Midweek Break, Beautiful, Peaceful Place, But Chalets Need a Good Scrub!

Went with my husband to Dikhololo for a midweek break end of April 2007. Had a wonderful, peaceful & very relaxing time. Everyone we met, including the staff were warm & friendly. The place is beautiful and everyone of all ages is well catered for. There is even an indoor & outdoor pool. We loved the restaurant, food was very good, decor was lovely & had the choice of sitting indoors or outdoors, we had some lovely meals there. And it was such a pleasure to see the animals, even the smaller ones came foraging outside our chalet - which was wonderful. The chalet is fully equipped, clean bedding, fresh towels, serviced daily. The only thing we noticed was that our chalet had an unclean, shabby appearance. Even though the chalet was serviced daily & staff friendly, they only did the basic's for cleaning. It actually needed a good scrub as there were many areas of neglect & uncleaness -part of the doors, where hands had been, were thick with black sticky dirt; the white net curtains were dirty & quite grey; the white door frames to bedroom & bathroom were very dirty; Kitchen services around edges were rimmed with that thick layer of greasy black dirt. Lounge & dining-table seats were dirty & grey; curtains hanging off rails, lounge carpet threadbare. Electrical plugs & switches were dirty too. Windows also needed a good clean. So did the glass shades on wall lights. Its not good healthy housework for international tourists or locals. For the price we paid [& its not cheap to go there] we expected a higher standard of cleanliness. Especially the kitchen area when it comes to safe food handling, everything that comes in contact with food must be kept hygienically clean all year long. Cleanliness is a major factor in preventing foodborne illness. We were even unable to use the cutting board as it was so unclean, it smelt aweful too, & it was sticky with grease, in fact this would have been thrown away in the bin at home. Cutting boards can be sanitized quite easily with a solution of 1 tablespoon of bleach per litre of hot water, allowing it to soak for several minutes; then rinsed well with cold water and dried. Once cutting boards become excessively worn, develop unclean odours, or develop hard-to-clean grooves, they should be replaced. Someone who is strict on cleanliness & hygiene, should be watching over the cleaning staff & training them, especially as international visitors go there. Has anyone else noticed this?