Reviews of Livingstone Bush Lodge, Mabalingwe
R516, 4080 Bela-Bela, South Africa
Loading
Guests also reviewed these properties:
How guest reviews work
Each review score is between 1 and 10. To get the overall score you see, we add up all the review scores we’ve received and divide that total by the number of them. We use a weighted review system, which means the more recent the review, the bigger the impact on the total review score calculation. Guests can also give separate “subscores” in crucial areas like location, cleanliness, staff, comfort, facilities, value, and free Wifi. Note that guests submit their subscores and overall scores independently, so there’s no direct link between them.
You can review an accommodation that you booked through our platform if you stayed there, or if you got to the property but didn’t actually stay there. To edit a review you’ve already submitted, contact our Customer Service team.
We have people and automated systems that specialize in detecting fake reviews submitted to our platform. If we find any, we delete them and, if necessary, take action against whoever is responsible.
Anyone who spots something suspicious can always report it to our Customer Service team so that our fraud team can investigate.
Ideally, we'd publish every review we get, positive and negative. However, we won’t display any reviews that include or refer to (among other things):
- Politically sensitive comments
- Promotional content
- Illegal activities
- Personal or sensitive info (e.g. emails, phone numbers, credit card info)
- Swear words, sexual references, hate speech, discriminatory remarks, threats, or references to violence
- Spam and fake content
- Animal cruelty
- Impersonation (i.e. if the writer is claiming to be someone else)
- Any violation of our review guidelines.
To make sure reviews are relevant, we may only accept reviews that are submitted within 3 months of checking out. We may stop showing reviews once they’re 36 months old, or if the accommodation has a change of ownership.
An accommodation can reply to a review.
When you see multiple reviews, the most recent ones will be at the top, subject to a few other factors (e.g. language, whether it’s just a rating or contains comments as well, etc.). You can sort and/or filter them by time of year, review score, and more.
Sometimes we show external review scores from other well-known travel websites, but make it clear when we do this.
Guidelines and Standards for Reviews
These guidelines and standards aim to keep the content on Booking.com relevant and family-friendly, without limiting expression or strong opinions. They're also applicable regardless of the comment's tone.
Contributions should be travel related. The most helpful contributions are detailed and help others make better decisions. Please don’t include personal, political, ethical, or religious commentary. Promotional content will be removed and issues concerning Booking.com’s services should be routed to our Customer Service or Accommodation Service teams.
Contributions should be appropriate for a global audience. Please avoid using profanity or attempts to approximate profanity with creative spelling, in any language. Comments and media that include hate speech, discriminatory remarks, threats, sexually explicit remarks, violence, or the promotion of illegal activity are not permitted.
All content should be genuine and unique to the guest. Reviews are most valuable when they are original and unbiased. Your contribution should be yours. Booking.com property partners should not post on behalf of guests or offer incentives in exchange for reviews. Attempts to bring down the rating of a competitor by submitting a negative review will not be tolerated.
Respect the privacy of others. Booking.com will make an effort to obscure email addresses, telephone numbers, website addresses, social media accounts, and other similar details.
The opinions expressed in contributions are those of Booking.com customers and properties, and not of Booking.com. Booking.com does not accept responsibility or liability for any reviews or responses. Booking.com is a distributor (without any obligation to verify) and not a publisher of these comments and responses.
By default, reviews are sorted based on the date of the review and on additional criteria to display the most relevant reviews, including but not limited to: your language, reviews with text, and non-anonymous reviews. Additional sorting options might be available (by type of traveler, by score, etc...).
Translations disclaimer
This service may contain translations powered by Google. Google disclaims all warranties related to the translations, express or implied, including any warranties of accuracy, reliability, and any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.
Loading...
Reviewed: August 22, 2025 · Stayed in August 2025
Verified reviewThe braai area was awesome with lovely sunsets around the fire. The animals that came to say hello around the house. Ostrich, Elephants, Warthogs, Kudu
Communication was sometimes a bit slow from the host but she did always come back and sorted out any problems we had.
Thank you Herman. We would love to invite you back
Reviewed: August 14, 2025 · Stayed in August 2025
Verified reviewLoved the layout of the lodge. It was very comfortable. Absolutely loved watching my grandkids watch the animals that came right up to the lodge. The sunsets were amazing made for superb sundowners.
Directions to the lodge were not accurate. The roof creaked quite badly so if you scared of things that go bump in the night you may find it to be disturbing. It did not bother me however the kids for the 1st night were a bit scared. The 4th bedroom had a sewage smell.
