It was an awesome experience the whole team from River Rats was super friendly and welcoming. Our guide was the best ever. Just a super fun experience, the love for their job just was apparent which made the experience so much more enjoyable. The river was a good experience and the scenery was beautiful and peaceful.

This was a great introduction to white water rafting for our family group of six (two teenagers and four adults aged 50 to 63). There was plenty of excitement on the grade 3 and 4 rapids, enough to be a fun challenge for a bunch of newbies but nothing we couldn't handle with the help of our excellent guide, Pete. We also had some beautiful stretches of calm river where we could chill out and admire the beautiful New Zealand scenery as we floated by. Our guide, Pete, was very knowledgeable and experienced, and got us all working well as a team. Justin and Jen in the "safety" raft were excellent too and we felt that we were in very good hands. It was the perfect introduction for our mixed age group of beginners, especially as a couple of our members were slightly nervous - exciting and thrilling without ever feeling dangerous or out of control. Having had such a positive experience, we were all very keen to do it again and we would definitely go for a Grade 5 trip for the second time round now that we know the team and what to expect. So, if you've never white water rafted before and/or you are slightly nervous about it, this is the perfect place to start, and Pete, Jen and Justin will look after you really well. One final word - the sandwiches provided at the end were absolutely delicious!

Peter our skilled guide was excellent, he explained really well what we needed to do to be safe. The grade 3-4 had plenty of excitement without being too scary for 1st timers. The river was beautiful and clear. We all enjoyed it immensely. Would do it again and recommend doing it with this fantastic River Rats team, Justin, Peter and Jen.

We had an excellent experience on our tour with River Rats! Our guide Cam went above and beyond to entertain our son and provide an enjoyable, exciting and safe afternoon. Highly recommend!

Unfortunately the water level was down meaning we needed to skip two of the three Grade 4 rapids leaving only one Grade 4. The drifting down the river in the water between rapids was fun for the kids. The guides worked hard in the difficult low water conditions but lacked the level of engagement we experienced on other activities we have done. This was the first white water rafting experience for our kids but my wife and I have both done two rivers previously - overall we all felt underwhelmed with the experience. We were on the road for 3 wks and this was the most ho-hum of everything we did. Rafts and other equipment was all good however. Possibly their other rafting options may be a better choice

Wow! Justin deserves kudos for making the trip fun, safe, and educational. Great swim spot, hot pools, and great. The worms showed up fully! He is a storyteller and apparently a history buff. Highly recommended!

Our guides Nev, Zac and Jen were really nice and explained in detail about the river, the portions with rapids etc. A huge tree fell in the raft’s path and Nev and Zac had to hand saw the tree branches to let the rafts get through. So much professionalism and we had a great time!

We had a fantastic afternoon and evening kayaking to the hot pools, following by a relaxing soak. Justin did a great job guiding, organising us all and cooked us a lovely BBQ dinner. On the return trip, we kayaked under the stars, with Justin sharing Māori stories. The glow worm cave was amazing. Thank you Justin!

Everything was superb.... the organisation, kayaks, amazing views, soaking in the hot tubs, dinner, meeting other travellers, the magical glowworms and Justin's magical traditional storytelling while we silently kayaked home across the smooth waters with just the glow of headlamps. We pretty much had the tranquil lake to ourselves as there is no road access to the places we went. You will feel transported to another world. Thank you River Rats! 10/10

Simply put, one of the worst tourist experiences I have ever encountered in 35 years of life and visiting six continents as a tourist. First of all, they indicate on their website if you do not have a pick up scheduled to meet at the Rotorua Airport at 10:00 am for transport. We were there at 9:50am and the crew had left already without us. Further, the crew did not think we were capable of completing a portion of the rapids and for safety asked us to walk down the river where they would pick us up. Of course, I greatly appreciate safety being a consideration, but excluding us amongst the group of other travelers felt very isolating and very segregating. When we got back on the boat, one of the crew members indicated that he was going to be a grumpy old man and let us know we were not paddling hard enough. That also would have been okay, but for he barely paddled. It felt like I was paying to witness a frat party of 28 year old rafters more than a professional tourist excursion. He also made a really really crass joke about the victims of the 2019 White Island Volcano explosion and indicated they should have known they were visiting an active volcano and could die and explaining since they are required to debrief people. It was just over all a horrible experience that I would never recommend not even to my worst enemy. Picture of the most unprofessional guide at the end scratching his head.

Great day out. Grand crew, very helpful and fun. Water a bit low but still good time on the rapids. Saw a heap of blue duck and staff very informative.

Great day on and in the water-Justin our guide set a comfortable pace. Just enough paddling for a nice workout. High recommend this trip.

Our family friendly rafting trip was a blast today! Can't recommend this experience highly enough. Take your kids and expect to all have a brilliantly fun day! Our kids are 8, 10, 12 and 15 and they all loved it. The adults also had a whale of a time!

Right from the safety brief, through the rapids and back for the lunch, the team made it a great day. We can now say “we have rafted the Rangitaiki River…oh yeah”. Thanks for the experience.

A fantastic, family fun experience. We all loved it, especially the kids who are keen for more. Justin our guide made us feel safe and was a blast with the kids! We definitely will be back! A must do family adventure!! Thank you River Rats!!