Markon River Lodge — Hotel in Gauteng

We needed weekend accommodation close to Ezemvelo Nature Reserve, and decided on Markon River Lodge. Driving there, I was a bit worried that it would not be as nice as the pictures promised, but it was, in fact, better. The hostess was very kind and helpful, and made sure that our unit was accessible. She even brought breakfast to the room, as my husband had difficulty walking. The room was spacious with beautiful views of the rocky hillside. A huge bed, crisp linen, fluffy towels and comfortable easy chairs made for a very relaxing and enjoyable stay. The verandah, kitchenette and braai area face the lovely view, and this makes it ideal for a lazy afternoon chill. There is ample birdlife, and I saw duikers and baboons from the verandah. It is very secluded and quiet - ideal for a relaxing breakaway. Visitors should be aware that there are peacocks roaming around; they are quite noisy and not shy to walk up the steps in search of food scraps. This distracted somewhat from the peace and quiet. The lodge is accessible by dirt roads which were in good condition when we travelled there. Take your own two point plugs (we borrowed one from the kind hostess). All in all I can highly recommend Markon River Lodge, and would...

100% recommend! Staff are amazing and very kind. Always there to help if you need something. The game room has a ping pong table and pool table. My family personally spent lots of times upstairs playing ping pong. Doesn't mateer where you stay you always have a great view. The rooms are always clean. And they have services to take out your trash every mornin etc. The river is a great place to catch fish and to socialise with the people that you came with. Definitely family friendly and has activities for everyone! From canoeing to playing putt putt we really enjoyed it all. We saw lots of wildliefe on the game drive and sometimes little bucks would be in our sight from our lodge. We had a BBQ almost everyday as the weather was perfect. One thing you will have to remember is to bring a car that can handle off road as you have to drive about 8 to 10km of dirtroad to get there. The shop has all the essentials you need if you forgot to pack toothpaste etc.

In short i think this is a well managed place and would...

We were given the Retreat area as tgey coukd not accommodate us all in tge main area. This is about 4km from the reception/ main area. It was beautiful and quiet. Some of the rooms were better equipped than others. 4 of us and a 6 month old baby were in tge 2 bedroomed unit. There are no cupboards or shelves for your foodstuff and this is self catering. We had a problem with water and hot water but the manager, Frikkie, responded quickly and it was fixed. The one bedroom has no wardrobe to put your clothes in so you live out of a suitcase. We just felt it was not worth the money and needed some fixing. There is very little cellphone single so can be difficult to report problems. We ate at the restaurant the one night. We were asked to order in the morning so tgey coukd have all ready and tge service was quick but we did not all get what we ordered. The food was basic but tasty but we felt a bit...