Mikumi Adventure Lodge — Hotel in Morogoro Region

Pros: ||- Charles for the safari. He was incredible. Very informative and welcoming. We saw so many animals because he was able to spot them from afar. Definitely recommend him! A little pricey, but we felt it was worth it. Make sure you stay until sunset!!||- Bungalows are cute. No A/C, but the bathroom was nice and had hot water. Beds were also decent. ||- Food was pretty good. BUT, it took over an hour for dinner (just the two of us and another family). AND, they failed to ask us if we wanted lunch for the safari, so that took time out of our day to come back to the main gate, retrieve the meals, and go, OH and also pay additionally for them.||||CONS:||- RIPOFF. The woman at the front desk was frustrating and was absolutely not qualified to work such a position. She did not know prices of things, and was constantly trying to get us to pay excessively for things ($30 Per person for DINNER!!). We paid for a trip to the nearby forest for a trip. After shelling out $150 for an all inclusive daytrip (passes, guide, car, lunch, etc.), we arrive to the forest and the park ranger demands $90 for our passes. The Lodge would not pay for our passes after paying them $150 for what we THOUGHT was our passes. When we called the owner of the lodge, who btw was in DAR ES SALAAM, he told us the $150 for our 1.5 hour drive to the forest .... and REFUSED to speak to us directly on the phone. Wild. Not sure what business school taught that technic. ||- The pool looks like production has halted completely. Wouldn't expect it to be free.||- Also we found out the pay of the employees, I won't expose them here, but for all the money we paid, and the little we received, I wonder what the mound of gold looks like that the owner sits on in Dar. ||- No fridge or ice available. Beers were hot. Like drinking pee. ||||OVERALL:||Though it seems Mikumi has slim pickings for places to stay, Mikumi National Park itself is incredible and DEFINITELY worth coming to. This lodge, on the other hand, I would come just for Charles and try to stay one night, MAX two, just to get the safari in and then be...

To start off, I want to say that Charles the tour guide who works here is amazing! But do not visit here- the staff is totally shady and wants to steal your money.||||We booked a room for three nights, but by the middle of the second day it was clear we were not in a good place. After paying for a tour up the mountain, we arrived at The national park only to be told that we had to put the same amount all over again! We told them no, we won't pay. We said either they pay or we return and get our money back. We asked Charles our guide to call his boss, who not only refused our refund, but even refused to speak to us on the phone! When asked what the 150 we paid was for, they said he car. Only the 6 hour ride from dar es salaam cost us that much, so two hours couldn't possibly! Charles helped us book a last minute bus back to dar es salaam- which again, would have cost us twice as much had we let the staff do it for us! ||||At every turn, things were terrible. They tried to talk us into paying for an expensive room, which had no ac. There was no cold water or beer, and the food they provided, while decent, took almost 2 hours to arrive. We were the ONLY ONES there. Worst of all, we were constantly being taken advantage of, being told things cost one thing, paying it, and then finding out they wanted twice. ||||Finally, the receptionist just plain stupid. Coudnt handle even the simplest tasks like adding, taking our money, ordering water- nothing. ||||I will say our safari with Charles was amazing, but only because of him, not the lodge. Even that has problems because didn't pick our lunch and charged us later when we asked them to bring it to us. They tried to charge us tons of money, even with an email that said lunch was included. ||||All in all, terrible experience. There are so many places to stay- pick a different one. ||||We got our money back after appealing to the credit card company and explaining our situation. I still can't believe the director wouldn't speak to us on the phone-I've never seen such childish and obviously corrupt and thievish behavior in...

PROS : ||Staff - Did their best.||Cleanliness - Good!||Room space : Large||Food : Was decent to good.||Masai : was friendly and talkative.||||||CONS : ||1. NO AC and its HOT in January !||2. MOSQUITOES like alot! Don't let you eat nor sit in peace!||3. NO Power so they use Gen Sets hence No cold drinks and ICE was a Luxury and begging for it. ||4. NO Fans in Dinning Area even!||5. At Check in they tried to charge me cottage rate. I felt receptionist was trying to make some extra bucks as she called someone and just informed that the guest are here ( she thought I didn't know Swahili) and boom we got the cottage as apparently rooms were full. Fishy check in.||PS: The Lodge was almost empty! ||6. Waiters Not trained properly with their Menu and did many mistake. It took almost 90 mins to get our main dish while bitten by mosquitoes and in humid conditions with no fans either. Other Day we ordered the Dinner after Breakfast hence it was kept ready and service was fast. ::TIP::||7. GEN Set went off couple of times at night, Ruining sleep.||8. So to sum it up, all above issues makes it stressful stay!||||||Once they get AC in rooms, Fans in general areas and somehow find a way to reduce mosquitoes,Finish Pool and serve cold drinks. All Staff went an extra mile to help whenever they could with a smile.||||This Hotel could be Good if they sort above issues! otherwise...