Kagga Kamma Nature Reserve — Hotel in Witzenberg Local Municipality

It was my dream to celebrate my birthday at Kagga Kamma, so we’ve booked a cave for two nights. I totally regret that I chose this place and here I’ll explain why. During this days there was good and bad things. Good things about this place: beautiful nature and mmm.. that’s all Bad things: WiFi. There was no reception at all, no WiFi in the room, but wifi in the restaurant, that you have to pay for - 15 rand for 100 mb. Which is fine (no). The worst thing is when your 100 mb is finished, you have to go to website and fill login and password (all the time different), that is written on a small paper. And as it was my birthday I’ve got so many video calls from my close relatives and friends and I couldn’t reply on any of them properly. They should warn about that problem. I understand that some people go to places like this to get away from technologies. But some people are fine with technologies and don’t want to have compulsory detox from internet. Birthday package. We got one day birthday package and one normal day. On the website it’s written that you’ll get a lot of “complimentary” things like: morning nature drive, stargazing tour, dinner. Yes, it’s written there that it’s complimentary! But at the end of the day, when we paid, we’ve realized that they actually charged us for all of this things. For normal day we paid 3738 rand, but for birthday package 4494, it’s 756 rand more. Then we checked prices for activities and yes, they just made us pay for them. What’s written on the website is a lie, it was not complimentary at all. Plus we paid extra for my boyfriend, as I couldn’t go alone for all this activities. Food. The worst of all. We expected much better food. It was ok, but if you compare price you pay for this rooms and quality of food, they could do better. I accept this kind of food in a cheap hotel. Outdoor restaurant with bonfire was very beautiful though Service. Was ok, nothing special, I didn’t feel special (though it was my birthday and we’ve left a lot of money there). Waiters were very friendly, but very slow. Manager looked like he doesn’t really care. Nobody asked us if we are ok, if we like everything, if our room is fine. They didn’t remove stargazing tour from the bill (it was cancelled due to weather conditions), so we had to ask them to remove it. Also I forgot my charger in the room, so they told me they would send me details of how I can pay them money for delivery, but they didn’t forgot. Communication was very poor Room. Very small and uncomfortable. The cave is not real and made from some material, which looked very artificial, hooks for towels were broken, curtain tracks are cheap and broken as well. Shower and toilet were nice. Room was clean. Pool. Plastic beds without cushions, dirty cleaning equipment was left right in the corner of the pool. Infrastructure. Could be better. The garden around caves was beautiful, but coming closer to reception there was no pathways, just sand everywhere. Activities. I had an amazing massage there. Also we had sundowner Safari ( 800 rand for two of us). Two hours of shaking in the car, getting completely frozen, but we’ve seen two Antelopes and one hare!

My conclusion - overpriced. I wouldn’t go back there...

This is the most remote place we've visited. It's been on my bucket list for many years. We stayed in cave room 15, the honeymoon suite. (3-year delayed honeymoon). There are 15 cave suites. There are also huts and self-catering houses, as well as many camp sites. We went with the half-board package, so breakfast and dinner. Breakfast is 8am to 10am and dinner is 7pm to 9pm, so take snacks if you don't want to wait 9 hours for your next meal. Ir go uave a bite in the restaurant, which serves lunch 12pm to 3pm. Their food is divine. Every starter, mains and dessert was very tasty. Cudos to the chef/s.

The suite we were in had a large shower with 2 heads and a separate toilet with basin. There's a glazed glass pane separating the toilet from the room. We hung a blanket over for a little more privacy. There is a minibar fridge in the room and a coffee/tea station. They supply a lot of sachets and longlife milk. There's plug points everywhere and lots of lights.

The bed is very comfortable and we slept well. The cave is surprisingly not as cold as we expected for winter. Though our neighbours in suite 14 said they were freezing. The aircon heater works very well. There is no tv, which we were happy about. Cell phone reception is non-existent in most places. But we had on and off.

The entire resort is run on a solar farm, so there are no issues here with loadshedding. They have free (good) wifi at the main reception building, reataurant and pub.

We did a quad one-hour drive. It was great. Very bumpy, but enjoyable. We're going to the Spa later, then doing the 4km hike and maybe mini-golf, so I'll update this post later to share our experiences. Oh and they even have a driving range here. It was under water, which you'll see in the photo's I've posted. Oh and the bar is open during the day until late at night. It has a large tv.

For those concerned, about driving there, the lodge is situated about 36km (on a dirt road) from the main tar road. The road is well maintained and we travelled comfortably in a normal 2x4 small SUV vehicle. As you climb the mountainside, the road is tarred, I guess for safety. It is a beautiful drive, peaceful and scenic.

Should you visit here? Absolutely! It is one of those places where you'll sit in awe to see just how beautiful nature is, when it's far away from the bustle of city life. There's no traffic, fresh air, great food, helpful and friendly staff, incredible night sky, beautiful rocks, placid but shy birds and dassies, and...

Where to start, after being stressed out about driving on the gravel road with a hatchback, we were pleasantly surprised that it wasn't that bad at all, you just have to be patient. That was just the beginning of how lovely the rest was to follow. Since the moment we stepped into reception, until the moment we left, we were treated like royalty, each and every staff member went out of their way to accomodate us. They are friendly and professional and do such a good job, from the barman to the cleaners. We enjoyed cocktails while admiring the most beautiful rock formations, then climbed the stairs to watch the amazing sunset. We stayed in one of the caves, and from opening the door on a hot day and being met with the coolest air from the airconditioner, to finding a lovely treat of sherry by our bed, to the fluffiest gowns and take home slippers, to the spotless bathrooms, and ending the evening on our stoep with a glass of wine overlooking the breathtaking view and being overwhelmed by the silence, we felt nothing short of spoiled! The cleaners came to check up on us and brought us a little bed time chocolate, everything they do at Kagga Kamma is delightful and unnecessarily kind! The mini fridge in the room was perfect for keeping our snacks, the little box with shower cap, earbuds and cotton pads in the bathroom were top quality, the towels, sheets, pillows and duvet were impeccable. The complimentary breakfast was flawless, we could choose both a cold and a hot breakfast. The bacon was crispy, the eggs were made to perfection, the toast was fresh and not store bought, and the butter... Oh the butter, i still dream of that delicious butter! We enjoyed all this while being entertained by the cutest blou kop koggelmander. We made use of their spa facilities, and what an absolute pleasure without breaking the bank! They are so affordable, the spa was spotless and smelled like a pamper heaven! The ladies who did our treatments were thorough, kind, and professional. I had a scalp exfoliating treatment and after looking like a vetkoek forgotten in oil, my hair feels silky smooth! We even received a little complimentary bag of bath salt and soap from them! Oily, rested, and overwhelmed by everyone's generosity, we were sad to leave this magical place! If i had to complain about something, it would be that there was not enough alcohol in the cocktails! But that's just the Boland in me. Would recommend this divine...