Travel reviews by Drs L & J Whitley from UK

"Gocheganas was a great place for us to start our holiday, not too far from Windhoek after our flights. The accommodation was huge and luxurious, with beautiful views - our boys (9 and 5) had an annex to themselves!

The food was great and the staff were very friendly - it was a lovely place to introduce ourselves to Namibia. We went on one of their safaris and saw Giraffe drinking and a couple of Rhino before sundowners watching Giraffe.

The swimming pool was great, although kids are only allowed to use the outdoor pool, which wasn't really any hardship."

"Desert breeze has some amazing accommodation and views out to the desert near Swakopmund, but found the location a little odd - it is now in close proximity to building works for new houses and semi industrial buildings (doubt these were there when Desert Breeze was first built). Once you are in Desert Breeze you wouldn't know, but the arrival make it strange.

The staff at Desert Breeze were very helpful and service was great, the breakfast was also very good. The staff helped us to book a meal in Swakopmund itself because they don't serve dinner at the lodge.

There's no pool at desert breeze, but it wasn't missed because it was so much cooler and we had activities already planned to keep us entertained.

Swakopmund was amazingly cool after Sossusvlei which was welcome, but we found the town a little strange and it seemed to have lost its Namibian character a little."

"Doro Nawas was a magical place to stay for Christmas - the staff were the friendliest and most attentive of our whole stay. The staff made a massive effort to make our stay memorable and definitely succeeded.

Everything about the accommodation was amazing - outdoor shower looking out over the desert, beds that can wheel outside.

The main building really was special, built around the crest of a hill, with access to the roof (where we had Christmas Dinner at sunset - the most spectacular I have ever seen). The pool was small but perfectly formed with wonderful views out across the desert and mountains, our kids spent 2 very happy afternoons there.

We went on their Desert Adapted Elephant safari which was great - found a family of elephants with a baby and followed them for a couple of hours. The guide was very knowledgeable and made the safari great fun.

This was a really, really special place to stay."

"This was a great location for visiting Etosha, but unfortunately after Doro Nawas, the first thing that struck us was that the Staff really didn't seem very happy.

The accommodation was beautifully clean but spartan compared to the luxury we had been used to at other lodges, the main buildings were interesting and funky, it was really nice to have live music in the evenings whilst we ate.

The food was O.K., but after Doro Nawas and Sossusvlei it couldn't help but disappoint with some food cold as it had not been kept warm on the buffet.

The pool was brilliant, clean and great fun for the kids.

Whilst we were a little disappointed with Etosha Safari Camp we felt it was a much nicer place to stay than the camps we saw inside the Etosha Park itself - they didn't look at all inviting."

"Mushara Bush Camp definitely had the best food of our holiday - phenomenal, beautifully prepared and very well judged.

The whole atmosphere of Mushara Bush Camp was beautifully calm, relaxed and peaceful - from the decor of the buildings and accommodation to the amazing but unintrusive service of the staff.

The location is great for eastern Etosha and we saw some amazing things on our last couple of days touring the park - our photographs look rigged!

We loved it here - wish we could have stayed here another day....."

"We had so much fun at Okonjima Plains Camp - the staff were fab and the tours were amazing. Our guide (we had the same one for all of them so built up a nice rapport) really, really tried (and succeeded) to find us Cheetah and Leopard even through a massive thunderstorm!

The accommodation was once again amazing, with massive, spacious rooms and beautiful bathrooms.

The main building at Okonjima was great - with ample room for the kids to knock about and make friends with other kids. The food was great and the service was again wonderful.

The management staff really made us feel welcome and special, wonderful"

"Sun Karros was unfortunately a major disappointment. From the moment we arrived at reception to find the staff arguing with multiple people who had turned up from Windhoek expecting to partake in a buffet at the filthy restaurant (why!?) and use the pool.

The accommodation, whilst spacious didn't feel clean and smelt. The children's beds hadn't been made up so had to call to get this done.

We decided to go for a walk in the afternoon when we arrived, unfortunately the larger walk we tried took us past the lodge's abandoned old buildings which were now being used as a dumping ground for rubbish, broken furniture and bric a brac.

We booked for dinner at the Boma restaurant, a major mistake (but the only one open on the site). The food wasn't properly cooked and the crockery and cutlery were dirty. We ended up eating the things we felt were safe and abandoned the rest. This place genuinely felt like a health hazard.

The pool was the only redeeming feature of Sun Karros.

It was such a shame that Sun Karros was our last night in Namibia - I wish we could have stayed another night at Okinjima or Mushara Bush Camp. You could easily drive from Okinjima to the airport in time for the flight in the evening - would recommend this as an option instead.

I really would avoid sending anyone else to Sun Karros if you can avoid it."