Sabie River Bush Lodge

All the meals were TERRIBLE. We did a guided drive of 2000 ZAR for two of us was badly done- guide kept stalling the car and didn’t speak English well. Location is okay, nice views of river and hippos. Very basic in many ways.

The room was was very comfortable but way to small, bathroom was seriously cramped. No place to sit in the room, other than a single vanity chair. Noisy neighbour's and thin walls made for troubling sleep. Staff, board and location were superb and made up for the room.

This is a very mixed review so first the good. We stayed in a luxury bush tent and the accommodation was spotless, well equipped in a stunning location overlooking the river. The decking area with Pool is great for relaxing where you can watch Hippos and the restaurant has lovely views over the river. The game drives were great, although as others have said there is no transfer to the sunset drive. We had a car so not an issue. The not so good was the quality of the food (dinner) in my view was not great. Whilst the portion size was good the fish on the second night was extremely greasy. The really disappointing element was the approach when something went wrong. I organised a birthday cake for my friend via email (email response is very slow), I had no response to my final email or any confirmation that it was going to be done. On her birthday there was no cake so I assumed the final email had not been received. My friend (who’s birthday it was) was then taken to one side and told there had been a mix up and we would be doing the cake that day - they had assumed the cake was for her daughter! On check out I asked for a discount on the cake - it was expensive and we could only eat half of it as could not enjoy it over the two nights as planned. The receptionist said he knew nothing about it but would contact the manager. He then sent a what’s app and said nothing, we eventually asked if he could follow up so he said he would call her. We could clearly hear the manager and the tone and way she spoke was nowhere near what I would expect given the error, refused any sort of discount. There was not even an apology for the error. I have explained the latter as this has left us not wanting to return, however, should not deter others as it is a lovely location and good value for money - just beware if ordering extras.

The lodge is easy to get to by car. Very well established gardens. Hippos swimming in the river in front of the lodge. The breakfast has a lot of varieties. Three courses dinner is different every night and tasty. We saw a lot of animals in very close distances. Overall it is a good place to stay if you want to go to Kruger National Park. And we will recommend it to everyone.

We had a great experience staying at the lodge, everything was great and nice, special mention has to be made about sleeping in a tent. Also, the fact that we could have a kitchen of our own to prepare our meals.

This was a fabulous value with excellent accommodations. We got the complete package with three game drives, breakfast and lunch, the panorama tour and loved it all! Our guides were knowledgeable and we saw all the animals. The pool deck was a great place to relax. Staff were friendly and helpful. We already miss it!