Garden Route Game Lodge — Hotel in George

The lodge is a 4 hour comfortable drive from the heart of Cape Town, mostly along M2 - a very well maintained, lightly trafficked highway.

We were welcomed by our safari guide (Tim) and porter at the guest parking, and transported us a short distance in a golf cart from the lot to the reception hall. We could help but noticed how relaxed, welcoming, polite and friendly each and every person was at the lodge. You can sense that they all love the work they do, are genuinely pleasant - not jut trying to win over a customer for a tip. Nobody ever asked for a tip and gratuity was left completely at the discretion of the visitors. We were given keys to your chalet and Tim walked us all the way to the door, giving us an overview of upcoming activities along the way.

We were there for one night. Our package included an afternoon safari drive (followed by s’mores on wooden sticks over a bonfire, with drinks), dinner (which had been prearranged to be in line with our dietary preferences), morning coffee/snacks, a morning Safari drive followed by a fantastic mixed English/continental break fast. A lot was packed into a short stay but everything seemed to work like a well-oiled machine. The degree of organization was impressive. Checkout was at 10:30 but we were told we could hang around and enjoy the facility for as long was we wanted. It is hard to find this degree of warmth and welcoming gestures at vacation stays these days. We were impressed.

We partook an afternoon (1700 hrs) and an early morning (0645 hrs) drive with our guide Tim. The rides can accommodate 10 guests (one in the front with the driver, then 3 rows of 3 in the back). The best views are by far from the row all the way in the back due to its height advantage and unobstructed view behind. Sitting in the front with the guide, however, offers the best opportunity to ask questions, converse with the guide and get the most educational experience. I did both. Tim is fantastic. He is young, dynamic and has been doing this for over a decade. Well spoken, eloquent and highly educated and informed in his field of work. We were fortunate to have him as our designated guide for both excursions.

Each drive is about two hours, give or take. The reserve lays over a 3000+ hectare expanse so its not like a zoo where once can just walk from one cage to another and find a different animal. Its also different from any zoo I’ve ever been to (and stopped going years ago) because the creatures are in their natural habitat. Free to roam around as they please and be who nature has meant them to be. One can tell that they are all well taken care off. Healthy, fresh, relaxed… event happy. None of the melancholy that one unmistakenly notices with caged animals. The animals are not tagged so its not like they can geolocate them using GPS tracking. The guide will drive around, communicating with other guides to figure out the location of the different animals. Therefore, it is not guaranteed that guest will get to see every single inhabitant on the reserve. This annoyed some guests on our vehicle as we didn’t encounter giraffes on our two drives. We felt that was a very unreasonable and almost priviliged gesture. Unwarranted, if you ask me. The guide will stop the vehicle at a safe distance and allow plenty of time to immerse themselves in the splendor of these magnificent beasts. One never feels rushed. Don’t forget to bring along a pair of binoculars and a windbreaker.

The only thing during my stay that bothered me was the design of the chalet. It’s an octagonal wooden dwelling with a bedroom and a bathroom that are separated by a wall that does not go all the way up to the roof. So without that separation, one can imagine the consequences. I also appreciated the fact that instead of wasting plastic, paper bags were placed in trash bins all over the lodge. Paper straws instead of plastic. Little things that emphasize how South Africans are more protective of their land and environment than what we in the US...

not a luxury game reserve experience.

Based on the price and marketing, our stay brought a lot of disappointments. To start, while the accommodations and views are quite beautiful, we arrived to a room with a power outage through about 10PM the first night (separate from the load shedding that occurs regularly anyway), and there were no free rooms to move us to, despite their claims on their website that they are operating at reduced capacity due to COVID-19. Our bathtub was not working properly. All safari cars appeared full, as did the dining areas at breakfast and dinner.

The quality of the food and service was highly, highly variable. The first night the service was really unattentive, to the point where we left without dessert to ensure we had enough sleep for the game drive the next morning. The meat was tough and the pasta was over cooked. The wait and reception staff were frequently unfriendly. The next day we had a picnic, for which we were promised truffles and high quality food, and received sad lunch meat, sliced cheese and food poisoning that had us miss our game drive the next morning (this cost us 800 rand as well). To top things off, we were provided a cheap bottle of complimentary wine due to the poor service the night before, which they of course attempted to charge us for at checkout. Calamari for room service was pale and undercooked. I also paid for an hour long massage at the spa, which was nice but ended 20 minutes early.

