Hlosi Game Lodge - Lion Roars Hotels and Lodges — Hotel in Sundays River Valley Local Municipality

Reaching the lodge was a huge task, followed google maps and it drove us to a dead end into someone's farm, the farmer was kind enough to guide us and told us to take a route going to Patterson. All this while I kep calling their no +27 21 424 1530 asking them to watsapp me their location, the lady answering the call kept saying il do it right away but i received the location cordinates after we somehow managed to reach the property. Well its a small gesture, but you can inform your guests via an Email the correct directons. We reached there by 1:30, by which we were briefed about the stay, ours was an all inclusive package which included 2 game drives. Our room wasn't ready till 2:30 so we were given a place to quickly change before we go for the game drive. Once we returned from the drive we were alloted a room which was really nice, but so many things were missing, no sanitary bags, no folder about the details of the property and game drives, no shower gel, well and the room was really really cold. I understand it is winter months and they provided electric blankets to keep you warm while you sleep, but other times it was unbearably cold inside the room. Now they did have an Air conditioner in the bath section which was such a tiny unit it did not warm anything. Coming to the bathroom, there was no hot water and so we had to inform them in the morning which they came and fixed. Still the shower was the worst experience for me. The rooms had 2 refillable glass bottles, and the mini bar was stocked with all coldrinks. Well there were no plastic bags in the rooms, not even for disposal of toiletries, so i gather they are promoting the plastic free environment to conserve the reserve. Well that is very nice but you will find 1/2 litre water bottles for each guest on every table, so if 2 people on the same table open each bottle and drink only half water from both bottles the remaining half water is thrown, also imagine the amount of plastic they are using. Rather they could have the refillable glass bottles on each table? Coming to food, when you book an All inclusive package you expect a bit more than 3 meals which were set and so very limited options. On arrival we got "light lunch" Which was a small salad for me and a tiny piece of quiche, well we drove from storms river and we asked them in advance if lunch was inclusive because we knew there were no places to eat on the way, they said lunch was inclusive so we did not take any stop and headed straight to the game lodge only to discover a limited 3 dish menu and such tiny portions. The dessert served with lunch ginger pudding was inedible, so hard I believe all the guests left it. After the game drive we were welcomed with hot apple cider which was nice, also drinks were served on game drive which was a nice gesture. The dinner was again a set 3 course menu Soup+ bread Curry +rice Dessert, which was all ok. Breakfast was also a set menu, we were given 5-6 options, only 1 option for vegetarians. They also had some cereals, yoghurt, fruits & juice. Their coffee was very pathetic, they were using instant coffee, and so no espresso or good coffee for coffee lovers. Good we were carrying our portable espresso maker. Service was nice, atleast the woman serving us was very sweet and accommodating. Management needs to bring in a lot of improvements to this place, we paid an huge amount for 1 night stay in this place and i feel it was not worth it, you can try some other game drives, definitely give this one a miss. On our game drives we saw Cheetah, hippos, bucks, imapalas, zebras, elephants, wild Buffalo, giraffes, it's was a...

A misrepresented tragedy.

We booked a four night stay based on the selling point that kids are most welcome. The kid center is there but not cleaned or staffed in anyway. Sharp rusty nails and broken glass in huricane lantens adorn the wooden walkways. If you are looking to introduce your kids to the safari experience, keep looking. Neighbouring reserves offer amazing facilites for kids.

Upon our arrival we were greeted by a wonderfully friendly guard at the gate, it was a cold and rainy day. When asked if he had a heater in his hut he said no… this was my first red flag for a place that isnt cheap. After arriving at the lodge “reception”, where a massive ankle deep puddle filled the entire driveway in front of the main entrance (red flag number two), we were greated by the hostess. It was slightly confusing as there was no reception area just a large round table and sparsely furnished room (red flag number three). We would later discover that it was actually the room where the breakfast buffet is laid out. A standard check-in process concludes with being taken to your room shortly after having to place your dinner order from the fixed menu. A lack of choice for how your meat is cooked was read flag number four. We stayed in one of the tents which was nice but also sort of only half ready for guests... the double bed was only made up for one person, strange when a family of three are booked to stay.

Dinner was below standard if I am being politically correct. Small portions and poorly cooked food are miserably served in a dining room that is dimly lit and has a leaky roof, in multiple places. The lighting issues are not due to dim lighting rather the lack of light bulbs in sockets as well as flickering lights (red flag numer five). It takes a lot to get me to the point where I need to talk to someone. Additionally we were meant to arrange the care of our two and a half year old in order for us to join the morning game drive, but as it were, there was no one to talk to. Not even a reception to ask. I later read the welcome letter that mentions needing to phone a mobile number if you need to speak to someone.

After going to bed thinking that it must just have been the weather that had thrown everything off for the day, I resolved to give Hlosi another chance.

Fortunately we slept in not having had the chance to arrange our morning. This meant that we luckily had our little one in our care. The lousy "breakfast" and seeing the state of the place in the sunlight immediately ended any sort of favour we were prepared to give Hlosi. We were able to arrange a meeting with the manager and after a discusion pointing out the many many short comings, and him agreeing, we packed our bags and left. The discussion we had with management points to a larger problem with the parent company Lion Roars Group. Lion Roars group has completely neglected this facility, leaving staff out in the cold, food going uneaten as it’s of such poor quality and guests wondering where all the money they've paid is going. We strongly recommend steering clear of any place run by the Lion Roars group.

I cannot review the quality of the game drives nor the guides, this includes the reserve itself.

It is completely insane that Hlosi game lodge has a 4.6 star rating, please read the latest reviews before making a choice...

20 sec read review: Advertised as a 4 but it feel like a cheap 2 lodge: there is a huge lack in preparation from the staff which is hugely undermanaged, the food is scarce and of low quality, rooms need maintenance and there are very few animals in comparison to any other safaris. I would never recommend this place.

**Long review:

FOOD is scarce and of low quality: My wife, is very allergic to egg, we made sure to advertise the lodge several times (in a form upon arrival, to the manager and the waiter), so did our travel agency. Despite this, we had several incidents which could have resulted in emergencies. Breakfast was poor: service lasted up to 45 minutes, there were no juice options (only apple), no proper coffee (only instant), some of the cheese served was in bad state. After we complaint some of these were amended, however this is unacceptable for a 4* hotel. There is no proper lunch, just a light snack, which, taking into consideration we are isolated with no other option of food, and that this is a all inclusive 4* hotel, is unacceptable.

TENTS/ROOMS are in a very poor state: They do not correspond to what the pictures show. The first room we had, only had outdoor shower which was unusable due to the cold weather. The inside tub did not have a shower hose, hence cannot be used to shower. The bed had no mosquito net (it should have as we found plenty of insects in the room). AC did not work in our first room and was located inside the bathroom on our second room we got changed to. Bathrooms had issues with hot water. Telephones in the room don't work. There is no shampoo, conditioner or any other amenities like this. Body cleanser and lotion only in the sink. Lights on the bathroom didn't work.

SAFARI, rangers with little experience and very little animals: One of our rangers got lost going back to the hotel during night. People in the jeep had to spot the animals for the rangers. There were no binoculars for the safaris. Not even the rangers had one of their own.

We later learned that this reserve was an old farm and that they introduced most of the animals. It felt more like a staged zoo visit instead of a safari. If you are looking for a real safari experience I would recommend going to other safari destinations such as the Masai Mara,...