Reviews of Muchenje Safari Lodge
Wildlife sightings and reviews
171 independent comments and wildlife information from our travellers who have visited Muchenje Safari Lodge and kindly agreed to share their thoughts. They do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa
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"Muchenje Safari Lodge review"
Food was very enjoyable and all homemade. We enjoyed homemade soups each evening and lovely roasts such as fillet of beef and leg of lamb both excellent. This place has the feel of a house party, helped by the socialising with lodge staff and guides in the evening. It was great fun listening to their tales especially Ocean who was a great raconteur and Peter who told us about local life. But it was our personal guide, Synack who brought Africa to life for us. His knowledge of all things Botswanan was amazing.
We saw so much wildlife on all our activities but the best day was the full day which included a lovely boat trip on the Chobe river. We saw many Elephants by and in the river including a large one that swam across completely submerged except for using its trunk as a snorkel. Good sightings of Hippo and large Crocodiles, Beautiful birds, Water Monitors etc... etc... and had lunch on the boat in the company of Elephants.
We had surprises and new sightings each time we went out even if it was walking to dinner from our Bungalow when we saw Slender Mongoose, Small Spotted Genet and numerous colourful birds. All in all I think Muchenje is a great first place to stay before venturing into the Okavango Delta. We saw larger groups of animals here than we did in the Delta and some very special Antelope including Puku, Roan and Sable. Thanks to all at Muchenje for a memorable stay." See all these reviews: 9n in Botswana; 2n in Zambia
"A fabulous place!"
The managers Joy and Robert have been amazing hosts and Lips, our guide, we very knowledgeable. The activities have been very well organised and included early morning safaris, all day safaris, afternoon safaris and night safaris. During our game drives we have seen lions, elephants, giraffes, zebras, hyenas, jackals, buffalos, kudus, lechwes, honey badgers, mongooses, waterbucks, sable antelopes, impalas, monkeys, baboons, genets and lots of birds (amongst which bustards, cisticolas, cormorants, ducks, eagles, egrets, kingfishers, bee eaters, kingfishers, ground hornbills, storks, francolins, guineafowls, Egyptian geese, etc). The highlight of our stay has been the boat trip along the Chobe river where we saw elephants swimming across it. This was absolutely amazing! We followed them in the boat and it was like "swimming with the elephants"!.
During our river trip we also saw the loads of hippos, crocodiles and lizards, and we spent some time observing the elephants playing in the mud. They were so funny and entertaining! On our last night we found a lovely bottle of fizzy wine in our hut. Joy had found out that we had been celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary a few days before and she wanted to surprise us. So very nice of her!
We will always remember our stay at Muchenje lodge with great pleasure!" See all these reviews: 9n in Botswana; 2n in Zimbabwe
"Muchenje Safari Lodge review"
You can't beat the setting of this lodge, which is up on a hill looking out at the Chobe River.
Overall I preferred staying in smaller camps but this was the exception." See all these reviews: 12n in Botswana
"Elephants and Marula fruit at Muchenje Lodge"
Our guide Kabela was a good driver and aside from the usual animals he found us sleeping elephants one morning and the rare Puku antelopes. He found Marula fruit (we were curious after drinking Amarula) and indulged my passion for Baobab trees.
One morning we requested a packed breakfast so that we could stay out until lunch and that was no problem for the staff.
We had elephants in camp on several days which was pretty exciting." See all these reviews: 8n in Zimbabwe; 4n in Botswana
"Saw our only leopard here!"
The lodge managers, Joy & Robert, are overly talkative and join guests for most meals, which for us was a bit overpowering." See all these reviews: 5n in Rwanda; 3n in Botswana; 3n in Zambia; 2n in Namibia
"Excellent game viewing and quality lodge"
The game drives in Chobe were good (once in the riverside area) and although the guides don't have trackers they seem to be able to spot animals at long distance. Best encounter was with a lioness stalking impala. However, you need to be prepared for long drives (30-45 minutes) between the lodge and the main game viewing areas. We were told of plans to build a landing stage closer to the lodge.
The lodge itself was excellent for accomodation, meals, service and friendly staff. Great view from the lodge and chalets, overlooking the river plain. Communal dining was very enjoyable and food was very good - different every day. Little shop was well stocked and good value - great hippos!
Trip to nearby village was very illuminating and well worth the time, we visited a family home and the local school.
Overall, the quality of the lodge and food and the staff made up for the distance that has to be travelled to the river and main game viewing areas." See all these reviews: 7n in Namibia; 6n in Botswana; 2n in Zimbabwe
"Best place of the visit"
it could not be faulted for service, excellence and the range of activities with very knowledgeable, enthusiastic guides. JJ, the manager, even drove us out of the lodge to the main road to avoid the Red Zone - see later." See all these reviews: 13n in Namibia; 3n in Botswana
"Muchenje - gateway to western part of Chobe"
The lodge has a great setting overlooking the Chobe floodplains and is located in a private reserve. The accommodations are beautiful, not very large (but large enough!) with a wonderful view. The hosts Joy and Robert (he gets up every morning at 03:30 !!!) are warm and friendly. They offer game drives to Chobe National Park, a boat cruise on the river (in their own boat with only a few people!) also night drives in their own reserve and a very interesting and informative visit to a nearby community with primary school and health station. The morning game drives usually start at 06:00 am (to 10:30), the afternoon game drives at 04:00 pm and end at about 6:40pm (you have to leave Chobe NP before 06:30 pm).
Although there are animals around the lodge (we saw some elephants, zebras, sable antelopes) the main thing are the game drives leading mostly through the western part of Chobe. There is a short drive to the entrance of the NP but after entering you share your experiences with much less people than in the eastern part. Chobe is famous for its elephants and we saw many many of them: in the woodland, open areas, floodplains and along the river - almost everywhere. Also big herds of buffaloes and journeys of giraffes up to 20 animals and more rare antelopes like sable and roan (not to mention the very often seen "normal" residents like impalas, zebras, kudus, warthogs, baboons ....)
The main predators were a little bit rare: just one (big) male lion at one morning drive, a female one at another morning drive and one leopard hidden behind a log and running away after a short while. We saw fresh tracks of wild dogs but only the tracks :-(
Our guide was K.B. who was friendly and very patient with the need and wishes of the 6 people of our group. He stayed with us for the whole time and also joined us as our guide on the boat cruise. The jetty of the boat is outside the eastern entrance of the park so it's scheduled on a whole day game drive (otherwise the distance would be to long)
Although it always needs some time to get into the park and back to the lodge (because the lodge is not located inside the park!) we were happy to stay there and make most of our game drives in the western part of the park. The eastern park is more crowded with other vehicles because the eastern entrance is very close to Kasane and also Zimbabwe border.
So in conclusion we enjoyed our stay at Muchenje very much and can highly recommend it !!!" See all these reviews: 12n in Botswana; 2n in Zimbabwe
"Muchenje Safari Lodge review"
The lodge was very friendly, extremely clean and very well managed. In deed we felt that we had left our friends behind when we left. The food was excellent. All the safari experiences were well managed, with knowledgeable guides who enjoyed sharing their facts and tales.
Our room was superb clean, comfortable, quiet." See all these reviews: 4n in Botswana; 2n in Zambia
"Muchenje Safari Lodge review"
Best game viewing of the three locations we stayed at." See all these reviews: 13n in South Africa; 9n in Botswana; 3n in Zimbabwe
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