Reviews of Dolomite Camp
Wildlife sightings and reviews
97 independent comments and wildlife information from our travellers who have visited Dolomite Camp and kindly agreed to share their thoughts. They do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa
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"Dolomite Camp enjoys an outstanding location"
Couple of points regarding service:-
(1) Service at mealtimes is unacceptably slow due to insufficient numbers of staff, particularly given the distance of the kitchen from the dining room. The staff are doing the best they can - they simply need more people.
(2) It would be useful if they could have an information board in reception advising the water holes that are open / closed in this part of Etosha - this would save wasting time driving to closed water holes. Just a suggestion." See all these reviews: 14n in Namibia
"Rhino watching at Dolomite"
Tea relaxing in the warm afternoon sunshine on the chalet balcony was accompanied by the sight of a rhino making its way through the thorn bush below. There is a water hole here but I doubt of any chalet or the public areas can see it so why was it not dug in a more prominent position?
We had read that game was sparse on the western side of the park - well if seeing a black rhino at a watering hole in broad daylight along with a few elephant plus the usual springbok, zebra, oryx, etc is sparse then whoever wrote that must have had their eyes shut. Yes perhaps not so prolific as the Eastern end but well worth a days' detour. Also staying at least a night at Dolomite enables you to spend time visiting all the park's waterholes without having to rush back to base before nightfall.
Check out with a credit card posed no problems although we had been told it is better to pay cash it can take some time. The staff were friendly and the food up to a very high standard.
In general a lovely place to stay. They insist that you use the golf cart after dark as it is leopard country but there is no point in doing so during the day. After sitting in a car all day the exercise is a relief." See all these reviews: 18n in Namibia
"Dolomite Camp review"
The rooms are resonably appointed with fridge and comfortable with a balcony overlooking the plains. Mosquito netting is provided.
Food was good and the service 'ok' but we felt they were a little bit overwhelmed by numbers.
Accessibility to water holes is good. There is one just below one end of the camp and the others, all permanent and close by, are well patronised by good game including rhino and lion.
Watch out upon entering the park and paying the park fee. The rangers won't take 200 Rand notes as they say there are a lot of fake ones in circulation. They don't take cards. (At Okakuejo there is a warning about N$100 notes!)" See all these reviews: 15n in Namibia; 6n in South Africa
"Dolomite has a fantastic setting"
We really enjoyed our time in the western part of the park, and (in October when we were there) saw plenty of wildlife (including Hartebeest which we didn't see anywhere else on our stay).
The rooms are beautifully designed, although possibly a bit overfilled with furniture and fittings! We got some close views of birds in the trees around our room.
There seemed to be a large number of trainees getting experience on the staff - so service wasn't slick, but it was always friendly.
At the moment there is no fence around the park, so after dark you need to ring for a golf buggy to pick you up to go to dinner etc. The service works really well - but we couldn't help feeling it was a bit like a Disney ride as we chugged up and down the pathways in the buggy!" See all these reviews: 9n in Namibia
"Impressive new camp in Western Etosha"
The arrival procedure took some time as 4 or 5 vehicles arrived at about the same time and the "golf buggy" system become overloaded so we had quite a long wait, 50 minutes, with our lugggage in the car parking area. We were told that the problem was that they only had one operational buggy. However, the delay was compensated by the warmth and enthusiasm of the staff who were trying really hard to make things work. We felt that the system needed at least one more member of staff. This was also apparent in the "escorting" procedure for getting to and from the dining area after dark. We had a long wait on our first night before we were escorted from our chalet to the dining room simply because there was only one member of staff looking after 20 chalets. We avoided the problem on the next two evenings by making sure that we were in the dining room area before dark. Once in the dining room the food was very good.
We drove ourselves around the area making long game drives in the mornings and shorter ones later in the afternoon. Etosha is still suffering badly from the effects of bush fires and large areas are charred and devoid of wildlife. Several of the water-holes were closed but at those water-holes in areas that had escaped the flames we did see large numbers of animals, particularly at Renosterviel, Rateldraf and Klippan. We had several good sightings of lions, elephants, black rhino as well as the usual zebras (both species), giraffes, warthogs and a range of antelopes, including eland. Game watching was particularly enjoyable in this area of the park as we were usually the only vehicle at the water-hole- very rarely did we see another car on our drives.