Next, the game drives- what they don’t make clear from the website is that this actually feels a bit more like a free range zoo. The lions and elephants, for example, are separated from other animals and fed directly for safety reasons, in part because they were raised in captivity. They have to continually restock live prey for the cheetahs as they do not have self sustaining populations of springbok. You could see essentially all the animals in two drives (one night). The guides are very nice but frequently don’t have the experience and expertise you would see at other game reserves. They also advertise as having all of the Big 5, but it’s very, very unlikely that you will see a leopard during your stay. The trucks were poorly maintained. Ours broke down nearly every time the engine was turned off over our first day.

Lastly, at check out, they tried to charge us in cash for the full price of the stay, which we had already paid for, as well as the bottle of wine as mentioned above.

Nonetheless, some highlights. Our guide Kathy was very sweet and friendly, and the maintenance man was helpful when we were having issues with the room. The birding in the park was excellent. You will definitely see animals here, and they will often get quite close to the car. If you are looking for wild, more authentic encounters, these might feel more sterile with some of their animals. Unfortunately, that’s about it for the positives. In some ways, this felt like being stuck in a bad cruise.

Overall, we would suggest skipping this place and opting for some of the nicer reserves in national parks for a more authentic experience. It seems that this perhaps used to be a nice place, and the room was quite nice, but has really started to fall apart. The vast majority of aspects disappointed us. It’s clear that they don’t have enough staff to operate things properly- this includes both wait...

TLDR: I would recommend GRGL to someone who has never experienced a safari before. The staff were great, the food was exceptional, the accommodation was comfortable, and you get to see a lot of animals.

Accommodation: We stayed in a Valley View Chalet for three nights. The room was comfortable with good views and had everything we needed (toiletries, safe, etc.). We had an issue with ants but this was quickly resolved by the staff. Also, our room had two twin beds joined together. Otherwise, no major issues.

Food: Breakfast and dinner were included along with high tea with scones in the afternoon. The food was exceptional in terms of quality, portions, and variety. The service was also excellent. Drinks weren’t included, but the prices were very reasonable. Lunch also wasn’t included, but you may not need it based on the portion sizes of breakfast and dinner.

Game drives: We had two game drives per day (scheduled for 7-9am and 4-6pm). Our guides (Jane and Sune) were fantastic - super personable and knowledgeable. They were happy to take our requests for which animals we wanted to see during each drive. You will be riding in a converted Toyota truck (seating capacity of 10). We had 6 game drives and most of them only had 6 people. The guides also go out of their way to make you comfortable (hot water bottles and ponchos provided). The sunset drinks and snacks were also a great touch (unfortunately, the fire at the Boma was cancelled while we were there due to rain). There are a few things that can be improved: The website says that the drives will be between 2-3 hours. This was not the case. Each day we encountered some kind of delay (waiting for other guests to be picked up, issues with gates opening and closing, issues with the vehicle). Taking all of this into consideration, most drives were between 1.5-1.75hrs. Rusks weren’t available before the morning game drives (as listed in the handouts provided during check-in).

Animals: During our 6 game drives, we saw lions, elephants, white rhinos, buffaloes, hippos, zebras, cheetahs, ostriches, antelopes, and much more. We weren’t able to see leopards (very rare apparently), or giraffes because they're in an area that you can't get to if it has rained heavily as the Toyota will get stuck.

Atmosphere/setting: We saw quite a few comments calling this place a big zoo. This is partially true as some of the animals are separated so that they don’t kill each other. It’s not big enough yet to let all the animals roam free. The lodge is next to the highway so you will see a lot of electric fences, power lines, and hear trucks driving past at night. The lodge is built on old farmland and has grown over the years by purchasing other farms so you will also see a few farmhouses during your game drives. However, this place is enormous and I imagine it will keep growing in the years to come and hopefully become more “wild.” If you’re looking for a truly wild experience where you’re in the middle of nowhere and lions are walking past your tent at night, this is not the place for you. If you’re looking for an introductory safari experience where you can see some animals while enjoying some modern comforts, then I’d...