Travel reviews by Mrs B - family from UK

"Villa Violet served its purpose - it was a place to sleep after the long flight from London"

"I think this must be the best place to stay for visiting the dunes as you are inside the park and can reach the dunes for sunrise. We had only one night here but on our first day we were able to spend time at the pool (one of the best we encountered in Namibia), walk to the canyon from the lodge and later drive to Elim Dune for sunset.

The next morning we departed for the dunes at around 6AM with a picnic breakfast prepared by the lodge. The checkout was painless - we experienced none of the difficulties referred to by Expert Africa in their guidance notes - we had paid our bill by card the night before after dinner. We spent several hours exploring the dunes, and climbing them in the cool of the morning. We drove all the way to the dunes but did get stuck in the sand, so maybe the shuttle would have been better !

The lodge itself was perfect - we had comfortable spacious rooms with sun-loungers from which to enjoy the great views; the food was very good - a la carte not buffet, and most importantly the staff were all friendly and helpful."

"This was a convenient stop between Sossusvlei and Walvis Bay. We didn't leave Sesriem until lunchtime so it would have been too long a day driving straight through to Walvis Bay.

The lodge was in a lovely setting; the rooms were excellent; the drive to the top of the nearby Spreetshoogte Pass was a very worthwhile diversion - the views were terrific; but the food let this place down for us.

I don't think it was freshly prepared - we appeared to be given ready meals from the freezer. Dinner was served at a large communal table but we were the only guests. Excellent wines were included with dinner.

The hosts were very pleasant - they are currently building more rooms and are installing a swimming pool."

"We chose to stay in Walvis Bay rather than Swakopmund because it was more convenient for kayaking with seals which 3 of us had pre-booked - they all thoroughly enjoyed this activity. I chose to stay on dry land and spent the morning exploring Walvis Bay. There was plenty of bird life (and dolpins) to observe by the lagoon. I felt very comfortable walking alone in this town and was not hassled at all (unlike in Swakopmund where we later stopped for lunch).,

The lodge itself was adequate for a one night stay - it was in need of refurbishment with very old fashioned bathrooms Although it is right on the lagoon there is a busy road between the lodge and the lagoon. In the evening we ate at the Raft Restaurant. This is at the end of a jetty on the lagoon, just a 10 to 15 minute walk (or a very short drive) from the lodge. We had an excellent meal there."

"This was very special - the lodge has a wonderful setting in the Erongo mountains amongst boulders.

Our tented rooms were very spacious with enormous balconies. One of them (room 10) was great for viewing the sunset.

We did a couple of activities organised by the lodge - a 3 hour early morning walk, and a sunset walk, but it would have been easy enough to walk on marked trails by yourself. However having a guide added immensely to the experience. Our guide, Gelasius, was very knowledgable about the trees and other plants.

There was plenty of bird life but we didn't see much other wildlife."

"The elephant tracking with Stephen as our guide was one of the highlights of our stay in Namibia.

The rooms were excellent but apart from the afternoon of our arrival we had no hot water. As the nights were so cold a hot shower in the morning would have been nice. The swimming pool here was good - laps (well, mini-laps) were possible.

The communal areas were good, the staff were all very pleasant and helpful, but the food was poor both evenings - it was buffet style, as was the breakfast. On our second morning we ate breakfast at 8 AM and there was hardly any choice - most guests had eaten earlier and the food had not been replenished"

"Our stay in Etosha was the one aspect of our Namibian trip which we wish we'd organised differently. We obviously wished we'd had more time to observe the animals but even the time we had would probably have been more enjoyable if we'd stayed just outside the gate on our first night, rather than at Okaukuejo camp. The whole of the next day would then have been spent in the park driving only as far as Halali camp. After a night there we would have been able to spend a few hours in the park before leaving for Rundu, our next stop.

