Travel reviews by Tammy H from Redmond

"Three couples. Stayed just one night in Windhoek before taking off for Sesriem.

The manager was worried about us and called the Wilderness Safaris person at the airport to make sure we had arrived. Just took forever getting the car rentals and MTC cards. But, very sweet of her to check on us.

The rooms are a nice size with a large restroom, hot shower. Excellent breakfast with made to order eggs, toast, sausage, bacon, etc. They accommodate our early breakfast and departure, as we wanted to get on the road not knowing exactly how long the drive would take.

Gated and secure parking area. Nice neighborhood of more upscale homes. There are some random dogs barking at night. But, other than that, very quiet area.

Honor system with the beer and wine in the kitchen, which is nice, so you don't have to find anyone to assist you. Just grab a beer and write it down.

Had we stayed more than one night we would have stayed in for dinner, but had to do the obligatory trip to Joe's Beerhouse. The kitchen smelled really good.

Friendly and attentive staff. Would definitely stay here again."

"After a long drive, especially with Google taking us to a locked gate, we were so happy to arrive. Thomas the owner was there along with the staff to greet us. I had requested in advance chalets 9, 10, 11, and we were assigned to those chalets. The chalets are set apart, so they are very private.

Hoodia Lodge is set in an amazing location with a mountain backdrop and views of the desert. There is a small waterhole behind the main lodge, but we did not see any animals there. On the morning we left there was a large troop of baboon on the move behind the chalets.

We arrived. Had a chance to change and do some hand washing, then we were taken to have sundowners in the desert on the side of a butte. A table was set with drinks and appetizers, then we were treated to the spectacular colorful sunset with the desert colors changing from browns, to oranges and pinks. Along with some springbok off in the distance. What a wonderful start to our Namibia holiday.

The rooms are well appointed, very comfortable beds with quality linen and mosquito netting. Each room has an indoor and outdoor shower (outdoor is also a large bath tub). There is an outside seating area, and also a large outside deck at the main lodge.

The lodge staff are friendly and very service oriented and all speak excellent English. And the food - every meal we had from breakfast to dinner was excellent.

The day after arrival, we did the full day excursion to Sossusvlei. It is about 30 minutes to the park entrance gate. We were not particularly impressed with our guide. It felt like he had a schedule of stops, and he was not stopping except at those stops. The only animal he pointed out all day was a jackal that ran across the road in front of us. I'm rating the lodge as Excellent. But to be honest, if you read my review, I'm giving the Sossusvlei excursion an Average because of the guide."

"Three couples, stayed two nights at Cornerstone. Safe location, easy to walk to the waterfront. Gated, with secured parking.

Rooms were clean and decent sized. Each room has a small terrace with table and chairs. There is a central courtyard area with tons of birds eating from the bird feeders.

When we checked in our host asked if we had any excursions planned. We told her we were kayaking in Walvis Bay the next morning, and she arranged for us to have an early breakfast. Nice breakfast buffet of fruit, cheese, breads, along with made to order hot breakfast.

Cornerstone worked out well for us. A much less expensive and congenial option than staying at a large hotel on the water. Friendly hosts and staff."

"Booked Onduli Ridge in 2021. Very excited to stay at this new lodge. Ultimate Safaris has a good reputation, and Onduli was promoted as their flagship property.

Beautiful location. The rooms are very spacious, with large decks, ginormous bathrooms. All of the chalets have been built into and utilizing their surroundings, including large boulders in the bathroom. The beds move, so you can sleep out on the deck under the stars. There is a fully stocked fridge in each room.

No rains this year, and the dried out grass is from last year's rains. So, we didn't see any animals near Onduli, except two herds of goats.

We were three couples in chalets 3, 4 and 5. My husband and I were in #5 which is at the top of the hill. Amazing views of the conservancy, even from the bathroom. But, there is a large tree that blocks the views of the night sky on the deck. Our friends in #4 had to deal with construction workers staring into their chalet and we all had to listen to constant banging the afternoon we arrived. #4 is also at ground level, and one of the guides told us they found a zebra snake in that room. We spoke to the camp management about the construction workers and they promised the workers would not be working whenever we were in camp.

We stayed three nights so we could do the rhino tracking. Bit of a misnomer. We drove around for 3 hours looking for the Namibian police officer (Rooster). He and the rhino rangers had located a black rhino and her calf. We drove up a rocky hillside and parked. Walked maybe 50 meters and looked across a valley at the rhinos, probably 500+ yards away. I was expecting to actually be tracking the rhinos, having the guide show us what to look for when tracking. At a minimum, a little hike. What we didn't know was that we were expected to tip Rooster and the rhino rangers. I didn't have any money with me. We gathered our tip monies later and gave to our guide to give to them. Just would have been good to know in advance.

The second morning we got up early and drove over an hour near the Aba-Huab river. Our guide found 25+ desert adapted elephants. Because we requested to go earlier in the morning, we did have some time with them before half a dozen other vehicles showed up. There are a number of lodges on the conservancy, all going to the same place to look for these animals. We then found a giraffe, steenbok, lots of ostriches, a bull elly and springbok.

That afternoon we went to see the rock drawings at Twelfelfontein. Very interesting activity. A must see. Our local guide was Elizabeth and she was knowledgeable and informative.

We come back to banging and construction work. Seriously! So, went and sat by the pool.

Next to the pool is the sundowner boma. Gorgeous views across the plains and rocky outcroppings. Nice opportunity to meet the other guests at the lodge.

The food is outstanding - from breakfast to dinner. Tons of food. They found out we were from a wine producing region in the US, and organized a wine tasting and food pairing in the wine cellar. Our host went to a lot of work to put this together, and we all enjoyed it. Our last night was pizza night. We all sat outside in the firepit boma. You picked your toppings and the chef made the pizza in the outdoor oven.

