Cresta Mowana Safari Resort & Spa

The resort is located directly on the chobe river in an excellent location for wildlife viewing. The lobby and restaurant areas are impressive with high ceilings. Large wood beams, and lots of windows. The rooms and the amenities in the rooms are luxurious and include robes and slippers for your use. The building itself is in need of some TLC and it is showing, it's wear. This resort caters to very large groups. The dining is buffet style with long rows of tables that can accommodate very large groups. The resort is not set up to properly handle couples or small families. The resort has a specific protocol in place to handle busloads of tourists and we felt that their business model did not accomodate couples or small group as well. Based on our experience, we found that thee front desk staff, while courteous, were inflexible with a smile. The resort activity staff would work hard to try and accommodate our needs. They food is excellent convention style food. There are a number of options, but only a few are indigenous to the country. The desserts are excellent and I complimented the chef for both the banana cake and blueberry pudding which I found excellent. If you are a small family or a couple, I would suggest exploring any small boutique hotel or resort options that may be available in the area. I highly recommend this hotel if you are on a tour and part of a large group as they are very efficient in that respect.

Locatia este extraordinara cu vedere la rau si multe animale in gradina.Asezarea in terase da o vizibilitate foarte buna asupra locului. Dar , toata locatia este cu o uzura si degradare vizibila si deranjanta, mobilier vechi,rupt, canapele paturi uzate.Baile mici si neingrijite.In holul central un singur grup sanitar care tot timpul era plin, trebuia sa stai la coada.Personal insuficient si putina diversitate la maincare.Pentru serviciul a-la-carte am asteptat mai mult de o ora sa fim serviti.Amestecarea grupurilor externe de croaziera cu cei care erau cazati in locatie era defavorabila celor cazati.Preferabil a se creea o zona numai pentru cei care beneficiaza de cazare in locatie.Neplacut este si faptul ca toata lumea asteapta tips!!!!

Sa nu fie amestecati turistii cazati cu cei care beneficiaza numai de serviciul de pranz si croaziera.Recomand separarea totala a zonei de imbarcare in croaziera.Serviciul slab al personalului de la restaurant ,bar.Lipsa unei diversitati de preparate pentru mese.Bufetul locatiei cu preparate slabe calitativ.Mobilierul vechi si camerele nerenovate. Confort locatie 1*.

Tolle Anlage, super schöne Sonnenuntergänge, leckere Cocktails

Touristisch geprägte Safari Lodge

Location and staff were great.

How many hundreds and hundreds of plastic water bottles do they throw away each day? Why? Because instead of providing free water stations, they sell the water. The food off the a la carte menu was so poor, and probably the worst meal we have had in a long time. Arrived late, in batches, so by the time the third meal came the other two were cold. This hotel is geared towards groups. Avoid as an individual.

Pros: 1. the grounds are very appealing. Our room faced the Chobe River. 2..The food was plentiful and tasty. Cons: the room was not well designed. There’s not much space to put your things and we travel lightly. The bathroom lacks counter space, so there is no place to place a toiletry bag or Dopp kit. It also lacks towel rods and hooks, so that there’s no place to hang two wet towels. There is space for one, but we had two wet towels. The outdoor dining area was extremely dark at night, so one could barely see the person sitting across from you. We had to improvise lighting with a flashlight and a bottle of water. There are warning signs of dangerous animals on the property, so it was very disconcerting to walk back to our room, which was on the ground floor,in the dark.

We stayed here for 2 nights as part of a package via Luxury Escapes. The hotel is very nice, beautiful grounds located right on the Chobe River. We were very happy with our room, spacious, comfortable beds, big bathroom and private balcony overlooking the river. We completed a river safari and 2 jeep safaris which we enjoyed, however were shocked by the number of jeeps allowed in to the park and how congested the roads were on the morning safari. Our guide (Pretty) was fantastic, his knowledge was incredible and he was clearly very passionate about his work. We ate all our meals at the hotel and were happy with breakfast and lunch, but not impressed with dinner. At dinner they appeared to be understaffed and it took a long time to get drinks or any assistance. The food at dinner was more traditional and was not what we expected for a hotel catering to international guests. The hotel has 2 restaurants, however they only open 1 in the evening for dinner. There was a conference on when we were there and they had the bar booked, which meant there was nowhere for other guests to have a drink at sunset or prior to dinner. Overall we enjoyed our stay, but would choose a smaller hotel next time if we return.

The location is wonderful, and the team that organised the safari trips at the front desk were very helpful. The actual people running the safari & boat trips were also excellent.

Lack of communication before my arrival, gave me little confidence in either the trips being organised (turned out fine due to the helpful excursions desk staff). Also I felt I needed to arrange my own travel to and from the hotel. It turned out one person who had emailed me, had not given correct information about the trips, & offered an unsatisfactory way for me to be met at the border. When I arrived, the staff seemed surprised at the email correspondence I showed them. It was a frustrating and confusing situation. As the hotel caters for large groups arriving to eat, or to do trips, they seem to have lost focus on the individual travellers. I wasn't advised to make a reservation for dinner, although a table was set up for me, it wasn't a great feeling. As a solo traveller, I felt overlooked. The dinner wasn't great, a couple of dishes were finished due to a couple of large groups being present. On the first night there was no one managing the buffet. I actually burnt my hand on a over heated dish, where the steam had built up (I didn't report, I had a medical kit for and it wasn't too bad), but that shouldn't have been allowed to happen. There was no one keeping an eye on things. The food was very mediocre. What saved the trip was the lovely surroundings of the hotel, and the trips with the company at the front desk. Chobe is such a great place, and the hotel is living of that experience.

The lodge is beautiful, well maintained, clean and very comfortable. The staff are very friendly and well trained. The view from the lodge is exceptional.

Not all items on the a la cart menu were available. The food was however very good.