Reviews of River Dance

"We reached Riverdance after a long drive of 604 km from Etosha. However, the good thing was the drive was virtually all on tarmac roads which were dead straight. Still, we were very glad to reach the lodge which was easy to find although there was no one on the gate when we arrived at about 1630. The gate wasn't locked though so we opened it ourselves and then closed it again once we drove through.

The reception/bar/restaurant was a short walk from the car park and overlooked the river. We were made very welcome and directed where to drive for the parking place for our room and then helped to carry our luggage from the car to the room. It was quite a walk from the room to reception for dinner etc through soft sand paths.

The room was large and comfortable and had a separate bathroom a few steps away from the bedroom but on the same platform directly overlooking the river. It was a little disconcerting to use during the night, but there was an outside light. The bedroom had a fridge, hot drink making facilities, filtered water, hairdryer, plenty of hanging and storage space but no safe. We were told there would not be any security problem and we did have a room key.

We had booked a morning game drive to Buffalo Park, part of the Bwabwata National Park as we specifically wanted to see sable antelope and all the reports said that there were good sightings of them there. Activities were not included in our half-board rate but we felt the cost was very reasonable. Our guide was Austin. We did have 3 sightings of sable - a brief one of 2 animals crossing through to our right and then 1 lovely sighting of a big bull who was digging up the river bank with his horns, plus another sighting at the end of our activity.

There were good game sightings generally in the park and only 2 other vehicles sighted all morning but the best part of the game drive was the wetland area, which was really special. The birdlife was amazing and we could have spent the whole time just sitting watching birds and hippos. Austin set up our breakfast table there and we had a lovely meal of boiled eggs, bread, cold meats, cheeses, cereals, fruit, yoghurt, juice and hot coffee or tea. That was a highlight. The activity lasted over 6 hours and was very good value. We saw a few more sable grazing on the side of the road as we drove back to the lodge. Austin said they were fond of grazing there.

That evening, we took a sunset cruise on the river with another couple and this was lovely too, plenty of birds, hippos and crocodiles. Sundowners were taken on the bank with wine, G&T (without the T which had been inadvertently left behind), beer or coke and nice snacks while we watched hippos then back into the boat for the actual sunset in a particularly scenic part of the Kavango River. We had a good view of the sunset on our first evening from our room but the pictures we got from the water during this cruise were the best sunset photos we took the whole trip.

Dinner was back in the restaurant overlooking the river and was very good both nights as was breakfast on our last morning.

Once important point to mention is that due to the closeness of Angola to the Zambezi Region (on the opposite bank of the river) our phones, and consequently the SatNav, were picking up Angola time, (Western Africa Time), which is usually an hour different from Southern Africa Time. This caused some confusion until we worked it out and manually set the time-zones on the phones for Windhoek time.

Overall, we can recommend Riverdance as a lovely place to stay with good activities." See all these reviews: 19n in Namibia; 3n in Botswana; 2n in Zimbabwe

"Wow what a view from our fabulous room. This is the sort of place you just want to sit back relax and watch the Okavango flow by. The food was good but not very hot, its difficult serving a lot of people outside. The plates were very cold when handed to us so if they warm their plates it would help with keeping the food warm during the serving process.

We did a sunset cruise down the river which was just lovely.

Would love to return here for a longer stay next time!!!" See all these reviews: 7n in Namibia; 4n in Botswana; 2n in Zimbabwe

"Excellent.

Comfortable lodges overlooking the river with rock pratincole, hippo, otters and crocodile." See all these reviews: 10n in Namibia; 2n in Zimbabwe

"Good rest point if driving from Etosha to the strip, but not a lot to do at the lodge." See all these reviews: 15n in Namibia; 2n in Botswana

"This was our second time at River Dance - this time for one night only. The rooms remain lovely and the food and service of a good standard. The views from the rooms are beautiful but we saw significantly less bird life on this visit (in May) than we had on our last visit which was in October 2019.

We had a game drive organised by the lodge and were driven by Issac. On his recommendation, we went to Buffalo Park which was very worthwhile especially as we had an amazing sighting of a huge herd of buffalo as well as various other species. Despite his best efforts, though, Issac was unable to find us the lion whose footprints we followed for a long distance. This was not due to any lack of skill or effort on Issac’s part - far from it; late rains meant that the grass was very high during our visit and it would be easy for a lion to be two metres away from the vehicle and still completely invisible.

He also shared with us information regarding the history of the park which was very interesting and spurred us on to learn more about the entire area. We didn’t do the boat trip this time though thoroughly enjoyed it on our last visit and heard others speak very positively of it on this one.

Would recommend the lodge." See all these reviews: 17n in Namibia; 3n in Botswana

"Fabulous setting and rooms with most impressive views.

Nice staff and good food." See all these reviews: 14n in Namibia; 1n in Botswana

"We felt this camp was overrated . There was no obvious management in charge - the few staff that we did interact with were seriously multitasking.

The rooms are very nice with a huge floor to ceiling windows facing the river, difficult to actually see the river because of the dense foliage.

The communal areas are cramped. It had a feel of being mildly run down - glasses /plates not very clean etc.

The lunch we had on arrival was a very uninspiring salad. Dinner was considerably better.

Having just been quite critical they did very kindly leave a bottle of sparking wine in our room and also a few candles in the pudding, and sang to me.

We did the sunset and also sunrise boat trip. Guide was pleasant but not necessarily forth coming with his information." See all these reviews: 15n in Namibia; 3n in Botswana

"this lodge was over the top luxurious ! the duplex rooms were quite large, with the bedroom, stand alone bath tub, and the private deck, look out over the mighty Kwando River, to the Angola side . The staff, food, activities etc. and especially the view were fantastic !! took a sunset boat ride, and saw many Hippos, and some medium size Crocs ." See all these reviews: 14n in Namibia; 3n in Zimbabwe

"We had a lazy stay here - we did the sunset cruise which was very pleasant but didn't drive to Mahango Park for a game drive as we wanted a break from driving.

The lodge was nearly an hour's drive from the park so if we had particularly wanted to go there it would have been better to stay at one of the lodges closer to the park. We had planned to visit the Buffalo park section of Mahango en route to Nkasa Rupara but in the event didn't have time. We do regret this.

The lodge itself was very pleasant with rooms and balconies (with sunbeds) overlooking the Kavango river." See all these reviews: 17n in Namibia; 2n in Zimbabwe

"Great location above the river, excellent staff, first sighting of hippos and crocodiles, lovely sunset on the river.

Rooms were lovely but could do with blinds on the glass doors in order to keep out the light in early morning.

Also a bit noisy in the early morning when staff arrived at the lodge." See all these reviews: 21n in Namibia; 2n in Zimbabwe