The day we arrived and the next day (rhino day) we did not have any afternoon or early evening activity, and the morning we left there was no activity. I'm used to staying at lodges that have at least two if not three activities every day, including the day of arrival and departure. They did have e-bikes, but you must go with a guide. So, there was a lot of down time.

A few suggestions:

1) They provide paint supplies in each room. Maybe have a desert landscape painting class.

2) As mentioned before, a tracking safari where the guide instructs us on tracks, what to be looking for. How to tell the tracks of different animals apart.

3) A talk about the conservancy. How are the communal lands managed? How does the conservancy generate monies from the lodges/tourism. What projects are going on at the conservancy.

4) Visit to the Damara Living Museum.

Beautiful lodge. Friendly staff. Loki was a great guide. Just need to figure out some additional activities for guests, especially since there are so few animals to see in the area. And, when you commit to not having the construction work going on while guests are in the camp during the day, then that commitment needs to be met."

"Excellent camp. We arrived to waterbuck, black faced impala and giraffe at the waterhole. The rooms are elevated luxury tents with indoor and outdoor showers and a large deck. We were in rooms 3, 4 and 5, which had the best views of the waterhole.

We had lunch, unpacked, and off for the afternoon drive. Not five minutes out of camp we found a pride of lions.

The Ongava waterhole is very active. We had white and black rhinos every night, elephants during the day and at night. One afternoon I was sitting at the pool and several of the herd opted to drink from the pool. Amazing to have them so close.

The first night the lions woke us up roaring at 4:30 am. The at 5:30 am they were running around the camp next to our tents with the guides chasing them away after a young staff person met three large cubs on the path and let out several screams. Exciting from the safety of our tents.

The second day we approached a group of five white rhinos on foot. I was amazed at how close we were able to get. We saw them again in the late afternoon, just before we stopped for our sundowner. The following day we went into Etosha. So many great sightings. A leopardess and cub, watching a pride of lions walking for 20+ minutes across the plains to the waterhole, huge herds of elephants, countless zebra, gemsbok, giraffe, wildebeest. With how dry it is, I was surprised by the abundance of wildlife.

Ongava is a large 34,000 hectare (68,000 acre) private reserve. They pride themselves, and rightly so, on their private rangers protecting the animals from poaching. We stayed three nights, and I wish we had stayed more. The knowledge of our guide Binius, the friendly staff, the amazing food, our every need or request met. I feel bad because I think we drank them out of pinotage.

We were glad we stayed when we did. The camp is going to close in January 2024 and reopen with fewer, more upscale tents. Which also probably means a higher price.

My only suggestion is to change the design of the roofs on the vehicles. My husband and I sat in the back row. The ceiling is very low, so our one friend would have hit his head. There are also canvas doors, which is a nice safety feature, but between the low ceiling and the door, there is a very small space to look out. It was impossible for me to see out the window on the opposite side, where my husband was sitting. And I had to crouch down to look out. The day we went into Etosha, I asked to sit in the front seat, where I had a better view out the front and both sides, but missed the elevated view, especially when we saw two honey badgers running through the grass."

"We stayed just one night after a full day drive through Etosha. The rooms are elevated luxury tents, with huge bathrooms. All have a very nice view of the waterhole. Because we were leaving early the next morning, we did not partake in any activities at Onguma. We stayed on a half board as we arrived at sundown and left after breakfast the next morning.

The staff are very friendly and accommodating. Dinner and breakfast were excellent. Very good option for a stopover before heading south.

We opted not to spend two nights as I had read there are fewer animals on that side of Etosha. We did see impala and wildebeest at the waterhole, along with some very friendly red billed hornbills that were happy to pose for pictures."

"What an amazing end to our holiday - we were upgraded from the Bush Camp to the private Villa.

We were three couples, but the Villa could host 10+ guests. There are two suites in separate buildings with kitchens, dressing rooms and the largest bathroom ever, with indoor and outdoor showers, and deck areas. The main house has two bedrooms, the shared living room, dining room and ginormous deck area. There is an infinity pool, a firepit and a gazebo area overlooking the waterhole.

The Villa has a host and private chef. What a treat. There is a large kitchen with all the beverages you could possibly want.

We arrived, had lunch, and out for the afternoon drive looking for the elusive leopards. We found a leopardess and a cub with a kill.

We arrived back from our drive and sundowner, to be met by our host who told us he had a surprise. The surprise, two porcupines hanging out under the gazebo. They were soon joined by a brown hyena, and later a honey badger.

The next morning we visited the cheetah at Africats, and the Africats facility. I knew the cheetah would be in an enclosure, but it was substantially larger than I was expecting. After lunch we relaxed on our decks with gemsbok and common impala walking by to the waterhole. Our friends at the other suite had mongoose visiting them.

As we were having afternoon tea (which included a carrot cake the chef made for me when she found out it was my favorite cake), I looked across the waterhole and there was a massively huge cat. We jumped in the jeep and went in search. About 30 minutes later we found him. Just a beautiful animal.

That evening we were again visited by the porcupine and brown hyena, along with a civet.
Don't think we only saw cats, in the mornings there were loads of dik diks and steenbok, two species of zebra and red hartebeest. The morning we were leaving we went in search of the sable, but unfortunately didn't find them.

The second evening Chef Emily cooked up a braii with sausages, beef and venison. So much fun to sit out by the fire, looking up at the stars. This holiday was celebrating my 60th birthday, and Emily whipped up a beautifully decorated and so tasty chocolate cake for me.

If you have a large group, this is the place to stay. I cannot find words to describe what a wonderful experience this was for us. I can't think of anything that would have been a better finish to an amazing two weeks in Namibia."