Description

The Kiwayu Story and the Pelizzoli Family

Kiwayu Safari Village is a family run lodge and essentially has been for 35 years. It all started in 1973 when Alfredo Pelizzoli and some friends made their way by Land Rover to the coast for a swim after a long, hot bush safari. Over the dunes, through the star palms and along empty beaches, they arrived at this surprising desert oasis, A cluster of date palms, ancient sweet water wells, and ruined mosques set the stage for this unique camp.

The Evolution of Kiwayu

Alfredo was an adventurer, an artist, a hunter, an intellectual, a foody, a flirt, and often a loner. He wasted no time in setting up tents and the dining table. It mattered little where his camps were, it went without saying there was to be ice in the Gin and Tonic, and a meal prepared to feed the sole and the ravenous hunger of a hunter. 
 
Alfredo married his English rose, Lisa, in 1959. Quite aside from her beauty, it was her ability to roll out fresh pasta ravioli in the bush and hold her own in Italian that really stole Alfredo’s heart. Even in those days, when elephant frequented the beaches, spaghetti alle vongole, grilled lobster and giant green crab mayonnaise, were on the menu. The era of big game hunting was drawing to a close in Kenya and gradually, the indomitable team of Lisa and Alfredo Pelizzoli, accustomed to organising unprecedented safaris to all corners of Africa, began the creation of Kiwayu Safari Village. 
 
Kiwayu is named after the Island sheltering the bay. It started as a tented camp for 6, it grew from canvas into spacious palm woven bandas, from simply comfortable to completely luxurious as each year passed and it continues to evolve with every new piece of driftwood or curiosity that is washed up onto its beaches.

Today the camp is temporarily closed  to commercial  tourism , but we hope in the near future to be able to open our doors to share this wonderful paradise with you all . 

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