The Chobe Safari Lodge — Hotel in Chobe District

I would really hesitate to recommend this lodge for several reasons - especially considering the price to go to Chobe overall. The property is nice, but the rooms are just okay, the service was horrible, and the game drives were mostly disappointing. I would highly recommend paying less money for a better experience at one of the 5-star properties around Kruger, which we immensely enjoyed. If you really want to see Chobe, I would recommend just purchasing a day trip from Victoria Falls. Doing the boat cruise once is cool, but besides that, you will be better off spending your money elsewhere. ||Service: The service at the restaurants was shockingly bad at times. We paid for an all-inclusive package for food and drinks, yet felt the property was "nickle and diming" us constantly. At one dinner, we asked if a single scoop of ice cream could be added to the chocolate cake dish for dessert (as it is for the cheesecake), and the waitress said no it doesn't come with ice cream... For lunch one day, we asked if some meat could be added to a pasta dish and expressed that we were even willing to pay extra. The waitress just said no and didn't explain or apologize. We are not big eaters or drinkers, so it's not like we were trying to take advantage and order a bunch of extra stuff. We were just asking for tiny things like a scoop of ice cream, and having the property deny every little request made us feel like we hadn't paid for an all-inclusive. We had waiters interrupt us, snap at us, and even chase us down claiming we didn’t pay for two bottles of water despite our package being all-inclusive. After she grabbed a manager and discovered she was wrong, she just gave us a thumbs up and made no apology. ||Game Viewing: It’s great seeing the animals on the boat cruise, but it is crowded with 30+ people and the guides are hit or miss. On the game drives, you will have over 10 vehicles crowding around any interesting sighting which nearly ruins the experience and makes it feel like you’re at a zoo rather than the animals’ natural environment. Again, a private reserve in the Kruger area will not allow this. ||Rooms: The bed in our room was two twin beds pushed together, which easily separated anytime we tried to meet in the middle, obviously not ideal for couples. There were no towels in our room when we checked in, and it took over an hour to get some. The floors do...

Our visit to Chobe Safari Lodge was okay.

Positives: The Chobe Safari Lodge is located on the banks of the Chobe river which allowed for amazing views and sunsets. Hippos can be heard at night. While the Warthogs walk around as if they run the town (pretty awesome to watch them). The Lodge itself is really nice and clean. Our Safari room was spacious - inside the room was still water, Basic coffee, Teas and milk, The bathroom is open plan, However there is a curtain that can be used to make it private. Basic amenities supplied. The Restaurants were amazing, food was great and they had awesome cocktails (the ones that were available) The Bush Lodge ( a short walk from the Safari Lodge) serves A La Carte while the Safari Lodge only serves Buffets. There is a activity desk where guests can book excursions. The Chobe river cruise was definitely worth it. The staff on the boat were very informative and went out of their way to make the experience memorable. (DO take snacks with you as they don’t supply any form of food on the boat - Only beverages is supplied - at a fee) Victoria Falls trip is definitely worth it! (DO take some still water with as no beverages is supplied during transfers)

Negatives: *Staff - There was a handful of staff that went out of their way to assist - However we found majority of the staff to be very unhelpful and unfriendly at times - Also slow… everything is so slow. *River cruise - There we’re no snacks and/or food supplied on the 3 hour cruise. *Victoria Falls Trip Crossing in to Zimbabwe is a nightmare - It takes allot of time - I feel that the hotel can keep border forms at their activity centre which can be filled in prior to arrival. The activity centre should also keep information about activities that can be done at Vic Falls maybe even book them for the guests prior to departure. The hotel really rips people off with transfer fees (taking in to consideration what was on offer during the transfer) WiFi - Our Room didn’t have any WiFi MiniBar Fridge - Our room didn’t have a fridge

Summary: The Chobe Safari Lodge is an amazing place, it just needs to be managed correctly. Small things. I believe with some effort this place could be the top hotel in the area.

Would I return?...

Camping review. We always use to enjoy camping here but since the restaurant popped up in the middle of the campsite, we will not return. The ablution facility is closed off to be used for restaurant patrons so you can only utilize unisex ablution facilities. As a mom of small girls it was extremely difficult to shower. There is not enough space in the shower to dress all of us and we can't go out of the showers to dress due to it being unisex. The doors have huge gaps so you can also easily be seen. 200l geyser to service all the showers so there was never hot water. It would be nice to be able to choose between a unisex or gender specific bathroom. I can imagine someone with teen daughters would not feel comfortable sending them to go to the toilet or shower alone in a unisex ablution. As one of the most expensive camp sites in Kasane, it was extremely disappointing. There seems to have been no consideration to your campers when this new setup was planned. There is also no access to the river front or restaurant from the camp sites without a long detour due to campers not wanting you to go through their camp sites (and rightfully so) to the river front. We were told to go through camp site 13 but the campers there blocked off the pathway. Maybe clearly demarcate a section passed camp site 13 so that the campers there dont feel like you are walking through their camp site. We moved camp sites the next day after seeing the new camp set-up and found Thebe camp site to be much more value for money. Your staff are all wonderful but unfortunately that is not enough for us to...