Indoor pool, 2 outdoor pools, pool loungers
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Reviews of Aquila Private Game Reserve & Spa

4 out of 5
Aquila Private Game Reserve & Spa
off the R46, Touws River, Western Cape

Reviews

8.0

Very good

Rating 10 - Excellent. 48 out of 122 reviews" "
Rating 8 - Good. 41 out of 122 reviews" "
Rating 6 - Okay. 20 out of 122 reviews" "
Rating 4 - Poor. 10 out of 122 reviews" "
Rating 2 - Terrible. 3 out of 122 reviews" "

8.4/10

Cleanliness

8.2/10

Staff & service

8.8/10

Amenities

8.2/10

Property conditions & facilities

8.6/10

Eco-friendliness

Reviews

10/10 Excellent

Jaswinder Sonia, Brampton

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
One of the best experiences of my life. The property is beautiful with amazing views. The booking includes the lunch, dinner, Breakfast and 2 game drives. Be sure to get to the property by noon and enjoy the views and Spa treatments (affordable and very relaxing) the sunset game drive was beautiful and we saw Giraffe, lions, elephants, hippos and zebras. The staff is helpful and do their best to make our experience very entertaining and exciting. Loved our stay!
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2024

4/10 Poor

David

Business traveller, Travelled with partner
Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
There was absolutely nothing we liked about this property. It has no African feel, it felt like we were at an attraction park. They literally have 3 giraffes, 4 elephants, 4 lions, some zebra’s, ostriches, elands and springboks. If you looking for the African feel and a decent Safari this is not it. We had 2 have drives included in our package, we did not even bother with the morning drive.
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2024

6/10 Okay

Christine

Travelled with group
Disliked: Cleanliness
The location was superb. However, our room was at the back of the property with no view of the amazing park. The spa treatments were excellent. The safari rides were extreemly bumpy and the animals all seemed to be found in the same areas and appeared to be being fed just before each drive. Our shower and drains were disgusting ...lots of black mould. I found the buffet options limiting and had quite an upset tummy.
Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2024

10/10 Excellent

Rita

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
It was a magical way to bond with nature. Quad and horse back riding through the reserve was beautiful and a special treat that will always be remembered...It was the perfect ending to our cruise in the indian ocean. Two thumbs up!!
Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2024

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Enjoyed our time - but food disappointing
Lovely setting and easy access from Cape Town. We very much enjoyed being able to swap out two safaris to go out on horse back and the ATVs. On one day there was a lot of day visitors around the pool but we just retreated to the private pool by the spa. Overall we had a good stay but the one real let down was the food! Every meal was bland and just not good, and one guest got sick from one meal. It is a real shame as the whole set up is very nice so we were quite shocked about the poor quality of the food.
Stayed 3 nights in Dec 2023

10/10 Excellent

Roger

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Nice property had opportunity to see some of the animals.
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2023

10/10 Excellent

carol

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Fantastic from beginning to end
Well organised from the beginning when we were relieved of our bags as soon as we got out of the shuttle and offered complimentary wine. We were given a daily activity programme which included 2 game drives a day, breakfast, lunch and dinner. The drives were excellent as we managed to get up close to lions, giraffes, zebras and rhinos. Our guide was very knowledgeable. Rooms are small but well furnished.
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2023

10/10 Excellent

Nadeem

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Amazing experience
Amazing experience. Wonderful to be so close to the animals. Electric fencing behind our Karoo Cottage should have warning signs not to touch.
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2023

8/10 Good

FAHAD, SHUHADA

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Nothing more
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2023

10/10 Excellent

David

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Fantastic stay at the Aquila Game Reserve, loved the people there, the facility, the food, the rooms, everything.
Stayed 2 nights in Aug 2023

10/10 Excellent

Diane

Stayed 1 night in Aug 2023

6/10 Okay

Ahmad

Travelled with family
Disliked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Way too expensive for little value..
For this high price per night, I would expect at least a decent room,amenities, and food.. room was decent, but most furniture was outdated.. doors were a nightmare, bathroom sliding door wouldn’t budge.. and the buffet was just terrible! For the amount paid this is a unbelievable honestly, rice for both lunch and dinner.. a sad salad consisting of lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes.. lets not forget the olives too.. If I knew this I would not stay overnight.
Stayed 1 night in Aug 2023

10/10 Excellent

Mohammad

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Excellent facility
Stayed 1 night in Aug 2023

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Disliked: Property conditions & facilities
Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2023

10/10 Excellent

Cameron

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Very nice
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2023

