Reviews of Mundulea Reserve

"An unforgettable experience very well introduced and described by Expert Africa. Bruno runs a quite unique operation which whilst not quite his life’s work felt like it could be. The two of us roamed far and wide on his reserve and his expert knowledge was shared in the right dosage throughout. Beyond the basic experience and introduction to the rewilding project, he is a fascinating and engaging character on subjects personal and general, just as well given the intimate and intense nature of the stay here. I imagine even very experienced travellers to Africa would acknowledge this to be “something different”.

The ratings below need to be read in context. There are no communications, no swimming pool, rooms are all you need but no more and the food exceeded what you could expect a bush camp. We were delighted with all but I am applying the same scale as for a regular high end lodge." See all these reviews: 16n in Namibia

"Staying at Mundulea was both a very enjoyable and enriching experience, enabling us to immerse ourselves within a truly remarkable regeneration project.

It is a rustic, ecologically sound and minimum impact camp that brings you up close to nature, a counter point to the other camps and lodges we had experienced. No safari drives, just walks , but not without its creature comforts at the end of the day such as hot showers, flushing loos and hot water bottles.

Our host, Bruno Nebe, owner, an exceptional guide and first class cook, is a mine of information and intriguing anecdotes drawn from across a wide range of subjects. Great conversationalist." See all these reviews: 19n in Namibia

"A very special place to explore on foot. The camp was created to blend with the environment. The special touches and design are nice.

Sitting in the blinds and watching wildlife behavior was one of the best experiences of our trip. Bruno was wonderful in sharing his preserve with us on daily hikes. He is very knowledgeable. He shared his extensive experiences with us and provided a view into the world of managing preserves. The staff are very helpful and took great care of us." See all these reviews: 16n in Namibia; 8n in Botswana; 2n in Zimbabwe

"Mundulea is a truly authentic bush camp

Bruno is the passionate , highly knowledgable , owner and guide who taught us so much about the bush through the guided walks that we did with him .

He also cooked delicious meals from the bush kitchen - the oven is a modified fire extinguisher that sits on hot coals." See all these reviews: 15n in Namibia; 3n in Botswana

"Bruno, the owner is a fascinating person. A unique opportunity to walk and feel nature as it really is.

Tents are comfortable but not meant for luxury seeking people. Good food.

A very memorable experience if one likes to walk." See all these reviews: 15n in Namibia

"The highlight of our trip even though we only spent 18 hours there! ( had three nights booked but had to leave after one because of imminent lockdown )

Bruno has huge knowledge and experience of everything Namibian, which he passionately shares. Mundulea is his reserve which he established more than 20 years ago, and has gradually reintroduced native animals and carried out bush restoration.

The camp is a proper bush camp with all food cooked on an open fire by Tommy who is Bruno's right hand man. We plan to return as soon as we can to spend more time walking in the bush with Bruno." See all these reviews: 13n in Namibia

"Mundulea is a bush camp from a classic mould - something that seems to be increasingly rare these days. No swimming pool, no electric path lights, no Wi-Fi, no sun-downer game drives - just a low impact camp nestled up to a waterhole. Nonetheless, the tents were as comfortable as any we stayed at; and Tommy’s bush kitchen served up meals just as good as any luxury lodge.

We were exceptionally privileged to be the only guests staying at Mundulea when we visited. Bruno is a quite fascinating host with seemingly several lifetime's wealth of experience, but it is perhaps his work at Mundulea that commands the most attention. As he will freely admit, the reserve is all about the wildlife and not the tourists. Appreciating this holds the key to enjoying one's stay. Nonetheless, when we expressed disappointment that we had not yet seen eland during our Namibia trip, Bruno was able to lead us on a walk, tracking a mother and calf to the point where we managed to get a good clear view.

Other walks covered all four compass points from the camp, during which we came to understand how the fundamental basis of the re-wilding project lies in restoring the balance of the vegetation in the reserve. A particularly enjoyable walk was to the top of nearby hills, from which it is possible to appreciate the true scale of the project that Bruno is undertaking. Evenings were spent in interesting and far-ranging conversation with Bruno.

