Travel reviews by Ms R & Ms M from New York

"This was a great guesthouse to stay at for a night in Windhoek. The reason it gets a rating of "Good" down the line is because we're comparing it to all the other places we stayed along our trip, most of which deserve an "excellent" rating because they are so special.

The Elegant Guesthouse is a cozy place located in Klein Windhoek. The decor is modern. They have an "honesty bar" with a good selection of beverages at very fair prices. There's free WiFi so you can do your last-minute Internet surfing before heading out on your gleefully WiFi-free adventure. The rooms are all around a small peaceful courtyard - the only downside to this is that if you have the door or curtains open then you don't have privacy from the other guests.

The people at the front desk are helpful, if not very cheerful. They arranged a cab for us which took us downtown where we wandered around for a bit (Windhoek isn't that interesting, let's face it), then took us to Joe's Beerhouse for dinner, then back to the hotel (you pay the taxi drivers there at the end of the evening for all your rides).

Breakfast was good - the German continental type breakfast that is served everywhere we stayed in Namibia. There is a good grocery store nearby so after we checked out of the guesthouse they let us store our luggage with them while we shopped because they said it wasn't safe to leave our stuff in the car unattended. So that was helpful.

This Elegant Guesthouse is a pleasant option for your first night or last night in Namibia, but if your trip is anything like ours you will stay in many more memorable places!"

"We stayed at Bullsport Guest Farm for the first two nights after leaving Windhoek. It was a very easy drive from Windhoek to the Farm where we were greeted and promptly checked in by Johanna, one of the owners.

When we checked into our room we were very pleasantly surprised by its spaciousness and airiness and the casual but very attractive decor. We'd read reviews that described it is a "stopover" or in other ways implied it was not that attractive but we found it very warm and welcoming. The room, bathroom and patio were very clean and well-maintained.

Meals were overall very good. Breakfast and afternoon tea were available between certain hours and dinner was at a specific time with all the other guests and owners. There was a fairly large number of German guests on our first night there and as we'd expected based on other traveler's reviews, they sat at the large table with the owners and we were seated at a second table with another pair of American travelers as well as a young German intern and someone else from the farm, both of whom spoke excellent English. It was a wonderful and interesting dinner although some travelers have indicated they felt left out being seated at the second, smaller table. We had no problems with it at all and really enjoyed getting to know our fellow diners. On the second night the German group had left so all guests sat at the large table together with the owners and intern. The food on the second night was especially delicious. In both cases the main course was a locally (licensed) hunted meat: zebra and then springbok.

Our first morning after breakfast we set off with a guide to Quiver Tree Gorge where we went on a 3+ hour hike. On the drive to the gorge we got very close to a group of mountain (Hartmann) zebras and then continued up to a beautiful vantage point with stunning views of the surroundings. Once we started the hike, we descended into the gorge where we saw dozens of quiver trees, as well as leopard prints (and some carcass remains), and other plants and birds. We stopped for lunch, a healthy and filling meal provided by Bullsport for an additional fee. Around the mid-point area of the hike there was the choice of continuing on the "easy" route or the "difficult" one. Based on what we'd heard from our dinner guests the previous evening about the difficult one, we opted for the easy one and were glad we did as it was challenging enough and in the heat gave us a good workout. We were met at the end of the walk by the guide who had juices and other beverages.

Bullsport is a working farm that breeds dressage horses. We enjoyed seeing the horses and colts but unfortunately as the little ones had not yet been inoculated, the majority of the horses that would have been available for riding were being kept elsewhere so a ride was not an option. This was probably the only disappointment of our stay as it was something we'd hoped to do.

Otherwise, our time at Bullsport was a very memorable one and we would have liked to stay one more day to explore the area a little more. The friendliness of the owners and staff and the sense that you are staying in a real, working farm is a unique experience that we really appreciated and that was unlike any of the other places we stayed on our trip."

"This is a stunning place. After driving the unexpectedly long (but tremendously scenic!) driveway in, we were greeted by lodge staff offering us refreshing homemade ginger "beer." We were then given a tour of the facilities (gorgeous!) and were seated on the veranda where staff members asked us about any dietary restrictions and described the activities we could partake in during our two-night stay.

At first this place seemed a bit fancy and formal compared to where we had just come from (Bullsport Guest Farm) but that feeling soon dissipated thanks to the friendly and attentive staff.