10/10 Excellent

Tracey

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great safari
Great service accommodation and food only down side was I have to have gluten free and not much choice dessert was only fresh fruit would have been ice to have one dessert or even ice cream to go over the fruit best meal was the breakfast
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2023
Response from Lionel on 8 Mar 2023
Thank you for taking the time to review your stay with us. Since the property is in the Karoo, the food chooses are limited. RegardsAquila Team

4/10 Poor

Verified traveller

Liked: Property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Below par food.
Very poor quality mass produce food for the price of the accommodation. Rooms were comfortable. Game reserve is a glorified zoo but I guess there doing some conservation too. Only Zebras were in abundance but rest of the animals can be counted in one hand.
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2022

8/10 Good

Jacqueline

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 2 nights in Nov 2022

6/10 Okay

Deborah

Liked: Staff & service
The game drive was great but the food was not as I remembered it from 12 yrs ago.
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2022
Response from Lionel on 24 Nov 2022
Thank you for taking the time to review your stay with us.

10/10 Excellent

Nigel

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Beautiful gem of a game reserve
Fantastic experience. We were lucky enough to see all of the animals. The villa had fantastic views and to rake up to zebra and elephants wandering past our balcony was amazing.
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2022

8/10 Good

Kevin

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
A nice get away from the City.
It was a great stay we had, although the Covid restrictions made it a little uncomfortable, where we had to make a special request for our luxury room to be serviced. All in all, the staff are very Covid aware and respect the rules. The staff were al very friendly. all in all, a nice weekend away.
Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2020

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2020

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2020

8/10 Good

G J

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2020

10/10 Excellent

Claire, UK

Travelled with family and small children, Business traveller
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
We visited Aquila 4 years ago and decided to come back with our daughter. It was good then but there have been significant improvements since, including better check-in and the addition of an indulgent spa (over 16's only). The number of animals in the reserve had also increased which made for a great game drive.
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2020

8/10 Good

Lauren

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Memorable experience at Aquila. Loved the on site spa and facilities which was a nice touch. Super friendly staff who made us feel welcome and appreciated. Not quite a full safari experience as you might find in without borders, but a good option within reasonable distance from Cape Town if you are tight on time. It was a great option for little ones (two year old was with us) as you are pretty much guaranteed to see a variety of animals in a short period.
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2020

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Amazing location - less than 2 hours drive on good roads from Cape Town, takes you away from hustle and bustle of city life to the beautiful tranquil plains of South Africa. Resort is gorgeous but the animals steal the show. Home to the Big 5, and taking advantage of the 2 games drives which were included for free as part of our stay, we managed to see 4 of them (saw Buffalo, Rhino, Elephant and Lions but missed out on the Leopard!) - up close as well as Springbok, Zebra, Giraffes, Hippos, Wildebeest, Ostrich and various birds and antelopes. Absolutely amazing and was highlight of our trip to South Africa. Special mention to Aidan our ranger who took us on game drives - very knowledgeable and clearly knows his stuff. The resort itself has good selection of amenities if a somewhat limited restaurant - buffet style food served for all meals which was great when we were there but imagine if you are staying longer than 2 nights it might get a wee bit repetitive. Perhaps a restaurant offering A La Carte for additional costs if people want to pay that would be a good idea? Accommodation was use to be stayed in the Luxury Lodges and would thoroughly recommend - gorgeous thatched abodes with large bathroom and beautifully crafted private outside shower which was a lovely touch. Comfy bed too. Staff were all very accommodating and on our second day we also tried our hand at a quad bike safari which was good fun. We also visited Spa for massage which was lovely! Would highly recommend
Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2019

4/10 Poor

Miranda

Travelled with family
Liked: Room comfort
Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2019

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Friendly staff, ready for arrival. Game drives were excellent, saw lots of animals and staff member driving was absolutely excellent. Some renovation works ongoing. Spa not used but looked nice. Reasonable spread of food for lunch/dinner/breakfast buffet.
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2019
Response from lionel on 12 Sept 2019
Dear Guest Thank you for your feedback on your recent stay with us.

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities
Not far from Cape Town and it’s definitely a gateway for animals. The facilities are great and spa is fantastic too!
Stayed 1 night in Aug 2019
Response from Lionel on 28 Aug 2019
Dear Value Guest Thank you for your feedback on your recent stay with us. Regards Lionel

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with family, Business traveller
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
We really enjoyed this property. Since we were not able to get to a bigger game park (i.e., Kruger), we chose Aquila because of its proximity to Cape Town. We weren't disappointed! The property is well maintained, the food was good, and the staff were excellent. We would have like to know that there would be renovations going on during out stay, but we still would have chosen to stay anyway... Thank you!
Stayed 2 nights in Jul 2019
Response from Lionel on 30 July 2019
Good day, Thank you for your feedback on your recent stay with us. Regards

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Stayed 1 night in May 2019
Response from Lionel on 21 May 2019
Thank you for your review on our recent stay

8/10 Good

Marty

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2019
Response from Lionel on 25 Apr 2019
Good day, Marty Thank you for feedback on your stay at Aquila Private Game Reserve.

