29 Jan 10
This is an extract from an article written by Sophy Roberts for the December 2009 issue of ’The Financial Times’ :
“Among my favourite places in East Africa is Kiwayu Safari Village. Located just 30 miles north of Lamu on the remote coast of the Kiunga Marine Reserve, this privately owned Kenyan beach lodge started as a hunting lodge in the 1970’s, for it is flanked by the Dodori and Boni Game Reserve. The founder’s Italian daughter, Simone Pelizzoli, now lives there with her two young daughters and English husband. Between them they ensure every last detail functions happily and safely, from the impeccable seafood (so fresh even kids are safe to eat sushi), to the vast thatch and wood bandas which line the nigh-perfect kilometre-long beach. With their sand and rattan floors, open-air bathrooms, bedrooms and lounge areas – casually interlinked, so you can feel close to your children with out feeling squeezed – this is the perfect ’soft cell’ environment for toddlers. Each day I watched my children from a hammock as they chased waves of pink crabs back into the sea, which is warm, gently shelving, with neither dramatic waves nor tides. One evening I listened to my youngest in conversation with a monkey. We went on picnics to hidden coral islets, spent afternoons deep-sea fishing and rolling down the sand dunes. So while there aren’t any Wii’s or televisions to distract them, there’s a vast amount of simpler activities – learning to swim, chasing geckos, playing snap with the bartender, Francis Waite. We stayed five nights and wished we’d stayed a week, convinced the two-hour flight from Nairobi was entirely worth it. “
Posted in: Uncategorized |
29 Jan 10
“Charlotte Medcalf finds a hidden paradise on Kenya’s coast:
Last November I took my four-year-old daughter to Africa for the first time. We flew in a tiny plane from Lamu, travelling up Kenya’s coast to the Kiunga Marina Reserve where the Pelizzoli family owns and runs Kiwayu Safari Village. The ‘lodge’, in fact a collection of about 18 huts, lies on a sheltered semi-circular curve of pristine white sandy beach on the Indian Ocean.
Kiwayu was built in the 1970s by Alfredo Pelizzoli, an Italian with a passion for Kenya and a keen eye for property. I met Alfredo in the late 1980s when I was living in Nairobi, but only now have I made the journey to Kiwayu. The lodge has changed hands several times, but about ten years ago the Pelizzolis wrested back ownership. Today Simone, Alfredo’s middle daughter, lives there with her two-year-old daughter and runs it with her husband, George.
Years ago Alfredo tried to advertise Kiwayu in The Spectator. ‘Come and enjoy delicious fresh crab served by beautiful black angels,’ was a typical example of what he wanted printed. After Alfredo had built a honeymoon suite on its own island, complete with baobab tree house, he tried again: ‘Having trouble conceiving? Come and try our lovers’ paradise, the Baobabs of Kitangani.’ Even the non-politically correct Spectator balked at running such provocative copy. Alfredo died three years ago and there never was an advertisement for Kiwayu in these pages.
The Pelizzolis have a knack for making places beautiful. Here, they have allowed the wild, natural beauty of the surroundings to dominate. The huts blend into the environment with mukutu roofs and makeke flooring. They are decorated simply but exquisitely with shells, driftwood and local textiles, and comfortably furnished with vast beds under mosquito nets, hammocks full of oversized cushions and carved Victorian day-beds from Lamu. This is luxury with none of the glitzy, discordant luxe like brass period fittings and heavy, colonial-style furniture provided by some Kenyan camps that can make the visitor to Africa feel queasy.
Every hut has a big wooden chest in which to keep valuables safe from monkeys. There are no windows or doors. You wake up and look straight out at the ocean. For a security-conscious European accustomed to privacy, it can seem bizarre to shower virtually in the open or to stroll off down the beach without a key, but after a couple of days, testament to the friendly staff and secure family atmosphere, you are worrying about nothing more than the crabs that scuttle over your bare feet as you roam the beach. I have never been anywhere that has so successfully eliminated my anxieties about the past or future. My daughter was entirely happy, relishing the freedom of an empty beach and the warm, clean Indian Ocean. She even loved the crabs — they were bright pink. I slid into a state of contentment and looked ahead only as far as lunch or dinner. The food is excellent with an Italian bent: pasta, lobster and crab are daily fare.
