Travel reviews by Mr & Mrs M from Freiburg

"First class Lodge in an fantastic location. Excellent accomodation, lovely grounds, good food. Staff helpful and friendly."

"Remote location. Friendly staff. Very good welcome. Everything included (including laundry service!) Good food.
Edward the guide excellent."

"Elvis (Ultimate Sarifies) the guide was excellent. He had good knowledge but did not bombard us with information all the time - just enough to keep us informed. He had a relaxed style but worked tirelessly to make our safari a great experience. Nothing was too much trouble for him. He is highly recommended.

Did not like Swakopmund very much. A rather dull place and was concerned with peoples' homes needing a high degree of security, including sometimes electric fencing. When asking why such security was necessary Elvis replied that it was not a problem with crime but a requirement of the insurance companies. We were not convinced by this explanation and drew the conclusion that there must be a crime problem. But I would also point out that at no time did we feel uneasy or experience any fear of crime, both in Swakopmund or any other location in Namibia.
The restaurants selected by Elvis were a very good

The Cornerstone Guesthouse was a good choice. Only a short walk to the centre of town. Helpful and attentive service and a great breakfast. Room clean and spacious.

The Walvis Bay trip was well worth the effort. Sufficient time was allowed to get amongst the wildlife and take a lot of 'photo's / video. We saw little of the town itself but look similar to Swakopmund but with a deep water port.

Camp Kipwe was a great place. Set among the rocks with a lovely view over the plans with mountains in the background. Very helpful and friendly staff and very good food.
The highlight at Camp Kipwe was a visit to the Twyfelfontein rock Bushman engravings and to see the desert adapted elephants. The visits to the burnt mountain and organ pipes, whilst interesting were not essential.

Okaukuejo Restcamp, while very good was not so friendly as other previous places. Because it is much larger and caters for many people the service is rather impersonable. I complained that the shaver socket in our room was out of order but there seemed little enthusiasm for putting it right. Being larger they were able to offer a wider choice of food, which was well cooked and tasty. The water hole was a great place to relax and enjoy the wildlife coming and going and it was a shame that a number of tourists didn't seem to understand that one should be quiet at these locations in order not to disturb the animals. Such things come with mass tourism.

Onguma tented camp was a delight. To call it a tent conjures up images of boy scout jamborees but this was something else! Outside and inside showers and a grand bath, 2 large beds and a view over their water hole made us feel royal. Despite their boasts of game they had very little in way of lion Rhino or elephant, as shown in their brochure, and were never seen. But as it was located very close to the east entrance to Etosha then we spent our time there rather than in Onguma's reserve.

Okonjima has everything going for it. Their work for the conservation of Namibia's big predators was most interesting, and gave us an opportunity to see these animals at close quarters, which in other areas would be almost impossible in the time available. Of course this is greatly helped by the ArfiCat Foundation fitting radio collars which made tracking them so much easier. For the visitor it is a small price to pay to get a glimpse of these wonderful creatures.
Food here was good but with little or no choice. They often served game (Oryx or Kudu) which was very tough. Breakfast though was very good."