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Reviews of Thamalakane River Lodge

3 out of 5
Thamalakane River Lodge
Sexaxa Ward, Maun

Reviews

8.4

Very good

Rating 10 - Excellent. 11 out of 23 reviews" "
Rating 8 - Good. 5 out of 23 reviews" "
Rating 6 - Okay. 6 out of 23 reviews" "
Rating 4 - Poor. 1 out of 23 reviews" "
Rating 2 - Terrible. 0 out of 23 reviews" "

8.6/10

Cleanliness

8.4/10

Staff & service

8.6/10

Amenities

8.2/10

Property conditions & facilities

8.0/10

Eco-friendliness

Reviews

8/10 Good

Douglas

Travelled with family, Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities
Maun us very hot, it ran 38C - 40C during our 4 days there. The cabins badly need air conditioning.
Stayed 4 nights in Oct 2023

10/10 Excellent

John

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Stayed two nights to sleep in & relax after two weeks on safari. Nice, private bungalos on the river. Perfect choice for kicking back. Be sure to arrange airport shuttle pickup before you arrive or it could be an hour or more wait. We would stay there again.
Stayed 2 nights in Aug 2023
Response from TRL team on 27 Sept 2023
Dear John Thanks so much for the kind words, we apologies for the wait on the transfer and yes booking this in advance would eliminate any delays. Thank you for your support.

10/10 Excellent

Maureen

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
This lodge is lovely and peaceful, and each room has a great view of the river. The meals were good and they have a lovely dining area that overlooks the river as well. The staff were very helpful, kind and professional. A delayed flight caused me to have to change my booking at the last minute and the response from the lodge was very understanding. I missed a night's stay and I really wish I'd been able to stay that extra night. It's a lovely location, a bit of a drive outside of Maun but on the route to Moremi, which was convenient for me.
Response from TRL team on 23 Jan 2023
Dear Maureen It was a pleasure having you with us and we are so glad you had a lovely time. The team gives their best to give excellent service. Sorry that you missed your extra night.We hope to welcome you back in future.

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Stayed 4 nights in Jun 2019
Response from TRL team on 19 Jun 2019
Thank you so much for the review, we are glad that you enjoyed your stay.

8/10 Good

Preston

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Solid stay
Wonderful service. enjoyable stay. Rooms are rustic as you would expect.
Stayed 1 night in May 2019
Response from TRL team on 19 Jun 2019
Thank you for the review, the team works hard to give you great service. We hope to welcome you back in the future.

6/10 Okay

Maureen

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Wonderful setting, but Activities limited in March
Thamalakane is in a great location on the river where the staff are very nice. Mainly 2 things let it down for us (we visited in March 2019), the Activities listed on the website and provided by the lodge on email are not available at this time of year. The water levels are so low that around 50% of activities simply cannot be undertaken, so NO boat trips into the delta or sundowners on the river. WE did manage a Moroko trip (small canoe - but even this was dragged out to supply the full hour -with around only 200 metres of travel form the lodge). The lodge should advise these activities are not available due to seasonality to avoid disappointment. Then secondly there are only fans in the rooms and in 36 degrees air conditioning is really a must. The lodge was very quiet when we visited which meant that buffet meals were not available and the A la Carte menu was very limited.
Stayed 3 nights in Mar 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Mauin sanctuary.
Great place. Out of the hussle and bustle of Maun.
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2018
Response from Thamalakane on 26 Dec 2018
Thank you so much for the feedback, we really appreciate it and hope to welcome you back in the future.

10/10 Excellent

Ingrid B L

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 3 nights in Aug 2018
Response from Thamalakane on 13 Sept 2018
Thank you for the kind review.

6/10 Okay

Pauline

Liked: Cleanliness
Not have expectation on the staff
Had a really bad experience at first, as the staff was not at all helpful to advice us in booking activities due to the weather (rain), they were not solution oriented. They offered a super expensive activity. We were not happy and it almost turned into a drama, then finally they found solution we were happy with and apologize with a free bottle of wine. Food is not good at all. It's ok to stay there as the price is ok (for Okavango Delta) but look for a local agent for the activities.
Dear Pauline Thank you for your feedback, we are providing ongoing training to the staff and appreciate your comments.

