Inverdoorn Game Reserve Lodge

This was a very good value Safari experience relatively close to Cape Town. I was concerned about the two recent poor reviews, but having returned yesterday from an overnight stay I can say they are not balanced or representative. Obviously this doesn’t have the wow factor of private game reserves that are well over twice the price, but why would you expect that? It’s great value, the staff do care and you see plenty of animals with very knowledgeable guides. The food is good enough and plentiful, and the accommodation clean and comfortable. If you are near Cape Town and are not jaded safari veterans or have unrealistic expectations then go, it’s a great trip !!

The game drives here are spectacular especially seeing the rare vegetation. Ashlee our driver went out of his way to get us the best views of everything. All the staff at the Lodge are friendly, helpful and polite at all times. The food is fantastic, fresh, tasty and plentiful. I gave 4 because the room we stayed in was a bit lacking. The bathroom is a bit dated and I'd have loved an electric blanket or hot water bottle considering how cold it was. We stayed for two nights which I highly recommend as it gives one time to really experience this unique area.

Absolutely terrible. Do not waste your money here. They deleted my last review and offered us a refund in return to take the review down and said it’s been processed yet still no refund! Not clean at all. We had food sent to the room which was covered in flies trapped in the glass lid. This is a zoo, and needs a lot of work and money spending on it to become a 5*. I would say this is a 1 or 2 star game reserve. Don’t bother wasting your money, you’ll be extremely disappointed..

I hate writing negative reviews but I would hate anyone to spend the amount of money we did for the experience we had. We booked an ambassador chalet which whilst adequate was not the 5 star luxury we were expecting 3 star at best. The safaris were good and our guide excellent, but at the end of the day all animals are corralled into areas for viewing. The worst thing in fact was the terrible food. The first safari back has first dibs and each safari therefeafter. When we were there there were five jeeps. We were last and the food gone !! Be happy with bread rolls, the scrapings of the dishes as there is no more. Saying that the quality is awful and I wouldn't have wanted more. Definitely not a five star experience. Some in our group had been to Aquilla and said how much better it was 3. On our cruise after another couple had an even worse experience in a lesser chalet. That's three separate couples in the space of a week. Be aware that the last 45 minutes of the drive are on a dirt track which the vehicle has to crawl along. A total drive of 6 hours round trip from Capetown could only have been mitigated by the 5 star experience promised.

This place is fabulous. We were not arriving from Cape Town, so we needed help with transfers. The team answered our emails very quickly and arranged a pick-up for us. We stayed in the Ambassador suite, which is huge and luxurious. Massive bed, huge shower and a private roof terrace. The team left us a note and some cheese, fruit and biscuits. A really nice touch. It was pretty cold and the team turned the heating on in our room so that it was lovely and warm when we returned from the game drive. We liked the food. It was all served as a buffet. There was plenty of it and a decent variety. The restaurant team were all friendly and keen to help, especially James. There was also a good choice of drinks which were well priced. One of the benefits of staying at the Ambassador Suite is that you get your own jeep and guide for the game drives. Johannes was so knowledgeable and interesting. He showed us many things that we would not have noticed without him pointing them out. He also personalised the drives, asking us what we wanted to experience. Unfortunately, the elephants were hard to see and the hippos didn't come out of the water but that's nature. Getting so close to lions, giraffes, rhino, zebra and much more was amazing. Unforgettable.

We went to check out Inverdoorn as a possible SA game experience for a large group of Australians coming out for a wedding near Robertson next year. To be fair, my wife and I are well-traveled to game parks all over Southern Africa including Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana etc. Kruger is our favorite in SA. At the outset, let me compliment the staff. They were friendly and helpful. This review does reflect poorly on management who were by and large absent. Lastly, to complete the background, we stayed in a single room in the lodge which we got on a special for two nights, at R10 746 including breakfast, dinner, and game drives. Regular rates are much higher. On the first evening, the buffet food ran out by the time we got there. Not a full house dining room. No manager was overseeing the service. The room had several shortcomings such as nowhere to hang or put clothes or toiletries. The room came with a toilet in one corner (behind a semi-transparent glass door), and a shower in the other. The big problem was indoor options to be. When not on the game drive you could be in your room, or the dining room. There is no lounge or bar area to relax when skipping a game drive. The weather was foul and cold, so all outdoor areas were out of the question. The dining room filled up with smoke from the fireplace, due to inadequate ventilation. This resulted in huge irritation, breathing, and burning eyes. There was no short-term remedy for this. The kitchen appeared to be some distance away and food had to be carried in through the foul weather. What Inverdoorn has going for them are no malaria, proximity to Cape Town, the exchange rate, and of course, the Big Five (canned as it is)! To my surprise, their review rating is predominantly 80% good. They have identified the target market as foreigners and I guess we locals get in the way. I fear that the foreign patrons go away with such a misconception of what the safari experience should be. Inverdoorn has a cheetah-run performance by two young males being trained to hunt in a separate camp. They chase a rag pulled on a string. They have three lions in another camp because there isn't enough game for them to hunt. There are three elephant and four hippos. A small number of rhinos (not allowed to say). There are a few giraffe and admittantly, a nice herd of buffalo. Leopard one will never know. This amounts to a properly canned experience! It was the first time I ever experienced a ranger on a game drive without binos. In summary, Inverdoorn is overpriced, short on proper facilities and so canned that it sucks! The business model seems to work for them, but not for us.