Canoe Safaris Lodge & Whanganui River Tours

We spent the Christmas on the river with Simon as our guide on the 4 day trip. Highly recommended! Food was amazing, scenery was beautiful and everything was so well organized! We were lucky with the weather.

We had an amazing time on our Canoe Safaris 5 day guided tour and would highly recommend. The whole experience was awesome, from booking to finish the Canoe Safaris team were friendly, helpful and informative and fun! The 5 days on the river were more than we could have asked for, quality of equipment was great, the food/meals/snacks/drinks provided were delicious! And of course to mention our awesome and experienced guide Kenny who made the whole trip seamless and easy. The river journey itself was beyond expectations, with such beautiful views from every campsite, I would definitely book with Canoe Safaris again and hope to do so in future :)

Amazing! Everything was fun, professional, organized, clean, and safe. Our guide was experienced and easily taught our whole group (who had zero canoe experience) everything we needed to know to navigate the river. They also cooked amazing food prepared by the staff (think more gourmet, less camping). Fun by yourself, with friends, and the whole family! I stayed at the lodge before and after my 5 day trip, and it was nice too. (Longer day trips are better for beginners because the canoeing gets spread out over more days so you paddle less each day and have more breaks!) Thank you to everyone at Canoe Safari!

Having just returned from a guided trip, there's no way I would do this trip self guided. Holt and Leif were excellent guides and provided the instruction and reasurrance to make sure we had a safe and enjoyable trip and made it into every single campsite and landing regardless of river conditions. Aside from the technical skills, they also prepared all our food and offered historical and other insights into the river.The gear provided by Canoe Safaris was totally appropriate and of a high standard. Phil and Kirsty did a good job back at base as well, answering all our questions, checking we had the gear we'd need and offering solutions for any concerns.I stayed one night in the lodge before the trip - the room was spotless, spacious and the bed was comfortable.

We would highly recommend Canoe Safaris. We hired gear for a self guided trip down the Whanganui river. Communication beforehand was excellent. Phil accommodated bike storage for us while we were canoeing and pick ups and drop offs ran like clockwork. Preparation and safety were high priorities making us feel at ease. Great family trip with teens.

A wonderful experience, thank you Phil and Kirsty.The breathing, living Whanganui River laid the backdrop for an amazing 4 days and 3 nights canoeing and camping experience with my friends. We were treated to wonderful meals, humour and care by our two fabulous guides. Holt and Lief, couldn't do enough to look after us and keep us safe, whilst we relaxed and enjoyed the stunning environment. Magical! Thank you again Canoe Safaris Lodge and Whanganui River Tours.

We did not stay in lodge but the tents we put up each day were more than enough and easy to assemble.Service was amazing. Wilson kept us safe, told great stories about the river and surrounds, created gourmet meals with wine or beer every evening, and was helpful and calm when we flipped our canoe.Can not beat this river for scenery, history, and interesting water challenges. Amazing trip. Thank you so much!

4 day trip was a perfect amount of time to see the river. Our guides Danielle and Wilson were outstanding and made the trip even more enjoyable. They had awesome local knowledge and we felt safe with them the whole time! Food was crazy good. The trip seemed very well planned out and when the river didn't play ball Wilson and Danielle were able to adapt and overcome to give us a great overall experience. 10/10

Kirsty, Phil and the team at Canoe Safaris were so diligent in working with us to accommodate our needs in to the 4-day canoe trip we booked with them through the Whanganui river. We consider ourselves truly lucky to have had Danielle as our guide-she brought education, humour, balance and safety to our group and we’re scratching our heads as to how it can be travelled without her. Move over skiing and Great Walks this is the ultimate NZ outdoor adventure- especially wife families who want to connect with the teens

We had a fantastic family trip with Canoe Safaris! My wife and I took our 6 and 8 y.o. kids on a 4-day guided trip down the Whanganui River and it was one of our best holidays ever. Our guide Wilson was awesome, very competent and efficient and a really nice guy. He was super-patient with our kids and kept them entertained and all of us well-fed (food was amazing!). Phil and Kirsty run a great company here and I highly recommend them.