Epic Rangitaiki Rafting: Rotorua's Breathtaking River Rush!

We had a group of 14 family members ranging in age from 10 to 60. This trip had enough excitement and amazing views to cater well for this wide range. Guides were extremely informative, and their personalities really made the trip. Recomend this on the to do list.

We had a great trip with River Rats down the Rangataiki River. Our guides Pete, Jen and Nev were fantastic - handled the technical rafting incredibly well, were very knowledgeable about the surroundings and were super friendly. They connected well with our kids (11 and 13) and we loved that they matched our energy. We highly recommend them for any water based adventures and hope to come back to tackle to grade 5 tour in a few years when we’re all old enough!

This was fun river to go rafting down. There are lots of rocks and shallow areas, so you do a lot of getting everyone to one side of boat. There really isn’t much chance you will fall out, so a good river for those new to rafting, but all the moving to get unstuck from rocks makes it still fun for those who have done a fair amount of rafting. Our guide Jesse was great.

Great experience, wish I had more time to do the other rivers they other aswell. The team are great and very professional. Would do it again🙂

Amazing. Family were nervous being the first time Zac the guide gave the family confidence and felt safe in his care. We will be back maybe on the wairoa Amazing time

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.

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

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!