Travel reviews by Mr F & Ms G from Surrey

"The rooms are great but all located around a central atrium so mornings and evenings can be a little noisy.

Quite difficult to squeeze all the cars into the parking area if every room is full. Very welcoming and friendly staff."

"Beautiful rooms with thoughtful design and amazing sea views. The restaurant (on the top floor) has a good reputation in Swakop and so gets quite busy for dinner. Breakfasts are good. Fantastic to fall asleep and wake up to the sound of the sea on the beach barely twenty metres away. Also a great spot to watch the surfers.

Swakopmund is a ten minute drive away through the streets of holiday homes. To a European, the town itself is not really that special - plenty of shops, diverse but not outstanding architecture. One hidden treasure was the Swakopmund museum - an amazingly eclectic collection of geologic, botanical, historical and cultural information, with a few stuffed animals thrown in for good measure!"

"If you intend to drive yourself, make sure you have some sand experience in a 4x4 as it's easy to get bogged down at the turnoff. Once there, you are in a different world. Dirk has done an amazing conversion job on the old lighthouse keepers' living quarters, next door to the lighthouse. We saw pelicans, jackals, flamingos, seabirds and more Cape Fur seals than we could count - amazingly relaxed and easy to approach quite closely. The owners were there at the same time as us, and when you see them treating the public living spaces as an elegant home it's very easy to do the same.

Great food, great location. All the rooms look great - we stayed in the one nearest the lighthouse, on the first floor - windows at each end mean we got amazing sunrises *and* sunsets. Don'r go expecting lots of activities - it's an hour's drive into Walvis Bay and, really, why would you bother? Come here for the peace, the wildlife and the sense of relaxation that comes from such an amazing location. Fabulous."

"The rooms are standard motel style, but they are located around a beautiful green lawn with a swimming pool located in the centre.

The buildings and grounds have been well designed and look well cared for. The staff are friendly and helpful. Food is about what you would expect in a location so far from anywhere, where everything needs to be shipped in by road and stored - not much fresh but plenty of burgers and pizza.

The bakery is only a short walk across the garage forecourt."

"The location is amazing - 20km from the road over a sandy one-track road. We stayed in the Mountain View Suite which is huge (5 rooms plus outdoor bed!) and very colonial - dedicated cook and maitre'd - but the food and service were excellent and very attentive, respectively. The guided tour was brilliant, with an extremely knowledgeable and friendly guide. The plane flight over the Namib was very special too. Amazing stars at night.

Waking at dawn with Oryx sliding down the red dunes just outside the bedroom and desert crows singing (!) from on top of the tented lodge is an experience we will remember for a long time."

"We stayed at the Eagle's View, one of about 6 cabins 15 minutes drive from the main reception and restaurant. Each one is built into a rock at various places at the foot of a small hill.

Our one and only visitor was a local horse, who nosed up to the lodge window in curiousity. Consider taking a pre-prepared pack from the restaurant and cooking your own dinner on the barbecue outside the lodge, although the food in the restaurant is good too. Ostrich, horses and other wildlife make driving to and from dinner an interesting experience!

Very friendly staff, great location just outside Aus. We only stayed a night and would definitely like to go back to explore some more."

"Quite a taxing 20km drive from the main road - we're told you can make it in a 2 wheel drive vehicle if you are willing to try, but we were grateful for 4WD.

The staff were lovely and the walking tour (we didn't feel up to the 7 hour canyon trip) along the canyon rim was good. There's not much food choice but considering how difficult it is to get here, that's not too surprising. The rooms are quite plain, in line with the eco credentials.

Be warned: earplugs are standard issue with the room key because the wind whistles up from the canyon and around the rooms most evenings and nights. The earplugs are only needed if the noise gets particularly bad or you are particularly sensitive - we managed two nights without needing them.

Great views and the staff danced and sang for the guests one evening - much better than TV!"

"Our second time at Suricate and we can't recommend it highly enough. It's not as swanky as some of the other camps in Namibia, but the staff are friendly and a little more human than at some other lodges. The tented rooms are a little elderly but very comfortable and tranquil, each set on its own stilts, separated from the others just by sand - no concrete paths here! The food is about average but the game steaks are particularly good.

