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This was probably one of the worst hotels we have ever visited. We are travelling a lot and have a lot of Hotel experience in South Africa and all over the world to compare with. My girlfriend and i are both working in the Hotel department so we do have some knowledge about the process. We have been visiting Anewa Resort Vulintaba Newcastle as a small stop over while traveling from Pongola Nature reserve to Johannesburg. Our aim was to get some rest an enjoy the Spa which was advertised by the Hotel. First of all the road towards the hotel is terrible. Potholes everywhere and you habe to fear that your tires wont make it. Arrived at the Hotel we directly asked the receptionist if he could organize a spa treatment for us. Unfortunately they did not have a masseuse at the Hotel and the only way for him to contact her was via Whatsapp. As he did not reach her on the phone he gave me her number and said that i should please contact her by my own because his shift is over now and he is leaving. After we habe had some beers at the closely golf restaurant to calm down ( who have been extremely friendly and had some very good french fries ) we went back to the hotel. The bathroom is open and you can hear everything your partner is doing there. Regarding the dinner we have been frustrated as well. When we arrived their tables and floor where still completely dirty from the Lunch. The service was slow, inattentive and after some very long waiting times, they brought us the meals but forgot that i ordered without tomato. Our starter was served at the same time as the Main course and to get another drink we needed to wait almost 30 minutes after our glasses have been empty. The crowning glory of the whole evening was that there were still bones from the chicken in my club sandwich. To finish off our horrible stay we have been woken up by some wind because the doors towards the terrace could not be closed completely. Loud noises came thru so that we woke up at 04:30 in the morning. If we would not have been awake already the houskeeping gave the rest to it because they have been knocking our door at 07:30 so that they can clean the room. All in all we really regret this stay and should have gone directly to Joburg.

Excellent service with very friendly and helpful staff. Would only suggest to have a Vending machine at Reception area for after hours.

We were looking for 1 night's accommodation half way between northern Drakensburg (Witsiehoek) and southern Kruger (Nkomazi) and came across the Grey Goose Game Lodge. What caught our attention was the modern Superior Suite rooms and the opportunity to do a walking safari. We arrived around 12 noon and were given the map of the walking safari which we planned to do if our room wasn't ready. The reception staff were very nice and efficient and Flip gave us a good overview of the safari walk. We headed off with map in hand and directly opposite the car park there were a collection of Grey Geese so that was a good start (and obviously a mandatory viewing given the name of the lodge) but we didn't see any other animals for about 20 minutes after that. Then after going over a ridge, we saw a large collection of buffalo, zebra and blesbok. The path skirted around the outside of where they were gathered and we assume the animials keep away from the path as a general rule. There were large parts of the walk where the wildlife was absent and then you'd come across another cluster of animals. We saw more groups of springbok and blesbok and then the highlight... those 2 crazy lady ostriches. They were in the northwest area and as soon as the ostriches saw us they rushed away to the east. But at this point the path went east so 5 minutes later we were upon the ostriches so they then rushed across to the west. But guess where the path then winded to, yup, the west and again we were upon the ostriches. As the path zig-zagged the ostriches were always trying to rush away but only to the next point on the path. It was quite funny and by the 6th time we came across them they were too tired to rush away so we got the good photos. You'd think the ostriches would have worked out the route of the path by now but maybe rushing around is more important! After the walk we got the keys to the Superior Suite. There were building works going on around the Suite as they appear to be renovating all of the rooms. The room we were allocated was nicely decorated with a great bed and a nice bathroom. The bath had red petals all over it which was a touch over the top but a nice gesture regardless. We did run the bath but the water came out with dirt in it. We expect this is a temporary issue as the workers were working directly outside. A couple of improvements would help... the addition of a chair beside the sofa with a small coffee table. Also some form of heater in the bathroom as it was very cold on 31 August. The biggest let down was the restaurant. It really does need redecoration and looks more like an afterthought. Very uninviting and really cold. The food at dinner was basic but nice. The breakfast was also lacklustre. Very few options and the worst we had in 3 weeks in South Africa. We enjoyed our stay and especially the 2 crazy lady ostriches!