Words honestly cannot describe how truly special this place is and we could not be more delighted that we chose to spend four nights of our Tanzanian honeymoon at Ikuka. Every inch of the camp is truly captivating.

The moment we landed in Ruaha, we were completely blown away by the beauty and remoteness of the park itself. We were met by our wonderful guide Geofrey, who greeted us with the warmest of welcomes, cold water in our own personal Ikuka bottles, freshly baked cookies and a brief explanation of the plan for the day. Fortunately, this started with our own private game drive on route back to Ikuka whereby we spotted many animals within the first 30 minutes (including a large leopard lying on the side of the road!) We could not believe how densely populated with animals the park was and Geofrey was incredible at finding many different animals on every drive.

We arrived at the camp around lunchtime and were greeted by the lovely Ikuka family with waves, smiles, a delicious cold beverage and wet towel. Immediately it felt like home. We were given a brief tour of the camp and felt completely overwhelmed and speechless by not only the beauty of the camp's design, but the absolutely impeccable views over the reserve. Every tiny detail within the camp had been thought of, from the overall design of the communal areas and rooms to general customer comfort.

Our stunning honeymoon room (room 6) more than exceeded expectations - it was enormous and so beautifully designed. Each room is built around the view, bringing the outdoors in, but making you feel totally at one with nature. The open living room, bedroom and bathroom overlooked the reserve and we enjoyed watching the birds from our refreshing plunge pool on our balcony between game drives! The staff even laid out gorgeous white stones in the shape of C & L with a heart on our porch for our arrival.
Ikuka expertly blends luxury with the great outdoors and we are so grateful to the wonderful staff for sharing their love for Ruaha with us.

Thank you to our fantastic guide, Geofrey, for teaching us more then we could have ever expected to learn about the bush and for answering our many questions. Thank you for the very early morning game drives, breakfasts in the bush, sundowners and snacks around sunset (maisharefu & GONGA!) and the unforgettable stories that you shared with us! We were very lucky to have Geofrey as our guide and he has given us memories that will last a lifetime. He was also kind enough to share all his amazing photographs with us, some of which have already made it onto our walls! His knowledge of the bush, ability to locate animals by their tracks, understanding of animal behaviour and movement and general passion and love for his job made us feel so grateful to spend every day with him. He worked SO incredibly hard to give us the best possible experience and we very much enjoyed swapping life stories with him over drinks every evening. Geofrey, you are one of a kind and a real asset to the Ikuka family!!

Thank you so much to Tommy and Chevy for looking after us so well - you welcomed us like family and we enjoyed our many conversations with you. Your positive energy and enthusiasm, as well as your company at the communal dinners, was a real highlight! Thanks for also supplying us with hot water bottles, blankets and delicious coffee every morning... as well as beers every afternoon and warm towels with an amarula shot every evening. It's the little things that really go a long way and we loved all of this!

Thank you to Mustafa and Nangi for teaching us and keeping us safe on our fascinating walking safari. We learnt so much more about the bush and were even lucky enough to spot a giraffe running in the distance! We were also extremely surprised and humbled by the amazing bush breakfast spread that you gave us as the end of our walk - very special indeed!
Thank you to Saif, Torres, Exaud, and Davis for the wonderful service with a smile and for helping us with our Swahili - Asante sana! We absolutely adored your "Jambo Bwana" dance for another guest's birthday and have been singing that song every day since... Thank you to Chuma for taking such good care of us during our unforgettable private bush dinner under the stars on our last night.
Thank you also to Swai for being the best askari for and keeping us safe at night (despite me hoping to spot Jasper and the pesky honey badger!). Finally, a special thank you to those that we didn't spend as much time with - the chefs, cleaners, other askaris and all other staff. The food was spectacular (so delicious and beautifully presented), rooms were always clean and turn-down service was lovely to come back to every evening, and the camp always felt so cosy.
We will forever cherish the feeling of peace and gratitude we felt every night, looking up at the milky way on our balcony and seeing more stars than we've ever seen anywhere on earth. I wish we could have bottled up the excitement, wonder and constant joy that we felt every second at Ikuka - it's the perfect place to switch off and experience the sheer beauty of the remote wilderness.
Thank you for having us and we already can't wait to return!! We 100% recommend Ikuka to anyone looking for the BEST safari experience that you could ever imagine. It's a slice of paradise in the Ruaha bush and once you step foot in camp... you will never want to leave. We both left a piece of our hearts at Ikuka.
Lucy & Chris (UK)

Words alone could never impart the pleasure of staying with the Ikuka Family. From the moment Tommy met us, gave us a tour and we sat down to a three course lunch of the most delicious health inspired food, to the sad day when we waved good bye….but still with the prospect of more game viewing on our way to the airstrip, our time at Ikuka could not have been more perfect. Every day Festo treated us to the best game viewing imaginable, followed by experiences with animals that have left us spellbound. He would share exceptional knowledge with us, from pointing out animal tracks to explaining their life cycle, behaviour, habitat and identifying family members. Bird and plant life were equally identified and described, making every day full of momentous observation. Waking to hot drinks and hand made shortbread delivered to our room, along with flasks to take a hot drink on our drive, being met with hot water bottle, hand muffs and rugs for the cooler morning air, to arriving back with flannels and drinks as we left our truck….having had a breakfast to die for in the bush, served on a table with table cloth and marching napkins, muesli, fruit juice, fresh fruit, yogurt, bacon, sausage, egg, tea, coffee and more besides……the attention to detail was phenomenal. Festo even brought out food for us that we had only mentioned in passing. He was beyond amazing. Truly, nothing could have been improved upon. Thank you all for making our stay in Ruaha the very best experience we could have ever hoped for…....you are in our hearts forever.