Olifants River Lodge By Dream Resorts — Hotel in Steve Tshwete Local Municipality

We stayed at Olifants River Lodge in March 2022. We stayed in one of the “luxury” rivierview villas, whilst friends of ours stayed in the camping area with their caravan.||||The resort is easy to find, although there is about 6km of dirt road (in a very good condition) one has to travel to get to the resort. The resort has a large heated pool inside a building, and 3 or 4 cold water pools. (We didn’t actually see anyone use the cold water pools – everyone was enjoying the heated pool.) There is a shop which stocks all the basics, and a restaurant. We only visited the restaurant one one occasion, and although there were very few people, the service was very very slow, and the waiter struggled to understand our basic order. The food was quite good though.||||We stayed in a “luxury” riverside villa. I wouldn’t call it “luxurious” – it seemed quite basic, but there was everything we needed. The villa was clean at first glance, although if you are very fussy, you are bound to find areas which haven’t been cleaned/dusted. The villas also need some basic maintenance – ours had one or two loose tiles, and some light bulbs need to be replaced. I wasn’t mad about the in-bath shower with plastic shower curtain, but it served its purpose and there was always hot water. The beds were very comfortable and we slept like kings.||||Our friends stayed in the large camping/caravanning area. There is a huge grass lawn, and all the caravan/camping spots are nicely spread out, so you’re never falling over other campers’ tents. It was very quiet and enjoyable. There is a river which runs in front of the camping spots, so take enough warm clothes/blankets if you are camping. The ablution facilities were in fair order, but could also do with some upgrades.||||We saw plenty of carp and catfish being caught, so it’s a good spot for those that enjoy fishing. There were plenty of kids around, but they were never distracting as they were always in the pools or on their bicycles cycling all over the resort. ||||We look forward to our next visit there, although we’d rather camp then stay in the...

The only reason I give it 2 stars is my daughter enjoyed the indoor pool. My sister was camping for the weekend and they invited us to stay. I phoned on Friday for a cabin for Saturday and the receptionist the lodge is full. I phoned back later to ask for a cabin for Friday and one was available. Checking in the room was not cleaned at all. Wet towels of the previous guest on the floor and dirty bathroom. Trash bin full. Many maintenance issues also noted like the ceiling fan not working and overall not clean or looked after. When checking out I told the receptionist the room was in a terrible state. Again, not sorry just an excuse that they had a large group. My sister only checked out the Sunday and she said there was 2 open cabins on Saturday night after the receptionist told us the lodge is full. Very disappointed. Not even discount offered. Also, only one heated pool which is actually too hot for comfort in undercover area. There are 3 pools in the undercover swimming area but the other 2 are ice cold can the system not circulate through all the pools so that all 3 are comfortable swimming temperature. We wanted to ride on the peddle boats and they charged us to use it. Getting to the peddle boat area there is nobody to assist us the boats are extremely filthy and in disrepair we had to ask for our money back. Not sorry or we will look into it. I think that maybe it was a nice place when it was new but maintenance is lacking. I cannot believe that Olifants River Lodge actually...

The resort probably has a lot of potential, but the overwhelming feeling was one of not our problem, contact corporate. When making the booking online I received a reservation number and a few hours later another email said I must pay or it will expire. Travelling at the time I did not investigate and made the payment. When we arrived at reception I was told I had two bookings which was clearly wrong. But since it was an online booking I was told to contact central reservations - zero attempt to assist. I have now reported this twice - still no response. We booked dinner bed and breakfast - nowhere is it stated that the last dinner orders are at 19:00. We had 45 minutes to decide what to eat - not quite the evening we had planned. The breakfast was equally uneventful and the heated pool had slimy algea growing on the sides. The Cabana were clean and had an aircon which was a pleasant surprise. Should be noted that the shower in the Cabana is in the bath which is not suitable for aged visitors. I requested via email check-in and check-out times and received no response. If you are planning on doing self catering note its not a quick drive to buy anything you forgot - the gravel road is hectic and we were in a 4x4. There were signs of recent money spent like the loungers at the pool and the grounds looked well kept. But overall certainly got the feeling of a tired family owned business with a corporate take over that left a few people disillusioned. Bit of a tragedy...