Travel reviews by Mr Caracal from UK

"A friendly welcome and lovely room. The moulded bath and basins were a great feature and the bed was really comfortable. We did not eat in but went to Joe's which we really enjoyed. The breakfast menu had a great choice and the food and coffee were delicious."

"Rob and Marianne have a truly hospitable place here. Their staff are lovely and friendly and the communal meals great fun. Many of the guests seem to be returning customers/friends! We had time for a short walk on arrival and then a day walk on the Canyon Way which was well marked and map provided. The views were spectacular and silence deafening!

Rob is so paasionate about the country and equipped us with map and route information for our onward journey as well as packed lunch.

A great start to the road trip."

"The welcome was reasonably friendly but this place is a less personal lodge than Zebra. We thought our chalet had a brilliant setting and the view from the main veranda was lovely at sunset.

The food was tasty but was delivered at great speed and dinner was not a relaxing affair! We would have preferred more time to finish our courses and between each one being brought!

The sunrise drive was wonderful. We stopped for sunset and were pretty much the first to arrive at dead vlei and watched the sun come over the dunes with great photographic opportunities. We then walked up to a ridge of Big Mama which had lovely views. Personally we would have liked to walk up further but the guide and some of the party stayed behind which perhaps restricted us.

A trip to the Sesriem Canyon was offered in the evening but we thought that this was a lot of money and chose to drive ourselves, which gave us opportunity to get petrol and a permit for the next day."

"We thought that this place had a querky feel to it but Sam was very welcoming and friendly. Our room was comfortable.

We ate at the Tug the first night which we thought was brilliant and the fish was very welcome after a lot of meat meals!

The second night after sundowners at The Tug, we were the sole diners at Sam's and on reflection should have perhaps gone out in town again."

"We took a different route to the coastal route you suggested, turning inland at mile 105 to get a more scenic view of the Brandberg to Uis and then past Twyfelfontein etc. Although more miles and I am sure not everyone's choice, we enjoyed the scenery.

We loved the setting and feel of this camp. The staff were really friendly and welcoming. We ended up in the honeymoon tent which was a bit removed from the rest and it was very peaceful sitting on the porch under the night sky.

The generator had failed while we were there, however the lanterns added to the atmosphere and they still managed to keep the beers cold! The alternating boma and camp dinners were great and we had social evenings with brilliant singing from the staff.

We had thought that the elephant drive was included in the package but had to pay for this as an extra. We would not have missed it anyway. I would have thought that anyone staying there 2 nights should be on an inclusive deal. The scenery down to the riverbed was spectacular and although it took 2 hours to locate the elephants, we had lots of time to observe them eating and them drinking from the village water hole. Our guide was good and also took us on an evening walk to a viewpoint."

"Upgrading work appears to be still in progress and the pool was not finished which may have been refreshing in the middle of the day.

The restaurant was a little institutional but served us well and it was a good base for the game viewing. The cottage was great and although there was crockery and a kettle there was no cutlery!

The water hole at the camp is excellent and we enjoyed watching the rhino and elephants drinking at night/evening."

"What a shame we did not have time for a 2 night stay here. The camp is great and the managers and staff were very friendly.

We joined in both the sunset and sunrise walks and the guides were very good with fascinating and beautiful scenery.

We thought the food was the best we had in Namibia, although competing with The Tug!"

"Being the only guests made the place a little soleless although the owners were pleasant and attentive.

We were not offered activites but were happy to relax after long day driving and early walk at Erongo.

We enjoyed the food but just felt a little uncomfortable alone at the big table!"

"Your directions here are slightly inaccurate. The Marinas sign is on the left hand side of the road before the main river bridge and roundabout. You then drive along a dust track past various houses to the enclosure.

This provided us with a comfortable place to stopover. The dining area is great but we felt that the rooms/bedlinen could be improved. It was a noisy night with numerous dogs barking, Friday night partying and dawn cockeralls!

We did not eat here but went into town."

"This camp has a brilliant set up with friendly and personable staff, good food and a lovely setting. There was a good communal feel to the camp and meal times were fun and social.

We thought our guide did us well on game viewing despite not appearing to be the most informative and outgoing there. However the Americans that we shared our drives with made some complaints about the guide and were slightly difficult to get along with. However we saw the local group of 4 male lions, various antelope, some birdlife and also tracked and followed a male lion calling to his friend. Although we did see a couple of elephant herds 20-30 strong, I was disappointed not to see the larger herds that I had read about on these open grass lands.

Our tent verandah was below a sausage tree which had previously dropped a fruit that had torn the canvass canopy and broken the timber deck. Sitting on the verandah during siesta time could therefore have been more relaxing had the canvas been repaired!"

"This camp must pride itself on friendly staff and its small size gives a really personal feel.

Our guide was really good and very informative. The local lions had made a kill the day before we arrived so the initial emphasis was on watching their interaction, waiting hyenas etc. We spent a lot of the morning drive following 5 of the pride on the look out for their next kill which was engrossing. We also saw a young leopard and various antelope, zebra etc.

I welcomed the boat trip on the 2nd evening as did not feel that I had seen much of the delta up to then. Meandering up various channels was lovely, ending up in an open area of water. We were extremely lucky to find storks had just arrived to breed on the heronry island which was a magnificant site. Numerous birds jostling for space in the one tree! Drinks at sunset topped it off.

We chose the makoro option for the following morning and although this was peaceful and the polesman were very skilled and chatty, it was not quite as I imagined. I had thought we might go further and weave down small channels but in fact we just went along the edge of the shallow flood water and back. Perhaps wrongly my expectation had been that there would be more emphasis on the water but I do appreciate that this camp has a great asset having the land for great gameviewing.

The final game drive was great arriving at 1000 plus buffalo at a dusty sunset and spotting porcupines, genets and wild cat on return.

This camp is wonderful with the most personable and chatty staff, regaling numerous stories and singing for us one evening. The Kwando set up with guide and tracker is a real bonus and I am sure increases the amount of game found.

Overall a wonderful experience."