If you want to do more than eat, drink and languish in a hammock, the camp is renowned for its deep-sea fishing, and there are plenty of marlin, sailfish and yellow-fin tuna to be had. My friend and I took our children out on a boat and her seven-year-old son caught four kingfish that were served later for dinner. You can take a boat all the way to Lamu or just drift around on a dhow enjoying the sunset.
If you are staying ashore, staff will bring a picnic to one of the many sheltered spots along the bay. I walked along a second beach to a hut where a delicious lunch of salade niçoise and lobster was served. I climbed the dunes behind the beach and the view over the Dodori National Reserve took my breath away. I canoed deep into some of the world’s most unspoilt mangrove channels.
Kiwayu is a mere 30 miles north of Lamu but remains relatively untouched. Over the past 20 years, developers have swarmed over Lamu, turning sleepy Shela Beach, site of the world-famous Peponi’s Hotel, into a bustling little town. Then in April, Kenyan transport minister Chirau Ali Mwakwere confirmed the construction of a second port in Lamu. The port will be bigger than Mombasa and is part of a $22 billion development plan that includes roads, airports, railway lines and a pipeline to link northern Kenya with Sudan and Ethiopia. The potential devastation to the environment can only be guessed at. Wily developers are already looking north towards Kiwayu’s magnificent wilderness. Go quickly before paradise is lost.”
Posted in: Uncategorized |
29 Jan 10
This is an extract from an article written by Chris Bagley from the Condenash Paris Offices, following his visit to Kiwayu in August of 2009:
‘… Even those who come to Lamu for its raucous holiday scene tend to slip away at some point, heading off to one of several pricey hideaways that evoke Gillian’s Island, albeit with better food. British artist Tracey Emin favours Kiwayu Safari Village , which is reached either by plane or by an alarmingly bumpy, 40-mile speedboat ride through the mangrove channels … The lodge’s 18 open-air, thatch-roofed bandas overlook a pristine beach that’s part of a marine reserve, with a game reserve right next to it, so it’s here that you’ll likely have that requisite East Africa experience: a wildlife encounter inside your hotel room. No sooner had the steward dropped off my suitcase than a monkey hopped through the window to inspect it.
Kiwayu’s co-owner Simone Pelizzoli is a native Kenyan whose father bought the land in the Seventies, when elephants still hung out on the beach. Today tourism in Kenya is slowly picking up again after the violence in the wake of the countries 2007 presidential election … Pelizzoli prefers to focus on the upside. At least the unrest serves as a deterrent to new Club Meds and, paradoxically, protects the things that lured travellers here in the first place. Pelizzoli makes this observation after returning from a late-afternoon walk on a deserted beach with her husband and their two-year-old daughter, who spend an hour and a half bouncing on dried seaweed and running after crabs.
“Often”, she says, “when there’s a bit of trouble somewhere, the beauty remains, doesn’t it?” ‘
Posted in: Uncategorized |
19 Jun 09
Kiwayu Safari Village , in the Lamu Archipelago , has the very good fortune to be able to offer our guests to go fly fishing for a sailfish or tuna in the morning and in the afternoon to go fly fishing in the mangrove channels for snappers and groupers . A wide and varied range of fish to catch and all in very differing types of environment . Have a further look in the Kiwayu diaries for the sections on , deep sea fishing , off shore fishing and inshore fishing . If you need further information please doesn´t hesitate to get in contact with the office.
Posted in: Fly-fishing |
10 Jun 09
Kiwayu is privileged to be in one of best fisheries on the Kenyan Coast . The jagged rocky coast line and reef running closeby off Kiwayu provide for very interesting features for the fisherman .
Whether you are trawling with rapalas , spinning or fly fishing . There are numerous of species to test you , perhaps none more so than the Giant Trevally ,with weights up to 80 pounds , they hide out around the rocks in safety and provide really excellent sport . Kingfish come into the channels at high tide , schools of Golden Trevally feed in masses off the reef along with big numbers of Bonito . Pampano are found at the bay outlets .
A whole variety of species provide for a varied sport in various conditions. The best months for off shore fishing are November through to early April .
A useful link is to see www.aardavrkmcleod.com and they have posted a report by expert fisherman Peter Gibson of Hardy Grey who came on a fishing trip at Kiwayu in March 2009. He caught 70 fish in 5 days and will be back for more.
You will need to provide your own equipement if you wish to use a spinning rod or fly rod.
