Ntoroko Game Lodge — Hotel in Ntoroko

I am a seasoned traveler in Africa, having lived in 5 countries (including Uganda) and visited 7 more. I currently live in Nairobi and have been to many of the national parks in Kenya and Uganda and stayed at a variety of lodges, and have never felt scammed like I did at Ntoroko Lodge. Based on their prices we expected a 4 star lodge.||||We were shocked by what we found - a 1 star restaurant and reception, which almost made us leave immediately. Unfortunately, it's a 3+ hour drive back to Fort Portal and there are only two other lodging options in the park - the super high-end Semliki Safari Lodge and low-end UWA bandas. So we decided it would be worth it to stay right on the lake so we could set off to find a shoebill first thing in the morning.||||The restaurant/reception is basically an average village bar/restaurant with people from the neighboring village hanging around that weren't staying at the lodge, tv blaring Ugandan news, and so many mosquitoes at night that we couldn't stay put. The vegetarian food, which was requested ahead of time, was completely inedible. Right behind the tents you can see shacks for the staff and security and there are people from the village milling around all over the property, so there was little to no privacy. The tents are decent, but there's no running hot water. They're also about to fall into the lake and you have to be very careful entering the tent. I believe they're in the process of moving them back, so it looks like a construction site currently. ||||To top it off, they promised a boat and guide by 7:15am and told us we had to leave by 7:30am to find the shoebill, and the boat didn't show up until almost 9am. We woke up at 6am in the dark to sit and wait for 1.5 hours. Our entire experience was beyond frustrating. If we were paying significantly less, then I could understand, but to pay 4-5 star lodge rates for a 1-2 star experience felt Ntoroko Lodge is trying to take advantage of unknowing tourists who have no other options once they arrive. We tried to get a hold of the owner, Barbara, but she never picked up her phone. After debating with the manager, we finally gave up and begrudgingly paid the full amount despite the most disappointing stay and feeling like we had been totally ripped off. While we hate to see some of the nice staff suffer from a lack of tourists, we don't want other tourists to feel scammed and have such a bad experience. Avoid this lodge...

We arrived as dusk fell and could not find the lodge [ no signposts anywhere in the village] Our driver contacted the manager by phone and he said they were not aware of our booking [ the price of $400 dollars had been paid in full several months in advance]||The lodge was opened for us [ no one else was staying and they had had no guests for over 2 weeks]||We were shown to a tent through an enormous swarm of lake flies.The tent's entrance was literally a couple of feet from a steep drop into the lake [ photo supplied] This was extremely dangerous in the dark.||The tent was nicely furnished but had no lighting other than two paraffin lamps which had to be moved in and out of the bathroom area. They provided very little light and smelt all night as well as being potentially dangerous in a fabric tent. there was no mosquito net.||The bathroom area had a fancy bath but only a cold water supply. Hot water was brought by staff in a jerry can and had then to be mixed with cold water in the bath; no shower was available [photo supplied]||The dining area is dingy and drab and no way reflects a standard you would expect from a lodge charging this price. Breakfast was ok apart from the jam which had gone 'off' and virtually exploded when we opened it.||After breakfast my husband and I asked to use the toilet before we left. We were both shown to the Gents which had no lighting so that you were in total darkness once the door was closed. I asked for a torch and then discovered the toilet seat was half missing; I pointed this out and was told by the staff to sit on the porcelain toilet bowl. [ photo supplied]||In 18 nights in Uganda this was by far the most expensive price and yet by far the worst place we stayed in. The company who arranged our tour have apparently had no satisfaction from the management of this lodge in dealing with...

Granted, this is a nicely located lodge with nice tented cabins right now Lake Albert. The rooms are nice and the views are fantastic.||But the reception area and the dining room is absolutely dismal. The food is variable in the extreme with some meals being delicious and other inedible. Service is poor and the operation lacks caring and organization. ||My main complaint is that I went on a "tour" and the truck got stuck in the mud after being on the "tour" for 30 minutes and the tour was never completed. In fact, I had to walk out of the bush and hitchhike back into town. In response, management at the Lodge demanded that I pay for the tour!!! I simply have never had this happened to me at any other lodge. Sadly, the arguments got quite heated and management threatened to call the police unless I paid up. I ended up paying about 20% of the $100 cost of what was an overly expensive "tour" to begin with.||But management at this Lodge is a disgrace. Carefully consider staying elsewhere than at this Lodge; and if you do stay here just go there and rent a room and stay away from the "tours" and all the extra stuff they try to sell you. ||In sum, a nice lodge with huge potential that is being wasted by managers who care more about the dollar than about...