Travel reviews by Mr J & Mrs C from Kent

"Being a Hilton hotel, it didn't really have too much local character, but the room and bathroom was a generous size and it was a pleasant place to recover from the journey.

As it was a Sunday, the hotel and the city were very quiet - as Sabina advised it would be - so we chose to eat in the hotel. This was something of a revelation because the steak was really good. The staff were also helpful - especially when our driver disappeared for 30 minutes when we were due to leave - although they did need a little prompting in this area initially.

We don't expect to pay for WiFi access these days, but this trend obviously hasn't yet arrived at the Windhoek Hilton."

"As this is marketed as one of Wilderness Safaris Premier Camps, we were expecting great things and we weren't disappointed. The rooms were fantastic, and we loved the floor to ceiling windows which allowed us to watch ostriches wandering past at a very close distance. Whilst the air-con was hardly eco-friendly, we have to admit it was most welcome on a couple of exhaustingly hot afternoons. One point to note is that the plunge pool was effectively a mud-bath because wind had blown so much sand into it. Can't be helped but it wasn't useable and maybe something Wilderness will need to address if they are going to promote their presence.

In terms of activities, we really enjoyed the trip to the dunes and Soussevlei which do leave very early but necessarily so, because of the heat. We also enjoyed the trip to the canyon although this left quite early in the afternoon when the heat was at its highest and we really did have to drag ourselves out of the room. We also opted for an afternoon sundowner trip on our first day and this was also good - the location for the drinks was breathtaking, supplemented by seeing a group of mountain zebra as we stopped.

Finally, both the service and the quality of the food in the lodge were unsurpassed by any of the future lodges. It really was top notch without being aloof."

"Although the area isn't as game-rich as Etosha, we saw plenty whilst here, and really enjoyed our activities. The sundowner locations were breathtaking, particularly one where we were perched on a hill overlooking the plains below. We also had a really good drive to remote waterholes where we saw the animals playing out the politics of the waterhole - zebras never drink while oryx are drinking and vice versa - and our guide also showed us much of the smaller wildlife:- tok tokkies, spiders, scarily massive crickets, geckos and such like which was really interesting.

The accommodation here was the sort I was hoping for - effectively glamping of the highest order - and the view from the room was breathtaking, especially at sunrise. We also loved how the oryx took shelter under the tents (which are on stilts) for the shade. The tents were hot though although plenty of outdoor seating and loungers were provided for use during the day - in the shade!

We didn't think the communal dinners worked - primarily because we were the only non-Germans there when we visited and as our German doesn't much extend beyond 'Where is the Town Hall' and 'Where is the tram stop' we were somewhat sidelined - if it wasn't for a charming German couple with perfect English, we would have felt rather lonely. We would therefore much have preferred to sit on our own. Additionally, we really weren't fans of the overly formal 5 course dinners - whilst the food is not bad, it isn't quite as good as Wolwedans likes to think and one day were were served still frozen carpaccio.

Finally, and whilst this would not stop us recommending Wolwedans, I'm sorry to report that we had quite a lot of money stolen from a locked bag whilst we were here and I would urge Expert Africa to lobby Wolwedans into providing safes in the rooms."

"A good base in Swakopmund as the centre was within walking distance, which was handy for restaurants at night. The rooms were very nice for a guesthouse although we really didn't like the open plan toilet.

The idea of breakfast on our little terrace would have been quite nice if the weather wasn't decidedly cold on the two mornings we were there - it felt more like an endurance test than anything else although the quality was very good.

Staff were helpful when it came to finding an adapter for the hairdryer they provided and also providing us with an early breakfast on one morning as we had to be in Walvis Bay for the kayaking at 7.45am."

"This really was an incredible place to stay and we wished we could have been there 2 nights rather than 1 but availability just didn't allow it. The location is nothing short of spectacular and the rooms laid out amongst the boulders are equally impressive. The sundowner spot was also incredible.

However, none of this could compete with the trip to see the desert elephants. It was truly magical, so many elephants and a five week old baby as well. They were completely relaxed with us being there and we followed them for a considerable distance, watching them feed and seeing the baby pick a fight with his elder brother. We were surprised about the relatively small cost charged by Mowani for this trip - we would have paid more!

The one small point we'd make is that the staff were a little stiff at this camp - possibly because this is a high-end camp and it would be nice if they relaxed a little."

"Whilst not quite as jaw-dropping as Mowani, this is still a very nice camp and the whole bathroom being outside was incredible - although I must admit that I didn't really want to be visiting it during the night. Somebody probably should have given a bit more thought to the design of the rooms though because it was like sleeping in an oven - even though both air conditioning and an electric fan were provided, our room never dropped below 28C.

The camp has a more relaxed ambience than Mowani too, which we did prefer, and we rather liked the fact that some of the staff were clearly still learning as they were more prepared to chat - mainly about football with my equally enthusiastic husband. The sundowner spot was also a very nice place to enjoy a drink although quite a climb - I wouldn't like to be stuck up there in the dark as there is no lighting provided on the way down.

We didn't do any activities from this camp as we chose to visit the rock drawings at Twyfelfontein on our own."

"The overall rating is Good due to the Waterhole, which is without doubt the saviour of the camp, but we knew that before we went - and the waterhole is why we picked this camp. The big surprise for us was that the rooms weren't at all bad - apart from the slightly institutional feel - and perfectly adequate. The rest of the camp isn't great though - especially at dinner time which is, frankly, a zoo. The food isn't very good either (save for terrific grilled impala on our first night) and my husband was ill while we were here - although I do mainly blame him for eating a clearly undercooked sausage at breakfast.
What's frustrating is that it wouldn't take much effort for this all to be considerably improved.

But the waterhole - oh my goodness. It was breathtaking. We sat for hours and hours here - 2 hours before dinner, and 2 after dinner each night (the second night slightly aborted due to a horrible dust storm). Then 2 hours the next morning between 9 and 11 having visited other waterholes earlier. We couldn't tear ourselves away - families of elephants trumpeting as they charged in to drink, 13 giraffes nervously approaching before drinking, a pride of lions on both nights, 8 black rhino, including a tiny baby, hundreds and hundreds of kudu, sprinkbok, wildebeest, oryx & zebra. It was mesmerising.

As grim as some aspects were of this camp, we'd happily do it all again."

"We loved everything about this camp - the peaceful setting around the waterhole (mainly, see below!), the beautiful tents, charming staff & the quality of the activities.

As we'd already had quite a lot of luck in driving ourselves around Etosha, including a leopard sighting, we only chose to do activities with the camp where they were on their reserve - which is afternoon and evening drives.

When you arrive at Onguma they make a big thing about not having as much game as Etosha, which is clearly true, however it didn't stop us seeing both Leopard and Rhino on the Rhino drive, cheetahs on the Night Drive and a male lion on the Sundowner drive. The lion also paid us a visit at the camp waterhole during dinner on our first night, announcing his arrival with the hugest roar that seemed to shake the whole camp. The bird life on the camp rarely gets a mention but that was terrific too. Thoroughly recommended."

"Spectacular rooms, fantastic location, great walks up and over the granite boulders, absolutely delightful staff.

Great bird life and hundreds of adorable love birds around the restaurant at dawn. We even saw a caracol which has taken to visiting the waterhole every night.

So glad we stayed here for 2 nights - it was a perfect end to our holiday."