A Guest who stayed at River Bend recently highlighted
reasons for River Bend Lodge being special….in his own words!
“My parents and I
stayed at River Bend for two nights as the highlight of our driving trip around
South Africa, and it was a lovely and luxurious treat for us.
The game drives were
very amazing, and only with the game drives did I realize how special staying
at River Bend is. Beforehand I read how RB has a "14,000 hectare private
concession," and I'll be honest, I didn't know what that meant or how that
affected me. Ultimately, it means that RB has its own private expanse of land
that is still part of Addo Elephant National Park but is only for use by RB
guests. All the lions and elephant herds and kudu and the rest of the animals
in RB's concession are just for guests. RB also has another 1,000 hectare
concession with giraffe that we went to during the last game drive. Going into
the public parts of Addo is also an option, and you can definitely tell the
difference because in the public parts there are traffic jams around elephants
whereas on the private concession we never saw another vehicle. Also, the game
driver can go off-road in the concession to get closer to buffalo or a lion
kill (which we saw). Our game driver, Steve, was professional and very
knowledgeable, and what animals we wanted to see became primary instead of him
having a set route that must be followed.
In places of this
caliber, you really are paying a premium on service and hospitality over
anything. And on that scale, the River Bend is an amazing property where my
family felt welcome and well-taken care of from the moment we arrived. My
parents and I had two executive suites, which are basically stand-alone
cottages. I found the quality of the rooms to be very high. The fact that River
Bend only has 8 suites in the main lodge meant that there was an intimate feel
and not like it's some huge resort. The view from outside my suite was amazing,
and it looked out directly over the public lands of Addo for about 50KM. The
bathrooms have a shower and separate tub and his-and-her's sinks. There is a
private outdoor shower that looks out onto to landscape, which I did make use
of and it was worth it.”
JG325 also had some opinions about our Wine List and our
Lunch Menu…..which have been heard and attended to. Thank you.
JG 325 Washington