10/10 Excellent

Mark

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great Maun location. Wonderful staff, great restaurant

6/10 Okay

Piet, Atlanta, GA, USA

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Basic, but clean.
Hotels in Northern Botswana aren't really comparable to western hotels, especially U.S. Thatched roof masonry detached hut. Nice view of river. Restaurant and food were pretty typical. Make sure you use mosquito nets for both beds, they aren't just an exotic decoration. Not much sound privacy, easy to hear conversations in adjacent huts. General hotel amenities, pool, bar, etc. were nice. Pool kind of small. Thatch and masonry insulative to even out temperature variation (high 40's to 80's). Better than tent like hotels we stayed in.

10/10 Excellent

Tamas, Budapest

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Perfect location around the Okavango Delta
Absolutely good value for money, overwhelmingly friendly owners, great services, great chalets, nice food and stunning atmosphere. Full heartedly recommending!!!

6/10 Okay

Linda, London

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
Disliked: Staff & service
Bar & Restaurant Closed Early
Although we appreciated the free transfer to the airport, it did not make up for the fact that the food and beverage team went home an hour early because it was quiet. We had said that we would be coming back but they clearly didn't care. The receptionist was very friendly but had not called our airport taxi, as requested, then tried to charge us three times as much to use the hotel shuttle. She did provide it for free in the end.

6/10 Okay

Udo

Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Cleanliness
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2023
Response from TRL - Team on 27 Sept 2023
Dear Udo Thank you for the review, do share your feedback as this helps us improve the product. Regards

4/10 Poor

Daniel

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Gemütlicher Aufenthalt!
Sehr freundliche Bedingung und nettes Personal. Das Essen war ebenfalls sehr gut. Zu dieser Jahreszeit sollte ein Zimmer mit Klimaanlage gebucht werden.
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2019
Response from LR on 14 Nov 2019
Good day, thank you for the feedback, yes Oct is one of our hottest months. We appreciate your comments and will take this into consideration. Hope to welcome you back to Botswana in the future.

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Einfache, aber schöne Unterkunft direkt am Fluß. Babbler 2 mit tollem Ausblick. Gutes Essen. Leider keine AC und Kühlschrank.
Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Personnel super accueillant et sympathique. Nous pouvons le conseiller à tout le monde vraiment très bien situé au bord de la rivière.
Stayed 3 nights in Jan 2019

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2018
Response from Thamalakane on 13 Sept 2018
Thank you for the kind review.

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Jun 2018
Response from Thamalakane on 13 Sept 2018
Thank you for the review, we wish to welcome you back in the future.

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Lodge an toller Lage
Nachdem wir nun Wochen im Busch unterwegs waren war die Lodge unser erster Platz zurück in der normalen Welt. Die Lage ist ausserordentlich, alles ist sehr schön eingerichtet, wir hatten ein Häuschen mit eigenem Pool, der zwar etwas warm war, aber immerhin. Frühstück und Essen sind sehr gut, das Personal sehr hilfsbereit. Wir erhielten auch Zugang zu Strom für unseren Camper, alles wirklich sehr nett. Die angebotene Flussfahrt war sehr schön, bei schöner Abendstimmung. Da gehen wir sicher wieder hin.
Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2018
Response from Thamalakane on 10 Jan 2018
Thank you so much for the kind review. We hope to welcome you back soon.

6/10 Okay

Werner

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
Gut für 1-2 Tage
Schön gelegen, freundlich, aber überteuert. Sehr unterschiedliche Zimmerkategorien, geht bei Buchung nicht hervor

10/10 Excellent

Marco

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Geniale Lodge
Super Preis/Leistungsverhältnis. Sehr freundliches Personal und feines Essen. Sunset Bootstour startet direkt ab der Lodge mit eigenem Boot. Es war einfach alles perfekt, würde sofort wieder buchen.