Kwalape Safari Lodge

Nice, upgrade to a room from our tent so big bonus. Nice balcony overlooking lush greenery, comfy bed and good bathroom. Breakfast was okay. The pool looked great but closed early as it right by the bar... Why oh why?! We did a boat tour in the avo which was fantastic!

I am a regular guest of Kwalape Safari Lodge for the past 5 years or so, I stay there normally 3-5 times a year both for work and pleasure. Always prefer them due to reasonable pricing and the chalets with balconies outside in the rich jungle atmosphere the lodge has. My last stay was the most terrible I have ever experienced (and there is always an issue, electricity, water or toilet not working). This time around, we were again woken up by their maintenance gardener at 6.28am who thought its the best time to blow leaves around the rooms and the campsite. This was the second time this happened on a separate trip. When I went to complain at reception, I was met with amusement from the receptionist on duty rather than an apology and assurance that it would be handled. On the 2nd day of stay, moved to a chalet room from the tent campsite but left early in the morning to go fishing. On return, we discovered no one had bothered to move our luggage from the tent to the new room. When approaching the receptionist, she called her colleague on the phone and mentioned me by my first name, "Which room did you provide Bob?" right in front of me. This was a young lady probably 20yrs my junior who disrespected both my age and my guest status with this highly unprofessional statement which revealed to me that they were very used to speaking about guests (or at least me) in that way, too familiar. I quickly communicated my displeasure at her distasteful remark to which she giggled and laughed the entire time. Even when attempting to correct herself and refer to me as Mr. Hirschfeld to her colleague, the lady on the line had no clue who she meant until she had to revert to my name, Bob, again. This made it clear that I was the topic of constant chatter between the two. I then attempted to contact the manager whom I asked for the number as they are never present at the lodge. This was declined but instead receptionist said she would call her. I listened to the call and heard the manager rudely ask what does he want, to which the receptionist replied he wants to talk to you about the leaf blower incident from this morning. At no stage did I communicate this as the reason to the receptionist and I again, corrected her. The actual reason was to communicate my displeasure at being referred to by my first name. The response to the receptionist by the manager was that she would not talk to me then, which was Friday evening, but would rather call me back on Sunday. SUNDAY! After accepting a long list of abnormalities at Kwalape, this was the last and final straw to get this kind of treatment as a regular guest. Mind you I never eat at their restaurant which has the worst food in Kasane and the strangest meal combos I have ever seen. For years I have avoided their food and let them off this as I eat elsewhere for all my meals. If you want terrible food, poor customer service, absent management and to be woken up daily at 6am by leaf blowers and loud staff, THIS is

A wonderful place to stay! This is a wonderful place to stay! Great food, great rooms, great people! Could not have been happier.

The garden surrounds and leafy setting around the accommodation were lovely. The soft furnishings in the restaurant areas were tired and a bit grubby. Dinner and breakfast was uninspiring with ordinary presentation. We found a restaurant in town that served much better food. We stayed in a glamping tent, which was fine. Suggest that the tents need a mirror in the bathroom and a bedside table. Towel racks or hooks in the bathroom would have enabled towels to dry. Staff were attentive and friendly.

I was on a tour of Botswana and Zimbabwe, this was our first stop off. Lovely rooms, grounds and staff. A few of us bought the wrong adapters (wrong info from our tour company). Thankfully the Lodge hired out the correct ones for a fully refundable deposit. We had a very good game drive the following morning followed by an excellent boat safari on the Chobe river-- both run by the lodge. Our guide on the boat, Peace. was excellent. He gave us a safety briefing- with a bit of humour, so we could easily take it in. Cold drinks on the boat could be charged to our Lodge room. Peace was informative, patient and got us as near as he could to any animal/s without disturbing them. In the distance we could see boats all heading to the same spots, we assumed we'd follow too but Peace would take us somewhere else, just our boat, viewing a rare herd of animals or being next to quite a big alligator on land which suddenly jumped into the water in front of us a few minutes later- making us all jump too. We'd then join the other boats to see the elephants, giraffes, baboons etc etc. We talked about this boat safari and the alligator for the remainder of our tour despite all the other amazing things we saw.