Kwalape Safari Lodge

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

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.

We recently stayed at Kwalape Lodge for 2 nights. They organised a a river safari and a game drive for us. Nature, our guide, was so knowledgeable and friendly and we saw so many animals including a pride of lions. All the staff from Reception to the restaurant were helpful & friendly. Noah, the shuttle driver, made our border crossing into Zimbabwe a breeze.

Each rooms is cleverly been fitted with canvas providing a true Bush ambience in a solid structure. Large pool and entertainment area make this a very social space. Additional restaurant provides a choice of entertainment. The lodge has a large capacity and provides an excellent venue for big groups

Our stay here was very touch and go. Some staff were amazing and polite and others so very rude. One lady rolled her eyes at us when we asked to have lunch and someone on reception told us they would send maintenance to look at our broken toilet the following day (it needed seeing to immediately) The pool was filthy (I'm assuming it's because we went in off season) and a huge clump of hair had been left in the shower drain so that it took ages to drain properly during and after a shower. And most worryingly of all, the water from the taps runs a light brown. The only good things i can say about this place is that its got a great location and is very close to the national park so is convenient. The food was surprising good and our safari guide- Peace was wonderful. He was incredibly knowledgeable, kind and just amazing. We felt truly blessed to have got to spend time with him. He knew so much about the animals and plants and was delighted to share it. You could honestly tell he took pleasure and pride in his job and the beauty around the park. This place is okay for a one night stop off but I wouldn't recommend for a longer stay.

I stayed here recently for 2 nights. The room was a good size, with air conditioning and fast free wifi in the rooms. There was a limited buffet for dinner, and the food was poor quality. There was also a limited buffet for breakfast, but it was reasonable quality.