Aquila Private Game Reserve Reviews 14

Booked the Premier Cottage for a night for our first Wedding Anniversary. Friendly staff welcomed us. The first afternoon game drive, driver very knowledgeable and helpful.

We booked in and to be honest for a Premier Cottage the cottage needs some serious TLC. The wooden deck nails sticking out and panels seemed to be very old and possibly dangerous to walk on. I did not want to show my disappointment as I wanted to make our first Anniversary a special one and tried to look past the wooden floors in the room that seem to be slanting from the main stone floor, the broken blinds and the very uncomfortable bed.

I thought the evening would make up and I was soon disappointed. When we arrived they seated us to a bare table with just reserved sign on the table. We sat for about 10- 15 minutes until I could not take been ignored by the lady in front that was scrolling on her cell phone. When I asked if she was the concierge as she was at a podium, she was the manager on duty in front by the entrance. Geisler or Giseler no name badge the restaurant manager then apologized and got a waitress to to set the table. Words cannot describe when they basically plonked down knives and forks on a place. I was livered and at this point reached boiling point looking at how nice the other tables were set feeling sad. Sad for the fact i booked premier cottage, the anniversary package for the room and could not even get the standard table setting we deserved as all the others received.

For the experience and the money extremely disappointed and how something like this can ultimately ruin your first Wedding anniversary!!

UPDATE TO MY ORIGINAL REVIEW:
After witnessing some of the guides committing acts of cruelty against wildlife during our game drives, and after the general manager was completely unhelpful, I emailed the owner and got a response from the Aquila Collection Head Office. They investigated and told me what actions they took to put a stop to the reported animal cruelty. I appreciate this immensely!!

I still encourage everyone to report any animal abuse you witness to the NSPCA and the Aquila Collection Head Office. They can’t put a stop to it if they don’t know it’s happening. (More tips about reporting below.)

ORIGINAL REVIEW:
Active Intentional Animal Cruelty at Aquila - PLEASE REPORT IT!
During the game drives they stop at a bar area with baboons so tourists can take photos. My family and I witnessed some of the guides stoning with giant rocks, and whipping the baboons, including babies, for the sole purpose of their own sick personal amusement. When confronted, they make up ridiculous, unintelligent lies to try to cover themselves because they know they are violating animal cruelty laws. PLEASE REPORT THEM!! Help protect animals from these violent guides! Try to get photo and video evidence of the abuse if you can - but either way, please report anything you see. We reported the abuse we witnessed to the NSPCA - please do the same. It was really easy. I can’t include contact info in the review, but it is easy to find by Googling “NSPCA contact info South Africa”. Aquila management has been alerted to this cruelty multiple times, by multiple guests, visiting at different times over several months. They have failed to effectively put a stop to it.

If you haven’t made your reservation yet - don’t. You’ll risk witnessing disturbing, live animal cruelty shows that will sicken you and ruin your trip. Search for ethical wildlife tourism instead, and make sure wherever you book is not part of The Aquila Collection. (They own multiple properties with different names.)

This is the second time we have been here, this time with our son. We were here in 2015 as a newlywed couple and again now with a 7 year old. Both experiences were excellent but different as we are now a family. The game drives are exactly as described on the site, and the guides go above and beyond with explanations - in fact, I wish we had done more research beforehand to ask more interesting questions, since the guide knew much more than we were capable of asking. We were lucky to see most of the animals up close, keeping in mind that a 10,000 hectare area is a wide area for the animals to roam. 10/10 for the staff - we arrived late for breakfast and they brought us food and coffee free of charge! This is a very family-friendly place and our son had a blast in the pool. Also, this is a real refuge for animals as there are many rescued animals and they have a 24/7 rhino security team to ensure they are safe.

In a nutshell: exactly as described with a staff that goes above and beyond. Even the drive over was pleasant and comfortable with a very clean, cool van and a kind and safe driver. Thanks Craig!

The transfer, the landscape, all the people who work there, security, games, cottage, organization, food, animals ... everything was percect. I just loved. No stress, no difficulties to see the magestic animals. We saw all but the leopards... those are rare.

It's was great experience being exploring the five star Aquilla Game Reserve,a facility that care of our "loving animal's"

Maybe 1.5 stars would be justified. The facilities are good, it's clean, and it's safe. But to call it a game reserve, you need to place some game on the reserve. Compare to other game reserves, Aquila has barely any animals. Four elephants, four lions, a handful of zebras, plus one or two rhinos, that's pretty much it. There might be a giraffe somewhere... (hiding behind a bush?), but we never saw it, and no one we talked to had ever seen one.

