Kambiri Lodge - Salima, Malawi

I've been working in Malawi for over a decade, and in some ways, this lodge is a fairly typical lodge in Senga Bay. The rooms are basic but comfortable, the water was sometimes hot, the beach was beautiful, and the staff was unprepared but friendly.

The main problem with this lodge is that the primary manager/point of contact (Kate) is not attentive or detail-oriented. She took our money in Lilongwe the week before we stayed at Kambiri, and yet, when we arrived, the staff had no idea of the arrangements we would need. They had to scramble to put the correct number of beds in the rooms, and several of us slept without a mosquito net. The entire place is very dilapidated, no doubt because the management hasn't bothered to do basic things like paint the sign on the main road, care for the grounds, or replace broken things like shower heads and mosquito nets. We were the only guests, and the restaurant and bar were not stocked for our stay, so we waited over two hours for dinner. The bartender obligingly traveled outside the lodge to get greens for us, but it's the first place I've been where that was necessary.

Most concerning is that a sweatshirt of mine and a necklace of my friend's went missing during our stay. Despite multiple calls and texts over the next few weeks, Kate never retrieved the items. Again, we were the only people staying there that weekend, so either a staff member took these things and didn't own up to it, or she never actually bothered to ask after them.

Overall, the lack of reasonably priced options at the lake may make this lodge more compelling, but I will still never stay there again.