Guest reviews Settlers Drift

by KatrinFoerster Bremen, Germany

Dangerous! No Emergency Call possible and we were locked out !

My husband and I spent 3 nights at the Kariega Settlers Drift last week. It was the (costly) highlight at the end of a delightful journey through beautiful Garden Route. The Settlers Drift is located inside of the Kariega Game reserve. The luxury 5star lodge offers a big main tent with a Reception/Welcomehall/Bar/Restaurant and 9 big and firm private guest-tents to be reached via wooden bridges through the bush, distances can be rather far from the main tent. The tents are well designed and offer the privacy and luxury that we were looking for. Food and general service was good, our Field-Guide Wayne an excellent companion who showed us the wild life in the huge game resort by car, by boat and on foot, also presenting us 4 of the Big5 animals. On our last evening (Saturday 18th January) we came back to the Settlers Drift from a Night Safari at around 10.30 p.m., it was dark and heavily raining. Field-Guy Wayne led us to the foot-bridges through a totally empty main tent, which felt already quite strange to me. He asked if we would need a torch for our walk to our tent! To our surprise the lighting to show us the way over the bridge to our quite remote located tent was completely turned off and we were happy to have the torch to lead us through the darkness over the slippery bridge. When arriving at our tent (number 9) my husband noticed, that he had lost the key! After a short shock we rushed back to the main tent to find us locked out alone in the rain! With no one inside to attract attention! At this side of the main tent are only 3 guest tents and we were lucky that one tent of the 3 was occupied besides our own and we woke up the sleeping couple to ask them for the phone numbers out of the guest’s-directory to call for assistance. We all tried to call the night line: no one answered. The couple complained, that this was the same case the night before, when they tried to reach someone. We left the couple to try to walk to the staff houses: BUT: we were not only locked out of the main building, we were also locked in on its terrace side because we could not walk around it to reach the frontdoor of the lodge or the other guest tents nor staff accommodations. We tried numerous phone numbers besides the night line to reach someone in the whole Kariega Game Reserve but there was NO answer. Also Airtours Travel Agency in Germany, (who we could reach!) tried their best to help us! They called all their available phone numbers but could not reach anyone either. We were completely locked out of shelter and isolated in the game reserve at night. It was hard to believe! So finally we sat down all wet on a wet chair on the terrace in the rain, waiting for the minutes and hours to pass and it was absolutely miserable. Jackals were howling and very big black beetles buzzing and falling on us, attracted by a light on the terrace that we tried to sit close to. By a big surprise and unexpectedly we found the lost key at 2.00 a.m. in the morning (!) Yes, we were stupid to loose the key in the beginning. Right. These things happen. In ANY accommodation assistance would be available. But not in the plus 1000.- Euro a night 5star resort Kariega Settlers Drift. Just imagine anyone slips out on the wet bridge and breaks the leg. Or worse: has a heart attack or suffers anything else of major relevance during the early night until morning: you are in true danger and trouble because you might find yourself rescued only many hours later and it could be too late.... For us it was the last night of our vacation and pure horror. The person in charge said: ‚I am deeply sorry‘ the next morning. And also sent an excuse E-Mail afterwards repeating how very sorry she is. Well. So are we. Katrin and Christoph Foerster

by holidayman08 vancouver

Super luxurious Settlers Drift

You pay a premium for Settlers Drift. For your money, they offer an unparalleled measure of solitude. More wildlife than animals around. Only the sound of animals after dark. All rooms (partially tented) are enormous. The meals were top notch, especially our first night when the two of us had the library to ourselves with our own dedicated server. Amazing. Our ranger was Josh: knowledgeable and bordering on academic. He always provided wonderful mid-trip drinks, snacks and surprises. The biggest highlight was when Josh offered to take us out on a night tour from about 7:30 p.m to 12:30 a.m. We saw genet, black rhino, black-back jackel ... and a pride of lions feeding on an antelope. The experience of a life-time.

by Saendy1810 Zurich, Switzerland

The highlight of our holidays!

We will never forget the 3 days we had at settlers drift! After driving to the jetty we had a boat trip to the lodge, where we were warmly welcomed. The rooms are great and very private. We had game drives twice a day (early morning and afternoon). Breakfast, afternoon snacks and dinner were fantastic! Mo and the others from the staff were so nice and took care of us very well. The absolute highlight of our stay was the game drives and the bush walk with our ranger JC. The first two days we were a group of 7 people, on the last drive and the walk we were only 4 people. We really liked that the game drives were done in such small groups. Also, there were never more than 2 other vehicles close to the animals. JC knew the answers to all questions, we felt very safe and the game drives were always lots of fun. The pure nature of the reserve is just stunning and it is so fascinating to watch wild animals so closely. One of the highlights was the sunrise on top of a hill on our last day. Thank you so much! We will definitely come back!

by RayandHelen Bude, United Kingdom

Amazing

We stayed for two nights. Wow, what an amazing place and people. We were greeted by Jo, the manager, and Wayne who was our ranger for the duration of our stay. We were made to feel welcome and at home straight away. Our luggage was whisked away to our room whilst we checked in with Jo. She then showed us to our tent (although, it’s not like a tent I have ever stayed in) and is something to behold. We had a wood burning stove (thankfully we didn’t need it) an electric blanket, amazing view of the planes, superb bathroom, etc., etc. We were a group of just 7 on the drives, so small and personal. Wayne our guide was amazing. Very knowledgeable and passionate about the animals and area. He was determined that we should see as much as possible. We got up very close to the lions and could have touched the elephants when they walked by the Land Rover, they were that close. I would definitely recommend Settlers Drift if you want to do a small but intimate safari and stay in beautiful accommodation.

by MFMD Denver, Colorado

Safari in South Africa

Wonderful lodge and wonderful staff! Thank you Stephanie for being such a great ranger! We saw all of the animals during our stay! It was very windy and our tent was a bit noisy at night but otherwise fantastic and beautiful lodge, definitely 5 star