Mabalingwe Elephant Lodge 267-7 & 267-8

Facilities and support of staff

Coming to a dirty room on our first day and rats in the room

I enjoyed Mabawlingwe but not the accommodation.

The linen was grubby and stained. One of the pillowcases clearly had old blood stains on it. The appliances (Microwave, stove, kettle) could not be used due to a short in the electrical configuration which caused the appliances to shock anyone touching it. We alerted the owner, who sent a handyman - who could not fix it. We alerted the owner about this, via a phone call (which was not answered) and a WhatsApp - which was ignored. The aircon did not work on arrival. We advised the owner who said she could only attend to this the next day. Which she did. It turned out to be the batteries. We wasted a lot of time - about an hour and half - to get into the unit as the owner had not sent the check in details - despite at least 4 telephone calls from us prior to our departure to remind the owner to send this information. We called a few times on arrival - as did the reception -but the owner only answered on about our 4th call and did not answer the calls of the reception. This meant we were only able to check in at about 4 pm when we had arrived for a 2 pm check in. I would think that if you are expecting check ins, then you answer calls. Overall, the communication from the owner was poor both prior to our arrival, at our arrival and during our stay. The unit was not worth the cost. The full price had to be paid on confirmation with no option to cancel otherwise we would have tried to find another unit at Mabilingwa which was not full and would have been able to assist us. Clearly the unit was not checked before our arrival. Checking the unit, upgrading the linen, fixing the electricity and improved communication from the owner is a must.

This place was dirty. Especially the kitchen. Duvet on kingsize bed in bad condition. Torn pillow cases.