Travel reviews by Mr A & Dr H from Berks

"This was a clean, peaceful place and an ideal way to rest and recover from our flight. It was easy to find and on the right side of Windhoek for the airport. Shops and resaurants were within easy reach.

The receptionist provided advice about where to eat and booked our table, ensuring that it was somewhere warm."

"Kulala provided comfortable accomodation. However, we found that the Wilderness approach to presenting the menu for each meal was formulaic and as a result this made the staff appear to be insincere. This was just an impression and, in fact, we couldn't fault the service we received either during meals or elsewhere on the site.

The main course in all the meals we ate was always well cooked and full of flavour. Dessert was disappointing, though; cheesecake was still frozen and creme caramel (served with cinnamon replacing the caramel) was bland. This didn't spoil our experience. We enjoyed our time there and they helped us celibrate our wedding anniversary by presenting us with a bottle of sparkling wine.

This was a great place to see and photograph the stars, we were fortunate that the moon set early in the evening while we were there. As it is outside the park, it is not possible to be at the dunes at sunrise and photographers may be disappointed by the crowds that have beaten them to locations like Dead Vlei.

We thoroughly enjoyed the early morning balloon flight with its wonderful champagne breakfast. We were hoping to pass over the dunes but wind conditions meant that that was not possible. Even so, it was a great experience."

"We loved Barchan Dune Retreat. It is out of the way and I wouldn't recommend it as a base for exploring Sossusvlei and Sesriem Canyon but as a place to rest between there and Swakopmund/Walvis Bay it is hard to beat. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to explore the area but we enjoyed our time at the resort.

We joined our hosts for a tasty evening meal. The homely atmosphere made us feal more like personal guests than paying clients. The room was spacious and clean and the large windows provided panoramic views of the surrounding hills which glowed as the sun rose."

"We weren't sure that we wanted to visit Swakopmund at all, having experienced British seaside resorts in winter. As we drove towards the coast and a wall of fog, we thought that our worst fears would be confirmed. In spite of this, and a nearly 30ºC drop in temperature, we are glad that we were persuaded to go (and that we had packed down jackets).

We divided the day between a boat-trip, which provided (very) close encounters with seals, pelicans, a rare whale and other wildlife, and a drive round the coast photographing flamingoes.

The Cornerstone provided an good base from which to explore the area. The staff were pleasant and helpful, booking trips and restaurants for us."

"This camp was really only a stopover, we arrived after dark and left immediately after breakfast, so we weren't able to enjoy everything it offered. The staff were very helpful at all times, even spotting a flat tyre and changing it for us before we left. They presented us with a gift to celbrate our wedding anniversary which was unexpected, given the brevity of our stay.

Being a Wilderness camp it suffered from the same stilted introduction to dinner that we found in Kulala. Whilst this may be attractive to some people, we felt that it made the staff look uncomfortable and the delivery felt forced, masking the naturally welcoming manner of the local people. They also served frozen cheesecake - dessert doesn't appear to be a strength of Wildernass camps."

"This was our favourite place of the whole trip. Dennis and his wife are wonderful hosts and we really enjoyed their company.

Although the camp was full and we all ate at the same long table, we felt like privileged guests enjoying the undivided attention of our hosts. The communal dining sessions helped us to get to know other guests, many of whom we bumped into at other destinations forming a community of Etendeka "graduates" who were keen to find out where we had been and what we had seen since leaving the camp.

Dennis has lived in the area for many years and we enjoyed hearing about the environment, wildlife, local people and their often conflicting needs. The guided walks and sundowner drives helped us to enjoy the fauna, flora and rugged landscape. Most of the wildlife was nervous and it was not possible to get too close but, even so, we saw a lot, including desert elephants on our drive in to the camp on the first evening.

The tents were comfortable, although some people might not be happy about having to leave the tent to go to the toilet or shower. The outdoor bucket shower helped create an impression of rustic camping even if the illusion was spoilt by the presence of solar heated hot water and comfortable accomodation."

"We were pleasantly surprised by Okaukuejo. This was definitely the busiest place we stayed and the service was a lot less personal - it was the only place in Namibia where we weren't asked how we were as part of the initial greeting. In spite of this we enjoyed our time there and life around the camp's waterhole was spectacular: we saw large herds of elephants, rhinos, brown and striped hyena and many other animals during our two evenings there.

The large canteen style restaurant was remarkably efficient at serving reasonable quality food to large numbers of guests. Although the meals didn't match the quality of those served by the private camps we visited, they were better than we had been led to expect.

We stayed at Okaukuejo because of the waterholes that surround it and the wildlife they attract. They didn't disappoint. The number of waterholes meant that nowhere was really crowded and we found that if we were willing to wait, good viewing spots soon became available."

"We chose Halali because we wanted a smaller more intimate experience within Etosha and because of its central position.

Although the camp was smaller and less crowded than Okaukuejo they appeared unable to cope with the number of guests present at mealtimes - we had to queue for more than 20 minutes on both evenings, in spite of having booked a specific time slot for the meal. This was probably due to the large number of people on the campsite; several school and scout parties joined the host of occupants of overland pantechnicons and family campers crowding the site.

In spite of the scrum at mealtimes, we don't regret staying here, The waterhole attracted, amongst others, large herds of elephant, spotted hyena, lion, an African wild cat and three rhinos, who proceeded to fence with each other before enjoying a drink as the post-sunset sky turned purple behind them.

The waterholes around the camp were good places to view wildlife too."

"Initially we didn't want to stay in a camp outside the park gates but it didn't take long for Mushara to win us over. The camp was spacious with comfortable seating in the central area.

Staff were very friendly and high quality food was served along with a good selection of wines. The only disadvantage was that we had to leave our favourite waterhole 20 minutes early in order to be at the park gates before they closed. This is definitely a camp to visit again and again."

"We were attracted to this place because of the work of the Africat Foundation and it didn't disappoint. Leopard and cheetah sightings were virtually guaranteed because many of the reserve's residents have tracking collars. We enjoyed the prolonged stays and close encounters we had with both a leopard and some young cheetahs as well as a few minutes with wild dogs.

On the second afternoon we went to see the work that the Foundation is carrying out. This was the only disappointing part of our stay here - a short talk and a chance to look at some small photographs didn't really enthuse us (they need some advice about how to conduct educational tours). This trip, however, did enable us to get close to some captive cheetahs who were being prepared for release into the reserve and their "ambassador" leopard.

We enjoyed good quality food here and the whole wonderful experience was topped off by a bottle of sparkling wine to celibrate our anniversary."