If you have any questions please don´t hesitate to email the office.
Posted in: Fly-fishing, Off Shore fishing . |
10 Jun 09
The vast inland waters of the Mangrove channels which are all part of the Kiunga Marine Reserve provide excellent habitat for varoius species like snappers , groupers , trevally , wolf fish and barrcuda. These are normally caught by trawling a couple of rapalas on 25lbs rod out the back of a motoised canoe . This provides excellent sport , whether you are a keen fishman or not, it provides for a great excursion into the mangroves . The Kiunga Marine Reserve is made up of 50 kms of coast and 4 kms out to sea . This area is protected from full commercial fishing.
For the more serious fisherman who wants to bring his spinning rod or fly rod it provides a challenging sport . Fishing expert Peter Gibson of Hardy Grey came to Kiwayu in March 2009 . His full report can be seen on the webpage of www.aardvarkmcleod.com
Peter caught 70 fish in 5 days including 12 species on an exploratory trip and will be back again this year .
Bone fish have been caught on the mudflats infront of the lodge but not in numbers to say it is a bonefish fishery .
The snappers and groupers hide around the coral heads and provide for exciting and testing fishing . Local knowledge in the form of the Kiwayu guides will show you around this maze of channels . It is their home and they know the area like the back of their hand .
For further questions please don´t hesitate to e mail our office.
Posted in: Fly-fishing, In shore fishing |
20 May 09
Easter 2009
A dhow trip along the Lamu Archipelago
An opulent Kiwayu picnic had been arranged. Waite ensured we had chilled Pinot Grigio for our eventual lunch on some sparkling tidal beach somewhere to the North. Any number of activities were anticipated; snorkelling, fly fishing, cameras, kayaks, and we even went as far as having a back up canoe with Ali trawling for some snapper, or should I say heading off the possibility of hitting the doldrums? Eeerrhem!
Dhows tend to set sail with such pomp and ceremony~ when the canvas sail unravels, bulging with the breeze, amid ropes, shouting, muscles, balance ~ then comes gliding silence. What a pleasure to be propelled across water without the whine of an engine.
Our little bay has become quite a refuge for young Green Turtle: it’s not unusual to see 5, 10, 15 at one time, popping up for air or swimming beneath the boat.The exit to the open sea gives a rush of liberation. One can not help but be wooed by the clichés of sailing, musings on centuries of exploration and wildly long voyages: what on earth did they see and think when pulling into a coastline such as this, imagine what wilderness…..A pod of Bottlenose Dolphin eye-balled us from a safe distance, birds fed in a frenzy of boiling water heaving with white-bait and the occasional flying fish sliced through meandering, languid day dreams.It wasn’t until our second tack, (or was it a jibe?) that we realized we’d already been sailing for two hours and hadn’t even reached half way!… I was already thinking of raiding the cool box….Thank the Lord we’d had the sense to ask Ali to come with the canoe, we were after all sailing into the North East monsoon; surely the form was to wait out the trade wind in Lamu or Zanzibar? It is no accident however, that the Swahili have adopted their reputable demeanor, what is the hurry anyway? However we did abandon ship, there was after all the tide to consider and much snorkelling to be done before lunch!
Simumbaya’s network of coral-rag islands and mangrove channels are always awe-inspiring. Hot and dry this time of year, shimmering with March’s turquoise waters. We ate lunch in a sheltered cove on Rubu Island: Chilled avocado soup and fresh ciabatta, tonno tonnato with cold potato salad, and obviously, that mandatory chilly glass of vino.
Now all we needed to do was to wait for the dhow to arrive. While the boys wore off their lunch fly fishing, (inspired by the pro who caught and released 80 fish in four days!) I decided to observe the minutiae of island life from the cool of our picnic sight. Symphonies of fiddler crab, pripping sand pipers, and that haunting cry of African Fish Eagles lulled me into a daze.
Within the hour the tide was lapping at the cool box by which time the boys had drifted down current. A few meters of my beach remained and soon I would have to scale the razor-like coral… no sign of the fishermen…!
I waded out in the hope of catching sight of their canoe, deliberating my next move, when our beautiful Dhow, the very one we had impatiently abandoned two hours ago, loomed large and majestic above the mangroves.
Saved like Olive Oyl, by the dhow and not the boys!
