Inhaca Island Resort Hotel Reviews Maputo Mozambique Beach Safari Holiday Accommodation Swimming Pool Game Fishing Scuba Diving Snorkelling
HOTELS REVIEW - INHACA ISLAND PESTANA MOCAMBIQUE ISLANDS AFRICA
Inhaca Island Resort is a 4-star Pestana beach hotel near Maputo. This picuresque resort has 40 en-suite rooms situated amidst coconut palms and exotic gardens. Facilities include a restaurant, bar and salt water swimming pool, games room, TV and video room, table tennis and a tennis court. Activities range from big game fishing, diving, boat excursions, snorkelling and water skiing and scuba diving.
What did you think?
What did you think?
3 comments:
We stayed at the Pestana Inhaca Lodge for four days over the Easter weekend after we were relocated from Bazaruto Lodge following its closure due to cyclone damage. In summary, the lodge is a disgrace and I would advise all travellers against staying there. We paid US$280 per room including breakfast and dinner. Lunch and drinks were extra. The bill is generated in US Dollars, then is converted into local currency at an awful exchange rate (spread is 16%!!!) before you can pay. You cannot pay in USD on a credit card
The whole place is incredibly run-down and tired-looking. Broken tables and chairs by the pool, sofas in the lounge with thick grease marks and frayed edges, broken sun loungers, filthy pool water and scum all over the pool walls being just a few of the examples. The rooms were small and very dark, with an overhanging thatch roof basically blocking any natural light. They contained a small wardrobe but no drawer space.
All inclusive meals were served buffet-style, with over 50% looking and tasting inedible. There was no fresh BBQ option on any evening we stayed. A smell of grease permeated the whole bar and terrace area as the evening meal was being created. The snack menu at lunch was even less appetising, with even more reliance on fried foods.
Staff were generally unfriendly and wearing bleached out, frayed and smelly shirts. Indeed their appearance and attitude completely summed up the whole resort. Further, there was no obvious management personnel in charge of the resort or of ensuring that the guests were comfortable during their stay.
Suffice to say, we were bitterly disappointed by our trip. This is not a cheap resort and the promotional material claiming it has 4-star status and is renowned for its 'fine Portuguese cuisine' is totally misleading. The resort needs to be closed for a complete refurbishment and a new management team installed with a focus on service and maintaining 4-star standards
I would advise anyone with a booking at this hotel to cancel immediately until standards are returned to a level commensurate with 4-star status.
First, let me say that I wrote the hotel a letter of praise and complaint and they have been very nice and offered me a repeat stay over the next year and if I can find the time, I will definitely go again.
We arrived on Inhaca by air and were picked up at the airport and immediately felt the positive spirit of the island when the local children chased us down the road racing the open pickup not begging just running for the fun of it.
The facilities of the hotel, both public and our room were all in very good shape, not overly-polished five star but very nice four star. OK, the fan in our room (there was air conditioning/heating too) was noisy but not so much so that we complained to have it fixed.
The first thing we did was swim in the ocean, the beach was lovely, water was very nice perhaps a bit cool but it's winter in the southern hemisphere in June. Next we went to check out the water sports which is why we were there, after all. Unfortunately the Hobie cats and windsurfers had not yet arrived so we scheduled some scuba dives and snorklling for the next few days.
Dinner that night was superb. Lots of Queen prawns, enough so that my wife and I had to struggle to finish all of them (and we are big hearty eaters). In addition there was a buffet with salads, samosas and a stir-fry.
Breakfast the next morning was also buffet with a full-english breakfast, cerials, fruit salad etc. Good stuff and lots of it.
Unfortunately there are very substantial tides at Inhaca and the boats can only go out at high tide so there was only diving in the afternoon while we were there. We decided to sit by the pool and watched the fisherman unload their boats. It was lovely seeing the people from the village help unload the boats (they could walk right out to them as the sand dried).
The pool is very large and relatively deep. It is salt water but there are showers when you get out so you don't dry out with salt on you when you sunbathe. Strangely the pool is cooler than the sea.
When we got to snorkle, we found visibility was not all that good. There were some very nice fish, rays, etc.
The staff were all very nice.
Minuses?
The entertainer at dinner was extremely annoying, we think he had one album by Satchmo and he tried to imitate it using a keyboard, trumpet and scratchy voice.
Diving is much more expensive than we are used to paying in South Africa. Because of the tides you are limited to one dive a day most days. Also because of the tides the visibility can be limited as it churns up the silt.
Dinner can be hit or miss. There is not a wide variety to choose from and mostly buffet style. As breakfast and dinner are included, you might choose to eat lunch in the village. We found Lukas Place to be lovely when it doesn't rain.
loved staying at Inhaca Pestana Lodge. The place is very nice with the palm trees, and the great sun shining. The food was ok, and during dinner there was a very good group of singers to welcome the guests. The staff is very nice, but some times a bit slow, but if you are enjoying the sun and calm of Inhaca, like I was, you forget that. It was a wonderful weekend.
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