Travel reviews by Mr & Mrs W from Singapore

"Kulala Desert Lodge is a comfortable lodge with wonderful amenities for the traveller while remaining environmentally friendly (ie, no air-conditioning). What really makes it great is the level of service, the friendly staff, the delicious food, and the amazing panoramic view of the dunes from the dining room. An added perk is the private entrance to the park - which means a quicker arrival to the dunes before the other tourists.

If we returned during cooler weather, we would stay here again. If not, we may try Little Kulala only because 12pm - 4.30pm resting time was so uncomfortable. The private shaded pool at Little Kulala sounds like a great way to get through the heat of the day!

Tip: ask for your bed to be made up on the rooftop of your chalet, because it is an amazing way to see the stars!

Suggestion: It would be great if there was one cool area to escape to within the lodge during the midday heat. Presumably that would be the pool, but it was under the blazing hot sun so did not feel very tempting in 40 degree weather! This may only be an issue if you travel during the rainy season as we did."

"Doro !Nawas was simply enjoyable. The room was beautifully laid out, and the main dining area was even better - with cosy sitting areas, a little garden, an outdoor verandah, and a rooftop terrace that afforded 360 views of Damaraland, as well as amazing stargazing in the night.

The guides here were also fantastic, and the service staff were friendly and helpful. We had an east-facing room so we enjoyed stunning sunrises (and rainbows!) every morning from our beds.

We would definitely return to Doro !Nawas in the future.

Tip: The Elephant Safari is highly recommended!"

"Ongava Tented Camp is a comfortable tented camp, but does not have air-conditioning.

What is so great about this camp is the watering hole, which attracts elephants and antelopes by day, and big cats and rhinos by night. Our guide - Bono - deserves special mention for his persistence (if not his knowledge). In spite of rainy season, we found elephants, lions, cheetahs, rhinos, giraffes, antelopes, warthogs, jackals and foxes because he drove us to lesser traversed corners of Ongava reserve and Etosha. We never tired of going out on safari drives even though we initially had reservations about so many drives.

We would have liked to know upfront the list of activities available at Ongava. Bono did mention that we could do bush walks but only on our last day when we were already on a safari drive, though he did say that bush walks were not recommended during the rainy season. Still, it would have been nice to know our options first.

The food at Ongava was quite tasty, but the portions were smaller than at Kulala or Doro !Nawas. They also served a very rich, creamy and delicious pasta dish during lunch - which was quite hard to eat because it was so hot! We also noticed that Ongava was less committed to Wilderness Safari's eco-friendly ethos. They did not encourage us to use our water bottles, and freely gave us plastic bottles to drink from all the time.

Overall, the staff were friendly throughout our stay at Ongava. We were the only guests during our last two nights because the camp was about to undergo renovations. However, when we checked out and went to thank them - our departure was quite unceremonious and brusque, probably all the more jarring because the staff had made such a big deal of us when we arrived and throughout our stay. We put it down to the renovation works, but unfortunately it was the last experience/memory we had at Ongava.

We did not experience this at Kulala Desert Lodge or Doro !Nawas, where the staff (managers, servers, and guides alike) were really friendly, sincere and warm. Overall, we would probably not return back to Ongava Tented Camp."

"This is a review of Okonjima Bush Camp, because the kind folks at Okonjima upgraded us!

Bush Camp is a wonderful place to start or end a trip in Namibia. Each chalet is tastefully furnished and has a separate, very comfortable and shady sala from which to view the plains and its animals. The room has amazing floor to ceiling windows with private views out to the plains and a small watering hole to attract the animals. The main dining area and pool were also really beautifully done up, and Bush Camp was the first place we enjoyed spending time within the lodge itself.

The costs of the accommodations, meals and activities all go to benefit the Africat Foundation - which is a worthy cause to support!

The only issue we had was that the food was over-salted. Otherwise, the service was impeccable and staff were super-friendly. Our guide was also very knowledgeable, and we learned a lot about leopards and cheetahs.

Suggestion: While I know it is not possible to enforce a tour of the Africat Foundation, the cost of the Africat Foundation tour should be included or added to the room charge so that everyone staying in Okonjima goes to see the work that Africat Foundation does. Unless you're a repeat visitor, then perhaps that becomes an optional donation."

"The room is small and comfortable, but nothing very special despite being a castle. We were given an adjoining room, and we could hear everything that was going on in the other room.

The service is slip-shod, and the concierge is disinterested and indifferent. We told them we were interested in visiting the National Museum and asked them if it was possible to walk there, and they told us we could. It was a good 20 minute walk in the hot sun, but more importantly, it was closed on Saturday, which they did not bother to tell us. When we asked them how long it took to get to the airport, their response was that they had never been to the international airport, so they didn't know. We had to ask them repeatedly to ask someone for this information.

The only thing going for the Heinitzburg is a lovely terrace that gives a commanding view of Windhoek. We had booked a table at Leo's Restaurant, but were told that we could not dine on the terrace even though we saw others dining on the terrace. We went to the restaurant at our booking time, and ate inside.

Later, we decided to move out to the terrace for drinks and saw others dining there again, so we asked about this one more time. This time, the manager overheard us and gave quite a rude and defensive reply - basically implying that it wasn't "personal". We didn't take it as such, we only wanted to understand why some people could dine outside and what the difference was. Essentially, there was a private event that took place earlier, and had we waited until 7pm (30 minutes after our dinner booking) we could also have gotten a table to dine outside. None of this was communicated to us, instead we were told about this in an unpleasant manner after the fact.

We would not recommend this hotel."