Kiwandani Green Estate · Kilifi · Kenya
The house
Three apartments, one long pool, and a lounge downstairs with a turntable that has never been switched off for a whole evening.
Black Groove Lounge was built in 2024 on a plot in Kiwandani Green Estate that nobody wanted because of the baobabs. We kept every one of them. The building went around the trees instead of through them, in board-formed concrete and local coral stone, with openings sized for the north-east wind rather than for a brochure.
There are three apartments and no reception desk. You are met by whoever is on the property, handed a key that is actually a key, and shown where the coffee lives. Breakfast is included and served where you want it. Everything else — the dhow at sunset, the chef, the car from the airport — is a sentence away.
Kilifi and the creek →
01 — 03
Garden level · 2 guests
One room, one wall of glass, one old baobab standing guard outside it. The studio sits at garden level, so the palm shadows walk across your floor from seven in the morning.
First floor · 4 guests
A separate bedroom, a proper living room, and a veranda deep enough to sit out a rainstorm. The creek is straight ahead through three arched openings, and the tide changes the view twice a day.
Top floor · 6 guests · Private pool
The whole top floor, a plunge pool cut into the terrace, and a pergola that turns the afternoon sun into stripes. Nothing above you but the frigate birds.
The name
Before there were apartments there was a bar, a wall of records dragged down from Nairobi, and a handful of people who kept turning up. Benga, taarab, Ethio-jazz, dub, and whatever the last guest left behind. It runs from six in the evening until it stops.
It is open to guests and to anyone in Kilifi who knows about it. No cover, no list, no dress code — just the understanding that the volume goes down at eleven because people upstairs are sleeping.
The property
Rates
Switch the currency in the header and every figure on this site follows — including the calendar and the running total in the booking flow.
| Season | Baobab Studio | Creek Suite | Rooftop Penthouse |
|---|---|---|---|
| GreenApr, May, Jun · the long rains | KSh 7,400$ 57 · € 49 · CHF 46 | KSh 13,100$ 101 · € 87 · CHF 81 | KSh 21,500$ 166 · € 143 · CHF 134 |
| ShoulderMar, Sep, Oct, Nov | KSh 9,500$ 73 · € 63 · CHF 59 | KSh 16,800$ 130 · € 111 · CHF 104 | KSh 27,500$ 212 · € 182 · CHF 171 |
| HighJan, Feb, Jul, Aug, Dec | KSh 11,400$ 88 · € 76 · CHF 71 | KSh 20,200$ 156 · € 134 · CHF 126 | KSh 33,000$ 255 · € 219 · CHF 205 |
| Festive20 Dec – 5 Jan · minimum 5 nights | KSh 13,300$ 103 · € 88 · CHF 83 | KSh 23,500$ 182 · € 156 · CHF 146 | KSh 38,500$ 297 · € 255 · CHF 239 |
Per night, breakfast and all taxes included. Charged in Kenyan Shillings (KES); the other figures convert at our reference rate of 2026-08-29 and are indicative only. Weekly stays −10 %, fortnights −15 %, a month −22 %.
Before you ask
In Kiwandani Green Estate on the north bank of Kilifi Creek, Kilifi County, Kenya — about 55 minutes from Malindi airport and 1 hour 45 from Mombasa. The estate is quiet and gated; the creek is a four-minute walk down a coral path, and Kilifi town with its market and dhow yard is ten minutes by tuk-tuk.
Three. The Baobab Studio sleeps two, the Creek Suite sleeps four, and the Rooftop Penthouse sleeps six. Booked together they take twelve guests, which is how families and small groups usually take the whole house.
From KSh 7,400 per night in the green season for the Baobab Studio, up to KSh 38,500 for the Rooftop Penthouse over the festive weeks. We publish and charge in Kenyan Shillings; every price on this site converts live to US Dollars, Euros and Swiss Francs so you can see what it costs you.
Yes, in every rate. Kenyan coffee, fruit from the Kilifi market, eggs however you want them and mahamri from the bakery in town. It is served on your own terrace between 07:00 and 10:30, or later if you say so the night before.
You send a request here, we confirm by hand, and only then do you get a payment link — M-Pesa, bank transfer or card. Cancellation is free up to 14 days before arrival; inside 14 days we keep the first night. No card details are ever entered on this site.
Two nights in normal season, five nights between 20 December and 5 January. Stay a week and the rate drops 10 %, a fortnight 15 %, a month 22 % — applied automatically in the booking calendar.
December to March is hot, dry and bright — the classic season. July and August are cooler and windy, which sailors prefer. April to June is the long rains: green, cheap, dramatic skies, and the sea is at its warmest. There is no bad month, only different ones.
Yes. A private return car from Malindi (MYD) is KSh 6,500 and from Mombasa (MBA) KSh 12,000, for the whole car rather than per person. Add it in the booking flow and the driver will be waiting with your name.