Orange River Rafting Lodge

I recently visited the Orange River Rafting Lodge and had a mixed experience. The scenery was absolutely stunning, offering breathtaking views that made the trip worthwhile. The bar area was another highlight, with its welcoming atmosphere and excellent hospitality. However, the camping area left much to be desired. The bathrooms were a significant letdown—not only were they in poor condition, but several lights weren’t functioning at night, making it challenging to use the facilities. Additionally, there were no dustbins in the camping areas, which was inconvenient and surprising for a site like this. While the overall stay was enjoyable thanks to the natural beauty and friendly staff, the state of the bathrooms doesn’t justify the daily rates. It’s a lovely spot, but some upgrades are definitely needed to make it worth the price.

I have booked the 6 sleeper chalet at Orange river rafting lodge in Vioolsdrif earlier this year. To be honest the pictures are quite deceiving from what you get in person. The drive to get to the lodge is absolutely horrible and we can see that the road does not get scraped very often. You cannot come here with a small car. We were greeted with a warm welcome however, the staff seemed very rude as we stayed on and did not greet unless we greeted them first. The bathroom had a horrible smell and the toilet keeps leaking. This prevented the toilet bowl from filling and we had to ask the helper twice to come fix the toilet. It also seems as if the lodge's water supply comes from the river because the water smells bad. My family also complained about the pool being slippery and full of algae. This stopped most of us going into the pool. I was asked when we wanted room service and we said on the second day. On the second day we waited for the room service until past 12 and we had to ask the ladies ourselves to come and clean the rooms. The ladies were very unfriendly. The chalet was also full of cockroaches and insects. This was very off putting. A few months back when I spoke to the manager I was told that we don't have to check out immediately at 10'o clock. We can check out later which gave us the peace of mind to leave the place at eaze and not in a rush. And this morning we were told to leave at 10. This is something that has to be communicated with us. Overall, this was not the best experience and it is such a beautiful and relaxing place. I hope for the lodge to take this into consideration and make a lot of improvements. I rate this place 2/5

What an amazing time next to the Orange River with the family. Clean, neat rooms, camping and ablution facilities. Kids loved the pool, and we enjoyed the hot tub. Vaughn the manager is very hospital. Thank you. We are looking forward to our next visit.

For the location, campsite and the view I would probably give a rating of 4, so this one 1 star I gave rated is for our overall experience. We arrived at this location dusty and tired after spending some weeks 4 x 4 overlanding in Namibia and Botswana and enroute to Cape Town. Upon arrival we were blown away by the location and the welcome we recieved from the manager, little did we know that looks can be deceiving. Come 6pm other guest started to arrive at the chalets and we immediately became apprehensive after loud music was turned on and liquour started flowing, we knew that we were in for a very very long night and little did we know that it would turn into a total nightmare! In my mind I expected that OK, the group of guests is just having a get together and probably come 10 or 11pm the noise will stop - No way!!! The partying continued through the night up until 4pm, with the guest shouting Chug, chug, chug non stop!!!! How the Management of this establishment can allow this to happen is totally baffling and totally inconsiderate of the other paying guests. It was a very long drive to Cape Town after a sleepless night at this place.

While the location is excellent, the accommodation is truly shocking. Painting a delipidated wendy house in the colours of Country Hotels does not change that it is falling apart. Broken locks, blocked toilet, incomplete crockery, dirty splash pool and no wood. While the manager tried to rescue the disaster by giving us a free rafting trip, it can hardly change the fact that this place is in desperate need of renovation or new management or both.

We made use of the Camping facilities. Not what we expected. Real experience does not reflect what is stated on the Internet. The pool was not cleaned, and the bathrooms were not cleaned properly. If they do attend to this, we will stay there again.