Gweta Lodge

Gweta Lodge was our first stop on our trip through Botswana - and as other ratings show, it’s a mixed experience, at least for Europeans. There’s significant renovation taking place which will provide a much needed upgrade to the rooms. There’s a dedicated and friendly staff working hard to make your stay fine and to fix what’s to be fixed. There’s a pool and a nice bar area. There’s good food. So after all, for a small lodge in a remote place, it was a good stay.

What a disappointment. The staff were so unprofessional and uncaring about us. Such a surprise when all the other lodges we stayed in this part of Africa were fantastic. Rooms were basic and there had obviously been no maintenance for years with fans not working, half the lights didn’t work and the toilet was stained brown! Not too welcoming! On a positive note, breakfast and dinner were very good.

What an amazing experience we had! Gweta Lodge itself, is under new management and they are in the process of fixing up most of the unfavourable things I had read in previous reviews. The owner, Pelo, is such a lovely man, super friendly and always checking to make sure you have what you need. You can tell he cares about his place and the people that stay over. Our chalets were clean and had new mosquito nets. Water in the showers is an on-and-off issue but they are in the process of having the pipes fixed or replaced. The food was delicious, the staff friendly and attentive. There are many places to sit and relax, and a fully stocked bar. The MOST AMAZING thing, however, was our overnight trip to the pans. They drive you out there, where everything is already set up for you. We were provided with food and drinks, a huge bonfire, and warm bedrolls (it was freezing out there at this time of year!) It is an experience that words cannot do justice.

My wife and I stayed at Gweta Lodge for 2 nights, and have nothing but good things to say about the entire experience: friendly, helpful, and attentive staff, comfortable beds, delicious food, and very affordable. The owner, Pelo, is a true gem and made sure our stay went well. He even moved us to another nicer, newer, and quieter room unsolicited because we mentioned hearing dogs barking the first night. It’s got a great vibe, with a comfy bar area, and plenty of trees and lovely bougainvillea. The excursions we did (all through the lodge and with the fantastic guide/driver Chief) were wonderful. In fact the sleep-over at the Salt Pans was downright life-changing! With all the upgrades going on around the lodge, getting one of the nicer, newer rooms will become easier, and more of a reason not to miss Gweta and the Makgadikgadi area.

Terrible experience with Gweta Lodge. We love the southern African region and decided to search for new experiences here, so found a possibility to sleep in salt pans and started to look around where we could accomplish it. We chose to use Gweta Lodge, they had to pick us up from one of Maun hotels. Communication was extremely rough with them, but we agreed on pick-up time and details eventually. Worst was pick-up day, we waited for 2 hours with no communication with us, when Gweta lodge “manager” called to the hotel where we are staying and said that the driver isn’t reachable, that's why no one picked us up. Worst thing is that I was calling them multiple times and they were not picking up the phone. Eventually, they said they will arrange another pick-up, which looked sketchy as we wouldn’t be able to reach the lodge till the salt pan expedition start time. The driver came and he was so weird, he wasn’t even talking with us and trying to force us to get to his car, we couldn’t trust this person. It felt like he was planning to rob us. We contacted the lodge and said that we won’t go. They agreed to pay a refund, but this was the last thing we heard, they didn't refund and we are still waiting for about a month. So I think this lodge is just a scam, my recommendation is never go here. Stay safe and pick another lodge which will be a little bit more expensive, don’t make our mistake!

The staff were super friendly and extremely helpful with helping us plan our onward travel through botswanna. This included discussing buses and helping us book the okange delta for straight after new year. The tour they run to the meerkats was an amazing experience.

We didn't stay at Gweta Lodge but stopped in to do the village tour which was excellent and a good price. Our guide was very friendly and we learned a lot about the Botswanan way of life. He also managed to track down some Mopani worms to try...

It smells disgusting in there, the place is dirty and actually isn’t by the Makgadikgadi area. The staff doesn’t know what is happening , they just don’t do anything at all . There wasn’t hot water in our room

On arriving at Gweta lodge it is hard to imagine it is only 1 Star. We were met warmly by Una and another lady who didn’t tell us her name or seam interested in smiling. They showed us to our room and carried our bags in for us. The room was only a stone throw from the bar/lounge lapa which was on the opposite side of the swimming pool to the fire pit and brai/ bar-b-que and restaurant area. Our guide for the next day, Chief, met us before lunch to discuss our following days excursion to Ntwetwe pans and the Meerkats. We had a pleasant supper of cauliflower soup, braii and salad and a chocolate dessert. The next morning we set of at 6.am for our full day adventure. We found Chief a fantastic guide. On returning just before 3 pm we found our room hadn’t been made up. Other guests whom we chatted to at supper had found the same. Luckily we had brought our own toilet rolls, coffee, shampoo and body wash (both the later were solid in their containers) etc. The next day I went to reception and found Una ( the lady who had greeted us warmly on arrival) and Rebecca, the bookings manager. I had several complaints which I wanted rectifying….The room was dirty, a photo of the bars of the bedside table proved it hadn’t been properly cleaned for a long time, the sheet on one of the twin beds was so thin it was transparent and you could see the mattress straight through it, the mosquito nets barely met the top of the mattress so once in you couldn’t move and stay under it, the one on my husbands bed touched his head….there was only one hand towel, the place was absolutely full of mosquitos and I had the bites to prove it, the room hadn’t been cleaned or made up the day before, neither had consumables been replenished. I think both ladies knew I was not amused by this shoddy room, I also pointed out that even if we wanted to swim we couldn’t because the water was green and the bottom of the pool hadn’t been cleaned. Both ladies apologised. They said rooms didn’t get made up unless we left the key, they were not allowed in guests rooms to replenish consumables unless the key was left. I pointed out that no one had told us that, the quiet unsmiling lady who had checked us in hadn’t mentioned it and there was no notice either at reception or in the room telling us this….as this isn’t normal practice how we’re we supposed to know…Una instantly apologised and said she would go and clean the room herself and get it all put right. She was as good as her word..she emerged along time later very hot but the room was a delight. It smelt nice, looked nice, it was clean, she’d adjusted the mosquito nets, replenished the consumables and put out 4 towels which she had dressed with burgonvillia, she had also sprayed for mosquitos…what a difference a bit of effort makes. When Una brought me the key back she thanked me for helping them keep the standards up…she really was passionate about wanting the lodge to become as grand as it could and highly successful. It was lovely t