Aquila Private Game Reserve

Aquila was a complete let down for us when it came to the staff attitude and accommodation. Let's face it, when you book for a night at an acclaimed 4 star Game Reserve you do expect certain things - a constant loud dripping/blooping/bubbling sound from the bath plumbing after using the toilet, basin or shower that then continues ALL through the night is not one of them. Mouse poop and a mouse nest next to and behind the bar fridge in your room is not one of them. Mice running around in your room all night because you have actually come into their space where they nest so no matter what you try you can't get them out of the room is definitely not one of them. Holes nibbled into the pillow cases on your bed is also not one of them. Now I can appreciate that it is a wildlife park and run in's with critters are to be expected, the mice themselves - while a bit of a nuisance at night with their shuffling about when you are trying to sleep - were not actually the big issue here. My issue was the mouse droppings NEXT to the fridge, in plain sight. They were definitely not one days accumulation which indicates to me that the rooms are not cleaned properly at all. (Aquila, if you are reading this, it's Chalet Number 21 and we were there on the night of November 20th). We tried to talk to the staff on duty at reception about it the following morning and were advised to fill out a comments form, which they then couldn't find. We were told it would be brought to us at breakfast, which didn't happen and then when we returned to their desk after breakfast she said she had forgotten and would get one... and then disappeared. It all seemed really strange to me, like they were trying to fob us off because they are so used to complaints now? All in all we got the feeling that while Aquila may once have been an amazing place to stay, it's just been 'let go' - like the staff just couldn't be bothered anymore. We spotted broken things all over the resort: bricks missing in the middle of paved sections,giant open man holes with temporary cement blocks covering them IN the middle of walking paths to and from the accom, a broken putt putt course that wasn't even sectioned off so you could walk right in, a swimming pool 'under maintenance' with no sign of anyone working on it... etc etc etc, I think you get my point here. We also had a bit of an issue with the fact that there are birds flying around freely in the dining room - now again the birds themselves were actually quite sweet but more than once we spotted them eating muesli and cereals OUT of the bowls the guests are meant to dish up out of. GROSS! Surely even just one member of staff standing by would help to sort this out? Other than all of the above, the food (bird tainted or not, we'll never know) was pretty good (labels for what the dishes are would be appreciated as I very nearly dished up what I thought was stew and it turned out to be chicken livers) and the game drives were excellent with rangers who are well educated and very informative. So all in all, I would recommend a day trip to Aquila to anyone but if they asked about the accommodation I'd tell them to find somewhere else to spend the night. R2295+ per person (sharing) or R3442 if you are on your own - for a sleepless, mice infested, drip drip dripping night is somehow just not worth it... but maybe that's just me.

We stayed for 3 nights and thoroughly enjoyed our stay. The accommodation was excellent, as were the meals. I also enjoyed the game drives very much.