Reviews of Maramba River Lodge 3 stars

one good barman, nice river view

We made our only mistake in our trip around Zambia by booking this hotel/unit. The place sounded good and was a decent price for an air-conditioned, supposedly glam tent, near the river, with restaurant etc. We expected more of a boutique hotel – instead we got a large, crowded and noisy hotel with little atmosphere. The restaurant typified the place. We sat outside on the terrace and basically had to go to the bar to order our wine, return later to pick up the wine and glasses, go back to order our food from the barman, then wait for around an hour for our mediocre food ( overcooked/inedible Bream, an OK beef curry). We did see the odd waiter but( we found out a little later) service charge of 10% was included automatically in your check and was not optional, so if the waiting staff were invisible or huddled together chatting they got a tip anyway. The barman was great and worked as hard as he could making up for the distracted/invisible serving staff, but he was trapped behind the bar and he couldn’t speed up the cooking of the food( they also seem to cater for large corporates and kids groups, so not so much a boutique hotel as a large canteen with garden units attached?) We got the service charge removed after an awkward discussion at check-out, but you want a nice experience in a town with 50 plus good accommodation options, not a broody and sad conversation at check-out. We booked eight different hotels and lodges in Zambia and this was the only disappointing one. Avoid this one – there are so many better options in Livingstone and near the falls.

Gem of a place. Quiet, clean, excellent well trained staff set in serene surroundings.

Beautiful location - especially the river. Hippos visiting my tent at night and lots of elephants roaming around freely. Loved the tent.

Mosquitoes! Restaurant was disappointing. Because of the location, a car is necessary.

We had a beautifull stay at Maramba. Perfect location for everything related to the falls.

No musquito nets available in the luxury tents...

Breakfast and Dinner was good.

A few more options for dinner On one of the days, we needed to leave early (7am) for a tour. Breakfast was not ready at that time (continental section was not laid out). We ordered our english breakfast but came 6.50 which means we had to rush to eat and didnt have time to finish our tea/coffee (we were there at 6.30 yet were told that breakfast is served from 6am). We also mentioned that we have a pickup at 7am.

Beautiful grounds and location

Nothing to not like

Beautiful location along one of the side rivers of the Zambezi and very quiet. You can see hippos and crocodile along the river from the restaurant and pool area. The staff at the restaurant was very kind and friendly. The beds in our tent were comfortable and warm (as nights were quite cold) and we had an AC in the room that also had a heating option. While there's lots of mosquitoes in Livingstone, the property did not have many so we slept well.

Overall, the service was really below expectations - especially at the reception. We struggled to organise activities and get support when asking for information so we used another company for 95% of the activities we planned. The toilet had none of the amenities it was meant to (e.g. shampoo/conditioner, body lotion..etc.) - we had 1 body wash which we had to move between the sink and the shower, so we asked for an extra one that was not provided to us. Our tent did not have a toilet curtain/door and only an outdoor shower, which is not ideal in the morning and at night when it's quite cold. Our sink tap was leaking and the toilet wasn't flushing properly. We did raise this hoping it could be fixed but we could only move room so decided to stay to avoid having to re-pack everything. The tent was not well cleaned, we had drawers with food and chargers inside, hair under the bed..etc. The food at the restaurant is quite basic, wouldn't recommend it for dinner/lunch and the breakfast is quite basic. We decided to do an early check out (a day prior our original intended departure date) and informed the reception a day prior but at check out, the reception staff provided us with the bill with 1 less night than what we had originally booked with the same total price without highlighting this to us. Luckily we noticed and asked to amend it to keep the same night rate to avoid paying for 5 nights having slept there for 4. We thought it was quite unprofessional not to tell us but simply update the number of nights in the invoice.

The WiFi connection was really bad for the rooms you could only get good WiFi connection from the restaurant, bar and the reception but not for the rooms. Otherwise everything was good apart from the WiFi

LIKED EVERYHING STAFF WAS FRIENDLY, FOOD WAS GOOD!! LOVED MY TENT.

NOTHING!! I LIKED EVERYTHING

The welcome at the reception was amazing, the entire staff at the lodge was exceptional. The scenery was breathtaking and peaceful. A visit is underway

Nothing

Great location, friendly staff. Restaurant and Bar areas are great for watching wildlife on the river.

Staff was friendly and helpfull.

Wifi was off most of the time. Steak was not eatable.

Beautiful gardens, close to nature, comfortable accommodation.

Breakfast location was truly amazing. Who could ask for better than an amazing, cooked breakfast overlooking the river while elephants frolic in the water!?

Nothing at all

Very comfortable stay. Lovely clean well looked after lodges. Everyone was very helpful and friendly. The view of the animals onsite and across the river. The food was amazing and large portions. Definitely enjoyed our stay.

Lovely pool and breakfast.. enjoyed watching the hippos and monkeys

Very quiet in no the evening, not a great dinner atmosphere. Power outages. It would have been nice to have been offered a better room as it was our honeymoon and there was lots of empty cabins/tents.