Overall our stay at Ivory Tree Game Lodge was very positive and we had a wonderful time, but I will share aspects of our stay that disappointed us.
The lodge is busy and rather chaotic at 4pm when we arrived because the game drives were scheduled to start at that time. As a result, we were stood outside waiting for someone to take us and our luggage to our room and we stood there not really knowing what to do or who to ask until the manager assisted us and had to drive us to our room himself because of the chaos.
We stayed in a luxury suite, and first impressions blew me away. They are completely stunning and luxurious, but I don't think they are worth the money. The luxury suites are definitely luxurious - they have this amazing bedroom with a huge bed. The mattress, linens and duvet are to die for, the bathroom was beautiful with double sinks, a gorgeous outside shower, and this huge bathtub. The suite also has a living room area and an outside private patio that includes a private heated plunge pool with sun loungers.
On our first day the plunge pool was as warm as a Jacuzzi, however, it had a disgusting brown scum on the tile at the water line and bees or wasps were constantly swarming on this scum line that made enjoying the pool impossible. The next day we suspected that the heating wasn't working on the pool, but it was still comfortable enough to get into but I lasted five minutes because of the bees/wasps. The next day the water was stone cold and I reported this to the front desk, but it never recovered in temperature for me to be able to use our plunge pool after that first day and it was such a shame because it was the most luxurious private space to spend the time between game drives.
Housekeeping was also disappointing. Every morning when we came back to our room, there was a guy cleaning out the swimming pool meticulously so, however the entire patio was covered in tree debris and blossom that was never cleared up and within five minutes of him leaving, the pool was covered in the debris again, and every time we went outside, we ended up treading the blossom through our bedroom and bathroom, and for the entire four nights we were there the blossom was never swept up from the floors. I would have cleaned the patio and bedroom floor myself if there was a broom, but there is nothing in the room to allow you to do that. I don't think it's worth the money staying in a luxury suite. I think that a standard room is just as beautiful and would have been perfectly adequate for what we needed.
On more positive notes, the food at this lodge is outstanding. The presentation is like a fine dining restaurant, and the menu changes daily - the choices are varied and excellent, and we thoroughly enjoyed all our meals. The Boma night was great (we had stayed at another private game reserve and their Boma was not as good as Ivory Tree's). The waiting-on staff are all lovely, helpful and attentive. However, sometimes it's disorganised or short staffed and there will be 3 or 4 different staff members asking you the same question - whether you have ordered a drink, whether you have ordered your food, and other times the services is very slow. Frequently, we waited a long time for drinks, or our appetizer was brought to us before our Amuse Bouche, or we had our appetizer, but didn't have any bread and butter on the table - all very small things like that I'm nit picking about, but it can be disappointing.
Our game drives were wonderful. We had Lee as our game driver - he is very knowledgable about the wildlife and flora & fauna, answered all of our questions, but having been to a private game reserve prior to Ivory Tree, I didn't like how the game vehicles were crammed to capacity, and it's just very busy in the national park when significant wildlife is located.
