Wild Ivory Lodge Welgevonden

Having stayed at many game lodges we have NEVER received such poor service as we did here.

Firstly, we booked two units that we were led to believe were adjacent, turns out they were far apart, with a steep climb to the one unit, which could not be done at night due to poor lighting and with animals roaming around. So much for a family weekend away.

After checking in we discovered the self catering units did not have a microwave or oven and that the lodge oven was broken. So, there was no way to properly self cater. We had to make a plan and tried to prepare some food on the gas plates with a casserole dish, which subsequently broke. They then wanted to charge us for breaking it, which would have been fine if there was a microwave, stove, electricity and water for the duration of the stay.

On the second night, after braaing in the pitch dark, as there were no outside lights, the power went off and the water ran dry. So we had to finish eating in the dark, unable to shower and had no water to brush our teeth with or to drink.

Nobody from the lodge contacted us to explain why there was no power or water. They just left us stranded for the night.

We were told the following morning that there wasn’t enough sun to recharge the solar batteries and that the backup generator doesn’t work if the battery is too low. So what’s the point? They also said guests don’t like the noisy generator….seems as if guests prefer blackouts. If they can see it is overcast and they know the batteries will die, why not tell us upfront! This is also not advertised on their website.

They blamed the water cut on an elephant that damaged a pipe, which seems unlikely as all the units had no water and the elephant only came by later that night. Somehow this was miraculously fixed while we were out that morning and just before they were preparing for new guests to arrive. Good luck to them.

As we could not charge our phones, we also had to limit the photos we could take on the morning game drive.

Being thirsty from a lack of water, the kids took some water from the honesty bar and logged it in the book. When we wanted to check out Geena was more concerned about water stock taking and payment than our bad experience. Usually if this happens, you would be proactively given water by the lodge at their cost. It’s a negligible amount, but the principle counts.

In all fairness, they should have refunded us the full night. Geena was offended when I told her she had a standard to uphold and became aggressive. A long argument ensured over how many bottles of water were taken that morning (5), and who was going to pay for it, that we eventually had to leave without having a chance to shower or have breakfast.

The entire night and day was spoilt as they were not customer focused enough to make sure we were comfortable after the power and water cut.

Also, the location of the lodge is misleading, as you need to travel about 45 minutes to get to the part of the reserve that has the most game. So you waste 90 minutes a day travelling.

It safe to say that they won’t be seeing us ever again.