Forest Lodge

The place and room was clean ..

Let's start off by stating that the staff were very helpful and understanding and that in general the facilities were quite good (although in need of updating), but here is the big but..... 1. The room was generally clean but smelt of damp and there was mould on the bathroom ceiling and around the shower area, the shower also overflowed into the bathroom. Basically, there was no ventilation in the bathroom and the window was not lockable and had clear glass. The simple solution would be to put an extractor in the bathroom, or a lockable stay on the window with opaque glass so that the room can be aired. The room smelt like a very strong cleaning agent had been used to overpower the smell of damp and this in itself had an extremely pungent smell. 2. Some items of furniture were very old and broken and the hairdryer was sticky to touch, so not used. 3. Breakfast was luke warm with insufficent utensils to serve the food, so guests were using tongs meant for hot food to pick up fresh produce or bread. It was a shame because there was a fairly good selection of food. We also had to request cutlery which was missing from our table. The damp smell was so overpowering that we only stayed for one night out of the four planned, we found another B&B for a similar price around the corner. When we checked out the management were very apologietic and offered to move us, so we cannot fault them in these regards. We did not make a huge fuss or demand any refund as the staff were clearly embarrassed and it was not their fault that the owner has not invested money in the areas where it is needed. This was purely our experience and others might find the accommodation value for money, but out of the many locations we stayed in South Africa during our 16 night tour, this was the most disappointing, purley because of the damp smell, it's unhealthy!