KS
Kuya S
Active since Sep 2020
2
Reviews
0
Industries
Reviews
2 reviews18 months ago
Appalling, uncouth behaviour and experience at Simba Safaris Lodge (Ellisras) Limpopo
What a horrible, disgusting and terrible experience at this god forbidden place Simba Safaris Lodge. So it was our second time there, we went in October last year and we had a great time, overlooked a lot of things because they were really nice to us. Fast forward to the 19th of October 2024. On arrival, there was a kiddies birthday party and the place was buzzing with kids, we understood, after all it’s kids. The owner Marti was sitting at a table with other mom’s, fair enough, she welcomed us whilst sitting down and dismissively asked us to go wait by the couches which were filthy by the way. We obliged, we were guests after all. We waited for 20 -30 minutes. Finally Smoley (sp) the manager signalled for us to come through, my friend and I went to her. She then showed us the rooms that had been prepared for us, which was a total of 2 rooms. My friend and I proceeded to let her know that we had actually booked 3 rooms. She was adamant that her employer had said we booked 2. We then asked to speak to her employer, Smoley said we can call her as she’s not around, we told her that we’d seen her as she’d welcomed us, only then did Smoley go and call Marti. When I tell you she came guns blazing, asked my friend and I if there was a problem, we then calmly tried to explain to her what our concerns were. She was very dismissive and told us she’s very busy, it’s her twins birthday party, we only have a minute to talk to her. If we have problem we can leave or just accept things as they are. I then asked that we please respect each other as we’re just merely raising our concerns and not fighting with her, we are just seeking clarity as we were under the impression that our friend that had booked the place for us (she wasn’t able to join us) had booked the same rooms we’d booked last year. She told us no, we hadn’t booked those rooms which we understood. Mind you, the same room we were requesting was full of pets i.e cats, dogs, a rabbit etc. but that’s a story for another day. My friend and I eventually gave up trying to reason with her as she kept telling us she doesn’t have time. After this I was honestly ready to leave, I’d had it. My friends insisted we just stay and enjoy. We then started settling down, I went to the room I was gonna sleep in, put my bags in the small cupboard provided for us, I then proceeded to the built in cupboards to try hang my jacket, the cupboards were full to the brim with Lord knows what, I’m talking about 6 or so cupboards, one even had a drawstring tied to it, which clearly meant no access. I eventually just gave up, went outside to my friends that were already chilling by the pool. Our one friend took our speaker and started playing music, it wasn’t loud at all. Marti came charging to us and told us to please lower the music down as there are other guests that have booked (we were the only ones by the way) as we haven’t booked the whole lodge we can’t play music. Still puzzled, she came a second time and told us we’re making a noise. My friend asked to speak with her in private to which she agreed, they went up to the loft, a few minutes later she walked down the stairs and was having a back and forth argument with my friend, very uncouth and ill-mannered for a ‘supposed’ host. We eventually just gave up, switched our music off. We then went for the animal feeding tour which was underwhelming, came back to the lodge. Upon our return from the tour, Smoley came to me to say that Marti said the passage which lead to our rooms will be completely out of bounds from the evening onwards and we’d have to access our rooms via the back, as Marti has new bengal cats that roam around there, she can’t have them go outside as they might be eaten by lions. Marti came and started shouting at us as we’d declined her request, so animals took precedence over us,at this point I’d just switched off when she went off at us. Marti finally stormed off and promised to get someone to come and remove us from the lodge. We started making our supper, two gentlemen came in, I believe one was Marti’s partner, they didn’t say a word to us, they spoke to the staff, took alcohol and left. We then had our supper, after that we went to chill by the pool and some of our friends were swimming. One of the staff then came to our one friend and said ‘the boss’ wants to talk to them, my friend refused and we left it at that, for crying out loud, we’d just started relaxing and trying to have fun, our music wasn’t loud. Around 11pm a car drives in, 4 people in it, some were armed. Well, guess who starts going off at my friend whilst walking in, none other than our dearest Marti,she asked my friend why they refused to talk to her, went on to say my friend was threatening her at her own lodge. Marti then just went off, started screaming at everyone, told her she no longer feels safe with us at her R20 million lodge, she then went on to tell us to leave, mind you it’s almost midnight. My friends tried to reason with her and she wasn’t having it, she started screaming in Afrikaans. Marti told us we will never be allowed to book at her lodge and she never wants to see us, I had already made a conscious decision that I wouldn’t be caught dead there anyway, so I was okay with that. We asked her to please refund us our money which was about R10 000, she blatantly refused and told us we have 2 minutes to leave. We all obliged, collected our stuff from the rooms and we left. I know Marti was probably under the influence, considering there was a party but that is no excuse to treat your guests in that way, rude, uncouth, disrespectful and a downright disgusting behaviour. I hope Marti will treat other guests better than she did us. I will never, ever go back to Simba Safaris Lodge even if you paid me. I wouldn’t recommend anyone to go there, go at your own risk. Ten thousand South African rands (in Cyrils’s economy) down the drain, also Marti, please at the very least clean your toilets, they are disgustingly brown. Have a nice life Marti.
53 replies
68 months ago
D
What great service from Discovery Insure when I got locked out of my car. A special thank you to Moses Malinga the consultant that was assisting me. Prompt and efficient service and he kept calling to check whether the locksmith had been able to assist me. I would highly recommend Discovery Insure.
53 replies
Review Distribution
5 Star
1 (50%)
4 Star
0 (0%)
3 Star
0 (0%)
2 Star
0 (0%)
1 Star
1 (50%)