We did not like Okaukuejo Camp - it was too big - the rooms were the worst we had anywhere and the food (buffet style) was poor. However the staff were all very friendly. The area around the camp was good for wildlife - we saw rhino nearby as well as at the waterhole, and the next morning we saw six lion cubs at close range (with only one other vehicle in attendance)"

"We did not see as much wildlife in this area as in the area around Okaukuejo, but our stay here was more enjoyable - ..and the camp and surrounding area were a lot less busy.

Unfortunately the food here was no better than at Okaukuejo."

"We had one night here after a long drive from Etosha. It had ... We were too late to do the sunset cruise but the lodge was a great place for relaxing.

The food was excellent - it was buffet style, and this lodge showed that buffets can be very good. It was high quality with plenty of choices at both breakfast and dinner."

"We had a lazy stay here - we did the sunset cruise which was very pleasant but didn't drive to Mahango Park for a game drive as we wanted a break from driving.

The lodge was nearly an hour's drive from the park so if we had particularly wanted to go there it would have been better to stay at one of the lodges closer to the park. We had planned to visit the Buffalo park section of Mahango en route to Nkasa Rupara but in the event didn't have time. We do regret this.

The lodge itself was very pleasant with rooms and balconies (with sunbeds) overlooking the Kavango river."

"This is a very remote and peaceful camp. It did have some drawbacks but these did not spoil our stay, which overall was wonderful.

The tented rooms were very small - the bed took up most of the space. During our stay we had no hot water - probably due to the cold nights (around 5C). My daughter and granddaughter did a guided walk with Stefan on the afternoon of our arrival - this was excellent - they got very close to elephants and other wildlife. My husband and I had planned to go on this walk but it was very hot and at the last minute we decided we'd go on the morning walk instead. During dinner the manager apologised and told us there'd be no morning walk as they had only two guides at the camp and they'd both be needed for the morning game drive and boat trip as 10 guests had booked on these excursions. This was disappointing - I do think they should have told us when we booked the morning walk that there was a possibility that it would not go ahead - perhaps they need another guide at the camp to cater for all the guests.

We did a combined game drive and boat trip in the afternoon which I think probably was better than going in the morning - we saw a lot of wild life during the river trip, but not so much wildlife in the park. There was a lot of wildlife around the camp itself (including elephants) The roads are very bad in the park although we did drive in to the camp - it was ok and we are not experienced at driving in sand. Dining here was at a communal table for 18 to 20 guests."

"Our stay at Ichingo was the highlight of our trip. The staff were excellent but special thanks are due to Kennedy,who loked after us so well, Ernest the manager, and our guide, Morvin. They all made our stay so memorable.

All meals and activities are included here - I think this is a very good idea when you are staying at a remote lodge. At Ichingo you could chose your mealtimes, your activities and the length and timing of those activities. We had a dedicated guide, Morvin, for the whole of our stay. In the course of our two night stay we did two afternoon boat trips to Chobe National park where we saw hundreds of elephants, lots and lots of buffalo, and plenty of hippos both in and out of the water, crocodiles, and many many different types of bird and also most of the other animals we'd seen in Etosha apart from rhinos and lions; on our first morning we did a walk around Impalila island with Morvin, which was very interesting. After a couple of hours Ernest picked us up in a vehicle and drove us to more remote parts of the island. We had a closer look at island villages and learnt a lot about life on the island; on our final morning we checked out early, cleared Namibian immigration and then Morvin took us on a boat trip around the island and down the Zambezi before taking us across to Botswana immigration at Kasane.

There was no aspect of our stay at Ichingo that I think could be improved on. Rooms, food, service, all were excellent. The lodge has a great setting above a fast flowing section of the Chobe River, just before it enters the Zambezi.

It is mainly a fishing lodge but certainly caters very well for visitors with no interest in fishing."

"The lodge was about a 10 to 15 minutes walk from the entrance to the Victoria Falls.

We walked around ourselves - an organised trip was not necessary. Probably the afternoon light is better for photographing the falls. We arrived about 9 AM by which time the sun was often in our eyes.

We were very happy with this lodge as a base for visiting the Falls - it was a good place to relax after our busy trip.."