If you like walking, and are happy that you may only glimpse wildlife while you are doing so, then walks with Bruno are fascinating and educational.

This was definitely the highlight of our Namibian trip." See all these reviews: 20n in Namibia

"We were so glad we added three nights at Mundulea to our trip. It was a completely different experience and instead of observers, we felt a part of the country, its landscape and its challenges.

Bruno was so full of information and knowledge (and so good at passing it on), it was a real privilege to spend time with him. His understanding of Namibian - and wider African/world - problems and his measured, well-considered response is rare to see. The sustainability of the camp and what he is trying to achieve at Mundulea is impressive.

I suppose he is too busy but I'd like to propose him for a newly created post of King of the World (or at the very least, world environment minister). He'd do a lot better than the shower we've got at the moment.

PS He also tells a very good story." See all these reviews: 17n in Namibia

"Let's start with a paradox - the priority at Mundulea is absolutely not the comfort or interests of its visitors; this is what makes it such a wonderful place to say. I don't mean by that that it's uncomfortable or uninteresting (it's definitely neither) but that if there's ever a conflict between the interests of the environment and the interests of the tourist, the environment wins every time. If you come here expecting or needing conventional "service", or if your priority from a wildlife experience is taking photos of big game with a big lens, you will find Mundulea is not for you - and think very seriously before including it in your itinerary. If what you want to do is learn about the bush, about Africa, and come away with a renewed respect for the wild and our place in it, you'll find Mundulea a thoroughly rewarding experience.

Mundulea is the vision and passion of Bruno Nebe, a project that he has invested his life in in more ways than one. He's aiming to bring what was cattle farming land - over grazed and denuded of most of its wildlife - back to its original state. He's a pioneer, who has spent the last 20 years working out how this can be done - with a bit of trial and error. He's had a quite astonishing life - you'll have to go there to get his stories, I couldn't do them justice - which you'll gradually learn about in your time at Mundulea, as you walk through the bush, drink a much-needed beer by the fire or enjoy the food. This is cooked in a bush kitchen and as far as possible from the resources of the property (warning: you may be eating what you've been looking at, but trust me, spicy wildebeest stir-fry and home-cured eland salami are delicious). The bread is baked in an oven fashioned from an old fire extinguisher!

Anything that isn't done by Bruno is done by Tommy, the only member of staff - the feeling you get is very much that you're joining them at their bush camp, rather than staying as guests in any conventional sense. Although it's called a bush camp there's plenty of hot running water and good solar lighting at your tent; the camp is next to a water hole with hides so you can see who's out there. At night, prepare to be absolutely gobsmacked by the stars - the Milky Way in full view - which you can appreciate from your open-air shower after the afternoon walk!

We reckon we were probably walking around 10k per day - mostly with lots of stops to look at things, but in some cases requiring a reasonable level of fitness. I think he would adjust this according to the guests but you do need to be comfortable being on your feet and walking for 3 or 4 hours. I would not recommend this as a first safari - you are unlikely to see, for instance, the big predators (and you might not want to as all activities are on foot!) - but if you've got an interest in getting a little further under Africa's skin than you might do on other safaris, this place is ideal." See all these reviews: 9n in Namibia

"Expert Africa recommended Mundulea to me after I mentioned that one of the things we did not like about safaris was the amount of time spent driving, and that we would not consider the vacation a bust if we did not see the big five (and I had previously mentioned how much I love to walk). We stayed for 3 nights, and we were the only guests so it was truly a private walking safari.

The directions were clear. When we got to the gate it was about a 25 minute drive up to the main farmhouse on the property. I'm not sure what I expected -- but we left our car and immediately had our bags loaded into Bruno's open air safari vehicle for the 20+ minute drive in to the bush camp. I had given no prior thought to the fact that we would be both incommunicado and without power, so my one regret was that I had forgotten to text my kids to tell them we'd be unreachable for the next few days. And I had not thought to bring a spare camera battery -- but luckily had charged it fully the night before, and Bruno was able to charge my iPhone in his vehicle using my USB cord -- so that was my 2nd camera which I used in airplane mode to preserve the battery. So it all worked out despite my lack of prior thinking.

