False advertising - What I booked versus what I got was miles apart. Firstly, I booked the Kudu room. When I arrived, I was led to a different room (Impala) – no explanation, no apology. When I raised this, the owner did at least contact me, but not to offer any reasonable explanation or discount for the inconvenience. Instead, I was met only with excuses: first blaming me for booking late in the day for that same night, then blaming the website for double-booking the room I selected (never mind that the quote portal sent to me and accepted clearly listed my booking as being the Kudu room). Aside from this, the rooms in no way lived up to the photos and description, and certainly not to the price. I have been using Gariep as a midpoint stopover for 20 years of travelling the country and have never had such a disappointing stay. The bathroom cupboards had a thick layer of dust – who knows how long it has been since they were cleaned? What does that say about the rest of the bathroom? The tiles in the shower were chipped, and I was worried my child would cut her feet. The curtains were stained, and the ceiling paint was chipping – a horrifying thing for the mother of a toddler who still sticks everything in her mouth! The listing stated that it was a freestanding unit – it was not. The walls are so thin that I thought the kids next door had gotten into my apartment. One of the aircon remotes had no batteries in it, and figuring out which light switch (or pull cord) did what was an interesting exercise. The lawn, which could have been nice for children to play on, was covered in excrement (one can only assume – and hope – from a dog). And when I finally got to lie down on the bed (which was at least the cleanest thing in the room), I looked up straight into the jagged edges of broken glass on the light fitting! I don’t really mind that the furniture was a bit run down, or that the TV, microwave, and fridge were from the previous century. Retro and nostalgic is fine, as long as it works – but for the love of God, please fix the broken things!

Everything was great. Perfect! Everything was great.

Very pleasant. Check-in was easy. The unit had everything we needed. The shower head needs fixing, but otherwise everything works.