Travel reviews by Mr & Mrs T from Cardiff

"Because of issues with missing driving licences & car hire we stayed 2 rather than one night at Galton House. The guest house is beautifully appointed - spacious rooms, indoor seating area, dining room, honesty bar/tea & coffee facilities, pool & outside seating. Breakfast was good and we had a very nice meal on the first evening - we also appreciated the complimentary tea & cake offered mid afternoon.

But the really outstanding feature was the help and encouragement we received from Helen and her staff at the point where it looked as though our whole trip might fall apart because of the car hire problem.

They kept us feeling positive, gave us access to their computer and printer, fielded calls from Expert Africa and Bidvest, suggested contacting the British Consulate, collected faxes, advised on contacting the Namibian police and organised taxis to the police station and later for us to eat out. They could not have done more for us.

We hope one day to go back and enjoy the guest house and see Windhoek properly - without the distraction of travel problems."

"The Lodge has a spectacular setting, excellent accommodation - tented chalets which look on to the mountains - very nice dining and sitting areas in the main building. The staff were very welcoming and helpful.

The day trip to Sossusvlei with two guides - we were the only guests that day - was excellent. Very interesting information about the geology, birds, animals and plants of the desert. A couple of short walks - some manageable dune climbing in the hot sun.

The 'picnic' lunch, more like a high class dinner, was excellent - and gave us time to sit and talk to our guides and learn something of their lives and the political and other issues which are current in Namibia"

"The rooms at the Lodge all overlook the lagoon and as bird watchers we spent much of our first day walking along the 5km tarmac walkway observing at close range the flamingos and other water birds. It was nice to be able to leave our vehicle behind and just walk out of the guest house and across the road.

The staff were very friendly (as was the dog) and helpful and the room was comfortable, quiet and spacious. Breakfasts were good.

There is a nice rear garden to sit in - we didn't make use of the pool."

"The location looking across the desert to the mountains is spectacular. The tented chalet accommodation was excellent - spacious and well appointed.

The main lodge building with the roof terrace (unfortunately there was too much cloud/rain to do any star gazing), sitting area and indoor/outdoor dining is excellent. The meals - we had breakfast, dinner and lunch - were first rate.

The morning safari to look for wildlife was very well led and we had very good close views of elephants and good bird identification. The vehicle we were in - there were 4 of us and one guide - was not the most comfortable, especially on a hot day. We decided against doing a further trip in the afternoon - largely because we decided we had spent long enough in the vehicle already that day."

"We enjoyed our stay at Okaukuejo though the fact that it was the wet season meant that there were no animals at the waterhole and more generally they were scattered in Etosha NP and were relatively difficult to see.

The accommodation and the meals were good - breakfast was included in our package and we had dinner (buffet style) both evenings. The camp could do with better signage for the location of individual accommodation units and despite a request and a visit from the maintenance guy we never did get a plug for the bathroom sink! No problems with the inventory - we checked it against what we were provided with and apart from the sink plug - not on the inventory - everything was there.

We did a game drive on the afternoon of the day we arrived - we had the guide to ourselves. That was a helpful introduction to the NP and we had some good bird and animal sightings. For the remainder of our time in Etosha we self-drove."

"The accommodation was excellent and the service good. We liked the location of the individual rooms with close views of birds and wildlife.

We felt a bit put under pressure to sign up for a game drive - we didn't sign up as we had already spent 3 days in Etosha and wanted to do our own thing. Though we missed out on seeing elephants we had excellent views of lions and a cheetah and a view of a white rhino from our own vehicle.

The food at the lodge was disappointing. Breakfast was fine but the dinner dishes - especially starters - we very complicated, the main courses were nothing special and deserts were disappointing (one was basically jelly and custard). As we were eating with low lighting levels it wasn't always possible to detect what the food items were give the mix and/or lack of flavour.

The pool looked very nice but we didn't find time in daylight to use it."

"The stay at Okonjima was very enjoyable. The accommodation, meals and service were excellent. We particularly enjoyed the close views of birds and animals from our room - actually 2 rondavels, one a bedroom with large windows and the other a lounge area open below the thatched roof and supplied with seed to scatter outside to attract the birds.

We were a bit daunted by the list of activities on offer and the prices - there seemed to be an expectation that over the 2 days we were at the Lodge we would do 2 afternoon drives, a night drive, an early morning drive and a guided visit to the Africat centre.

We did one afternoon drive - wonderful close views of leopard and cheetah (for the latter we were on foot); the night drive when food scraps were put outside a hide to attract wildlife (though only a porcupine came foraging that night - but excellent views of this nocturnal creature); and a very informative visit to the AfriCat day centre. We also did two marked walks - one from the Lodge and one starting a few kilometres away. Neither yielded much by way of animal or bird sightings but gave us the opportunity to walk after a lot of time spent in vehicles and to see the plants and scenery close up.

The only drawback was that the walks could have been better marked - we lost the path on both of them!"