Travel reviews by Mrs A & Mr M from London

"The room was comfortable, the breakfast was excellent and the staff were incredibly welcoming and helpful (one of our bags didn't arrive from Joburg until the following morning and they were very helpful). They organised a taxi for us to Joe's Beerhouse and pointed out on the map the best mall to go shopping before setting off to Hoodia.

We didn't use the pool."

"It all started with a terrific welcome from Enos and never went downhill. The staff were outstanding in their attention to detail and were particularly helpful when we discovered we had a puncture (must have happened on the drive in to the Lodge). Staff were dispatched "to help" and then proceeded to remove the punctured wheel and fit the spare.

The chalet, the restaurant and the swimming pool could not be faulted.

Staying here was one of the highlights of our holiday. There is a lovely atmosphere around the place.

The kitchen staff were extremely attentive to my food intolerances."

"Our main disappointment at Villa Margherita was the room. We were allocated a bedroom in a building at the back of the property; the first night we were on our own, the second night the other bedroom was taken and the plumbing noise from the adjacent bathroom was disturbing and not acceptable. Our room was not particularly clean but worse was that the decor was exceedingly tired. For example, there was a split in the upholstery of both armchairs and the bathroom tiling was quite cracked.

The breakfast was not a buffet so all food had to be delivered from the kitchen meaning we were served our cereals and cooked breakfast at different times. Not ideal for a relaxing meal. The quality of the food was OK.

The staff were friendly and helpful and were kind enough to give us an early breakfast on the day we went kayaking.

Our disappointment was the quality of the room which was probably compounded as Villa Margherita receives accolades in many travel guides; I even read one in Travel Namibia (I think that's the title of the magazine) while in Namibia which states it's the author's favourite place to stay in Swakopmund."

"Our welcome was not as good as at other Namibean establishments which means we can't rate our stay as excellent.

However we liked staying here, the food was good and the chalets very comfortable.

Staying here meant we could see the rock engravings at Twyfelfontein, the Organ Pipes and Burnt Mountain and spend time at the Damara Living Museum - all very worthwhile."

"This was one of the best locations of the holiday. Our welcome was outstanding, not just the first time we arrived but every time we came back to camp.

The kitchen and room staff were incredibly friendly and helpful. The service was first class from everyone and we especially loved the scorpion dinner which was such a surprise! We enjoyed the fact that all the guests ate together. Again I must thank the kitchen staff for proactively helping with my food intolerances.

Learning about the black rhino was immensely interesting and we were fortunate to find rhino on both days, although the second day it wasn't until 14.30 after 8 hours of tracking. All credit must go to Lloyd, our guide, and to the three Save the Rhino trackers who gave us a day to remember.

We saw large parts of some of the more remote parts of the Concession and some wonderful landscapes. And even after being out for almost 11 hours, Lloyd then took us on a sundowner drive where we saw spotted hyena cubs up close as we enjoyed a glass of white wine.

An outstanding three nights."

"After the Desert Rhino Camp, Ongava seemed a little more formal and, although small, guest dining was not communal which perhaps added to this perception of formality. Service and food were of a high standard (again no problem about my food intolerances) and the staff were very welcoming and helpful. The Tents were very well set up and equipped and it was a luxury to be able to catch up with the world after a few days without internet.

We were delighted to learn that Jason, our guide, had been trained by Enos (from Hoodia Lodge) so we knew we were in very good hands. We had three excellent game drives with Jason, two in the Ongava reserve and one in Etosha and in each drive Jason managed to lead us to lions, elephants and rhino (black and white).

One of the highlights of staying here is the waterhole so close to the communal areas so you see elephant, giraffe, white rhinos, and various buck at all times of the day and night."

"We knew that Halali Camp was not going to be up to the same standard as other places that we had stayed at so it didn't disappoint too much. Our room (Elephant) could certainly do with redecorating and renovating but it was large and there was a small garden with a whirlpool - which we didn't use. The best facility was the small 'fridge with ice box'.

The restaurant was a buffet for all meals where the food was just about acceptable. The restaurant was however rather expensive - $280 for a refectory style meal. Compared with restaurant prices in Windhoek and Swakopmund, this is very expensive, even allowing for the relatively remote location.

The swimming pool was large and well used.

Our rationale for staying at Halali was that we could drive ourselves around Etosha (which it is designed for), stay for as long as we liked at each water hole, and not lose time driving from a camp outside the park. This plan worked extremely well as one day we spent over two hours watching 40+ elephants at Oliphant Bad. It was magical. Also late one evening we found black rhino mating - if we had not being staying at Halali we would have already been leaving the park.

Although Halali in theory has internet which costs N$100 - in practice it was off for most of our stay. So not good value! And because the telephone and internet networks are so unreliable at Halali, use of credit cards is not always possible. Our experience suggests that visitors should be prepared to use cash for everything and not hope to be able to use a credit card."

"The only negative aspect during our three nights at Mundulea was the puncture by the gate - our second of our holiday and not the fault of Mundelea. After that it was all marvellous.

We were very lucky that Bruno was in residence and he led our walks. Apparently we were the last guests of the year before Bruno closed the camp until January. There was only one other guest so we were a small and quite intimate group. Bruno is fascinating and interesting company and we seemed to spend much time, without noticing the passage of time, discussing his ideas and ideals, world politics and matters of common interest at the communal dining area. Bruno led us on a series of walks from the camp through the bush and was so very informative on flora and fauna as well as landscape and geology. The walking seemed at times to be so tranquil and idyllic, especially in the evenings as the sun was setting.

At Mundulea, one does not see game in such close contact as in game parks where one is driven to waterholes and other such areas where game concentrate. We saw a lot of different antelope and giraffe through the bushes and we were shown signs of pangolin, aardvark, badger, hyena and ostrich as well as fresh tracks of rhino, cheetah, lynx and leopard. The walks were more about discovering the habitat and behaviour of animals and about the natural and not-so-natural vegetation and landscape.

After visits to Desert Rhino Camp and Etosha where one sees the game at close quarters, Mundulea offers a contrasting learning opportunity and we were very pleased that we visited after having been to Etosha. We gained so much of the context of the wildlife. A pair of binoculars is absolutely essential as from the top of some of the hills we climbed, Bruno could pick out animals way below.

All the meals at Mudulea were nutritious and delicious and many thanks to Tommy for producing it all by means of a camp fire and wood oven.

Our visit was another unforgettable highlight of our stay in Namibia."

"Erongo is quite a different lodge compared to everywhere else we stayed and has only walking and nearby bushman paintings on offer. It was good place to chill out for a night before our flight home.

Our chalet/tent was large and well equipped and the restaurant was good. Staff were welcoming and friendly and the swimming pool was very welcome after our drive.

We opted for the sundowner climb (not too steep or strenuous) and watched the baboons on an adjacent hilltop and a spectacular sunset before a good dinner.

We did not have any more time to explore the local walking trails as we had to leave after one night at Erongo to return to Windhoek."