Bakubung Bush Lodge

Beautiful setting! Loved sitting in the dining area and looking out at hippo pond!

Very relaxing and clean

Close to Pilanesberg Game Reserve

At almost $600 a night, this hotel expects you to pay EXTRA for cappuccino at breakfast.The staff are surly.

Modern, clean, lovely facilities

We arrive at the lodge late but the reception staff went out of their way to make sure we still got on the afternoon game drive the first day. Dining room staff were great, very professional, attentive and friendly. Great ambiance with view over the dam. it was a treat to see an elephant and family of warthogs come to drink. Cool!

It took the head office Legacy Hotel Group about a month to issue a refund for a booking made independently that was cancelled with 24 hours of being made (conflict of dates). They never responded to any emails or correspondence (even thru Booking.com). It took multiple phone calls from family in South Africa to get them to process the refund.

The staff was extremely friendly and helpful.There was a variety of food that was very tasteful and well presented.

The rooms are very comfortable but is old. Upgrading is needed.The aircon system needs servicing. It was smelling very bad.The roads inside the park needs serious attention.

The safari drives and safari staff

The food was just okay and some staff in dining room were not very friendly. Room had a strange odor upon walking in.

Loved the facility. Beautiful rooms, beautiful space.

Service was a bit messy, with confusing/conflicting information, but still very kindly

Food was good. Accommodation was good - only problem is that our shower gel and shampoo was not replaced with full ones after the first night. I also have a suspicion that the shower gel was leftovers from previous guests, because it was only enough for one person.

Game drives were noisy with to many children on the vehicle - consider putting older people together. Secondly the drivers - not only ours - speeds around the park chasing other peoples sightings, and then one ends up seeing nothing. They also have no respect for other road users. Worse game drives that I have ever had.

Great location right next to the entrance to the park. Buffet food was nice and more veggie friendly than expected. Loved the dinner in the bush and would highly recommend! Great staff all very nice and friendly.

It’s quite tired, especially the rooms. We couldn’t even sit on our balcony as it was covered in bird poo daily. They don’t give you unlimited WiFi which is ridiculous for how much you pay to stay there. We’ve never had this before. They supposedly give you a certain amount of data but interesting that for both of us it expired at exactly 11pm the night before check out. The least you expect is free WiFi as a guest throughout your stay. We didn’t understand why the game drives were the times they were. The morning one the first hour is in the dark and the evening one the last hour is in the dark. So you’re essentially losing an hour of opportunity to see animals. I don’t understand why you wouldn’t shift these timings to coincide with daylight. We saw a lot more driving ourselves during the daytime too. Not much choice for timings to do game drives either I don’t know why there aren’t more options.

Extremely friendly staffWonderful foodGreat game drivers

Rooms in lighting not bright enough

Very good

Our cold water tap in the bathroom basin never functioned over our full stay despite reporting it through the desk

The place is stunning, the majority of the staff is amazing save for one bad incident we had with one staff member who seemed to have a senior position which was most unfortunate, the marimba players were special, they had free gourmet donuts for guests at reception, the views are breathtaking, the hotel room is gorgeous and clean, the play area for the kids is lovely and clean, the rooms are spacious and the warm carpets provide great warmth during cooler seasons, the pool area is big, always clean and has towels available if you need, the garden is very well kept, the location and views will make you return. I love this place.

The concept of room service is not properly understood by staff members here. If you want to order breakfast or supper in, you have to go down to the dining area where they have a buffet, dish up food for yourself and small children and then ask one of the waiters to have the food delivered to your room. If was without the nanny, I would have struggled tremendously. This concept defeats the purpose of saying you have room service and the restaurant should have a menu that people can order form especially during colder seasons and you’re traveling with small kids. Further this morning (22 April), a lady who seemed to be a manager at breakfast was very rude to my mom and I and told us we should have called when we asked her to deliver food we’d dish up for the kids to my room because she said it’s not allowed to have breakfast from the buffet delivered to our room. I was astounded because all the other days, absolutely every single staff member whom we’d asked for help, had assisted us without any problem. I have small kids who aren’t great at sitting still and eating so that’s why I prefer to have food delivered to the room so the nanny can feed them in peace. This has been an absolute pain point for me about this place. Also their game drives are only at 5.30 and 4pm - again, if you have small kids, that’s a tall order, they should have a drive during the day. We ended up going to park and paying for a game drive during the day from one of the private companies there and it was stunning, sufficiently warm for the kids to also enjoy seeing the animals without the cold elements of an early morning drive or late evening drive affecting them. Lastly, the wifi gets throttled but the lady at reception helped me when I asked for another code. It looks like they allocate a certain amount of gigs then you must pay when it runs out but this shouldn’t be the case in such an expensive hotel. This said, the lady at reception gave me an alternative code so I was sorted.

The Food was excellent and the Game drives were stunning! The biltong wasnt the best we have tasted, but the rooms were incredible and the fact that we saw so many animals in such a short period of time was a blessing!

The lady at reception's attitude was not welcoming, and the hospitality of the staff who received us was inadequate. The waiters were better but you will need to work on this.

Lovely location and friendly staff. Amazing game drives!

It was comfortable considering we’re in the middle of “nowhere.” I loved the shower pressure and the temp. Nice relaxing showers. However it wasn’t consistent. I traveled with a large group and some had issues with their roofs leaking or showers leaking. A bit dated but just keep the bar a bit low. Wonderful value and saw lots of beautiful animals!

A bit dated could use a facelift.

Comfortable beds, large rooms, game drives were well organised, Boma dinner was excellent and last but not least staff were very friendly and helpful

Lovely hotel with friendly staff.Comfiest beds!Game drives to Pilansberg were very good and this is my third trip to Bakubang .Lovely pool area

Cappuccino should be standard without having to pay extra

It’s a great location, easy access into the Park.

Service, food, lack of facilities. Really disappointed with the level of serviceService was truly disappointing. Attitude from staff when trying to get play equipment was dismal. Preference given to guests checking in (13:20, yet check in time is 2pm) and I was asked to join wait in this queue, 15min. R100 deposit was required, only payable in cash, no card options and neither chargeable to your room. No signs about this anywhere. No concierge desk- maybe something the lodge should consider. Also my son forgot his spectacles on the safari vehicle. We realised this less than 5min after getting off. We asked reception and the wild life centre to get it. Both confirmed that the vehicle was checked and the spectacles was not there. I asked to check the vehicle myself, they initially said no, saying they checked it and the glasses were not there. I insisted on checking the vehicle myself and found the spectacles under the seat we were seated on. No apology from anyone, including the person who went with me to the vehicle.

Staff were great in that they accommodated me and moved me to a larger room.

Noisy aircon in the room.