Travel reviews by E, S, E & R from UK

"After the long overnight flight, it was great to have an easy drive to Haus Sonneneck (simple to find our way up to the hilly, calm suburb of Eros) and relax until setting off on our travels the following morning. We got a good welcome and a recommendation to visit Joe's Beerhouse for a meal (lively with a very mixed clientele and good, interesting menu).

Rooms were large and simply but well furnished, with a lovely back terrace with table and chairs. Nice pool and good breakfast too. Just right for our first night in Namibia - nothing fancy, but everything we needed."

"Great location next to the gates of the national park and very well set out. Rooms (tent-style structures) were fine and well spaced out. It didn't feel as though there were 45 rooms at all. The central areas were very well done, including a very good pool, and the views lovely. Meals were all buffet-style, with a good variety of food. Dinner included a barbecue for game and fish, and a stir fry option, with an enormous selection of help-yourself starters and desserts.

We really enjoyed the activities. The activity centre staff are very informative and helpful in choosing what to do.We went on the Sundowner drive round the lodge's estate - seeing a few animals and some rock art, and having a drink on some very picturesque boulders as the sun went down. The next morning we went on the trip to the dunes with a brilliant guide, and got a lot more out of it than if we had gone alone. We ended with a fantastic breakfast near Big Momma dune."

"Sam is very much the front man of his Giardino, along with Beethoven the dog, and the establishment very much reflects his character. He is extremely welcoming and knowledgeable, and the whole place is infused with a quirky atmosphere, which you will either appreciate or not!

We really enjoyed his company at the bar and at various times during an excellent dinner. The garden is filled with a great selection of plants and has good siting areas if it is warm enough (not in mid-September!). Rooms are good, and there is a lot of very tasteful art and decor around.

The location of Sam's Giardino is perhaps a touch far from the centre of Swakopmund, in one of the streets that can feel a bit like Clacton on an overcast day. But the personality of the place makes it a great place to stay. Sam's employment policies are laudable, too, and are borne out by his welcoming and efficient staff.

Whilst here, we arranged for these travellers to go Kayaking at Pelican Point. They commented:

Playing with seals at Pelican Point

This trip was one of the highlights of our holiday.

Jeanne drove us past the salt pans, the flamingos, jackals and the Mad Max film set to Pelican Point, where we got into our kayaks. Amazingly, the seals along the lagoon love to play with you - swimming under the kayaks, jumping over, or on to, them, somersaulting, and frolicking next to you. It was a unique experience. We saw dolphins too.

Afterwards, we had hearty sandwiches and hot coffee to warm us up."

"We loved Mowani Mountain Camp, from the moment Heinrich gave us an exuberant welcome at the gate, to when he said goodbye (Ciao-ciaoooo!!!). The setting is just wonderful, and the view rooms have such a wow factor. The natural pool, the sundowner spot among the boulders, and the central areas for eating and relaxing are all fantastic. Food - no-choice set dinner - was very good.

Our trip with August, our great guide, was hugely enjoyable. The drive to find desert-adapted elephants was long but never boring, and when we found the herd, it was brilliant. We were also taken to the rock engravings, the organ pipes and burnt mountain.

We were only able to book one night at Mowani, but would have loved to have two to have a chance to relax in the beautiful surroundings."

"Damara Mopane isn't in an area with much of special interest, but it provided a good-enough stopping point from Damaraland to Okonjima. The lodge has a bit of a coach tour party feel about it and the style is a little 'theme park'.

The idea of rooms that are built like a traditional village is nice, and the vegetable and fruit gardens round each are lovely. But the blinding green lights that feature on every grass area just hurt your eyes and don't add to the atmosphere! Service was good, but some of the staff seemed somehow a bit dispirited compared to those at most of the other places we stayed.

It served its purpose well, but isn't a must-visit destination."

"We were lucky enough to be upgraded to Bush Camp at Okonjima - more luxurious, smaller and an even better setting. The lovely rooms were secluded and felt as though they were truly in the bush - we bumped into warthogs and oryx on the way to the lapa. The food (quantity and quality) was fantastic, and the staff were brilliant. Great pool too.

We tracked cheetahs by vehicle, then on foot, and not only got close to several, but also saw giraffes, zebras, oryx, impala, springboks, eland, warthogs, steenboks, and much more on the same trip. We watched porcupines scrap over the remains of our dinner from the night hide, and the next morning found a leopard who posed obligingly on a termite mound. Wonderful!"

"Elegant Farmstead was great for a stay near enough to Windhoek to make a lunchtime flight without getting up at the crack of dawn. It's a really nice place in its own right too, however. It's a fairly lengthy drive up a bumpy gravel road from the B1, but worth it.

The rooms were well-furnished and set in lovely gardens - but the bathrooms need a bit of upgrading and the shower was rather weak. There's a lovely pool, home-made cakes mid-afternoon, and very good food and wine. It was a very relaxing and enjoyable way to end our holiday after all the travelling."