Shoestrings Backpackers Lodge Vic Falls

Very lovely place, I loved the tents! Very clean and organized

Before I spent Friday night at Shoestrings, I thought it was amazing and had only a shining review to leave. I had a bad issue with the music but there’s also many great things about Shoestrings, please scroll down to pros to read. PLEASE READ: Friday and Saturday SHOESTRINGS IS A CLUB!!! You can not escape the music, it is so loud that it woke me up at 23:30 In my tent all the way in the back. So that no one thinks I’m exaggerating, I attached an image of a sound meter from our tent and it is reading as loud music. The thing is I love clubbing and would have really enjoyed participating if I had known. But instead I booked an early activity through Shoestrings Friday and Saturday morning. No one said “hey that’s pretty early for Saturday, Friday night is is our party night you might not be able to sleep” or I would have adjusted accordingly. There was no mention of this on their website either. In fact the website says that Shoestrings is for all types of travelers of every age including families. So what happened when I was woken up at 11:30 was I talked to the staff and they said boss refused to even turn down the music a little because it would “kill the vibe”. The staff offered me a different room but it was equally loud. They told me the music would stop at 1:00am but it didn’t. I went to complain again and the boss did apologize and offer some compensation but anyway music wasn’t turned down until 1:20. The boss did say that he would update the website to read that loud music would be played late on Friday and Saturday so hopefully he does that. Update: it has been more than a month later and there’s no update. So basically I’m so disappointed because I could have partied with them but Instead was in hell trying to sleep in a club, got 4 hours of sleep and was exhausted on a super expensive trip. I’m also really disappointed that the owner did not keep his word and update the website. PROS Other than the music issue I loved staying at Shoestrings. The location is superb. The staff were nice and extremely helpful. The shared area is clean, decorated with beautiful artwork, has a nice pool and small playground for kids. I booked the tent and it was very comfortable and had good privacy and circulation. The shared bathrooms are fine, lots of mosquitoes but it’s not really the owners fault. It’s very affordable. The food is good, there’s vegan options and the price is competitive with nearby restaurants. Tuesday there’s an excellent local dance performance. The staff is helpful for questions about activities and how to book them. If they update the website and warn people about the music it’d be perfect. I decided to leave Vic Falls a day early because I wanted to actually sleep and I saw a lot of Families and older couples were staying at Shoestrings for Saturday night, I’m sure they don’t know about the music so good luck to them. It’s a huge lack of communication. In conclusion: If you want to party until 1:00 Friday and Saturday then I absolutely recommend shoestrings, it would be so fun. If you want to wake up early for Safari or like to sleep early in general stay Sunday-Thursday.