Orange River Rafting Lodge

Atmosfera magica

The location was great, next to the Orange River. View of the sunrise and sunset over the river were brilliant. We could watch the rugby match in their outside restaurant and the locals that joined us added to a great atmosphere.

I would have appreciated a towel hook next to the shower in our unit.

Very very helpful management

Kitchen was very helpful and food was great, but kitchean is really very dirty

Just clean kitchen would allredy help! Tolit and shower outside was n surprise! We paid for hottubs in the 3 of the room, but they where all in for repair!

This is an excellent stop-over on route to or from Namibia! Very conveniently located less than 10km from the border post on the South Africa side. The setting is very tranquil - right on the bank of the might Orange River. The staff were very welcoming and friendly. If we were not 'on the road' we would have liked to stay longer.

One friendly man, Vaughn, who met us at reception but unfortunately we were unable to contact him again after repeated efforts.

They refused a cancellation of one of the two days. When questioned, they first did not know what I was talking about and then the lady said she just did what the manager told her to do but the manager was not available and was never made available. The shower outlet was totally blocked. I cleared it. In the morning the shower was cold. The bathroom door closed with difficulty. The outside warm tub they started cleaning when we arrived. We lit fire but it takes hours to heat but and we were unable to enjoy than and sleep. There was no firewood available. Firewood had to be bought off the premises, next to a liquor store at a rediculous price with some very unpleasant people hanging around there. In the morning we had a flat tyre. After testing, we found that there was nothing wrong with it. It was obviously deflated during the night. What substantiated that belief was that the previous night a tyre of the car of another guest went flat, misteriously. There is no security at the place. We received no atention or help from any of the staff. A very kind fellow guest helped me check out the problem. There was plenty of time to be of help but we were totally avoided. The access to the place is on a terrible road. We travelled all over Namibia on dirt roads but this was worse than most that we experienced. I was promised that they would look into the cancellation policy and get back to me. Unsurprizingly, I did not hear a thing from them. It would be very hard for me to return there or to recommend the place to anyone else. Negative, negative!

The location on the side of the Orange River is perfect for taking advantage of the river rafting opportunities offered by several places in the neighbourhood including this camp. The camp is also located about 12km from one of the entrances of the Nababeep Park, enabling easy access to the park. We did not travel extensively inside the park as our car had a slow puncture and we needed to get back to town (Vioolsdrif) to get it fixed, but what we saw indicated very beautiful and unusual landscapes which we will come back to explore more extensively in the future. We only came to overnight on our way back to Cape Town, but next time, we will stay for enough time to do a canoe trip. The chalet we stayed in had aircon which kept us warm in the evening (It was Winter time, so while the days are comfortable around 20 degrees celcius, the nights are cold at around 0 degrees). They chalet also had all the kitchen implements we needed and a hot shower. The cost for the night was low in our veiw most likely because it is out of season, so this made us feel that we got really good value for money.

The gravel road in is heavily corrugated so the 8km from Vioolsdrif is bone rattling. This is not easy for the camp to fix as it is the responsibility of the local municipality and encouraging them to grade the road is hard to do. There also appeared to be a diesel water pump which started at some point during the night upstream of us which did not make a huge amount of noise, but the sound travelled in the cold night air and was enough to hide the birdsong in the morning. Again, this is likely to have been a neighbouring farmer and was beyond the control of the camp.

Lekker views of the river. Bar staff and host made a good effort. Felt safe in the resort. Bed was confy. Beers were cold

The chalet needed some fixing up. Door latches and handles being jimmied fixed, and doors not being square, clear unfinished repairs within the unit. Over all feel of the need for attention to detail was clear

The views and the hospitality.

The restaurant food was not great at all and the rooms need some TLC.