Heritage Luxury Tented Camp — Local services in Ikoma

We spent a memorable time at the Serengeti Heritage Luxury Camp.

The tent is large and comfortable, and my wife especially enjoyed the huge bed (2x2,4 metres). The shower and sink in the bathroom met the expectations, but the toilet was only separated by a curtain, which was uncomfortable for me. The electricity was continuously supplied and of sufficient power, and it was possible to charge 4-5 devices at a time. The electric lighting, on the other hand, is not very effective, with a light bulb in the sleeping area and the washbasin so low that I had to use a flashlight to shave myself in the morning.

In the evening, the staff pulls the zippers on the tent door and windows and after the lamp is extinguished, it becomes dark - no light is filtered from outside. That's when we heard the roar of the first lion, the most beautiful voice in the savannah. The lions roared all night, closer or further away - majestic. From the noises around the tent, it was not possible to determine whether the wind was being heard or animals were moving - in the morning, both the tracks of leopard and hyena were shown directly in front of the tent.

The porch in front of the tent is a pleasant place to sit and the sunrise is unforgettable. In the morning at sunrise, the staff open the zipper and bring some hibyscus tea. The staff is very helpful and friendly, the guys trie to do their best to make your stay pleasant and memorable.

In addition to the 17 residential tents, there is a reception and a bar, as well as a restaurant - each in a tent. The food is prepared locally, relatively simple but delicious, for both breakfast and dinner. The lunchbox for safari is also not very varied, but nutritious.

The bar and the restaurant are supposed to have wifi and internet access, but in practice there is actually no internet connection and never even got connected to the net.

The basic element of the system is that the guest cannot leave the tent and move after dark without an escort of the staff. To this end, each tent comes with a walkie-talkie, that the guest can reach the staff, if there is any need or emergency. Theoretically. In practice, on the second night, we called William the leader for more than half an hour to ask for help, who did not respond, could not be reached. There was no emergency, but if it had, it would have been a big problem. The system works on the principle of trust that the guest is not alone in the tent because he knows he can ask for help in case of emergency and if it does not work, the whole system is questioned. This was a serious mistake.

The night in a tent in Serengeti and the experience of roaring lions was unforgettable, one of the great experiences of our lives. But our...

First of all, one has to remember that this is in the middle of nowhere and that everything has to be brought in over some evil roads. And that this camp moves every year to avoid environmental issues and the infrastructure isn't as well developed as the more permanent camps. This was definitely the most rustic of all the tent camps we visited. ||The Good||-Location is amazing -- game drive in the sunrise through the hyena den area, and hyena roaming just outside the tent all night long. The stars at night are just amazing, even though you have to "sneak out" of your tent to take a look or photos. They "lock you in" after dark due to the roaming hyena ||-the staff is most helpful and the poor guy who roamed the grounds all night chasing the hyena out deserves and extra tip. We actually loved hearing them "whoop" right at our headboard during the night!||Beds are comfortable.||The food was excellent ||The OK||-The tents are not on platforms so the floor is a bit rough and uneven. The grounds are pretty rugged and the metal "sidewalks" they use to join the bar and dining are are a real trip hazard. Assume those were more for the rainy season?||-No running water (except for the toilet). The shower is a bucket affair that was more than adequate - they haul hot water to each tent when you ask for a shower - better than the solar shower we use tent camping -- bring your own washcloth tho. ||-All solar lighting, which is fine, but bring a head lamp or flashlight. ||- Charging station is in the bar and it fills up pretty fast -- plan on leaving stuff overnight.||-The campfire was upwind of the tents, so you ended up smelling like smoked fish!||The bad||The drainage in our tent and a couple others was just not working. Several of the toilets backed up and our shower drain did not work at all...and that was a real hazard...didn't realize the water had flooded the floor and when I stepped out I slipped on the wet tent floor and nearly broke my neck. They tried to fix that but we still had floods the next two days -- don't leave anything on the bedroom floor that you don't want "washed"!||||One last item that was consistent in all the places -- no credit cards. Our tour operator told us not to bring a lot of cash because cards could be used for tips, bar tabs and incidentals. We took that advice and had to borrow cash from our fellow travelers -- not the way we...

We spent our final night of safari at the Ronjo camp and found it really nice. The camp is well organized and the tents are spacious and well-equipped. Even though they truly are tents (as opposed to the so-called "tented lodges" in Ngorongoro) they contain everything you would expect from a fully equipped hotel-room with separate shower, toliet, bathroom and nice furniture and seating. Every tent has it's own little patio with deck chairs and a table for your drink/beer.||||The restaurant tent has all walls open and provide a very nice dinner-under-the-stars experience. The food was really excellent, the best we got in mainland Tanzania and the service was impeccable. The bar/lounge tent (the only place you can charge your devices at this campe) is also really nice but got very quiet even before 10PM, we felt almost obliged to go to bed earlier than planned.||||However, the best experience from Ronjo is the closeness to nature. When darkness falls you will soon start hearing lions and hyenas very close to the camp and in the night you can literally hear them roaming about in the immediate vicinity. After dark you can no longer walk alone in the camp, you get accompanied by masai guards wherever you go - to protect you from wildlife. Also, inside the camp you will find birds, rates, termites and ants living in between the tents. And when we had breakfast a whole colony of mungoos came by to say hi - a great experience for the smaller kids in the camp! ||||All in all, a great place to stop on your safari - you will remember it (not least the sound of the lions...