Mbotyi River Lodge — Hotel in Ingquza Hill Local Municipality

We stayed in the campsite at Mbotyi River Lodge, which is opposite the lodge itself. The grounds were FULL of ants so it was difficult to find a place to pitch the tent - so much so that one of the staff came over to spray them with doom!!! Which completely put me off from the beginning, being a lover of nature. I would have managed to divert the ants some other way using natural methods... the grounds were not very well kept and the campsite is extremely small. The staff were un-organised and very unprofessional and couldnt find my payment that I had made in full almost a year prior to the trip - so we had to wait for them to sort that out. The ablution facilities were appalling with no maintenance having been done for ages and absolutely no privacy.||The only reason we booked in there was because as freelance photographers, we thought we would get good landscape photography, but this was very limited with not much in the immediate vacinity (walking distance) to photograph.||However, nearby are a number of waterfalls and a beautiful tea plantation - Makqwa Teas.||We had a very very unpleasant situation at one of the falls when a truck load of drunk youth's arrived after going through their "initiation" ceremony and made me feel very uncomfortable and unsafe when they approached the vehicle and started to make comments about being a white women out there in the middle of nowhere. Luckily my husband didnt start a confrontation and drove off. It left a bitter taste in our mouth of the area and what is happening to tourism in the...

We hoped for a relaxed beach side stay on the Wild coast but cut our trip short on arrival. First impression was very dismal. The owner and management are lackadaisical about maintenance and care of the property. The lodge is on a lovely lagoon and overlooks the beach if you are in a front chalet. The junior staff are very pleasant but one feels sad when there are hardly any guests.|The food was surprisingly tasty and we enjoyed it.|The room we stayed in didn't have a fridge but access to a cold drink is only possible at midday. Under no circumstances would they deviate from the strict rule despite us being the only guests bar one individual who seemed to be a permanent resident as he ate in his room. If you are thirsty after an early morning walk/run its tough luck-no cold drinks.|The early morning walk was lovely and there were only a few people on the beach.|There is cell phone reception but no wi fi for guests.|The road is the worst we encountered on our ten day road trip. Government authorities obviously ignore this dirt road. Security is good for guests. The one senior manager, Pauline, was helpful and friendly.|Would we go there again? Unlikely.|What we didn't understand is that the property we were told is owned by a Mr Peter Gillespie but why doesn't he pay more attention...

The place needs an entire revamp. It seems its still stuck in the 1980s. This has nothing to do with Covid as another guest has stated. The revamp has been looong overdue. ||The cleaning staff has to do a better job. Our room smelled like the back wash from the sewer line. There were marks on the supposedly clean sheets and pillows. They take no interest in creating any activities for the guests, just some old canoes we had to carry ourselves down to & from the lagoon. Other than that NOTHING...just the sound of the ocean. the food wasn't half bad, and I think that may have been the only highlight of the whole stay. I would suggest the staff perhaps getting some uniforms the day you decided to revamp and maybe remarked the place. ||||I might add that the difference between a standard room and a superior room is a fridge. Even though the site clearly states that all the rooms have a fridge. I was quite disgusted by that, but "upgraded" nonetheless as we people far from home need fridges some for...