What a magical place Bruno has created! The camp itself is nestled into the bush with all kinds of wonderful details -- chairs made out of the leadwood fence posts he removed from the cattle ranching days, a beautiful dining table made from a tree from the property. Even the fire pit was made from recycled iron bars. I loved our tent -- a very spacious tent with a comfortable bed, an outdoor patio area and an outdoor bathroom with hot and cold running water and flush toilet. What luxury!

After a brief rest upon arrival, we met for coffee in the "kitchen" and then set out on our first walk. The days fell into a very comfortable rhythm. We would meet at 7:15AM for breakfast. Then head out in a new direction around 8:00AM and walk until around noon. After lunch we would rest and/or hang out in the hide to watch animals come to the watering hole and salt lick. Then we would meet for late afternoon coffee and head out for a late afternoon/evening walk -- coming back almost in the dark. This would be followed by a nice cold beer around the fire and dinner, before heading off to bed. We slept more soundly here than anywhere else -- including home!

THE WALKS. Bruno has created an amazing habitat and is a wealth of knowledge about every aspect of it. I loved learning a little bit of everything. Starting with the animals, he showed us all the different tracks -- and could discern not just the difference between all the different antelope tracks, but what they may be doing (such as one male wildebeest chasing another male out of his territory). He could even discern the tracks of different species of snakes. When you are walking you are more likely to scare off animals, or only see them from a distance, so we did not see a ton of animals on our walks. Our two most exciting sightings were 1) a giraffe, and 2) a honey badger we came across trying to get into a giant tortoise. We also saw a few antelope from a distance (a kudu, impala, wildebeest), and a very large male warthog. And a brief ostrich sighting. From the hides (both the camp hide and another, bigger one we visited on our walk) we were able to get much closer -- we enjoyed watching impala, red hartebeest, a tsessebe, tons of warthogs, a dik-dik, oryx and on our last day a herd of 15 kudu. We probably saw our greatest number of animals on our drive out near the farmhouse -- large herds of widlebeest, springbok and impala. But it was so much more than just animals. We learned about lots of different insects -- including the dung beetle, antlion, termite and others. Bruno indulged my interest in wildflowers and spent time at lunch looking through all his books to help me identify them. We learned about the trees -- fig, leadwood, marula, saringa. We learned about the rhino and aardvark from their holes and tracks -- even though we did not see any in the flesh. We did not move quickly, but we covered a lot of ground -- about 7.5 miles (12km) the first day and 9.5 miles (15km) the second day.

We loved our meals here too. His helper, Tommy, was a whiz cooking over the fire. The homemade bread was delicious. Breakfasts were granola, fruit and yogurt with bread. Lunch was a Nicoise style salad with bread. The dinners were the highlight. Kabeljou (fish) with rice and pumpkin; chicken tagine with pasta, and on the last night, eland strips with re-fried polenta and locally grown spinach.

I really didn't want to leave!

A note on clothing. Everything worked out fine -- but I may have done things differently if I had put more thought into it. First a word on shoes. My husband and I both wore trail shoes -- basically high quality sneakers. On day 2 Tom went to remove what he thought was a rock, and discovered it was a thorn that had gone through the sole and pierced the footbed. He then proceeded to pull about 20 thorns from the soles with a pair of pliers -- and I have about 3 or 4! I think a much thicker soled boot would have been a better choice. The same with clothes -- I wore capris and shorts, which worked out fine -- but I did get a few inevitable scratches so a wiser choice may have been long pants. I also was lucky -- due to the unfortunate drought situation the grass was neither thick nor high -- but if it had been a normal year it would have been unpleasant with shorts." See all these reviews: 11n in Namibia