 My wife and I spent 3 nights at Stevensford Game Reserve at the beginning of October, 2015. From other travellers' reviews and what we read on the website and Facebook page, we hoped for and expected more than we experienced. The reserve has trails (all of them) for self-drives and ample game - we saw giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, impala, a few monkeys, some baby crocs, squirrels, rabbits and snakes. No hippos could be seen along the river as we were told, though.  A couple of many giraffe we saw during our stay. There are a couple of campsites along the river where you can stop at and have a picnic or braai or just enjoy the shade...provided the campsite isn't occupied, obviously. There are a few watering holes on the map where game apparently frequent, but most of the holes were practically empty.  Braaing at one of the campsites along the river. The accommodation itself was, alright, to say the least. The "Treefrog" cottage was cosy and had a well equipped boma (kitchen) next to it, but the cottage was unkempt, dusty with cobwebs, the shower was clogged and there were insects all over the floor and walls, although there is a mosquito net above the bed, which was very necessary.  Quite cosy outdoor area of the Tree Frog cottage. Granted, Stevensford is probably aimed more at travellers who are on their way further up North in Botswana and would stay a night or maybe 2, so maybe one shouldn't expect to be in the lap of luxury here...but keeping a room clean and the shower unclogged should be considered "essential". The young man and lady who greeted us and kept our 5L bottles of water cold in their freezer (as our small bar fridges couldn't hold both all our food AND our water), were quite friendly, helpful and informative and the reserve is beautiful (in an African-bush kind of way) and there are game (but you have to be persistent, relatively quiet and drive slowly) and you are on the river bank, so all in all staying over at Stevensford for a few nights, while possibly not the most exciting or super-clean of places, it seems to be a nice place to relax and unwind and is probably a good start, as it was for us, to any and all African bush trips. Check out the Stevensford Game Reserve website for more information and contact details. See the gallery below for more photos from our trip to the Stevensford Game Reserve. Location of Stevensford Game Reserve:
2 Comments
Linda Armstrong
20/9/2016 09:55:38
In 25 years of pouring ourselves into Stevensford we have received only 2 negative reviews both written in Oct15 - yours and Jovan's. There is no excuse whatsoever for poor housekeeping. On 30 Sep 2015 our 2 housekeeping staff left having been enticed to open a tuck shop business. We recruited two replacement housekeepers from a poor pool of available labour, they had no training but we were prepared to give it. Right then the days granted to our expatriate manageress to remain in Botswana on a waiver whilst her work permit application was still being processed after a 7 month wait expired and Immigration refused to extend her days. We were thus caught without appropriately trained staff for the first time in our history. This inconvenienced guests such as yourself and has cost us these 2 negative reviews which we deeply regret. We are pleased to report that one of the new staff was successfully trained and one of the old staff returned and we hired a wonderful new management couple and all is well again - the proud housekeeping standards and attention to detail for which we are known has been fully restored. Stevensford is such a worthy stopover, offering so much at such good value that it is a dis-service to discourage support for it. Anyone looking for an uncommercialized bushveld game lodge experience with passionate staff, abundant plains game, proud housekeeping standards, freedom to walk and self drive in a pristine wilderness at tariffs offering the best value in Botswana will be delighted here. And did I mention our gourmet standard privately catered meals?!
Road Beneath Our Feet
20/9/2016 12:01:28
Hi Linda. Thank you for your comment. Leave a Reply. |
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