On its website Hlalanathi Drakensberg Resort claims to be a retreat "that can revitalise ones [sic] soul and make you feel truly alive", boasting of "fantastic relaxing facilities" including gardens that "entice folk to laze and relax" and a golf course where non-golfers may "walk around the manicured course to enjoy the peace of the rolling terrain, the water features and bird life". This is the theory.
In practise everything was overshadowed by the apparently innocuous reference on the Hlala website to "a festive pub". On Friday night their music kept me up till after 12 and on Saturday night till just before 1.
First I complained at the pub, and discovered the manager moonlighting as DJ. Then I complained at the Hlala office and was told essentially (1) that they cater both for those who stay at their fantastic relaxing facilities and for others - who don't necessarily stay there - but want a festive pub and (2) that if I complained to the police they wouldn't come out before midnight anyway, at which time the pub is supposed to shut on Fridays and Saturdays.
The Hlala people promise "relaxing" but deliver "festive".
0 comments