Area of the cilium (also called flagellum) where the basal body and the axoneme are anchored to the plasma membrane. The ciliary base encompasses the distal part of the basal body, transition fibers and transition zone and is structurally and functionally very distinct from the rest of the cilium. In this area proteins are sorted and filtered before entering the cilium, and many ciliary proteins localize specifically to this area. [GOC:cilia, GOC:krc, PMID:22653444]