Our kulala was great. It is really more like a semi-permanent tent - the walls of the main room are canvas, though the bathroom is a type of stucco or adobe. It was furnished tastefully and appropriately for it's stunning surroundings. However you are literally at the edge of the desert, so accept that dust will be a factor here despite all the efforts to keep everything clean. The view from our little deck was amazing - the dunes are right there. We did opt to sleep on the roof one night to enjoy the stars - we highly recommend that! It definitely got chilly overnight, and while we were cozy up there, we did go back in our room at about 4 or 5am to get a few hours of solid sleep.

This lodge is run by Wilderness Safaris so you will be "indoctrinated" (in a good way) with their philosophy, particularly concerning water conservation and energy consumption.

The food is just ok. They seem to be catering to westerners and a western diet, so we didn't eat anything unusual - chicken one night and beef another. The starch and the vegetables were heavy. Same breakfast as everywhere else we went. Other than the food, the only other thing that bothered us about Kulala Desert Lodge (and it happened again at the other Wilderness Safaris place we stayed) was that there was a big group (~14 people) staying there too. Their giant table dominated the dining room and even though they weren't rowdy, being around large groups of tourists is just annoying. We went to Namibia to get away from people! Oh well.

The activities they offered us were two different sundowners (since we were staying two nights) and a morning trip to Sossusvlei. We opted for one sundowner and the Sossusvlei trip. Both were incredible. We had the same guide for both who was excellent (unfortunately we don't remember his name). We were very lucky in that we were the only ones on the sundowner, and only one other couple was with us on the Sossusvlei trip. (Perhaps that's the upside of the big group - they were all out doing group activities!) Yes you can go to Sossusvlei yourself for a lot cheaper, but having to go through the main gate at Sesriem would have meant getting up even earlier, and also you learn a lot with the guide (and you can just sit back and relax in the Land Rover!). The morning at Sossusvlei was definitely one of the highlights of our whole trip. We did drive ourselves to Sesriem Canyon which is definitely something you can do on your own.

We absolutely loved Kulala Desert Lodge. The surroundings are some of the most spectacular scenery you will ever see, and we felt very well taken care of. We wish we could have stayed longer than two nights!"

"We were greeted by a very friendly woman (Robyn) at the service desk who told us everything we would need to know about our two nights in Swakopmund. She also gave us a cell phone (not just a number) to contact her after hours if necessary since she does not live on the property.

We had the huge apartment-like room adjacent to the parking area. It was tastefully furnished and *so* big. A full living room, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. We didn't need a room that big but it was nice to spread out a bit. The advantage of the smaller rooms is that they overlook the garden area which is definitely a better view than what we had. But we didn't spend much time looking at the view so we were ok with the big room.

We had already booked a scenic flight on our own so Robyn just helped us confirm it over the phone with the flight company. This ended up being a very good idea because the plan for the flight actually changed, and if we hadn't called to confirm, the flight company would not have known how to contact us. Robyn recommended we eat at Kucki's for our first night and made the reservation for us.

We also had the staff take care of our laundry the next day. Seeing piles of beautifully clean and folded laundry on our bed when we got back that day was surprisingly exciting after being covered in dust for days!

The owners were there in the mornings and oversaw the breakfast service. They too were extremely friendly and helpful.

Cornerstone Guesthouse is an excellent choice for Swakopmund. It's centrally located, the staff are great, and the rooms are nice and have everything you need."

"We arrived at Doro !Nawas after a long but beautiful drive from Swakopmund. As with our arrival at Kulala Desert lodge (also operated by Wilderness Safaris), we were greeted by a friendly member of staff with a refreshing home-made beverage. A tip if you are self-driving: upon arriving at the property, just park your car and walk up to the reception building. The driveway is quite steep and it's unnecessary to drive up it only to have to come back down to park.

After a brief orientation by the staff, we were taken to our room which is described as a "natural-walled unit". The walls were canvas and the ceiling vaulted and thatched giving a wonderful open and airy feeling. The veranda from the room opened out onto a beautiful view of the plains. There was an indoor and outdoor shower and the option to sleep out under the stars on the veranda.

The food at Doro !Nawas was some of the best we had on our trip, especially the second night there when they prepared a perfectly marinated and prepared barbecue. Before sitting down to dinner we had what was probably the most relaxing evening of the trip, sitting around the open fire on big bean bags enjoying a glass of wine and watching "Dora" the resident cat make her rounds.

We were up very early on our first morning to set off with a guide to look for desert elephants - certainly the highlight of our stay there. The guide did a wonderful job of informing us about the flora and fauna and well as showing us how he tracks the elephants. He gave us a lot of information about the desert-adapted elephants as well as some of the individual members of the herd, and once we found them we were given as much time as we wanted to observe and photograph them.

