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In my final hours in South Africa I figured it would be time to give my 2 cents on the places I stayed. Staying with friends is always great and I must thank Dorothy and her family for the wonderful time, the chance to cook my first South African braai and for all the good vibes. I stayed in three other places as well – the Protea Witbank hotel, the Bonni Bella guest house (bed & breakfast) and the Ackee guest house (b&b).

The Bonni Bella was the first place we stayed at and one we went back for one more night (actually, we would have stayed another night but the service wasn’t appealing). This place is clean, has a good meeting room, decent food and some cool nooks to sit and read. The draw backs are that there is no wireless Internet, not being able to get your own key to the front gate in the evening limits your evening plans and the tap water runs brown at times. The biggest turn off was that we felt that the owner was nickel-and-diming us. We were initially quoted a certain price and that changed and then we were informed that the cost of breakfast would be additional. Therefore, the cost per night was very close to the Protea hotel and surpassed the Ackee guest house (both of which offer far more amenities). I would recommend getting a quote in writing if you plan on staying here and make sure food is included. It’s a decent enough place but the owner, mainly, needs to work on her customer service a bit.

The Protea Witbank is one of the older hotels in the Protea family (a very large chain in SA and Africa). This is a basic hotel but it does have a decent bar, a good buffet, and wireless Internet (R$90./2 hours). If you don’t mind the older hotel look and feel I would recommend this place over the Bonni Bella. However, there are plenty of other guests houses for those, like myself, that really don’t like hotels (but I can’t comment on any of those).

The final and BEST place (cost, services and space) I stayed was the Ackee guest house in Victory Park, Johannesburg. Folami, the owner, has created a very warm, calm and relaxing place to stay. The front yard has a large parking area with garage space as well. There are lots of plants and trees and a flowing fountain as you walk to the front of her house. The backyard has a clean pool, bathroom/changing room, lots of grass to lounge on, an organic garden surrounds the yard, and a covered outside bar area is perfect for early evening drinks. Oh, did I mention there is free wireless access? Yup, there is! There is an 8 person dinning area, a large sun room (solarium?) and a comfortable living room with a stereo, flat panel telelvision, DVD/VHS player and a wood burning stove for the colder months. There are four bedrooms that can hold 6 people. The master bedroom has lots of beautiful natural light pouring in during the day and the bathroom is very clean and modern. The other bedrooms are also very comfortable but just a bit smaller and share and bathroom (however, it is split into two rooms – one for the loo and one for the shower. There is also a study/office connected to the bedroom area. This is all on the upstairs floor as the owner lives downstairs. Another touch that makes this place so appealing is that owner Folami has placed beautiful art work and African nick-nacks in well-placed yet random places all around the house and grounds. Also placed around the house are enlightening affirmations. I highly recommend the Ackee guest house! To get more information you can contact Folami by email at: ackee@telkomsa.net.

Here are a few photos from Ackee:

hotels