Ihamba Lakeside Safari Lodge

We spent 4 nights at Ihamba after we were originally supposed to trek the Rwenzoris but had to pivot due to unseasonal flooding in the mountains. Ihamba offered a wonderful refuge for our pivot. Julius and his staff were wonderful. Daniel and Christy were offered fantastic service as well. Morris who helped keep us safe from the Hippos at night was such a nice guy. Julius helped ud with booking a last mintute safari in Queen Elizabeth Park which was superb. The rooms were wonderful with great views of Lake George and we even spotted an elephant right from our balcony. Overall a very solid and relaxing stay at Ihamba!

Stayed here in July 2022. The lodge is generally an ok, average and good enough place to stay. A few observations: Staff: Very polite and attentive to needs of guests. But sometimes less is more. The milling about as they tried to find out if guests had finished a meal course was too repetitive and a bit uncomfortable. It would have been better to come once afer a specific period of time. Food: Lunch and dinner were very well cooked and tasted great. Breakfast was very average. (I almost want to say poor, but let's go with average). Breakfast portions were kind of small and pancakes didn't taste good. The bread rolls were tasteless and too hard on top - actually they were a disaster, please improve them or remove from menu. Breakfast needs an overhaul. Drinks: A wrong drink was brought to my group. We let it go and consumed it anyway. Everyone who tasted the water melon juice agreed it was a horrible disaster. No drink, not even water is offered for free with your meals. You have to buy every drink. And no, drink prices are not 'friendly.' Come with extra money. Wifi: This is only in the common lounge/dining area. There's no wifi in your room. Still, this is better than nothing. Compound: very beautiful and well maintained. Views of the lake were spectacular. At night I could hear the sound of wild animals. Neighbourhood: The lodge is located outside the park near a village. On Friday nights, expect to hear villagers merry making and playing loud music that may disturb your sleep. Luckily I was so tired and managed to sleep through it. I don't know what time the music ended. You won't find this noise problem with lodges located inside the national park. Rooms: I loved the rain shower head and heated water. The bed was very comfortable. Bath tub was a pleasant addition though I didn't use it. The western style sofa inside the room felt cheap and out of place with the rest of the African decor. The guards walked right along the wall of cottage and sometimes their footsteps woke me up. It is better if they use the compound walkways. Worst part of room was locking the doors. You had to 'fight' for the deadbolt to enter the hole of the opposite door. Took me an average of almost 2 minutes just to lock the door. My entire group had this issue. Conclusion: If you can withstand the negatives mentioned above, this is an ok place.

The lodge is situated at the shore of the lake - hippos and elephants wander by on occasion, or even graze next to the cottages at night. It's a bit of a bumpy ride to get there, but very much worth it. The cottages are quite luxurious although the interior (floor, quality of the bathtub and toilet) varies a bit from cottage to cottage. The shower turned warm pretty much immediately but the warm water also ran out rather quickly. WIFI only works in the lobby area. The service was good (cold towels upon arrival, nice people). They were quite flexible too as we had to come back for another night on short notice because we had a car accident nearby. Wasn't a problem to get cottages for another night. Dinner was a tasty 3 courses, no complaints. Breakfast was fine (don't take the rice crispies though).

Me and my family (2 adults and our 21yr old 17rd old) stayed at Ihamba Lakeside Lodge 5th April-7th April 2023. We absolutely loved our stay there! Staff We found the staff so helpful, flexible and approachable. I made a lengthy phone call consultation, having failed to find all the info that I needed online, Ivan Wasswa the reservations officer was so helpful and answered all my 1million questions which enable me to make our reservation. Julius the manager at the lodge and his team received us and looked us very well, thank you. Facilities We chose to hire a double and twin lodges to enable privacy to us and our children. PROS Both lodges were spotless clean, the beds were so spacious and comfortable, well fitted mosquito nets and clean spacious showers with a stand alone big bath. Hot water showers and toiletries all were available. The communal lounge was spacious and lovely, we were there at a quiet time so it wasn't busy. Some soft background music would have added to the ambience. There is a swimming pool and seats around it which was clean and the water temperature was ideal. The lodge connected us to the national park tour guide, Bosco who took us for the game drive. Bosco was prompt picking us up, him and his tour vehicle were well presented. We cannot praise and thank Bosco enough for the amazing safari experience! CONS The curtains were not lined with black out lining and the morning sun flooded in waking us up before our alarm call on the 2nd morning, sadly. There is no WiFi in the guest bedrooms which is tricky for tourists who do not have local SIMS, hence no way of communicating with reception overnight, should there be a problem. Lack of air-conditioning in the bedrooms was very noticeable as we couldn't sleep with the windows open. the grass thatched roof helps with keeping a lot of warmth out but it was still noticeable. We as a family had a lovely time and overall satisfied with the facilities at Ihamba. Thank you to all the staff for making our stay memorable. Food and drink We were on the half board basis. PROS The staff were flexible about what two meals we chose. On the first morning, the staff packed our two children's lunches that we took with us for the game drive instead of having breakfast as it was a very early start, while me and my partner had breakfast instead. The menu is limited but whatever meals there was on the menu, they were cooked to perfection and absolutely tasty! The portions were generous too. CONS For wine lovers, the selection is very limited which we struggled with. We settled for a sauvignon blanc but there was only 1 bottle, thankfully Julius was a quick thinker and he was able to get us sparkling wine ordered and delivered by BODABODA. Setting The lodge is set in a tranquil and quiet place overlooking the lake with wild animals roaming the grounds at night and beautiful cocktail of wild animals sounds can be heard at night. The staff are to hand to walk guests to and from their lodges

Some things about the lodge were great! The manager, Julius, was AMAZING. Totally easy-going, friendly, super amazing at sorting things out for us. Really a top notch manager. The lodge itself is tired. The sign coming in the lodge has half the letters missing and that kinda sums up what the lodge feels like. It's seen better days -- having said that, it is super clean. The food was solid, but at our next lodge they charged the same for breakfast, lunch and dinner and definitely had better quality ingredients etc. One cool thing about this lodge are the hippos. They are the lake but come up at night to graze and it is SOOO COOL to hear them. If you have to wake early for a safari, then a security guard will escort you to the lodge. The security was awesome too! They need to switch over from plastic bottles to filtered water, as many other lodges are doing. Close to the kazinga channel and QEP.

The Hotel is poor for the price you paid, but the most important is not to leave your CREDIT CARD DETAILS. They charged me 370 usd after I left. After a little digging my travel agent shared that this situation happened with other people before. WARNING