After reading so many great reviews about this property before booking and after seeing its high rating, my family and I were sorely disappointed with our stay at Sabie River Bush Lodge.
The issues began right from them not answering the phone when we tried to call several times for enquiries before booking and finally we would get a response to our emails after 2-3 days! We were four adults, including my husband and I and his aged parents and we had booked for 3 nights from September 21-24, 2022.
Despite requesting for vegetarian meals for his parents, every single night, we had to go and remind the kitchen staff about it again - and on the last night of our stay, they completely forgot to prepare a vegetarian meal for him, despite reassuring us they would earlier - so he was forced to have only the sides from the other mains for dinner. The dinner and breakfast menu was also very limited – one night we were forced to choose between game meat and pork - both of which we don't eat.
We had also booked a full-day safari with the property, which included a voucher for lunch - however, the guide was not informed about this at all and we had to pay for our own meal, despite it being included in the cost earlier (we were later paid the amount in cash when we complained at the reception on returning, but it was disappointing that there was zero communication between the lodge and the field guides they send with guests) - and of course when the field guide tried to call them while we were on the game drive to ask about the voucher, they never picked up the phone (again)!
Despite booking as a family, with two rooms - one room was much smaller than the other and both rooms were so far apart. Our room was not cleaned daily either, neither were we given fresh towels daily and there was no extra soap provided either, despite staying for three nights. We had to physically go to the reception every time we needed anything and ask them several times for towels and such, which they would take ages to bring to our room - there is no phone to call the reception. We were also not provided with any drinking water.
During the day, the only lunch options available are two kinds of salads or two kinds of sandwiches, despite them saying they have a restaurant which works all day! And this is all despite paying a huge sum of money for our stay totalling nearly R 18,000!!
The only good thing about the lodge is that they wash all the guests' cars daily, which was much appreciated and the staff are courteous and friendly, even if not efficient. Definitely NOT returning or recommending this property to anyone else!
