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Cleo C

1 reviews | Active since Sept 2020

14 May 2025, 08:06

Unsafe Experience and No Accountability – Gwahumbe Game Reserve, May 2025

Our stay at Gwahumbe Game Reserve (7–9 May 2025) for my husband’s birthday turned into a disaster due to gross negligence and poor customer care.

During a planned game drive, our vehicle suffered a flat tyre, and to our shock, there was no spare and no radio to call for help. Our ranger (Maxwell) had to leave us — including our 2-year-old son — alone in the wild to walk back to reception.

Despite informing management that this was a special celebration and having our full itinerary (meals, activities, and stay) pre-arranged with the General Manager (Ali), we were treated with indifference. I was laughed at when I asked what would have happened if my child had been harmed. The owner, Shannon, refused to speak to us.

We left a day early and were told only the game drive would be refunded — despite the fact that our entire day and experience were ruined. We spent extra money to secure accommodation elsewhere.

I’m calling for: • A full refund • A formal investigation into their safety protocols • Accountability for dismissive and unsafe behavior

Families and travelers deserve better. If you value safety and proper hospitality, I urge you to consider other options.

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Replies (1)
Gwahumbe
Gwahumbe's reply20 May 2025, 09:46
Official
Cleo C
 
Thank you for taking the time to explain your issues. Ali is the GM and is fully responsible for all aspects of the lodge including complaints. 

We cannot utilise radios in the valley as they unfortunately do not work. Radios require line of sight. We have rhinos on the farm, and these are the only dangerous animals that you could have encountered. It would be highly unlikely for them to approach a stationery vehicle with guests in it. I personally run and walk around the farm on my own. 

We would like to apologise profusely for the lack of spare tyre on the vehicle. We had more than one tyre in for repairs on that particular day and unfortunately punctures do happen from time to time. You were by no means in danger and Max took it upon himself to run to the nearest point to obtain signal and assistance. 

In our 30 years of operation, this periodically happens and there has never been a safety issue. We are very sorry that this put a dampener on your celebrations. We pride ourselves on providing memorable guest experiences and we will continue to improve, based on feedback such as yours.