Cresta Mowana Safari Resort & Spa

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Service was poor

CRESTA MOWANA has a good atmosphere and potential to be very successful. However a number of staff have a tendency to bias locals rather than those from outside the country. I found that as a Zimbabwean staff seemed as though serving me or my family was a burden or inconvenience. I will say we were a big family and we are energetic however we treated them with respect smiling and being kind as that is who we are. The lodge is beautiful and it is a destination to experience nature at its best and I would recommend it. However their staff are holding them back not all were bad some are doing their part and making the experience worth while notably our game guide.

The receptionist Malebogo was so nice and welcoming, she is the best. I asked Dr for a lil surprise for my husband’s birthday and they made him a cute cake .

Nothing

Excellent hotel , pleasant rooms. Beautiful surroundings. Staff very friendly. Restaurant good with good choice of food.

This place is large and crowded and was a complete disappointment. It caters to tour groups and if you don't have a full time guide on site with you, you will get lost in the shuffle. We were a group of three travelers and this is exactly what happened to us. Several other couples told us that they felt the same. The rooms are fine and we had laundry done and that was fine...BUT... We preordered Gluten Free and vegetarian food, but the people working on the buffets could not even tell us if a dish was GF or not! The food was all buffet and the lines were long. There was a crowds, tehn this imenu that you could order from, but it took an hour or so to get the food if you did that and there were very few options there for dietary restrictions. After I contacted our travel agent, they did attempt to provide GF food, but even then gave us a stir fry with samoas laid on top that were obviously made with wheat flour! Our Celiac was not well for a couple of days after leaving there. I feel sure it was due to getting some gluten in her meals, even though she tried to be careful. The game drives are okay. You will see some good wildlife, but if you do it for more than one day, you will be on the same circuit over and over. They seem to have one specific path for both the truck and boat drives. Don't bother to book a "private" game drive because it is the same path as the others, just in a smaller boat, etc. Also, the night game drive was a waste of time and money. One of our small group got a massage, but it was terrible and also a waste of money. They tried to get her to have her massage in the same room with another guest that she didn't know!! Check out was a nightmare. We started the process, but found that our bills were all messed up and we were charged for fees, drinks, etc. that were included per our contract. While we were had to waiting for someone to figure it out, one of the tour groups came up and all of their bills were messed up as well. It took about 30 minutes to correct ours and pay but the tour group was still trying to get it sorted. If you don't care about quality and you don't care about crowds, then this is the place for you! If you want quality food and service, look elsewhere.

We had booked after a lot of emails a buffet that we also paid for ahead. When we arrive the hostess was incredibly rude stating that she had not been informed about the booking. I showed her the payment and then she had to call someone. After some debate we got a table, then she again asked me to show proof of our payment. The waitress was wonderful and very nice so she was saving the whole situation. The hostess was so rude I had to leave the restaurant for a while and my daughter and my friend told her that she was extremely rude to all of us. Later we got the buffet that really wasn’t worth the money. Actually quite disgusting with flies hovering over the food. Then the hostess came up to us and offered a bottle of house wine for half the price. Worst experience I’ve had so far in a restaurant. The waitress was altogether extremely nice but she was definitely being suppressed by the hostess.

We went for lunch here with our Approach Tour group and found the buffet to be pretty good, though there was no direction from the servers that the buffet was extended inside. So different line ups and different food if you are aware of it. The courtyard is a nice setting.