Reviews of Royal Tree Lodge
(88%) From 33 travellersThey do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa.
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Royal Tree Lodge review
We stayed here only one night as a rest break after the flight down. It was pleasant and comfortable.
Dougie Wright, the manager, gave us a bit of a game drive, which we enjoyed at the time but was quite overshadowed once we continued on our trip.
Royal Tree Lodge birding.
We were met at Maun Airport by Dougie who soon had us at RTL after driving through mainly dry arid countryside (badly in need of rain). We had been allocated the Woodpecker cottage which was just great for both animals and birds. Dougie and Di were great hosts and the food was just out of this world.
Dougie did take us on a drive around the reserve where we saw many animals we wouldn't see out in the Delta. The rest of the time we did our own thing birding around the marked trails. Blue trail leads you down to the swamp area where there were many water birds and waders.
This was a wonderful start to our holiday.
Ideal place to recover from a long flight
Safari camp accommodation without the associated high costs. Is in a fenced game farm with non threatening species such as eland, giraffe, zebra, impala , roaming freely. Can walk with safety and get the kinks out of the system.
For us it was an ideal spot to rest up and prepare for the real safaris
Motsentsela Tree Lodge review
We were happy to stay in a quiet location outside of Maun while waiting for a day for connecting flights.
Being able to walk around the game farm gave us the opportunity to spot antelope we hadn't come across so far in our holiday, such as springbok and blesbok, but beware the anteater holes designed to trip the unwary!
Motsentsela Tree Lodge review
We were ther for less than 24 hours. It did just what it said on the tin, as it were, in providing an excellent introduction to Botswana for people waiting to go off into wilder parts.
The cabin we had was well away from the lodge and we felt as if we were out in the wilds. I liked the idea that Genets were regular visitors to the dining area.
Motsentsela Tree Lodge review
We built in a first night here in case of travel problems - not in fact needed as our flights were on time and all our luggage arrived - but it was good to have some recovery/adjustment time after the long journey, and nice to be able to walk around unaccompanied.
Read more about the whole safariConveniently placed close to Maun airport
The lodge's location (half an hour away from the Maun airoprt) was very convenient since we had to fly relatively early in the morning. The room was huge and very nicely decorated.
We had the chance to walk around and see zebras, girafes, ostriches et all.
Motsentsela Tree Lodge review
Lovely lodge and I'm really pleased we stopped off there for a night rather than pushing straight onto safari camp. It was such a relaxing place to be and nice easing into being in Africa and the bush.
Our luggage did not arrive with us in Maun. No-one's did. It alll arrived 2.5 hours later on another plane! Motsentsela were really helpful. It was apparent from the outset that they would take us back to the lodge for lunch and then escort us back to get the luggage.
My husband went back to the airport with one of staff called Joe. The luggage was later than we'd been told so John and Joe went to a cafe for a cola and chatted about life, nature and Botswana. John really enjoyed this and Joe was very kind about staying after he was off duty.
The short time we were at the lodge we enjoyed wandering on the trails and both Kathy and Dougie were very helpful. Dinner was great fun - lots of interesting folk to talk to.
We were allowed to sleep in next day and have our breakfast when we woke up which was much appreciated. We thought all the staff at the lodge were charming and liked the ambience. I'd really recommend this place as a restful break before going onto camp.
Motsentsela Tree Lodge review
Very nice rooms ans atmosphere, a perfect place for a stopover of one night. We had to pay for bottled water which might be debatable.
Read more about the whole safariMotsentsela Tree Lodge review
We enjoyed very much our stay at the Montsentsela Lodge. We had decided to have a two night stay on the way in to give us an opportunity to rest after our flights and to acclimatise and this was very beneficial. We stayed the first two nights in the Hornbill lodge (with thatched-roof) and the last night of our trip in one of the tented lodges, both being very comfortable. On arrival we were given a warm welcome by the Manager only to find that the next day she had left and new Management had taken over, who were also friendly.
The lodge facilities were very clean, the staff friendly and efficient and the food was good and freshly-cooked. Our hosts did make point of warning us not to leave valuables in our room when we were out as there have been some incidents of theft recently (apparently by persons from outside, around dinner time, despite there being security patrols). The Hornbill lodge had no safe and the safe in the other lodge was of limited use as it was very small.
On our return to the Montsentsela we wished to confirm our BA flight booking and select seats. The Management allowed us to use the computer terminal but the dial-up connection to the internet is so slow that we could not complete the process of getting onto the BA website and make the seat selection before being cut-off ... the 45 min or so that this took proved to be expensive as did sending a short e-mail to family! Before our departure from Maun we attempted to get our BA booking confirmed at the internet cafe close by the airport but we were unable to do this because of an electrical power-failure .
We enjoyed walks within the enclosed game reserve at the Montsentsela when we saw giraffes, zebras and other non-predatory animals.