The other excursion we made that day was a self-drive to see the San rock art at Twyfelfontein, one of Namibia's World Heritage sites. We also learned that the Twyfelfontein area is said to have the largest variety of scorpions in a single location - 13. Remember to shake out your shoes before you put them on! We actually did see a scorpion back at the lodge, but it was taken care of expeditiously by members of the staff...

We didn't have time that day to visit the Petrified Forest so we set off the next day and made a stop there en route to our next destination. There we also saw the very old Welwitschia plants.

Doro !Nawas was probably one of our favorite accommodations during our trip to Namibia. The total experience of the lodging, guided trip and geographic location made it a very memorable stay.

P.S.: The internet access in the reception area didn't work well. It wasn't actually broken but the wire on the back was loose and nobody made too much of an effort to fix it, which was really okay."

"We stayed two nights at Okaukuejo - one night in a Family Chalet and one in a Premiere Waterhole Chalet. We didn't book early enough to get both nights on the waterhole.

We had read enough about this place to keep our expectations in check. As many people have written here and elsewhere, the whole camp has seen better days. Both chalets need a lot of work to get them up to date. The air conditioners leaked like crazy, light fixtures were missing, things were dingy, the smell was musty (probably due to the perpetually leaky air conditioners), etc.

The service in all aspects was not attentive - everywhere from reception to the dining room to the post office to the saddest grocery store we've ever seen. The inventory list was not available when we checked into the family chalet, and the people in the reception office would not provide us with one. So we had no way of proving that we didn't take any purportedly missing items when we checked put the next day. Luckily that was not an issue.

But in spite of all of that... the waterhole is magical, and what happens there at night can be very different from what you will see during the day. For this reason alone - the waterhole at night - Okaukuejo is an absolute *must* for at least a one night stay. On our second night (when we had the great view from our waterhole chalet balcony) we saw eight rhinos, all at once! The way they interacted with each other was fascinating. We saw and heard lions at night too, as well as elephants, giraffe, jackals and more. People generally are very quiet at this waterhole, especially at night. Several die-hards actually spend most or all of the night there just observing or taking pictures.

The other great things about Okaukuejo are that it is a convenient base for many other good waterholes that you can drive to during the day on your own. Also, the food, despite the fact that it is a buffet, was actually pretty good, especially the meat that they grill fresh every night. We were pleasantly surprised by the food for the most part.

As long as you go into your visit with moderate expectations regarding the quality of the camp itself, you will quickly put that all aside after a few minutes at the waterhole, both day and night. Expert Africa and others did a good job of making sure we knew it would be up to the caliber of the other places we stayed. We have great memories of Okaukuejo and consider it a not-to-be-missed stop in a visit to Etosha."

"The driveway to Onguma is located just outside the Von Lindequist Gate of Etosha Park. Before we arrived we spent a fantastic full day driving across the park (with a wonderful finale of animals at Klein Namutoni including a litter of hyena pups and too many giraffes to count) so we arrived at Onguma just before dusk. It is no joke that the animals wander into the roads at dusk - our drive from Namutoni camp to Von Lindequist Gate was extremely slow going because giraffes, kudus, springbok, zebras, etc. were coming out for an evening graze.

Anyway, we were greeted at Onguma by friendly staff who offered us cool towels to freshen up and gave us a tour of the beautiful grounds. In the Bradt Guide the Bush Camp is described as the "budget option" which is good for families with children. Both of these things were mildly concerning for us, but we agreed to stay here because we were too late to get our first choice accommodations and staying within our budget was important. Perhaps it was the time of year, but we did not see many children during our stay here.

We did ask to stay in the room at the very end of the camp so we could have peace and quiet just in case there were a lot of children around. They were able to accommodate that request which was great. Our room was simple but elegantly furnished. I would certainly not call it "spartan" (as the Bradt guide did) by any means! While we were out for dinner our bed was turned down each night with a goodnight story based on local traditional storytelling which was a nice touch.

Based on what we'd expected to find here, Onguma was such a pleasant surprise. The grounds are lovely with green lawns (though we did wonder how they managed to maintain the lawns in such a water-thirsty climate), luscious blooming trees, a swimming pool, a big waterhole (particularly comedic are guinea fowl and warthogs), and a very welcoming main lounge area with multiple rooms for dining, having a sundowner, or relaxing with friends and family, in or outside. We spent several hours on our second day just relaxing in front of the waterhole with some wine while we caught up on postcards and journal entries, or just chatting with other guests as the sun set.

