Holiday Reviews
We invite every traveller who books a holiday via us to send in a review. Because we don't run the holidays they're completely independent and unedited... remember to read between the lines though, as two people on the same trip can have different views!
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Garden Route luxury accommodation, independent reviews
 Reviewed 29 Mar 2005 by Liz Roberts |  |
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Scenery and people. The lodge is a fantastic place to stay in a stunning setting. The standard of accommodation is very high, with simple but good quality furnishings, and the set-up for families in two-storey rooms works very well. My only slight reservation is about the insubstantial bamboo screen separating the bathroom and bedroom! Service is brilliant all round - as soon as you think you might want something, there it is. Your car is washed every morning, and there's endless help in deciding on and organising activities each day.
Food is very good - delicious breakfasts and good dinners. I was not particularly looking forward to communal dining round the large table, but it was actually really enjoyable, and we met great people from Ireland, Denmark, Italy, America and the UK. There are tons of great things to do and places to see nearby, from feeding elephants, lovely cliff walks, dolphin-watching on beautiful beaches and tree canopy slides, to boat trips up the river, local craftwork to buy and a monkey sanctuary (and monkeys outside the hotel rooms - and inside given half a chance).
2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Be prepared for variable weather out of high summer (the garden route is very green for a reason!), make the most of the team's great advice and help organising activities, don't feed the baboons!
3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?
It was great that the lovely staff team, including the management, is from the local community, with owners Andy and Debbie taking a relative back seat. There's an ecologically responsible approach all round, and Debbie does some great work in helping to run a local women's art collective, including a shop and jewellery workshops.
| Reviewed 23 Nov 2004 by Anon | |
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Since it was my birthday my parents had contacted the hotel and arranged for a bottle of bubbly to be in the room when I came back from a days walking - drinking that whilst sitting on the balcony was lovely
2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Don't expect perfect weather - you are overlooking lush forest because it can be wet - but just enjoy the experience and the attention of the fantastic staff !
3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?
Not perhaps as much as I would have hoped - there is plenty of scope for more eco-friendly adaptations at the hotel ie solar water etc.
Read the operator's response here:
We do try to be as environmentally responsible as possible, but our major emphasis is on people who are ultimately the ones who'll be taking forward new ideas and this country. Responsible tourism for us, in the main, is who we employ and how that, in it's small way, benefits the community at large.We only employ local people and train them in-house and I am sure, that in all the places our visitors travel to, very few match up to our's. Of our 36 staff members, 31 are from previously disadvantaged backgrounds and this includes from room & gardening staff, right up to our front of house, senior management and general manager.
The guests refer to the fantastic staff - but where do they come from? From our local previously disadvantaged community. Not from a school of well-trained hospitality students looking for jobs with diploma's in hand. By establishing a solid staff basis, through good, principled training & fair employment & opportunities, we hope that the trickle down effect will lead to a better integrated society where the difference between the haves and the have-nots is lessened. Where communities can see for themselves, that their own peers are upwardly mobile, and so can they too can begin to move upwards.
Through this process of upliftment we continue to make our staff aware of pressing environmental issues that challenge, not only SA, but the world. However, we do have to start small, we live in a country where some people don't even have access to running water, who live in the shadow of AIDS, and they aren't tucked away in obscure places, they are here on our doorsteps. We have to change thinking patterns, teach basic skills & understanding on issues like water resourcing and how to conserve it etc. It's a huge task, but we are slowly getting on with the process. I think it's sometimes easy for first world travellers to miss these small but significant steps, so no, solar heating is not a priority at the moment.