Dear 4417UNjohna,
Thank you for your time in writing your review.
We are delighted that our food rated as some of the best you have had and that our accommodation and service also was amongst the best. Yaay this really means the world to us as we are really passionate about what we offer at RiverBend Lodge.
However, we are devastated by such an awful score. And I feel I need to give clarity to a few of your incorrect comments, and please I do this respectfully. As a regular safari person, you know that animals in the wild are NEVER a guaranteed sighting and upon chatting to Mikky there seems to have been a bit of confusion to which I need to give 'clarity'.
1.We definitely do have Leopard on the property and in fact it was a previous Guide of RiverBend, that spotted the previously seen Leopard with Guests on his vehicle. Since then, SANParks has placed trails cameras at that site and have happily reported that there are frequent photos on the cameras for the Leopards on that trail and that they have even had photos with cubs at their side. So apologies for that confusion.
2. Also being a SANPark Addo is held to very ethical standards. Nature is a balance, and the land must provide for the animals on the property hence there is no 'feeding' of prey species to habituate them for the benefit of humans and as such our Leopard will continue to be shy and when spotted and absolute moment to treasure.
3. Yes, we do have fewer elephant on our concession area, but then our area is smaller than main camp. We are 14 000ha, they are
24 000ha.
With our terrain covering 5 biomes, which main camp doesn't, there are times that animals will go into unreachable valleys. With this point in mind, I do stress that this is why we have the best of both worlds at RiverrBend Lodge, the exclusivity of our 14 000ha as well as access to the other 24 000ha, which other Addo Guests not staying at RiverBend Lodge don't have.
The saddest thing is, for all these negative comments, in the last week we have had the lion at the lodge, and the full breeding herd of over 200 elephants, with the cutest of tiny brand-new babies. But that is the luck of the bush and the Guests have been just delighted.
4. No, we don't have cheetah and we don't have giraffe as SANParks is incredibly ethical and will only introduce wild animals which are endemic to the specific area and have never said we do have.
Having said all this, I am still so happy that you were well looked after and managed to some of our beautiful reserve.
Sincerely
Debbie