Honeyguide Tented Safari Camps — Hotel in Bushbuckridge

Dear HoneyGuide Managers

Thank you for responding to my email. (less than 8hours, after my google review) I'm not sure where to begin with my disappointment.

Firstly: do you take the time to get to know your guests, evidently not. You would know there were 2 families at the boma incident. 1 Muslim family and 1 Vietnamese family who came upon our recommendation. As this was our 2 second trip to Honeyguide. The muslim family, my husband in particular was working at the boma when the incident occurred, with our laptop bags exposed and personal belongings. If you really, as you claimed, took the time to sit with us, you would know this in more detail. That we muslims do not drink so settling a beverage bill that does not belong to usas your kind gesture was not my bill. On that matter, it was never discussed that a settlement of beverages would replace our loss items. UNACCEPTABLE!

secondly: not once did you mention or request to sit down and go through the inventory of loss, the female manager on site who was more present after the incident than you,( as probably hid in shame, honestly i only saw you the next day), the female manager told me repeatedly, please email, EMAIL me the list of items. no photos, no other requests were made at the time.

Thirdly: 25% of my loss replacement because I need to visit a second hand store to replace my items. How old were the items, can you tell me the age or how long I have had the items. If my husband or kids were injured you value his life at 25% because he is "aged". Really, unacceptable.

Fourthly: if i had to take advantage i would add my son's GEOX orthopaedic shoes that has fuel gel stains, but he still uses the shoes and there no replacement was required. Your establishment charges high value rates for high value experience.

I provided links to all the items, replace the damaged and loss items. IT'S your fault. not honey guide, but you dear manager, take responsibility. The fact that honeyguide had no fire extinguisher on site and no standard safety and health precautions were exercised, it's a HUGE liability for honeyguide. My husband was sprayed with blue fuel gel from t-shirt to shoes, not one health inspector or first came to ensure he was ok. NOT ONE!!

This is a response...

The accommodation itself, the tents, are great - some of the nicest I've stayed in. The location is prime game viewing territory, so we saw a lot of animals. The guides are excellent, and know this part of the Kruger very well. We got to spend about 20 minutes with a wandering cheetah, which was a highlight. The rooms are clean and comfortable with excellent bathroom facilities en-suite. Good wifi in common areas.

However, from the moment you make first contact with reservations, service is a problem. The first email came 48 hours after booking, and they told ME to send THEM a whatsapp to get the location pin drop. After 2 further emails where I told them the numbers they gave me are not whatsapp enabled (and even resorted to sending a screenshot from my attempts to whatsapp them), did reservations say they would text it to me, which never happened. The place is bizarre - they FORCE you to have communal meals, and say you MUST wait till everyone has sat down before you can eat. It's like being in a boarding school, rather than a vacation. We didn't go on the game drive the day we arrived and had to wait till nearly 2030 before we could eat, as we had to wait for people to come back. Be prepared to follow a tight schedule on your holiday. On the second night, they were serving open canapes during COVID! They also ask you to share tables with other guests. The day we left, we didn't go on the morning game drive, and when we walked down to the restaurant area at 630am, there was NO ONE in sight. The kitchen was empty. The office was locked. I had to walk up the staff accommodation at the back to beg them to come and make some coffee!!! The attitude is 'you should fit in with our schedule' and I was even told 'most people go on...

Not value for money for the following reasons: Staff are incredibly rude and treat guests like intruders. You have to beg the staff for basic services like a cup of coffee or fresh sheets. Breakfast, Lunch and dinner is served boarding school style. Guests must eat when they are told, queue for food and are FORCED to share big tables with other guests. COVID-19 but food gets served buffet style and canapé is served before dinner. Additional hidden costs gets sprung on you, “special community fee” gets added to your bill when you check out and “special private reserve fee” is charged per person at entry. No complaints about the concierge service because there are none. Staff watched as we struggled to drag our luggage across the resort...