Modderfontein Reserve — Attraction in Johannesburg Ward 32

Amenities - currently, there is construction taking place - they are paving the parking areas. Probably due to that or COVID, the Market Place and the hiring / buying shop was closed on a Saturday. There was just two mobile stands serving food for visitors. Signage - this is extremely poor from the start. There are quite a few car guards but they did not help with finding parking quickly and one had to drive on their own quite a bit to find their own parking. There was no clear signage of where the activities start and where one can park closest to the place of preferred activity. You have to be there a few times to know it and then it seems easy. The roads are bad (probably to keep it in its natural form) and it takes time to get between places and parking spaces. We were not advised that you need to buy tickets first before you try an activity. A lot of time can be wasted before you start, if you are unsure and not helped appropriately / efficiently. Trails - there is a 5km and 11km hiking trail to choose from as well as separate mountain biking trail. Walking on the trails is a good experience of fitness and enjoying the outdoors. Signage is okay... can lose track but will eventually find your way back. Typical to outdoor activities, better to start early and dress according to weather conditions. Staff competency - when a customer is to be served by someone who is incompetent or unmotivated or just not interested / in the right mood, the customer will not enjoy the experience and service. When we went to buy tickets, the ladies could not break down the total costs. They could not answer a couple of other questions. Two ground staff could not clearly articulate what we must do exactly for us to embark on our hike. Venue - the offerings of the venue is great; mountain biking, hiking, light jog trails, fishing are most of the activities offered. It's a great experience for friends and family to experience, especially with the market place. Overall experience - don't have expectations of anyone helping you out efficiently; unfortunately, it was not a great experience for us all (with friends) as a first time but hopefully it will be...

I decided to give the Modderfontein hiking trail a go this weekend. It had decent reviews so I figured I may as well do a 5km hike.

The venue is quite close to Sandton(prob 15-20 min drive), The actual facility has 3 features: 1)A picnic/fishing / camping style setup 2)A farmers market as well as a restaurant and 3) A hiking/biking trail. My review is not about the first 2 - as I have not tried them yet.

Safe looking place, easy to find parking, Straightforward payment for hikes.

My issue is solely with the hiking part - and in particular the EMERGENCY NUMBER not being answered BUT going straight to VOICEMAIL - for this reason alone it DESERVES a ZERO (0) Star rating.

I went to the reception to find out what happened with the route markings and why the emergency number was not answered.

Initially I was told that no one called the number. Then as the lady unlocked her phone - Bam - One missed call - 50 minutes ago.. The excuse(s) - I did not hear it, or maybe I was away when it rang. Really???

Another gent, who worked there - said I took the wrong route. This is possible(no one is perfect) BUT he then also started making excuses when I asked him to show where on the route the Yellow Markers ended and what was the way back to the Start Point. Another excuse was that he said the Yellow Markers with FEET - where for bikes. Yeah right!! To add insult to injury this dude, said he did not know how to use the maps. He only knew landmarks. Well basically, I got the impression, they did not care, much like the rest of SA, a paycheck is just a paycheck - Forget about good service.

Will see If I can get hold of management proper, at some point to to ensure that, the next time - say a real emergency happens _ Ie someone falls/ faints/ has a heart attack - then the emergency number will actually be useful and function as intended.

Overall GREAT hike, with lovely scenery, quiet and tranquil - I would give a 5 star if it was not for that EMERGENCY NUM fiasco. BUT just because SAFETY always comes first - I will give them a big fat ZERO(0) STAR rating - I will be...

Beautiful reserve in a central location. I did the 11km hike, it's more of a walk than a hike, but still very enjoyable. Not too busy. I hiked alone and felt very safe. The trail takes you around the damn and follows along the river. Beautiful views of different flora and birds on this trail. It was a bit dry, but that's expected since it's winter. I've gone before during the start of autumn and it was absolutely beautiful, very colourful.

Fourways Farmer's Market is here so you can enjoy a drink and a meal with good music after your hike. 2 different sound stages and lots of seating space. Beautiful view of the dam from the market.

The only downside is that they are starting construction of apartments right next to the market, so I'm sure it's only a matter of time before the concrete jungle...