Nhambavale Lodge

Nature and the quietness

Access, Sandy roads

Staff worked really hard, were so pleasant to chat to and for advice! Price was very reasonable too, especially considering it was Christmas.

The mosquito nets could do with a repair/replacement and our villa had no curtain for true door so anyone could see in. Only these minor things.

The location itself was very nice, however difficult to reach due to deep sand road. There was a nice restaurant with tables close to the water, basic kitchen in the lodges, as well small beach for the leisure time. The staff is great!

Unfortunately, our general experience was very bad. From the beginning, we understood that the place is not easily accessible by a normal car, no 4x4. That is why we contacted the host and he confirmed that it might be difficult but if we have experience in driving in sand, we can manage. We also informed about the type of our car (Suzuki Swift - quite small and low). So, on the day of our arrival, we were about to be there shortly before dawn, however we got stuck in the sand twice. The sand was very deep, so it was impossible to go with a low car. Once we got stuck, it was still daytime, so we managed to ask local people to push us. Shortly after, we got stuck again but as it was already dark we felt unsafe and tried to contact the Lodge. While it was difficult to try and reach out as we had no mobile service most of the time, no-one was answering to our messages in Booking.com and Whatsapp. No-one picked up and the only contact provided was South African. At some point a group of people came and said that they were from the Lodge and they will pull the car. We waited for them to pick up their car and we were getting very scared, as we never got in direct contact with the Lodge, so we were not sure if the people were really staff. In the end, we were pulled safely and we understood that they got the information that we are stuck by the brother of one of the employees who saw us by coincidence.

A beautiful lodge in an exceptional place. Our difficult car journey (we didn’t have a 4x4, amd forgot to lower the tire pressure) from Chidenguele to Nhambavale lodge was totally worth it.