Aquila Safari Game Tour (Groups)

We had hoped to finish an otherwise perfect stay in Cape Town with a memorable experience at Aquila. I had booked and paid for a Premium Cottage and staff had emailed to confirm that the Cottage I had booked and paid for was their "Honeymoon" cottage. The website describes a private retreat away from the rest of the resort with views across the Park. On arrival we had to wait in a busy and noisy queue at reception with all the other day visitors. We were told it would be another 2 hours before we could check into our rooms. After an extremely underwhelming lunch we decided to visit the "tranquil" spa to escape the crowds. We were met there by a terse receptionist who seemed offended that we wished to actually use the facilities. We had towels thrown at us and she did not provide us with keys for lockers or robes which we had to go back and ask for. The spa very quickly also became over-run with people some who only came in to take photos. We decided to leave and check into what we hoped would be a more private cottage. We were taken to cottage 7 despite booking cottage 9 We were surprised to find that our cottage was totally exposed with our balcony visible to everyone at the resort. With the blinds open we could be seen on our bed and even sitting on the toilet, the bathtub was also visible to the adjacent cottages. In the outdoor shower I could be seen showering by people in the opposite family cottages and the main lawn, in the doorway to the shower I was also visible to anyone in the bar and terrace area. I tried to raise this complaint with staff at the resort but was told that I must "close the blinds." This defeats the purpose of paying for a premium cottage as I wanted to see the views. I have had no reponse to my email complaints from Head Office either. The food and service was the worst we had experienced in South Africa despite being the most expensive element of our trip. The only positive feature was our game driver Charlie who was friendly and cheerful and tried to put a positive spin on an otherwise sparsely populated park with fewer animals than my local Safari park. The resort is clearly making lots of money from the bus loads of tourists pouring throush and it disappointing that we also found a list of maintenance issues including wobbly tables in the bar, broken doors out to the terrace, shower doors in the spa area that don't close, our outdoor shower didnt drain and flooded the bathroom after a few minutes of running. I would not ever consider returning here and would encourage other tourists to save up their money to see wild animals instead.

My family and I had an amazing time on this tour. Our hosts were amazing and did everything possible to make sure my family had a wonderful experience. We are so glad we booked this tour.

Great service and on time pick up! We felt like the service provided was a great value. Thanks to our driver for helping us understand the country.