Travel reviews by Paul & Nicky from Keswick

"Good place for a stop over before or after a long flight if you want easy access into Windhoek or the airport.

Excellent staff, very good food and an easy walk into town."

"Located in a picture perfect setting in the dunes; this is a spectacular camp in every way.

The staff are warm, friendly, professional and enhance the pure joy of staying at Dune Camp. The rooms are spacious and well equipped, with a lovely balcony; they are very private and well spaced from the adjacent tents. The food at each meal was excellent and very well presented.

Our guide, Joseph, could not have been better. He arranged a fascinating morning with a bushman guide who was so in touch with the local environment it was a sheer wonder to witness. Joseph also arranged a fabulous horse trek from Wolwedans Lodge and he personally took us on guided trips and drives.

The highlight was a whole day trip with Joseph around the southern part of the Reserve where we encountered the desert adapted giraffes at close range. The scenery was spectacular throughout and Joseph’s knowledge of the area made the trip truly unforgettable.

An outstanding camp made beyond excellent by the best staff that you could wish for. A huge thank you to them all."

"Very well located for an early morning trip into the Sossusvlei area. Fabulous staff, good food (with an excellent meal out in the Bush one evening) and great guiding. A two day stay allows you to get the best out of the area.

Our guide, Gabriel, was outstanding throughout. We enjoy a local Bush walk and tracking trip just after arrival. The highlight was an early start to walk up Big Daddy Dune and visit Dead Vlei; here, Gabriel excelled in his care of my wife as she nervously descended the dune face - a big thank you to Gabriel for his kindness and patience.

A tip - if you want to see Dead Vlei before the crowds, go as early as possible and go straight there; see the other parts of the area later. Any delay and you will share your experience with many others!"

"An absolute joy in every way. Spectacular location, lovely rooms, good food, great staff and the freedom to walk alone or with a guide. If you want to stretch your legs and not spend too long in a vehicle then do visit this camp. Two days should be a minimum stay.

Beautifully scenic landscape and the drive up is not that bad, and perfectly easy in a 4*4, but don’t do it if you are a nervous driver! Do take the guided walks if you are reasonably fit; the guiding is great and views spectacular. It’s an easy walk to Laura’s cave to see the bushman paintings and that should not be missed."

"Despite some concern that the camp looked rather austere from photos, we thoroughly enjoyed Doro Nawas. We chose to drive to the camp via the D2612 and this proved to be a scenic, quiet and interesting drive avoiding the busier route.

The staff singing to us at reception on arrival should be seen for what it is, a truly joyous welcome to their home and not interpreted unkindly and described as cringing by some reviewers. Try just smiling back and applauding their warmth, they are a beautiful bunch of people.

The entire camp is professionally run, with everything clearly explained by staff. The guiding was outstanding and our guide, Nesley, was exceptionally good. We enjoyed an early morning guided walk with him and a late afternoon tracking the desert adapted elephants. The elephants proved hard to find, but he never gave up and we eventually enjoyed 1.5hrs watching 6 elephants, including 2 young, from close range.

We visited Twyfelfontein, the Damara Living Museum and the Petrified Forest on our own. These are all well worth visiting, and our advice is as follows:-
Twyfelfontein - go very early if you can and beat the crowds; sadly the guide we had was not at all interested in her job.
Damara Living Museum - clearly aimed at tourists but great fun; run by an enthusiastic, smiley and warm group. Our expectation was for a quick visit, but we thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. Lovely people.
Petrified Forest - be careful to get the official site; picturesque walk, scenic and enthusiastic, helpful guide. Very interesting."

"Etendeka is an absolute joy to visit; the camp is more authentic in all ways than the more modern camps. Here, you feel like you are truly in the wilderness, with more than enough luxury but not too much, and it’s run by the solid partnership of Denis and Bonny. The combination of these two absolute experts in this unique setting makes this a very special place indeed. If you just want lazy luxury, with people running around after your every need, then this is not the place for you. However, if you want an authentic African experience, then this is impossible to beat.

The guiding by Bonny, and especially his walks, were a pleasure. The food, often just simple but flavoursome Bush cooking, was outstanding. Denis was a pleasure to meet; an intelligent, quietly spoken man with a prolific knowledge of the area, including the beautiful starlit skies.

An unforgettably marvellous experience. Do not stay less than 2 days to enjoy this place at its best."

"An absolute pleasure to stay here. You need to book well in advance; we could only get in for one night despite booking many months in advance.

An exciting, open camp, not for the faint hearted. We had lions very close to the tent and enjoyed having dinner watching two white rhinos at the camp waterhole. Excellent staff, outstanding tents with first class facilities and very good food. Out guide, Bono, was an absolute professional and of the highest calibre. We very much enjoyed the game drive on the Ongava Reserve which is so much more peaceful than Etosha.

We were taken on a game drive into Etosha, which although flush with game, it is also full to capacity with vehicles, large tour groups that are often noisy and we were disappointed with the atmosphere in Etosha. However, that is a personal view and it really reflects our desire for tranquility."

"A luxury camp to enjoy at the beginning or end of your trip if you feel like spoiling yourself and taking a couple of easy days.

The camp is easy to get to, spacious, with luxurious rooms. The food is excellent and the staff are warm hearted and professional. The fenced nature of the Reserve makes it very different indeed to Ongava, but it does allow you to see cheetahs and leopards at close quarters. We thoroughly enjoyed the cheetah tracking on foot with our guide Jonas, who was very reassuring at times when my wife was somewhat nervous!

The leopard tracking in a vehicle was also incredible, where we witnessed a leopard consuming a warthog, with a hyena trying to get involved rather nervously. These are sights of nature in the raw and amazing to witness, but one couldn’t describe them as a pleasure to witness!

More of a luxury holiday location in the Bush rather than a wilderness feel but still an absolute pleasure."

"If you would like a day or two just outside Windhoek, within easy reach of the airport then this Lodge is very handy.

The really strong point about Immanuel Wilderness Lodge is the owners. They provide absolutely perfect care of their guests. The food is exceptionally good, the hosts and staff are lovely, and everyone wants to see that you are happy and comfortable. Without asking, they offered to check us in for our flights, print boarding passes etc to avoid hassle at the airport; just that wonderful feeling that they really look after their guests.

The rooms are simple but they are clean. There is plenty of parking and the grounds (with a pool) are adequate for just relaxing. We would chose to stay here to start and end any future visit to Namibia. As mentioned by others, do enjoy the Namibia cheeses; wow, they are good!"