The wildlife is always varied and plentiful. The Kalahari isn't a "real" desert because it gets some rain, and there is grass and wildlife everywhere around the camp. A huge pan right by the camp is home to wildebeeste, oryx and springbok, there are plenty of birds and small mammals too - even a mongoose catching flies outside our room one evening.

There is absolutely nothing to stop you going for a wander into the pan on your own - a welcome change from many other lodges where stepping away from the lodge needs a guide and/or a jeep. Take the guided evening drive, though - you may see a lion close up, as well as zebra and steenbok."

"This makes a great place to stop either on your first night or your last night in Namibia. It's about an hour and a half from the airport with the last part on a gravel road but it's worth it. A spa on top of a hill in the middle of the green Namibian countryside, with exceedingly comfortable rooms, good food and amazing wildlife. Unless you are totally jaded, take the evening game drive.

We did and saw warthogs, wildebeeste, giraffe, eland, meerkats, a fish eagle, zebra, harfebeest, kori bustard and moorhens. The driver was quite apologetic that we failed to find the rhino! We stayed only one night but two would have been better. There is a very smart swimming pool, massages available or you could just sit on your balcony and look out over the umpteen hectares of greenery, trying to spot the giraffes!"

"Restaurant closed on Saturday evening, but several excellent alternatives are within easy walking distance, especially O Portuga - wonderful garlic gambas and huge portions!.

Checkers supermarket nearby is open all weekend."

"Huge, comfortable central boma for meals and relaxation. Our lodge (number 2) had a private balcony, indoor and outdoor showers and a great view of the two waterholes. Excellent evening game drive in Ongava - six white rhinos, lions, wildebeest and much more. Etosha's Anderson Gate is right outside the Ongava reserve and self-drive is highly recommended. Watch out for the dassies, who think they own the swiming pool!

Downside: limited opportunity to walk around the lodge area on your own, especially not after dark as it's too dangerous. Same goes for Etosha - lots of signs tell you to stay in the car."

"We spent two nights at Erongo on the way from Etosha to Solitaire, and it truly felt like stepping sideways out of the rest of the world. You need a 4x4 to drive up to the entrance (or park lower down and catch a ride), and the tented lodges are sited in a valley between three towering koppies that is its own self-contained little world.

The food is excellent, the lodges are incredibly comfortable and the staff are friendly and knowledgeable. Dinner on the patio outside the restaurant was excellent, and so was a whole day spent lazing and birdwatching. There are baboons in the hills all around and towards sunset they come back from foraging to groom and play dominance games in the rocks all around.

Two days was too short."

"We spent two nights here on the way to Sossusvlei and were very glad we did.

Unobtrusive room service provided afternoon tea and early morning breakfast on the table outside our room without waking us. The view down the valley was stunning at dawn and dusk.

Hannetje's food is excellent, and as long as you get a good crop of guests to chat with at dinner, the overall experience can't be beaten. A perfect place to recharge your batteries."

"There are around 40 individual tented lodges, each with a bedroom, bathroom and tiny deck. The views are not great as the lodges are located in rows, but we didn't spend much time in the our room anyway. Food was the best we ate on our trip - plenty of choice in a buffet style dinner and breakfast, with barbecue on demand as well.

The location is what everyone goes for - right outside the gate to the national park. One nice thing is that, unlike other locations, you only have to stop to pay on the way out of the park so you can race the sunrise to a photogenic dune without stopping. You won't necessarily be treated as someone special, but the service is good and the staff are friendly."

"We may be slightly biased because we were the only guests here for two nights in a row. The rooms are a little run down but that just adds to the charm of the place.

The game drive was the best we have done - not so much for the animals (it's a relatively small reserve and you won't see the big 5 here) but for the proximity to the game and the enthusiasm of our guide, Chamberlain. Service was good, and the desert was everything we had hoped - spectacular sunsets, amazing stars and a sense of isolation that was hard to beat."

"We only spent one night here on our last night in Namibia. Our dusty, muddy 4x4 looked very out of place!

Everything from check-in to check-out was handled smoothly and with a personal touch. The room (Namib Suite) was stunning - Nespresso maker, candlesticks around the bath, TV on a swivel, huge comfortable bed. The food was equally good, with an excellent choice of wines. Breakfast was amazing.

Highly recommended - stay here at the end of your trip because you won't find anything to equal it."