Name: Pelican Lodge and Camping
Address: Makgadikgadi Salt Pans, A3 Road, Nata, Nata, Nata, 00267, Botswana
Rating: 6

24-hour reception

Smoking areas

Ticket assistance

Garden

Terrace

No elevators

General

Accessibility features

Wheelchair Accessible

Accessibility

Laundry

Safe-deposit box

Luggage storage

Services and amenities

Breakfast

Meals

Free Wi-Fi

Internet

Tour assistance

Tourist services

Barbecue grill(s)

Hiking

Barbeque

Sun Deck

Recreation

Free parking

Parking

Business center

Event facilities

Business

Pets Not Allowed

Pets

Location

At the hotel

Pelican Lodge and Camping

Nata

If you are booked in here you need to cancel. Seriously, I have never experienced anything like it. 
No water in the pool
No tea/coffee in the rooms
Bug infestations beyond belief
No mosquito nets to protect you from the flying, biting bugs 
Rude, un helpful staff 
The list is endless 

Nata Lodge - 4km down the road is fantastic, worth every penny!

Vile

The room are super spacious. The can be water shortages at times. Their WiFi service is not up to scratch. Its situated in close proximity to rooming wild animal, so extra caution must be taken, especially during the night.  

Temo Letlotlo

We were four adults and had booked two rooms for one night, thankfully.

The 8, 9 and 10 star one-word reviews on Bookings(dot.com) for this accommodation describing it as ‘Exceptional’ or ‘Superb’ are clearly suspicious. 

The sparkling blue pool pictures are obviously from its heyday which appears to have long since passed. Presently, the pool has no water in it, its surface literally disintegrating from long-term dry weather exposure and erosion. We stayed at seven different locations on our Botswana road trip and visited several others. All other accommodation pools were clean and in use. Wear and tear of the walls and walkways is also common throughout the property making the place appear more like a ruin than a lush safari retreat. The staff blamed the dilapidation on covid but this kind of erosion and disrepair does not occur within a year. There is evidence of a fire having had occurred at some time as scorching was still very evident on the beams and thatch in some areas – particularly where the thatched corridors once stood. Our guess is that the site has suffered a devastating fire and they have been struggling to recover. Which is tragic and heartbreaking, but they are not being honest about the current state of the property which is nothing like the photos presented on Bookings. They should remove all the pool pictures, be honest about the facilities that they are able to offer, and lower their room rates to an appropriate price that covers the bare minimum. This place is in a fantastic location for the Nata Bird Sanctuary and would be perfect for travellers on a budget if Pelican L&C is willing to lower their rates. 

Summary of issues:
- No water in the pool, and the surface appeared to be suffering from long-term erosion. No sign of repair work being done.
- The bath water was dark brown and the plug hole was damaged so the bath ran empty moments after being filled.
- Toilet leaked and stank of urine.
- WIFI didn’t work. A router was provided and required to be shared between two rooms but needed to be replaced by one that only worked intermittently. .
- Only one kettle was provided between two rooms so that the occupants of one had to constantly disturb the others in order to boil water for themselves. If they were asleep, tough!
- Loud, noisy fridge.
- No mosquito netting in the rooms – which is standard in Botswana because of Malaria risk.
- Only four channels on the television and were all snowy and watchable.
- General weathering and disrepair of walkways, walls and surfaces made the place feel unsafe. 
- There was no food in the restaurant. They were waiting for a delivery but could not say what would be delivered. We ate at another lodge 3 miles down the road.
- Very overpriced for what they are able to offer.

Positives:
- Despite the problems with the bathroom area and lack of basic ‘kitchen’ facilities the bedroom was clean and tidy.
- Staff were polite.

Shortly after arrival, I reported our grievances to reception, and I sent a message to Bookings customer services via the Bookings app. There was no response from Bookings and there is apparently no record of the message. However, the accommodation did immediately process the hold on the card immediately after my complaint, preventing us from negotiating a farer rate on departure. They were the only accommodation to prematurely charge my card before our departure time, which seemed odd as any extras on a tab would still need to have been settled. Finding alternative accommodation is practically impossible, as there are very few choices in Nata and it is also peak season. We had also booked an excursion to visit the Nata Bird Sanctuary that afternoon so it was impossible to find other availability without driving around in the dark on potholed and very dangerous roads. I feel that the hosts are taking advantage of this with very high prices that are not on par with what other places are offering.

In its current state, I wouldn't pay more than £30 per room per night.

Pictures are from it's heyday. Place is in ruin and very overpriced.

The whole resort appears to to be run down and derelict. The swimming pool is empty and the whole place unkept. The room was recently refurbished and clean.We were cought out that the online booking said breakfast was included and then when we checkjed in the manager advised us that it was not and we had to pay an additional fee for the breakfast.

Disappointed

Wifi provided was good, the room ok, everything else TerribleThe pool on thE premises was filled to a puddle  ( rain water)All  in all : don't go there !!

This place is okay to stay for one night to visit the Salt Pans nearby. The bungalows are a bit dark and there is AC, but no mosquito screens. The place has seen better times, but is still fine. The food at the restaurant was good. Staff was friendly and helpful. We liked the very salty swimming pool.

Okay place to visit the salt pans

This resort is very tired and is in dire need of attention. The facilities are not being looked after the pool was green and slimy. The chairs around the pool were all old and need to be repaired. Some of the rooms had aircons which didn’t work and one also had no water. The restaurant should be closed. If you not going to keep it stocked then close it.

A Disappointment.

poor, needs quality management. Furnishings below standard. Water and air conditioning not working. Bedding not of hotel/lodge standard. THe idea behind the lodge is creative, but the implementation, especially quality is not on point. It needs to be addressed.

pelican review

The camping site is generally unkept and unpleasant.  The braai is broken and I can see that it had been broken for a long time.  No power point to our camping site so we had to run two extension leads from another site.  The ablution facility is really bad - dirty curtain hanging on the outside into the mud - this was the door - and there was just a small drizzle from the shower.  This is not a campsite that I would recommend to anyone.

Pelican Lodge camping

Nice place, and very friendly and helpful staff. My family and I enjoyed the short stay. My kids enjoyed the warm salt water swimming pool, but didn't like the insects that got into the bathrooom to the rooms

Pelican Lodge and Camping

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