We had 4 nights at Rippons, which was the end of our journey along the garden route. After you've negotiated the 21km journey to the resort, you're offered a very warm welcome and tour around.

It is a very quiet and remote place to stay, which we loved. Below the pool is a large lake where you could reguarly see baboons and the resident hippo.

Aside from the fantastic service, food and overall cleanliness of the resort, our stay was made such great fun with our tour guide Fred.

We both got on with him really well, he was extremely knowledgeable but also a great laugh to be around. His effort continued at breakfast and dinner where he seemed to double up helping out by offering drinks, coffee etc.

One addition thing I really appreciated was given the remoteness of this location you weren't ripped off for anything. Yes you were charged for drinks when offered, but 80p for a beer isn't going to break the bank is it. Generally when you have nowhere else to go for these things you are charged the earth for them.

We saw 4 of the big 5 and spent the last day following two cheetahs around who were looking for food. Fred has the ability to get his vehicle to places you wouldn't think were possible and the driving experience alone is great fun.

My family recently visited SA for the first time last month and began our trip in Rippons. Our stay and experience was truly memorable. Bryan was a perfect host whose deep knowledge of various subject was captivating. The staff at Rippons were friendly and helpful and we felt we were in safe hands. The accomodation was brilliant and the game drives were varied (we were lucky to see all of the big 5) and educational. This was a great introduction to our trip and we had three to four wonderful days at Rippons.
Definetly recommend the lodge and first time visitors must not be put off by the initial drive on the dirt road to get to the lodge - it was a little long but trust us it was well worth the drive.

my wife and I visited Rippons 02-4 Dec 2011 as part of our honeymoon tour.
whilst we were excited by the thought of a safari, we were also not sure if the experience would be the truly rewarding, after hearing stories that some folk see little game.
Rippons certainly exceeded all expectations......
firstly, and most strangely we arrived at Rippons after having spent four hot and sunny days in Cape Town. however at Shamwari the weather was much much cooler, overcast and we hd been advised that rain had been recent and forecast further. we were also advised to wrap up warm as being in the back of the Land Cruiser (exposed on all sides) resembled riding pillion on a motorbike. as advised, we ditched our shades, flip flops shorts and t-shirts in favour of trousers, jumpers, and fleeces!!!! by god were we glad......
anyway the accommodation was amazing, and the friendlyness of the reception staff second to none............however within half an hour of arriving, we were quickly whisked away onto our first evening gamedrive with Fred the rager and his girlfriend Veruska?!?! boy are these guys passionate about their job....a genuine pleasure to have them both as our guides......
game drives tend to last 2.5-3 hours with one early morning and one late afternoon/early evening........every minute a truly amazing experience.
we were very lucky to see almost all animals on our wishlist (with the excpetion of hippos, who proved elusive despite Fred's constant commitment and tracking) including lions, cheetahs, monkeys, giraffes, countless deer and antelope, reptiles, zebra, warthogs, rhinos and elephants.
the most amazing sight we saw was a pride of lions no more than five minutes after a kill (warthog),and we were very lucky to spectate the following dining experience - photos and memories to savour for ever.......
back to the lodge, the staff were very sweet and upon our return late into the evening had laid petals in our bedroom linking door to bed to bath, which had been run complete with bubbles, candles and yet more petals on the water surface.....what with the bottle of complimentary chilled bubbly in our room they certainly took care of us in perfect 'honeymoon' fashion.......
food and drink served at evening dinner and breakfast were spot on, second night being a choice of the most perfect steak or ostrich, served by very pleasant waiting staff........and again at your table each mealtime you were accommpanied by your guides/rangers for yet more amazing tales and knowledge sharing..........
all in all this break was absolutely fabulous and in combination with Cape Town beforehand and Mauritius after, our honeymoon couldnt be any better at all......
thanks Rippons

My wife and I stayed in Rippon's for 3 nights in Nov 2011. It was just fantastic. As my wife was celebrating a big "0" birthday we were upgraded to a suite in the lodge itself. Both Linda and Michelle were brilliant hostesses and couldn't do enough for us. We had pretty poor weather for the first 2 days and when we got back from the drives , on the wet and cold days they had lovely hot drinks ready for us. They even provided hot water bottles for us on our drives.We had Francis for our ranger and he was brilliant. We had 5 great drives with him and his driving skills on the tracks were unbelievable. His knowledge of the animals, birds and plants is amazing.We saw loads of animals but the leopard successfully avoiding making an appearance. The staff are wonderful. They went to so much trouble to do up our suite for the big birthday....petals and candles everywhere with a lovely hot bath ready. They made a lovely cake for the celebrations and the staff sang with beautiful voice. Having a lovely log fire lighting in the bar makes for a lovely homely atmosphere.It certainly made our trip to South Africa very very memorable. Cork, Ireland