Kruger Park in dispute with restaurant chain rated 'shocking' by some visitors

Poor reviews of the The Mugg&Bean in the Kruger National Park have resulted in Sanparks declaring a dispute with the chain.

"If this Mugg&Bean is meant to represent the brand then they have problems. Whoever is running this should be ashamed. I spent three nights there with guests and every single night there was a problem with lack of food... My guests were highly disappointed and I will no longer stay at Letaba whilst Mugg&Bean is there. I will be contacting head office."

"We had lunch here during our recent trip and the beers were good‚ unfortunately their fresh salads were mediocre but edible‚ I would recommend that a greater effort is made with getting in fresh produce..."

"Even worse than a year ago."

"Unfortunately it is the only place to eat in this camp and most probably the reason why service is of no concern to them. Cannot understand why the park authorities are not doing something about it."

These various reviews on TripAdvisor are amongst the reasons by SANParks has declared a dispute with its restaurant operator at the Satara‚ Olifants and Letaba camps in the Kruger National Park.

The park operator said in a statement on Tuesday: "Following a host of complaints by guests on various social media platforms in relation to the quality of service experienced by guests at Letaba‚ Satara and Olifants restaurants in Kruger National Park‚ South African National Parks would like to put it on record that it is in dispute with the operator of former Mugg & Bean outlets at the above mentioned rest camps".

According to SANParks Acting Head of Communications‚ William Mabasa‚ SANParks is currently embarking on an arbitration process with the operator in question and is unable to confirm how long will the process take. “But arbitration proceedings are under way.”

As for guests currently booked at the affected rest camps‚ he said “SANParks will endeavour to put temporary substitutes particularly during peak times”.

"SANParks management sincerely apologizes for the inconvenience."