Dinners here were among our favorites of the whole trip. There was an aura of sophistication to dinner time, with many guests dressed more formally than we saw at other camps. The tables were elegantly set and the service at a higher standard than we had become accustomed to. During dinner service our server would tell us what our options were for the next day.

The two activities we participated in with Onguma were a morning game drive in Etosha, as well as a night drive. We thoroughly enjoyed both. The weather was overcast and mild on the morning of our Etosha drive, so not many animals were visible early on. However we did see a lot (including a rhino which walked right past our vehicle) and learned a lot from the guide. We concluded the drive at the Chudop watering hole where we saw giraffes, hyenas, elephants, a jackal, a warthog, zebra, impala, springbok, kudu... and probably more. Incredible. The same goes for the night drive. We saw creatures we never imagined we'd see (including a gannet, a bush baby, spring hare, and finally a lion) so it was well worth it!

Onguma Bush Camp far exceeded our expectations and we highly recommend it for a truly relaxing and elegant time while still being close to Etosha."

"If you want to see big cats up close, this is the place for you! Due to time and budget constraints we could only stay here one night, but we packed everything we could into the time we had. We would strongly recommend two nights here!

Approaching the main lodge area is a lot of fun. You pass through three nicely decorated levels of gates, the fences of which serve as the boundaries of the Okonjima Game Reserve. The main lodge area looks like it belongs in Architectural Digest - it's a converted barn which serves as the reception area, lounge, dining room, and gallery. It overlooks an expansive plain with a waterhole frequented by warthogs, guinea fowl, springbok, and other creatures.

We stayed at the Plains Camp and had a plains view room. Again gorgeously furnished and decorated, with a lovely view. It was about a 7-minute walk from our room to the main lodge, but the path is well marked and well lit.

We arrived just in time for afternoon tea and cake, and then to join the evening leopard drive and sundowner. The Land Rover this time was full, and it goes without saying that some people can be extremely irritating! At first the guide was accommodating to these people by answering all their inane questions and stopping for every bird and springbok (which are wonderful of course but we were on a leopard drive and they can be very hard to find so that should have been the focus) but eventually he got them under control. Anyway we did eventually find a leopard who was lying near his recently-killed warthog.

The food at Okonjima was probably the best we had the whole trip. Elegantly plated, delicious, and not as heavy as what we had been eating the rest of the trip. The service was a bit hectic - most of the time the server didn't tell us what we were eating! We had to ask. But it was all tasty. Breakfast was good too, though not much different from what was on offer everywhere else we'd been.

Early the next morning we went cheetah tracking, which was a lot of fun. Again you go with a guide in a Land Rover some distance until they locate the cheetahs with a radar. Once you are near enough, you actually get out of the car and walk (quietly and carefully) up to the cheetahs. We found a group of three siblings, who were in the middle of tracking zebras to hunt. They made the chase, and we chased them! Being cheetahs they were too fast for us, but unfortunately for them they missed the zebra and we found them panting under a tree. We were able to get quite close to them then.

After breakfast back at the lodge we took the Africat Foundation tour. There we got to see another leopard and some cheetahs which are currently being rehabilitated. We then went to see the small lab where the veterinary work happens and learn more about the work they do there. We highly recommend this tour because you get to be so close to the cats and understand more about the challenges the cats face and what Africat is doing to try to solve the problem.

If there is a downside to this place it is only that it is popular and the jeeps will almost always be full on the game drives (depending on the time of year I assume), which means your chances of going on drives with people who are annoying goes up a bit. But it's definitely worth it. They do amazing work there and the cats are gorgeous!"

"This was the last stop on our trip. We had a tough time navigating from the north through Windhoek's rush hour and hilly streets to get here. But we were greeted by friendly staff who showed us to our room, offered us a glass of wine, and recommended a nice restaurant for dinner. They also booked the taxi for us.

The room was small but worked well for our last night in Namibia - WiFi, TV, etc. Breakfast was good - typical of all the breakfasts we had during out trip.

The only minor snafu occurred during checkout. It turns out they charged us for the wine, but needed exact change for it which we didn't have. So that took a little running around to resolve. The easiest solution would have been to waive the charge but that didn't seem like an option.

We preferred Elegant Guesthouse (where we stayed our first night) over Galton, though we did enjoy our brief stay here."