Blyde Canyon, A Forever Resort

Останавливались в июле на 1 ночь, в номере было холодно, есть кондиционер, он немного помог, сам номер уже очень старый, требует ремонта Из плюсов большая красивая территория, много активностей, есть красивая видовая.

We recently made a day visit to the Forever Resort - Blyde Canyon which is around 5km north of the famous Three Rondavels viewpoint to enjoy the hiking trails situated within their property. To make use of these grounds, simply pull up to the reception office just before the entry gate. At the office, you can sign in for Day Visitor access (R150 per person as of July 2024). The staff at the desk will provide you a map which includes a handful of trails and show you where you can park and how to access the trails. On the day, we combined the Leopard Trail and Guinea Fowl Trails which made for several hours of very nice hiking (9.5 km) and total upward ascension of around 150 metres. The vast majority of the trails are natural and in pretty good condition but plenty of up and down climbing so best to have good shoes on the day. Expect a fair bit of exposure so have sufficient sunscreen, a good hat, towel and plenty of water, especially on hot days. During the hike, we started with the Leopard Trail which affords several excellent viewpoints into the Blyde River Canyon and of the Three Rondavels. With good sky conditions, these are 'WOW' stops along the trail. We spotted quite a few hyrax and different bird species. Heard an antelope barking but were not close enough to spot it. Once you descend into a spring area of the Guinea Fowl Trail, you encounter two really nice natural pools. Seems you can swim in these but the water was too cold during our winter hike so we just pressed on. The terrain between the Leopard and Guinea Fowl trails is quite different, giving a unique feel to both trails. Combined these trails took us around 3.5 hours to complete including a fair number of stops along the way for picture taking and rest/water breaks. Would gladly return to repeat this hike next time we are staying in the region and looking for good hiking opportunities.

Our experience at this resort was poor. No electricity due to bad weather, food at the restaurant is simply bad, no mattress for the baby cot, only candles provided to see in the dark, staff is not friendly and do not care about you. There is something wrong with this place.

Overall great experience. Need to improve on the food at the restaurant and employ more friendlier waiters. Provide more pots, utentils (except for cutlery), dish cloths and braai containers. More light is needed by the braai area, ended up using phones for light.

This is an excellent place to base yourself for seeing the spectacular Blyde Canyon and panorama route. The bungalows are clean, comfortable and spacious, with a kitchen. The on-site restaurant is nothing fancy but provides a reasonably good buffet. The only flaw is that there is no internet connection in the rooms (only at reception and in the restaurant). Another thing to note is that the bungalows are spread across such a large area that you really need a car to move around it. There is a great viewpoint over the canyon within the resort, but not quite as good as the Three Rondavels viewpoint which is a 10-minute drive away.

We spent one night as a family. Great chalets in excellent condition, newly refurbished. Staff excellent.