Ngoma Safari Lodge

We had an amazing time at Ngoma. The resort is lovely with an incredible view, beautiful/spacious/comfortable rooms, amazing staff, food, and game drives/boat rides. On top of our fantastic experience, we love that the proceeds from the lodge help support the 5 villages in the local area. Most of the staff are also local to these villages as well. Some details below. We arrived Thursday afternoon in time for an afternoon game drive with 2 other pairs and our guide, Sam, who was very knowledgeable. Chobe reserve closes at 7pm, So, Sam drove us around the West side of the park for a few hours, with a stop for a sundown toast. Be prepared to capture the amazing sunsets around Chobe. We returned to Ngoma for a lovely dinner. Chef Samson and his team were great and the food was fantastic! Throughout the visit, I sampled beef dishes (Botswana has the best beef in the world), vegetarian dishes, amazing appetizers, sides and deserts. There truly wasn’t a dish I disliked. Friday was the best day of our trip. Ngoma arranged an all-day trip. We started after breakfast with about a 40-minute drive to the Western side of Chobe where we started our morning with a boat ride down the river. The animals along the river are fantastic. We saw elephants, crocodiles, hippos, giraffes, and so much more. In fact, we saw so many animals that our guide decided we should eat lunch on the boat instead of driving to the planned lunch spot. This was a beautiful place to eat the fantastic lunch provided for us. After lunch, we began the drive across the park back to the West gate. Sam was incredibly knowledgeable and knew exactly where to look to find the hidden lions and cubs under the brush as well as the more obvious animals. We saw so many animals in one day it was amazing. One note for those like me who are fatigue easily and are sensitive to heat like, the full day is really long and - at least in November- extremely hot. Saturday, we woke up really early for a 5:30am game drive back in the West side of the park. It was peaceful and quiet but we didn’t see a lot of animals. We returned to Ngoma for breakfast and watching the baboons try and sneak into the main house to steal food and an outing to our guide’s local village where we had the opportunity to visit the school (but not see the kids bc it was Saturday) and purchase some local wares (mostly baskets) from vendors. After lunch, we relaxed for a while- I highly recommend a soak in your personal plunge pool while looking out over the park. Followed by another afternoon game drive and a surprise communal dinner in the boma with all the guests (including bonfire, music and more delicious food). We had a great stay and would definitely return. Special shoutouts to our guide, Sam, our butler, Ishmael, and the manager, Neo, who all went above and beyond to take care of us. A few things it might be helpful for others to know: 1) the staff are incredibly accommodating and can help with almost any r

This lodge is masquerading as a 5-star lodge, when it is not and not worth the price at all. I have stayed at many lodges across east and Southern Africa, and this lodge was below the standard experienced in those lodges. Hospitality from the staff was not genuine at all and it was extremely obvious. Food was OK, but nothing outstanding. It was also very uncomfortable that dinner on one night was at a set time for all guests and we were made to all sit together on one table without even asking if we were OK with that. The phone in the room wasn’t working, which is an absolute necessity at an unfenced lodge as you can’t walk out alone. However, I appreciate the effort of the team to fix it. Although this is something that should have been checked before I checked in. I had terrible food poisoning on the last night and was in excruciating pain, vomiting all night. The manager had to take me to the hospital the next morning. It was clear that I got it from the lodge but the immediate reaction from the front desk lady was that I was dehydrated, immediately shifting blame. I had to miss the game drive the next morning and the other guests on the drive also missed it. Staff were quick to say that they “weren’t feeling well”, but I’m pretty sure one of them also has food poisoning. This lodge is absolutely NOT worth the price and I would not recommend it. The only positive is that the room was big and the bed comfortable, although found the way the bathroom was right behind the bed odd in an open concept.

The Ngoma Safari Lodge is one of the best places I have ever stayed- maybe the best. It’s like staying with a friend- everyone is on first name terms and the staff are exceptionally friendly and efficient. The view from all the rooms of the valley and river bed is sublime, with the watering hole which always has animals visiting. The food is extremely good and there is a selection of South African wines to accompany it. The rooms are comfortable and well appointed- you even have a bath and there is a small plunge pool outside each room. You are allotted a member of staff for your catering needs and for your room and laundry comes back really quickly. You are also allotted a guide for your stay. We had the amazing Jo who adjusted our safaris to suit our needs as we couldn’t do jeep safaris for medical reasons. We saw and learnt lots doing walking safaris with him and has a magical day with the elephants as we boated gently on the Chobe River. When you leave and return from a safari you get a great welcome from the staff. This was supposed to be my last visit to Africa but I left my heart in Botswana and Ngoma and I suspect we will be back. Thank you all.