Reviews of Chobe River Lodge

"See previous comments [See below]" See all these reviews: 10n in Namibia; 4n in Botswana; 3n in South Africa

"After our delayed flight from Jo'Burg we were met at Kasane by Morgan who immediately asked whether we would still like to do a boat trip that afternoon; this perked us up immensely as we had been thinking the delay would mean we'd lose the opportunity. He drove us to meet the boat at the park registration point (therefore not inconveniencing other guests who had boated from the lodge) and took our luggage off to our room. The boat trip with John (aka birthday boy!) was excellent.

Staff at the lodge could not have done more to help with resolving the problems caused by Elegant Farmstead having 'bumped' us at the very last minute. They were also happy to allow us to leave a bag at Garden Lodge pending our return in two days time and there was no problem in agreeing we would settle our bill for both stays on our second departure.

All staff were smiling and friendly and we were welcomed back after two nights elsewhere like long lost friends; our spare bag was already awaiting us in our new room. Everybody was so helpful on the last morning when our car key was mislaid – much appreciated!
Rooms at Garden Lodge are rustic in style but have everything necessary including A/C and a hairdryer; they're very comfortable but not fussy. Food is wholesome, well cooked and tasty but not fancy and you eat at communal tables including some of the staff which leads to some fascinating conversation over dinner.

There is an attractive pool, lovely gardens complete with family of warthogs and the owners' dogs and cats about." See all these reviews: 10n in Namibia; 4n in Botswana; 3n in South Africa

"The garden lodge rooms were comfortable with our upstairs room having a good balcony with good view. The food was good and there was a good range of activities.

We went on the game drive which was a little disappointing as it became a little rushed and we drove out of the park on the same route as we had gone in - some variety here would have been preferable and a sighting of the river!

However, the afternoon boat trip was excellent - fabulous close ups of animals, very relaxed and an informative and entertaining guide." See all these reviews: 9n in Namibia; 4n in Botswana; 2n in Zambia

"An excellent, relaxed atmosphere. Rooms were well equipped and a laundry facility available. The pool area was well designed and looked inviting. Dinner is a communal affair with wine included – food is good, wholesome and home-cooked – we had duck salad (ducks shot that morning by staff!), and pork chops.

We took an excellent afternoon boat trip and good drive in Chobe NP the following morning. We could have happily stayed 2 nights or more as many guests were doing." See all these reviews: 16n in Namibia; 2n in Zambia; 1n in Botswana

"Coming from the Caprivi, the 'mass-tourism' of Chobe is a bit overwhelming. Lots of (rather noisy) boats on the river and too many jeeps in one spot.

The lodge itself was nice, tastefully decorated, with friendly owners and staff (including the 7 dogs and 3 warthogs!)." See all these reviews: 14n in Namibia; 5n in Botswana

"Clean comfortable stay.

The guides were not as good as others we had later, but everyone was very accommodating and we enjoyed it very much overall.

We found the food not as good as other places we stayed." See all these reviews: 11n in Namibia; 4n in Botswana

"We believe we had the best room here, with a private balcony allowing views over the lovely garden and river. The management team were friendly and eager to please. Happily going to any lengths to spoil their guests, even joining us for meals on our private outdoor table.

We were treated more like valued friends than paying guests. The food and service were top class and the tea making equipment in the room was very much appreciated.

We took an enjoyable river trip with Bevan, a polite and informative guide." See all these reviews: 10n in Namibia; 6n in Botswana

"We liked The Garden Lodge a lot. It has a family atmosphere, like you're staying at a friend's house; it's a small 8-room lodge run by a German couple (well, she's really Swedish), really nice people, they made us feel very welcome. It's located right on the bank of the Chobe river, it has a nice garden with a jetty from where you leave for the sunset cruise. The price is very appealing compared to the more popular lodges in town.

Don't expect extravagant luxuries here, but the basics are very well covered: clean room with flush en-suite toilet, hot water, balcony, electricity to recharge batteries, even AC (not necessary this time of year). There's also a plunge pool. The food is good, nothing fancy but home made. The decoration is simple, non-pretentious, African-inspired.

The room size is adequate (we were in #4, second floor), with two levels: the main one has the bathroom, balcony and a big comfortable bed with mosquito net, and then there are two small twins on the second level (also with mosquito nets), so it's a great place to go if you have kids. A funny thing is that there are two mirrors in the shower, not sure what they're for...

Standard activities are game drives in the morning (either 6 to 9 or 9 to 12) and sunset cruises (3 to 6), but they are flexible. We did a “full day” game drive (6:30 to 12:30) one day, and an early morning game drive (6-9) on the day of departure, plus sunset cruises on both evenings. Since the “full day” drive counts as 2 activities, we had to pay extra for it.

On both game drives we had the vehicle all to ourselves. The cars are Landcruisers with a canvass roof, they have three benches that seat 3 people each, plus two seats up front. We did all activities with the same guide, Calvin, he's great, has an amazing ability to spot game (eg., spotted a malachite kingfisher sitting on a branch from across the Chobe), he's very experienced and has a bit of a swagger, in a cool way.

In terms of game viewing, we had some good sightings: saw four lions (a big male and 3 lionesses), herd of 15 sable antelope (first time we've seen sable), big herd of over 100 buffalo, many elephant –including a baby less than a month old-, puku (also first time for us), many birds. It was good to do a long drive, as it allowed us to get further inside the park and leave the crowds behind. Example: when we say the lions, close to the gate, we counted 16 vehicles around them, but we were all alone where we saw the sable, which was near Ihaha. On our way out of the park we had to help another lodge's vehicle that had gotten stuck in the sand, their guide seemed clueless and Calvin took charge and pulled them out.

The sunset cruises were great, better than the drives. The garden lodge's boat seats 18, 6 rows with 3 seats each, which may seem a lot but was actually one of the smallest boats we saw in the river- and there were many. The first day we were 12 guests on the boat, the 2nd 13. The river banks are teeming with wildlife, you are constantly seeing animals: elephant drinking, hippos, crocs, water monitors, red lechwe (another first), baboons, plenty of birds (many fish eagle, king fishes, black heron doing the “umbrella thing”, jacana, storks, etc). The sunsets in the Chobe were probably the best in the trip.

The second night after dinner we had an interesting surprise: 2 hippos and a waterbuck came into the garden (which is not that big) and were grazing there for 10-15 minutes. Apparently, one of the hippos does that almost every night, but the managers where shocked to see two of them. Also during the day a family of warthogs visited the garden several times." See all these reviews: 10n in Botswana; 3n in Zambia