makes up for it. The juices are good (depending on availability). I would like to mention the lady at the reception when arrived, it was very late and she was extremely professional, friendly, smiling and welcoming. The new Indian general manager does a fabulous job interacting with guests, listening to them and make everyone feel at home. Going to/from Kigoma town wane a problem at all, walking takes about 30 min and there are lots of Bodas and Tuktuks available. Be prepared to pay about 2000-3000. Going to/from the airport is comparatively expensive: USD 25 with their own cruiser vs. TSH 40K with a local taxi through the reception. Nevertheless, it is THE BEST hotel with altogether excellent value for money (against a few things to improve). Thank you very much for four...

First - the good: the views are truly amazing and made lounging around on our balcony, by the pool, or at meals very enjoyable. Additionally, most of the staff are very nice and helpful. Second - the bad: my main issue is with this being advertised and priced as a luxury property. The rooms are fine, but the beds and pillows are extremely uncomfortable (our beds in a national park budget Banda in Mahale NP were more comfortable than the beds at this place). The food at the restaurant is terrible, which I wouldn’t inherently mind, however it’s also ridiculously expensive. They don’t have a lot of the items on the menu and don’t consistently make anything (I ordered a margarita pizza, on the menu it said it has cheese and tomato sauce on it, however it came with lettuce, carrots, and peas on it).it should be noted that this is in no way the fault of the employees, the kitchen they are working from shouldn’t really even be called a kitchen, it’s two burners and a small deep fryer. Which brings me to my next point, this place has seen better days and needs to be updated. What is advertised is definitely not what you get. The “private beach” is like a mile walk away, there are no chairs, and most of the beach is red dirt and a dump pile for scrap metal? There are abandoned buildings along the property that are no longer used and not kept up. They also market this property an “animal sanctuary,” which it is most certainly not. The animals are enclosed within a portion of the property, which isn’t even close to big enough for all the animals. These animals have clearly been brought to live here for the benefit of tourist. Lastly, this property does not sell alcohol, which I didn’t see advertised on the website and only found out about upon arrival. This was not only frustrating but I felt like it was something they actively did not want guest to know about until arrival. ALL IN ALL: none of the issues I have mentioned above would have been a big deal had the property been advertised more honestly and if the price was more reasonable. Not good value...

Kigoma Hilltop Hotel was hands down a gift of a find. I arrived there to meet with a contact during a recent visit. After a lovely meeting, I decided to stay there for a leg of my journey, as it was so impressive and inviting. The grounds were beautifully kept and the location couldn’t be beat. My friend and I were traveling as 2 women and felt extremely safe and well cared for while at Hilltop. The amount of thought put into this location is evident, and the exceptional manner in which staff tend to their roles with genuine kindness is notable. For anyone looking to spend time at Gombe National Park, Kigoma Hilltop is an easy choice when it comes to where to stay before and after but I’d stay there even if Gombe wasn’t on my agenda. Kigoma Hilltop has become one of those special places in the world that I’ll aim to return to. The restaurant was quite impressive, serving the best vegetable samosas and curry I’ve ever had as well as the most refreshing fresh juices (Ask Dio to make pineapple ginger juice…mmmmm) and nicest masala tea around. The grounds were pretty with no shortage of wildlife to snag my attention. The pool was inviting and there was no end to the pretty sunrises or sunsets, gorgeous from anywhere on the grounds. My friend and I even utilized the fun and lovely option of kayaking that Hilltop offers and that has become one of our sweetest memories! I could write at length about why I recommend Kigoma Hilltop, but at some point I need to submit this so that I’ll be able to get to work on planning my return there :). I hope you put Hilltop on your agenda, as I know it will become a special place to...