Posted in: Kiwayu News Letters |
5 May 09
APRIL 2009 : Letter from Stefano Cheli
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Liz, the boys and I have just returned from 3 nights at Kiwayu Safari Village. We must admit that we had not been to Kiwayu for a while, and were very happy to find it still one of the most wonderful beach locations anywhere.
The Kiwayu and Kongoali Bays are still outstanding and one of the best places to be lost in for a few days on the East African coast, if not in the world. I truly believe that nowhere else exists with such peace and feeling of remoteness on a beach, a true bare foot luxury in every way. The relaxed atmosphere and the unpretentiousness, but at the same time knowing what a luxury it is to be in this paradise.
I want to share with you a few facts:
Lamu town north to Kiunga town in a direct line is 88 km, with a few fishing villages in between, but otherwise empty beaches, the Kiwayu Bay is approx half way.
The Kiunga Marine Reserve surrounding Kiwayu Bay includes 50 km of coastline and stretches 4 km into the ocean.
Kiwayu to Lamu in a straight line is 55 km
The Kiwayu Bay and adjoining Kongoali Bay are 3km and 2km respectively, ie 5km of empty soft sand beaches.
Every room in Kiwayu Safari Village has its own beachfront, so the total beachfront of the lodge stretches for 1km.
This means that Kiwayu Safari Village has 5 km of private beach front with the occasional fisherman walking past. This for me is pure luxury and I am guessing that no other luxury resort in the world can claim the same.
The fish comes straight off the beach, but other fresh items come from either Lamu or Nairobi, they arrive by Dhow from Lamu and by air from Nairobi. This means that each item that is consumed at Kiwayu costs Kiwayu 3 times more than what the item cost at the point of purchase. Imagine the remoteness, although Kiwayu Safari Village is not on an island it’s remoteness does make it an island surrounded by bush and ocean.
The Lodge:
Bare foot luxury in the true sense of the phrase, all you need is a Kikoi (sarong) a few t-shirts and bare feet. The 20 rooms, suites really as each is an average of 80 to 100 sq meters, are all different. Alfredo was a purist, and the lodge is made of mangrove poles, driftwood and palm matting; decorated with shells, drift wood collected over 35 years and colourful Swahili fabrics. No cement or permanent structure is erected and each room needs to be rebuilt every 2 years.
Alfredo Pelizzoli pioneered the lodge in his hunting days in the 70s, and Kiwayu has stayed in the Pelizzoli family. (Many are not aware that Alfredo also started Mnemba, but Kiwayu always remained his favourite). We were pleased to see that Simone Pelizzoli and her husband, George Moorhead are maintaining the old Kiwayu way, but with renewed energy and passion and proper hands on management that was very much needed. Simone the daughter of Alfredo and George her husband are a great asset to Kiwayu and a pleasure to be with. What you would pay very dearly for in a restaurant in London is served everyday at Kiwayu, Indian Ocean crab (the best in the world), lobster, prawns, calamari, oysters and the fresh catch of the day either sashimi, baked or grilled, is to die for.
We had a fantastic 3 nights, I would recommend a minimum of 5, so that you can really unwind and have time to try some of the activities. My boys tried to do everything and enjoyed what they could fit in, snorkelling (they found giant clams and turtles), water skiing twice (the boat driver was excellent, getting a novice up on the 4th attempt, and our boys progressed to mono) in the mangrove creeks, creek fishing and kayaking.
Liz and my highlight was lunch on Kongoali beach, it was magic, lobster and chilled wine in the shade, again the peace and having the biggest swimming pool in the world to dive into at anytime was great.
We had a great stay and we have been to lots of places that say they are competition to Kiwayu, but Kiwayu was the original and still is today, the undisputed best.
Thank you. Stefano and Liz
Posted in: Reviews |
20 Mar 09
Imelda Staunton in The Daily Telegraph March 8th 2009
On a subsequent trip, after another safari, we ended up staying at the stunning Kiwayu Safari Village. It was very nice lying there on the beach, but it all seemed a bit tame – then suddenly about 50 monkeys came over the dunes, and wandered over to have a look at us, before heading down to the sea to get crabs for their tea.
Posted in: Press Cuttings |
6 Mar 09
Visit Nigella’s website for Waite’s ‘Dawa’ Cocktail recipe after her recent visit to Kiwayu.
Posted in: Cuisine, Reviews |
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