Name: Great Zimbabwe Hotel
Address: Great Zimbabwe Road, Masvingo, Masvingo, Masvingo, 00000, Zimbabwe
Rating: 8

Shopping on site

Air conditioning

24-hour reception

Smoke-free property

Security guard

Gift shop

Garden

All Spaces Non-Smoking (public and private)

General

Room service

Rooms

Accessibility features

Wheelchair Accessible

Accessibility

Laundry

Safe-deposit box

Services and amenities

Breakfast

Buffet breakfast

Restaurant

Breakfast/lunch to go

Meals

Free Wi-Fi

Internet

Car rental

Transfer

Parking

Parking nearby

Seasonal outdoor swimming pool

Pool and beach

Meeting and presentation facilities

Conference Hall

Business

Beauty and wellness

Babysitting and childcare

Kids

Pets Not Allowed

Pets

Temperature control for staff

Personal protection equipment for staff

Extra decontamination measures

Temperature control for guests

Personal protection equipment for guests

Contactless check-in and/or check-out

Individually packaged food

Additional measures against COVID-19

Health and Safety Measures

Location

At the hotel

Great Zimbabwe Hotel

Masvingo

child-bed

child-bed-fee

external-private-bathroom

private-bathroom

shared-bathroom

10-beds

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king-bed

queen-bed

limited-time

lounge

treatment

no-window

bay-view

bosphorus-view

canal-view

city-view

courtyard-view

garden-view

golf-view

harbour-view

inland-view

lake-view

land-view

mountain-view

ocean-front

ocean-view

oceanside

panoramic-view

park-view

partial-ocean-view

partial-sea-view

partial-view

pool-view

river-view

sea-front

sea-view

street-view

sunrise-view

sunset-view

water-view

with-view

annex

basement

main-building

1-bedroom

2-bedrooms

3-bedrooms

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6-bedrooms

not-guaranteed

wired-internet-access

smoking

sauna

duplex

safe

mini-bar

breakfast-for-1

breakfast-for-2

pets-allowed

wi-fi

kitchen

Spent 3 nights at this Lakeside Resort which is 36 km south of Masvingo. A lovely hotel on a hill overlooking Lake Mtirikwe. Places of interest include the dam wall and the Great Zimbabwe Ruins. A great place to unwind with family & friends. Good for conferences.

Business stay

Arriving after a long drive, tired and cold having fled from out tented camp by unseasonal weather, Clevers provided us with a much-needed welcome. The staff are courteous, efficient and kind, and this benevolent country house hotel, with its beautiful garden, has maintained reassuringly high standards in a world where courtesy is too often understood as old-fashioned. Some might argue that the hotel is too much of a period piece, but there is little that a good interior designer could not subtlety alter to quietly introduce a hint of the best in Zimbabwean design.

A warm welcome (Trip Advisor PLEASE note that this hotel is now called CLEVERS LakeView Resort)rt>

The name of this resort has changed to Clever's Lakeside Resort from Norma Jeane. The new owners are currently giving the rooms a new modern look and it actually feels nice. The beds are very comfortable and water is available all day long. When there is no electricity the generator is switched on around 6, I think. The gardens are lush green with beautiful flowers,trees and an evergreen lawn. The staff follow covid 19 safety protocols from the moment you park your car and you feel quite safe. Breakfast was ok but I feel that charging $8 if one opts for a cereal only breakfast when there isn't a wide range of choice of cereal is a bit baffling. 
Overally, a great place to stay if you want some quiet time to relax and unwind. The room prices were also great as it was a holiday special. 

