les Manguiers de Guéréo

The site is beautiful, but the service is terrible. 1. Getting to the lodge was a headache because GPS/Google Maps directed us to Somone, and we had to take a dirt road from Somone to Sindia for over 18 minutes to reach the lodge. It’s better to call them to ensure you take the shortest route. When we called, the person on the phone couldn’t give us the correct directions. 2. Once there, we arrived at 9:57 PM and were informed that the restaurant was closed, despite the official closing time being 10:00 PM. We told them we had called the reception around 9:30 PM and mentioned we were on our way, so they could have taken our order, but anyway... The driver had to stay on-site and went a few kilometers to the nearest restaurant, which was supposed to close at 11:00 PM, to get food. Despite the fact that we ordered before the driver moving, the food went out around Midnight. The food in the area is extremely expensive. 3. I booked a Garden Suite, which was not only poorly lit (Suite 6), but we were not informed of the room number and couldn’t remember if it was 6 or 9 (looking at the number on the key couldn't help). At one point, I had to go alone to find the driver (because there was no one at reception at midnight when he came from that restaurant). In the rain, I helped the driver unload the luggage, and we got lost (again, the suite is not lit outside). 6 is not 9 .... 4. On facilities, there was no fridge or phone in the room, and the WiFi didn’t work in the room. 5. The service was extremely slow; we ordered dinner at 8:39 PM, and it was served at 10:42 PM after numerous follow-ups (using a mobile phone since there was no room phone), all this for a supposed 4-star suite. When placing our dinner order, we brought the menu from the room. After repeating our order more than three times, the server told us that the menu we had was outdated and that the stack of menus in front of us was more recent. He threw the old menu into the trash in front of us and asked us to choose our dishes again. Throughout this scene, we were standing, and the server left us to pass the order to his colleague at the computer. Even his colleague was shocked by the lack of professionalism. We didn’t receive a receipt to sign that night after two hours of waiting, and when we pointed out the issues, the server had nothing to say except “we are all Senegalese” when we mentioned sharing our experience online. 6. Oh, and the toilet doesn’t have trash bins. You have to go outside in the bathroom to find one !

This is a relatively small and relaxing hotel with very friendly and helpful staff. We are very interested in wildlife and this is a great hotel for this. The grounds are large with several bird hides dotted around and there is a daily feeding of Black Kites which gave us close views of these large birds. We had a pool suite with it's own small pool and garden and a view of the lagoon which was great for relaxing while experiencing close contact with many species of brightly coloured birdlife. The food was very good and the waiting staff were great. It should be noted that this is a predominantly French speaking hotel and it would be very helpful if you have some knowledge of the language. The hotel is not widely advertised in the UK but is well worth seeking out and we would certainly return when next in Senegal.

Repeated visit here - 5th time but it seems to us that they struggle when the place is full house. Shocking drop in standards Service staff are friendly Pool is still inviting clean and nice Place amid nature that allows for a nice quiet relaxing weekend Points to consider - room was infested with cockroaches - we found cockroaches in no 17 - bathroom, cupboard, crawling on bed and near study table on 2 days. Amazing as we don’t eat food, snacks or drink sugared water in room - outside lights were not working We used our phone - internet wasn’t working we used the phone for our work - no room cleaning. - dinner was more than 90 mins wait We ordered at 8pm and got food at 940. Cold. Some tables had bread and amuse bouche, some didn’t including ours. We had 2 baskets of bread with nothing else to accompany the bread. Salad came 940pm with the mains - pasta and lamb. Cold. obviously not cooked well. pasta was too salty, lamb dry. Staff -explained they were trying out new software but why try on a long weekend when it’s full house?