Witsieshoek Mountain Lodge - A complete tourist trap

My wife and I stayed at this lodge for two nights in order to hike the Tugela Falls which is supposed to be one of South Africa's most amazing day hikes. It truly is, however, our experience was completely ruined by the Witsieshoek Mountain Lodge. There is not a single good thing I can say about this lodge and can only in my opinion as a well travelled person be classified as a tourist trap. It is the only accommodation near the hike available if you want to avoid a lengthy drive before the hike, but in hindsight this would be the better option. Firstly the accommodation is overpriced for the quality of the rooms and the overall quality of the Lodge - especially when comparing this to our accommodation in the Drakensburg the night before. Then there is the road from the lodge to the actual hike start which is so badly maintained that it is completely inacessible by any vehicle other than a high clearance, low range 4X4 - a convenient additional inflated expense that the lodge profits from and after years of deterioration - show now intention of doing any maintenance to this access road. Furthermore, when booking a transfer at this inflated cost, you are then collected by a vehicle that is more than 30 years old, and crammed in to capacity, not always being guaranteed a proper seat and could easily be stuffed in the back with the backpacks with a foam mattress to offer little to no comfort for the treacherous road ahead! To add to this our specific transfer arrived late, then discovered he had a flat tyre - and no tools to enable him to change a tyre. Our time slot was delayed by an hour and a half forcing us to hike in a part of the day we were trying to avoid. Furthermore, the driver and hotel staff were completely unapologetic towards us and the inconvenience. On completion of our hike the same transfer driver and vehicle seemed completely oblivious and had made no amendments to their schedule for the return transfer due to the mornings delays despite us reminding them of this on our mornings drop off before the hike that we would now only be returning an hour and a half later than originally scheduled. This resulted in us having to sit waiting more than an hour for another transfer to return us.

The Witsieshoek Mountain Lodge itself also offers very little improvement on the above complaint. With extremely basic rooms for the price charged, few to no extra facilities other than a massage parlour - which we did not try as I am sure it would have only disappointed us further if it was anything like the rest of the lodges services which we experienced. The restaurant was a joke - with the basic menu offering basic options that when served are tasteless, badly prepared (My steak was tough, flavourless and overcooked, whilst my wife's chicken was badly undercooked - even after returning to the kitchen it came back in not much better condition and seemed to have been microwaved). There is very little love put into the meals, no extra garnishing's and just plain disgraceful. With no other nearby options for lodge residents to get food this is especially terrible. The breakfast was just as unexciting with fresh ****ins probably the only notable effort. The remainder of the buffet was bland and constrained, with little to no vegetarian or pork altenatives, only scrambled egg, and rarely replenished if at all. Even a request for some fresh warm toast seemed like a mammoth task and was not eagerly or hastily done.

The staff (both restaurant, cleaning and reception) seemed poorly trained with regards to the hospitality industries even most basic standards and their attitudes and behavior was shocking and unpleasant to have to endure as a paying guest. Their mode of communication seemed to be screaming across whichever open space they were occupying to their fellow colleagues - often not even work related and mostly just general load jovial conversation with each other with no regard for the irritation it may have caused to the lodges guests who were dining, sleeping or often just there to enjoy the lounge our outdoor areas. The kitchen had a constant blaring of loud voices of staff conversing with an obvoius disregard to guests tranquility. This loud shouting started from early in the morning when the first staff start their shifts, while most guests are still steeping or only starting to wake and is not confined to only the inside areas but also across lawns and parking areas outside guests rooms. The evenings were also not quiet and peaceful as it seemed that the lodge had allowed / not prevented some hikers to pitch a tent in the parking lot and also loudly socialise to the detriment of the roomed guests well earned sleep after a lengthly hike and horrible dinner. On complaining to reception of such, little to nothing was done to end this / remedy or even quieten this situation almost as if to sanction it.

I can truly say that of my many stays around the country and world, this is down there with the worst of them and the only silver lining is that the actual hike and surrounding epic beauty of the Tugela Falls remains breathtaking with no thanks to the lodge itself, but rather all due to mother nature. In fact, I believe that without this lodge being situated near this amazing hike, and if it were placed anywhere else without a tourist attraction and with other nearby accommodation options - it would have ceased to exist!