Reviewed: July 19, 2025 · Stayed in July 2025
Verified reviewReviewed: July 5, 2025 · Stayed in June 2025
Verified reviewLovely rooms and facilities. Friendly staff.
Kitchen utensils needs some replacement.
Reviewed: June 29, 2025 · Stayed in June 2025
Verified reviewBeautiful property that was very well maintained
Reviewed: June 8, 2025 · Stayed in May 2025
Verified reviewThe Complete Venue was great for our Family break away that was needed and we were well rested after our stay The house was clean on arrival and we were met by some of the cleaning staff who was very friendly and helpful. Rooms were very tidy and spacious as indicated on the brochure photos. The animals that come to visit was a bonus to see them We will defiantly return again to visit
On arrival i found that most of the rooms on suite bathrooms had a smell from the septic system a significant one was from the outside room that was unbearable. After some investigation I found that the shower drain was stuffed with toilet paper and removed it. after running some water in the system it became better. I you guys can maybe have a look at this in the future before guests arrive
Thank you for your valued feedback. We appreciate you
Reviewed: April 9, 2025 · Stayed in April 2025
Verified reviewReviewed: March 17, 2025 · Stayed in February 2025
Verified reviewExcellent Service. Great communication. Professional team. Great amenities. Excellent location. Super host. Great and friendly team. Amazing location. Peaceful. Animal Rich. Immediate reach out when there was a challange with load shedding. Easy access to Mabalingwe etc. Reachable location.
We enjoyed hosting you Pierre.
Reviewed: February 4, 2025 · Stayed in November 2024
Verified reviewReviewed: January 12, 2025 · Stayed in December 2024
Verified reviewReviewed: December 21, 2024 · Stayed in December 2024
Verified reviewPerfect location
You are most welcome
Reviewed: November 18, 2024 · Stayed in November 2024
Verified reviewWell equipped. Everything you could need was available.
New corrugated iron roof was very noisy at night when it cooled down.
Reviewed: October 15, 2024 · Stayed in October 2024
Verified reviewLocation great
Air-conditioning in bedrooms 1 & 2 did not work. Toilet flush in bedroom 3 was faulty. Was fixed the next day
Reviewed: October 10, 2024 · Stayed in October 2024
Verified reviewReviewed: August 9, 2024 · Stayed in August 2024
Verified reviewReviewed: July 21, 2024 · Stayed in June 2024
Verified reviewEverything
Reviewed: May 27, 2024 · Stayed in May 2024
Verified reviewThe location was excellent, we had wildlife visiting us everyday. The staff was always friendly and very helpful.
Reviewed: April 8, 2024 · Stayed in April 2024
Verified reviewLovely location, well equipped home. As a family we really enjoyed the Easter Weekend at Livingstone Bush lodge.
Reviewed: March 2, 2024 · Stayed in February 2024
Verified reviewWe loved the layout of the house and entertainment area. All of the facilities were spotless and the kitchen was very well equipped (even with an excellent ice machine, water cooler and airfryer). The lodge is situated in a beautiful and peaceful part of Mabalingwe. It was an extra special treat to have the use of the game drive vehicle too. The fourth bedroom is situated next to the main house and is gorgeous and private.
Reviewed: January 15, 2024 · Stayed in January 2024
Verified reviewReviewed: October 9, 2023 · Stayed in October 2023
Verified reviewEvery thing excellent .. Enjoyed ourselves, home away from home
None
Reviewed: September 8, 2023 · Stayed in September 2023
Verified reviewReviewed: August 14, 2023 · Stayed in August 2023
Verified reviewBeautiful new design lodge within Madalingwe Game Reserve. Very well equipped. Excellent communication with owner. Quiet part of the reserve. The lodge comes with a game drive vehicle, which is great. We loved it!
If anything, more sunbeds would be great. And the lodge is a 20-30 minute difficult drive from the entertainment area. We did not mind, in contrary, but those with young children might.
Thank you Nina. It was a pleasure hosting you.
Reviewed: July 16, 2023 · Stayed in July 2023
Verified reviewSpacious / peaceful/ well equipped /wi-fi /clean
Courtyard was not clean - previous visitors' rubbish and ashes from fire were still there- baboons visited the courtyard and made a mess while we were sightseeing. Co'ordinator did not react to some of my messages during our visit.
So sorry Rene if we missed a message. It was really not intentional.