Moholoholo Mountain View — Hotel in Maruleng Local Municipality

Negligent guide completely ruined our wedding photos and put our entire party in danger!

Any guests (but especially brides) should steer clear!

Ya Mati was our wedding venue and we booked Mountain View (MV) exclusively for our guests and as our photo location. While there is no reception at MV, they had a guide to phone to let you in at the gate, and then escort guests to their rooms from the parking lot. Moreover, they strictly prohibited unaccompanied drives in the wild area due to the lack of signage and the presence of dangerous animals. I was ok with this rule and they emphasized it multiple times.

In preparation for the big day, we visited MV on two occasions, even exploring with the guide, Zander Kok, and choose two photo locations—the landing strip and (what I was most excited for) the dam, which was where we planned to take sunset shots.

Let me start with the day before the wedding. I called Zander, and he allowed us through the gate and assured us he'd meet us in the parking lot. However, he was nowhere to be found, leaving two elderly guests stranded in the scorching 35-deg heat. He eventually arrived around 2:30 PM, well after the 2:00 PM check-in time, and admitted he hadn't been on the reserve when he allowed us through the gate.

On the wedding day, we were to meet at MV at 16:30 for our official wedding photos. We arrived about 15 minutes late due to a guest spilling green icing on my white dress – a minor delay for a wedding. When we called the number, Zander said he'd open the gate. However, it remained shut. We called all three numbers multiple times but he kept declining all of our calls. All six vehicles, carrying the wedding party, photographers, and videographers, were left waiting outside the main gate. Desperate, we contacted the lady from who we rented a safari vehicle from to use in the photos (an external vendor not associated with MV). She had arrived at MV well before us, and gave us her gate code, which let us in. A complete stranger, not an MV staff member, was the one to let us in and I shudder to think what would've happened without her.

In the MV parking lot, we waited for Zander, as driving in the wild area without one was forbidden. After a while and more unanswered calls, we left the parking lot to avoid losing our photo time altogether. The lady who rented the safari vehicle informed us that the guide had left before we arrived.

We reached the landing strip, taking hurried photos as the sun set. We then wanted to go to the dam for sunset photos but surprise surprise, we got lost without the guide. After aimlessly driving around, we were forced to just stop randomly on the side of the road and take our photos there. Our wedding party (20 people including vendors) were just rushing around in the veld, trying to take photos while also searching for the dam, all while knowing buffalo were nearby (which is very dangerous). While taking the roadside photos, Zander (who was supposed to be our guide) arrived, with a lady in the passenger seat and chairs and picnic items in the bakkie. He saw us, and speedily U-turned and drove off, leaving all of us still wondering around the veld unattended.

We lost SO MUCH precious photo time due to gate and parking lot delays as well as getting lost. I also had a panic attack, fearing we'd lose all our photos, and sadly, we did end up losing the sunset dam photos which we'd planned with MV months in advance because we never did find the dam. My face was swollen from crying, so I had to look away in many pictures.

I'm still devastated by the loss of our precious photo time despite careful planning. It was terrifying choosing between wandering unattended in the dangerous veld or forfeiting our wedding photos. What other choice did we have? Should we have skipped wedding photos altogether?

I complained three weeks ago, and they said they'd escalate it to management, but haven't responded since then. Whether it's a wedding or not, MV showed complete and utter negligence and disregard for their guests and I would not recommend staying...

Never met such a negligent and uncaring guide!

My daughter had booked Mountain View for her wedding photos months in advance and we even drove around on the property with the guide beforehand to pick photo locations. On the wedding day itself, the guide didn't show up and refused to let us on to the property. We lost so much photo time and were forced to just stop and take pictures on the side of the road. While wondering around, the guide happened upon us with a lady and picnic items! He was a no show to our wedding photos because he decided to go on a date instead!!! Our photos were completely ruined!

(P.S there were wild buffalo just roaming around too and the guide didn't even care that us inexperienced people were just wondering around the side of the road trying to take pictures which is so dangerous! What would've happened if a buffalo decided to charge? But what else were we supposed to do? Miss the wedding...

We had booked moutain view for some of our wedding guests and our wedding photos. The treatment was terrible from the young guide who was supposed to be helping us. He left elderly people stranded in extreme heat when they were checking in, as he arrived more than 30 mins later than he said he would. Additionally, we almost lost our wedding photo session completely as he decided not to let us in and instead was found later to be taking someone on a date to our...