Beautiful Gardens

When you stay at Norma Jean's you go back to a bygone era of discrete and slightly formal comfort and service. Memories of an Africa that once was. A magnificent old style sitting room with open fires for chilly nights and a formal dining room serving good home cooked food - the bream was memorable - quietly served by waiters in black jackets and bow ties. The gardens are wonderful and exotic and must take a lot of work. But the views across Lake Mutirikwe (Kyle as was) to the mountains are stunning.
We were there to visit the Great Zimbabwe ruins which we had been to on our honeymoon many years ago. Nothing had changed except there is now an excellent museum where you can see the Great Zimbabwe birds and the detailed history of this amazing place. The Great Enclosure is  impressive with its strange towers and huge stone walls but the most impressive part is the Citadel or Hill Complex which is the oldest part of the complex. It's a long hot trudge to the top of the high fortified koppie but well worth it to explore the mysterious passages and enclosures surrounded by high thick stone walls and for the view of the plains below and the lake. 
If you are in the area don't stay at the big impersonal  hotels, support Norma Jean's and help maintain a wonderful tradition.

Old style comfort with magnificent views.

Norma Jean's was clean, comfortable and affordable with different accommodation options (camping, budget and lodges) . Food was great and having drinks on the verandah overlooking their gardens and the lake was a highlight. It was super hot, so having a fan and mosi nets would have made it perfect. Staff were super helpful and friendly. Had trouble paying with Visa card, so worth keeping that in mind. We enjoyed the scenic drive around the lake too. 

Super spot

We recently spent a few days in a lodge at Norma Jeane’s. (The hotel has been bought by Anthony Clever Pote, and the staff now wear a Clever insignia, so possibly the change of ownership will lead to new branding with different priorities.)

However, as it was, our lodge was comfortable, pleasantly and unobtrusively decorated, scrupulously clean and well provided for. (Remember to take soaps for the bathroom and kitchen.) With well-kept gardens and situated among beautiful musasa woodland, it provided a perfect retreat for us, seeking a few days of peace and quiet. Great Zimbabwe and the Muturikwi Dam Wall are within each reach.

The staff at the hotel were friendly, professional and helpful, a combination for which Zimbabweans are well known throughout the world. Care had been taken with festive decorations, and the hotel was busy with guests.

Our only complaint was that Christmas was celebrated in the lodge adjacent to ours with music played so loudly that it was very discomforting, and we had to retreat to the hotel veranda for  several hours. There is, I think, an unspoken rule that guests sharing a venue have regard for each other; and when this does not happen, the proprietor needs to establish ways of managing such intrusions.


Peace and quiet in lovely surroundings

We stayed here in June 2019 and would like to have stayed longer. From the moment we arrived we were made to feel welcome. After travelling, some lovely sandwiches and a cold beer were very welcome and we enjoyed the view from the terrace.
We were camping, and had a lovely spot. The ablutions were the best we experienced in our month long trip through Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and SA. We had a lovely meal with excellent service in the evening. I do not agree with another reviewer about the expense. We felt Norma Jeans was very good value.

Superb hospitality, beautiful location, immaculate ablutions.

I loved the setting, but was utterly surprised by the horrendous prices. USD13.- for some fish with rice & USD4.- for a small can of local beer is upto 4x what would locally be paid & 2x what would be paid in other tourist hotspots. It‘s a shame they seem to have become so greedy.

Nice setting, brutal overcharging

Norma Jeans is a beautiful place and everything you read about the lovely staff is true.

BUT .... they are outrageously expensive for what they provide.  

I thought i had booked dinner, bed and breakfast for two for one night for US$185, but instead got charged $22x2 for dinner. When I challenged this I was told that as 'an outsider' i had to pay more.

Well stuff you Norma Jeans. Calling me an outsider and applying penal pricing is no way to win friends or encourage return visits. Four years ago it cost me US$30 for a night - why the outrageous overcharging?

Places like Norma Jeans are necessary for Zim. But they will fail if they treat outsiders this way. Zimbabwe is already difficult enough to travel: no electricity, access to money problems, lack of fuel etcetera.  And then to be called an outsider. 

Unhappy,.

Expensive and unhappy

We stayed at Norma Jeanne's for two night whilst visiting Zimbabwe recently. Our accommodation with clean and spacious, "old style", set in beautiful gardens. The view over the lake was stunning. It is a beautiful area. The staff were very welcoming and friendly. A good choice to stay for visiting the Great Zimbabwe ruins.

Great Zimbabwe Hotel

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