The lack of a fuel station at Dolomite was not an issue after filling up at Kamanjab- see notes about Nissan X-Trail later.
The drive from Dolomite to Okaukuejo is quite long, not made more exciting by the destruction caused by the fires and was generally uneventful.
However, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay at this camp and will stay there again." See all these reviews: 22n in Namibia
"Dolomite Camp - away from it all!"
There are only two rooms here which overlook the waterhole though the views in general were stunning.
There are however issues with the camp design in this wild and desolate area of Etosha, I refer in particular to the wooden walkways and paved areas to the rooms. The walkways are poorly lit at night and resulted in my partner suffering an extremely heavy fall from a step down onto the rocks which could have been very serious indeed, I was pleased that she was able to get to her feet without serious injury, she has though suffered badly grazed and swollen knees and she still suffers some pain from this. Her back was also bruised but thankfully there is no recurent pain here.
You cannot believe my relief when I found my partner was ok after the fall, my vision of her at the time sprawled amonst jagged rocks and crying out in pain was that she had suffered a broken back.
For safety reasons it would be helpful if each of the wooden steps had a visible edge as all the steps simply merge into one, this may help prevent future accidents of this nature.
Another issue at this camp is that staff insist that guests are transported back to their rooms after dinner using a golf buggy, stating that it is safe from animals but strangely we were told on two occasions to walk down to breakfast at 6:30am even though it was still almost dark...that walk from our room was at least 800m up/down really steep pathways.....we are both retired and though we consider ourselves quite fit this was too much, so I had to insist that a buggy be provided.
This place is definitely not for those less able." See all these reviews: 12n in Namibia
"Africa Specialist | Namibia"
"Dolomite Camp review"
"Excellent stay at Dolomite"
Good meals with a good choice for dinner and great breakfast. Service a little slow but as meals are prepared freshly. it made for a relaxed experience and well stocked bar for nightcap. Staff friendly and efficient.
Only downside is walk to lodge if not great at walking uphill. Buggy available but can involve a wait if busy elewhere. Dolomite is a great place to stay and wouldn't have missed it. Will return" See all these reviews: 13n in Namibia
"Interesting new camp"
Cars are left at the base and you are ferried up the mountain by golf buggy. Tents are up steep walkways and the buggy is necessary , which I found very difficult. Food good and staff very pleasant , helpful and proud of their new facility.
We took a drive but could have done it ourselves as it is restricted to the public roads. However we came across a small herd of elephants with young crossing the road and the guide gave us an excellent example of how to avoid confrontation by deliberately blocking the road to impatient and aggressive drivers. A valuable experience." See all these reviews: 18n in Namibia
"Dolomite Camp review"
Camp very spread out on top of a hill so potentially a lot of walking to and from bar, restaurant etc but the camp provided a buggy service to ferry people about to offset this problem for the less fit visitor." See all these reviews: 17n in Namibia
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Okaukuejo Camp
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Halali Camp
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Mushara Bush Camp
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Ongava Lodge
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Onguma Tented Camp
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Mushara Lodge
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Onguma Bush Camp
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Namutoni Camp
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Onguma Forest Camp
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Etosha Safari Lodge
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Little Ongava
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Andersson's at Ongava
With game drives on both its private reserve and in Etosha, Andersson's at Ongava also offers access to the Ongava Research Centre.
Mountain Lodge
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Mokuti Etosha Lodge
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Etosha Oberland Lodge
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Villa Mushara
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A short drive from the national park's northern entrance, Etosha King Nehale Lodge is an interesting and comfortable base from which to explore the park.
Safari House
The private Safari House on the Etosha Heights reserve is a great option families or friends travelling together.
Onkoshi Camp
Onkoshi Camp is owned and run by Namibia Wildlife Resorts. Built on elevated wooden platforms it overlooks Etosha Pan.