Bring your own food! Lots of it! The food at the buffets are disgusting at best, and there are no alternatives, no à la carte restaurant and no grocery store.

And try not to let the staff annoy you. Front desk and wellness staff are okay, but the servers were as terrible as the food - not rude, just nonchalant and ignorant. Oh, and don't pay with cash. They'll never bring your change back.

All in all, a lovely place. It just need a manager who can manage, a chef who can cook, and a safari park with animals.

Very bad experience with Aquila.

After arranging and paying everything via their website, we could not wait to go on the safari.
Booked on Monday, safari would be on Wednesday.
We booked (and payed!) the safari including the transport.

Because I did nog hear anything Tuesday about the time of transport, I emailed them. They emailed back within an hour and promised me I would hear the transport times that day.

Unfortunately I did not hear anything. I emailed them several times again, contacted via Instagram, tried to call - nothing from Aquila.

Set my alarm at 05:00 so I could check if they would give me the transport times late kn the evening or early in the morning - still nothing.

After 09:00 Wednesday morning I got a really inappropriate email from them, about that they contacted me and that now I am a ‘now show’ and will not get my money back.

They absolutely did not contact me.

I am very disappointed in how they managed this, but also how they now react on the ‘no show’.
Absolutely not how you should treat your clients who pay a lot of money.

I am not getting my money back which I think is not the way you do business.
Let this be a lesson for anybody who wants to book with Aquila.
Check everything before you transfer them money.

Negligence. Unsafe. Management don't care.

Awful customer service from the general manager. If you have an issue, they won't be anything. We travelled with a baby and paid nearly £1k for 2 nights to stay in one of the lodges for a treat. The air conditioning didn't work and the temperature didn't drop below 28 degrees Celsius. Unsafe for a baby. The water was brown so we couldn't bathe or sterilize for our baby. Managements response was "what do you expect in South Africa" And "I brought my kids up in this environment" Which is outrageous.

We slept terribly due to the heat and spent a lot of our free time trying to resolve the issues which other than being given bottled water, nothing was done. The general manager avoided us and ignored us.

Don't waste your money. Don't come here with kids.

More of a downmarket theme park/zoo than a reserve. Very disappointing. Rooms not too clean and the dining room was filthy. Food not fit for stray animals. I've been ill ever since. It was a pain to pay in the first place, and when I was promised a one night refund, even worse - after three weeks I still haven't received

Think the behaviour of this company is shocking. Myself (and many others I have heard about through Tripadvisor) have been waiting over a year to be refunded for cancelled trip.
My personal experience is that of being lied to, ignored and mocked via email, and then blocked.
I understand that initially the company may have suffered cash flow difficulties but now I can see they are operational again and have no intentions of refunding the customers who have paid the equivalent of a months rent for a trip that they cancelled. Everyone has suffered cash flow difficulties due to covid but this company cares not a jot.

We did the safari combo package from Cape Town. 2hr transfer in minibus to the game reserve,buffet breakfast and drinks which was lovely, 2.5hr safari by truck, nice and close to most animals except the giraffe and dodnt see the leopard who where hiding in the hills, then a buffet lunch including drinks and either horse riding, quad biking or spa for 2hrs in the afternoon before heading home. We chose horseback safari which was AMAZING. Our guide was brilliant, so knowledgeable and we had a nice gallop on the sandy area. The horses were so well looked after and very happy, i was pleasantly surprised. Would highly recommend this day out to anyone, we were very impressed!!!

We decided to buy a package deal at the Aquila Private Game Reserve just about 2 hours north of Cape Town. It was a very very beautiful place and we enjoyed the buffet style breakfast when we arrived. The game drive was also fantastic and we saw white rhinos, giraffes, elephants, buffalos, zebras, lions, springboks, hippos and more and our guide was also really nice and knew a lot of fun things about the animals. His name was Abriel, he was excellent! The only reason why I can't rate Aquila 5 stars out of 5 is that the package deal included lunch also, which was great. But - we didn't get anything to drink with the lunch, not even water or wine (the price of water and wine is almost the same in So Africa...)! We thought that was a bit cheap of them that you had to pay extra for drinks with the lunch when we bought a package deal for R 1595 each person (we were 4 people).

So - in order for Aquila Private Game Reserve to receive 5 stars out of 5 they just need to include drinks with lunch. Then it's a given!