Travel reviews by Professor & Mrs M from UK

"The Vineyard was a larger hotel than we normally prefer. However it was comfortable, in a good position and set in lovely grounds. There was plenty of choice for reasonably priced meals.

The only downside was arrival. we arrived at 9:30 from the overnight flight, and it was 1:30 pm before our room was ready. On several visits to reception it seemed that 'the room would be ready when it was ready, no apparent effort to prioritise."

"The hotel and grounds were beautiful and immaculately maintained, staff freindly and helpful, owner much in evidence.

Room was very comfortable. Limited choice of meals in the hotel, but good places to eat in the vicinity. Breakfast was excellent. The minibar was free, and there was a proper coffee maker in the room.

The semi natural 'swimming pond' was a nice and unusual addition, the conventional pools were good also."

"Schoone Ordt was exactly what we expected, a comfortable place for a short stay to break the journey.

The staff were friendly and helpful."

"Hog Hollow was disappointing. The 'poor' rating reflects the fact that it isn't a cheap place to stay - similar in cost to Angala but not comparable in standard and not anywhere near as well looked after. The setting is stunning, but the lodge is let down by an apparent lack of maintenance and continual investment.

The chairs on the breakfast balcony were of the plastic garden variety, replaced during our stay by new Ikea - type plastic chairs, Our room was good internally and had a big balcony deck, which was spoilt as the trees in front were overgrown and obstructed the view. The only furniture on the very large deck was a small, worn and uncomforatble two seat garden 'sofa' (again rather like IKEA furniture). There was rubbish under the deck and a plastic bag caught in the tree in front of our balcony, possibly as a result of monkey mischief, but none of it was removed even after we told staff.

Some other people staying said it was 'lovely', others, like us, weren't impressed.

Four nights was too long for a stay here unless you wanted to visit rather artificial attractions such as monkey sanctuaries and 'elephant contact experiences' (we didn't)."

"Kwandwe was wonderful, justifying the high cost of staying there. The main lodge and rooms were superb and the staff could not be more helpful. The food was excellent, requiring restraint to avoid eating too much! The restaurant staff were very attentive and dealt well with our food allergies.

The game drives were well guided and we had excellent viewing on each of our six drives.

We'd advise other travellers not to try to go direct from Kwandwe to the airport, as the drive back to Port Elizabeth was slow due to many roadworks - and it wouldn't be possible to take the last morning's game drive, which didn't return until well after 9 am.

We would go here again."

"Hacklewood Hill was what we expected, a good base for a short stay prior to flying home. The hotel had a lot of character albeit that some of the decor was a bit tired. The staff were friendly and helpful.

We were glad we chose to stay two nights here as that gave us a long day in the Addo Elephant park, which was a nice finish to the holiday."

"Lots of character, welcoming and a great palce to start the trip"

"Lots of character again, and very striking location"

"Perhaps slightly less 'character' than our first two camps, but we enjoyed the view room with outlook over the veld"

"Rom OK, but camp as a whole lacked character. We were supposed to be in 'the honeymoon lodge' but were placed in a 'superior bush lodge' - Elephant I think - is this the same thing? Room was fine, but for 'honeymoon lodge' were expecting something special.

Dodn't take part in any activities"

"Much better camp than Halali. Camp waterhole was brilliant. Would suggest 3 nights in Okakuejo better as a visit to Etosha than 2 in Halali and 2 in Okakuejo.

Didn't take any activities - driving around Etosha ourselves was fine"

"The best of the camps we visited. Staff very welcoming, stunning location and great rooms.

Sleeping outside is highly recommended!"

"A little more ordinary than some of our overnights, but Sam was a very good host.

Only drawback was distance from other Swakopmund restaraunts - not really OK to walk back at night. Suspect the food was very good but we'd pre-booked dinner at the Tug restaurant, which Id been to before."

"Another very atmospheric camp in a stunning location. We didn't take any of the paid trips as we thought they were over-priced; £100 a head for a trip to the dunes was too much, especially when with a little more trouble you can drive yourself (and experience the dunes in more solitude!).

A general point is that Expert Africa could perhaps give a little more guidance on self guided trips from some of the lodges, as an alternative to those provided (at quite a high cost) by the camps themselves. The Namibia guidebook provided is good, but some personal hints and tips from Expert Africa would be very helpful.

I did raise one safety point in my feedback to the camp - the ladders to the roofs on the lodges (on which you can sleep otdoors) were not secured at the top and an accident is likely to happen eventually."

"A beautiful place - a surpising oasis in a stunning, rather arid, plateau and valley landscape. Marianne was a great host and we liked the way guests ate together in the evening, with a relaxed and informal atmosphere being helped along by the host.

The ownership was in the process of changing while we were there, hope the new owners don't change things too much."

"I've marked this 'poor' because it was a disappointment compared to all the other palces we stayed. I think we were probably in one of the poorer rooms, but nonetheless the welcome was lukewarm (the only place where we weren't met personally by the managwer or owner).

No proper restaurant, we ordred a 'light meal' from room service which was tough grilled lamb chops and very plain bioled vegetables. Good meals in the hotel or lodge are important in Namibia - you couldn't entertain walking back from Windhoek restaurant at night, so someone would need to drive and therefore not drink. You don't really feel like getting the car out again after a few hundred kilometres on dirt roads!

(I compalined about the meal and we weren't charged for it, and gave the essence of this feedback diredt to the owner on check-out)"