Ngiri Safaris and Scuba — Attraction in Gauteng

Went there for 2 nights on New Years Eve 2016 (30th/31st Dec). Facilities were extremely run down from Swimming pool not being cleaned and slimey to the club room not having tv connected and dirty. After check in we went to our chalets which on the outside looked good. Once inside curtain rails falling off when you walk in and land on your head, electrical cables showing beside the sink and a fridge freezer that barely kept anything cold. Also all the plug points were poorly installed and some hanging off. Shortly after we had an issue with the Gas not working. Gas tank sits very close to the outside water heating (with burning logs). That evening when in bed at nearly 10pm we had a knock on the door from one of the staff trying to sell us a game drive for 6am the next morning. Bare in mind its pitch dark in bush with unknown person knocking at the door. My mother was not pleased as she was in her own separate villa and same happened to her. Then on to New Years Eve when the water stopped working so we were unable to flush toilets or have any running water to wash or drink and it was still not on when we left early the next morning as no point being there. Staff did bring round 2 x 2 litre bottles of water in coke bottles. On check out we were offered a fee night for each chalet we had at anytime and a game drive each. This sounded great at the time but ever since we have tried to book they are always booked up and we get ignorant responses back from them. We had hoped that maybe the place had been fixed up and worth another try as sometimes things do go wrong. Definitely not a place now I would recommend or ever go back to now and owners refusing any sort of refund. BEWARE. We initially gave a good review as we felt sorry for the kids running the place when the owner was away. As even the owner states I would be OK to book even if it took months which it now is and still no availability. I asked for a period of 5 months and never was there availability and was not at the last...

We booked a Tuesday to Saturday trip to the bush with Ngiri after many calls to Natasha. With a pool in "walking distance" to keep our young children entertained and the pictures looked good on the website site so we thought we had a safe bet and a winner for sure!

Sadly after checking in we were driven to the unit that was not in walking distance to the pool - that was very green and so not inviting. The gentleman from reception opened the unit and showed us around. At this point it became a silent discussion through eyeball movements alone between my wife and I. I could see my wife was not happy. As the gentleman departed, out came the words - "we not sleeping here, I would rather drive all the way home!"

I loaded the family back in the car and drove to reception – I had to call the new appointed gentleman on the phone as he was in the main house to please come back to reception. I told him I’m very sorry but we don’t feel comfortable here and would rather go home. He responded saying his sorry and that this was only the 2nd time this had happened to him and Natasha would be in tough regarding the money side of the booking.

I tried to call Natasha on the main bookings number during the following week as I knew she was on leave but my calls were to answered. After a couple of attempts the owner of Ngiri answered my call. I asked her about my refund due the fact that we arrived at the unit and it was not what we expected. We did not cancel our booking. We arrived, we checked in and it was not what we were “sold”. The owner was adamant that her lawyers had covered all bases for “cancellations” of bookings and that we were not going to be refunded.

For anyone to run a business like this is very disappointing. She made no attempt to rectify or resolve the matter. She is just a money grabber and not prepared to offer the service she advertises.

There are many other fantastic lodges/camps in Dinokeng, that look after their guests and try their best to make their stay as memorable...

Our family stayed a week in the chalets. First off, we never wanted to stay at Ngiri but ended up there due to whoever did the booking on their end. We got there, and the lady who greeted us was polite enough. However, we quickly experienced issues with our fridge not working. we told our host, and she was quick to have another one brought out. Later that night, she said the fridge was working just fine and that we must just not be shutting it properly and was gonna bring it back the next day. So we get it back the next, and lo and behold, the fridge again is not working. We inform our host that she must come check herself, and yes, we know how to close a fridge door. We felt she was quite rude and inappropriate in how she spoke to us over the fridge. We came to truly hate our stay in the bush there, and you can't get your money back unless you give a weeks notice. The bugs are super thick, and with no AC, it means all doors and windows must be open constantly, and with no screens be prepared for millions of mosquitos, Flys, we even had a bat one night. All the creatures of the bush can waltz right in like spiders and small deer ticks, which we experienced during our stay. I would never recommend this place if you're looking to stay in the bush maybe try...