6/10 Okay

Sarah

Liked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
1 night stay at Aquila
Overview: The safari in the afternoon and morning were fun. Stargazing at night was amazing. The breakfast was so yummy, unfortunately lunch and dinner buffet variety was not so good. Check-in and check out process was of low standards, dry welcome and goodbye. Upon check-in, the staff handed us a key, we went back to the reception to ask about the safari timings and it turned out we were not check-in. Check out was mediocre as well. Overall, Aquila has potenial but the customer service needs to improve.
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2019
Response from Lionel on 9 May 2019
Good day, Sarah Thank you for the feedback on your stay. We will address the areas of concern and work on improving these issues.

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Place for an overnight stay to do both safaris. For to persons reasonably priced. All inclusive place, food reasonable, but nothing fancy wines too expensive for South Africa.Room getting slightly tired and up for some refresh. Safaris well organized, lovely experience.
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2019
Response from Lionel on 9 May 2019
Good day Thank you for your feedback, we will address the areas of concern

10/10 Excellent

Dan

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Nice safari experience near Cape Town
My wife and I stayed here for two nights and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Since we were only going to be in Africa for such a short time, we felt a private reserve was the way to go to ensure we saw a lot of animals, and Aquila did not disappoint. We did the group tour (big game drive bus) the first morning and then booked private tours for the afternoon and following morning. You literally see the same animals with the private tours, however you can choose to stay in areas and skip others as you like, whereas with the large group tours you're just along for the ride (though I will say they did a great job too and you had a chance to see a lot). As a photographer I felt the private tour was better suited for what I was after (I could ask the driver to pull forward or backup so I could get a better angle, etc). One thing to note is that the tours are in the morning and evening, so the middle of the day there isn't much to do. We found it nice to just relax, but definitely bring something to occupy your time! :)
Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2019
Response from Lionel on 21 May 2019
Good day, Dan Thank you for your review on our recent stay at Aquila. We are glad you enjoyed your stay with us and look forward to welcoming you in the near future.

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Stayed 1 night in Mar 2019
Response from Lionel on 21 May 2019
Thank you for your rating on your recent stay with us.

8/10 Good

Anna Silvia

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Amazing
Stayed 1 night in Mar 2019

8/10 Good

ziv

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Very touristic place... not a wild safari as you would expect it.
Stayed 1 night in Mar 2019

4/10 Poor

Verified traveller

Travelled with family
Disliked: Amenities, property conditions & facilities
not worth the money! the only good part is the animals!
Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Had a great overnight stay here. When I arrived, the place was insanely busy which I felt took away from the experience of it all - turns out that people come for day trips here for the afternoon game drive then leave. I opted for an overnight stay which I felt worked better (as get a morning game drive too). Rooms / grounds were clean, swimming pool was clean, restaurant was clean too
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2019

4/10 Poor

Verified traveller

Business traveller, Travelled with partner, Travelled with group
Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Location and views incredible, game drive fantastic. Service not good, no response to complaints, extra drinks added to bill, bathroom not clean, air conditioning unit broken
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
We had an awesome time! Chalet #10 was perfect and worth the price! The game drivers were amazing and the guides were knowledgable and fun.
Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
I enjoyed the excursions to watch the wild game and it was a unique experience for my grand children, from the USA. The food was excellent. I have no negative comments.
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2018

10/10 Excellent

COSTAKIS

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
great
amazing
Stayed 2 nights in Dec 2018

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
It was a great stay in the park;would recommend very much
Stayed 2 nights in Jul 2018

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in May 2018

10/10 Excellent

James

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Wonderful experience
Wonderful! Great setting with beautiful views and great staff. V clean, lovely pool and bar. We stayed in the standard cottage but if we were to stay again we’d opt for a better room with reserve views (we looked on to the car park at the back). The game drive was great fun and our guide Nicholas was fantastic and very knowledgable. Having been on safari before I did notice the difference between this and a large scale national park but it was fantastic none the less. We saw 3 of the big 5. A wide selection of food at the meals and was all very nice. You have to pay for drinks but they are inexpensive. V clean, v comfortable!

6/10 Okay

Justin

Disliked: Property conditions & facilities
Lost the star in my heart
SHOWERS HAD MOLD AND MILDEW AND WASNT IMPRESSED WITH NO TV IN THE ROOMS
Stayed 1 night in Mar 2018