Cresta Mowana Safari Resort & Spa

Great experience - cozy rooms, good spa treatments, and interesting wine list. Breakfast could be improved.

My wife & I stayed at Cresta Mowana, Kasane Region, Botswana in mid July 2025, for 2 nights. It was a great stay with excellent boat & Jeep safaris. The lodge is on the banks of the Chobe River and all rooms are River View. The Property is in a vast area with plenty of interesting view sit outs and good bars & restaurants. The food is good and more than enough. The sunsets, in the lodge, were to die for. The safaris were amazing esp the river safari. Got to see good sunrises & sunsets in the Chobe Park too. While we could not see a Lion (with mane), the other shots were terrific. The double beds are a little small for comfort, but overall good God bless!!

This place is large and crowded and was a complete disappointment. It caters to tour groups and if you don't have a full time guide on site with you, you will get lost in the shuffle. We were a group of three travelers and this is exactly what happened to us. Several other couples told us that they felt the same. The rooms are fine and we had laundry done and that was fine...BUT... We preordered Gluten Free and vegetarian food, but the people working on the buffets could not even tell us if a dish was GF or not! The food was all buffet and the lines were long. There was a crowds, tehn this imenu that you could order from, but it took an hour or so to get the food if you did that and there were very few options there for dietary restrictions. After I contacted our travel agent, they did attempt to provide GF food, but even then gave us a stir fry with samoas laid on top that were obviously made with wheat flour! Our Celiac was not well for a couple of days after leaving there. I feel sure it was due to getting some gluten in her meals, even though she tried to be careful. The game drives are okay. You will see some good wildlife, but if you do it for more than one day, you will be on the same circuit over and over. They seem to have one specific path for both the truck and boat drives. Don't bother to book a "private" game drive because it is the same path as the others, just in a smaller boat, etc. Also, the night game drive was a waste of time and money. One of our small group got a massage, but it was terrible and also a waste of money. They tried to get her to have her massage in the same room with another guest that she didn't know!! Check out was a nightmare. We started the process, but found that our bills were all messed up and we were charged for fees, drinks, etc. that were included per our contract. While we were had to waiting for someone to figure it out, one of the tour groups came up and all of their bills were messed up as well. It took about 30 minutes to correct ours and pay but the tour group was still trying to get it sorted. If you don't care about quality and you don't care about crowds, then this is the place for you! If you want quality food and service, look elsewhere.