Travel reviews by Water dikkops from Calgary

"Great place! You suggested this place for our needs (ie nice country stay to get over jet lag in a nice place to get a feel for the country. PERFECT!! and thanks for this!

From the books there are now new owners, not that it matters. The new manager, Bennie , was a great host! Very friendly, very nice. Gave us his card and said to call him anywhere, anytime if we have any kind of issues! Can't get better than this.

OOOOOOOOOO but THIS is important!!!!!!!!! We read nowhere in the Lonely Planet nor Brants guides that there is no heat in any of the Lodges in this country (maybe it is in there but we didn't remember seeing it). This was a bit of an issue. When we got there they were in a bit of a cold weather snap. It was about -5 at night. Being Canadians we have TONS of cold weather gear but didn't bring stuff for temps like this. We had to go buy fleese jackets in Windhoek.

Related to this, they have a great "hot" tub, which would have been nice to use, however they kept the temp so low it was like a cold pool! We didn't use it."

"Guide books put down the lodge safaris up to the plateau! Say the guides suck! We almost didn't go on one because of this. GLAD WE DID GO!!! Our guide was GREAT!!! Well informed, did not rush us at water holes and we saw LOTS of stuff! And nice guy to boot!

Food was not bad, just ok.

Books tell about local guide who does native village tours. This is no more, he has left the area."

"One of the best native managers (Meeka) we met on the trip!!! Jill got VERY sick as we arrived here and he was SO kind to her! Made special soup etc! She couldn't eat for 5 days, but the lodge called for us and she finally saw a doc in Tsumeb who gave her much better meds than what we brought which got her better.

New owners, again, VERY VERY nice people!!!! Irish guy. He is keen and wants to do well with this lodge which is a bit off the main tourest track. We loved this place. Guide books say there rooms have some of the best views in Nasmibia and they are right. Very idilic. Very Africa. How to improve and draw tourests? We went there because we are active and this area, accordind to the guide books had mtn biking and caving. The lodge does not advertise this but they have 2 bikes to use! Surprise to us but YAHOO!

However there is nowhere to ride! The only plave is on the road you drive in on. Not interested. We bike alot here at home. What is needed is a set biking trail. But this could be an issue given the soil in the area. Deep sand is no good, nor are boulder fields. What he needs to do is make some specific biking/hiking trails with ups and downs with some good views on the way. AND, do not let the cattle/hourses use these tracks as they will wreck them for biking. Then promote this!!!

He has just bought 2 horses for people to ride!
As Jill was sick we did not go caving but the pics make it look cool!! He has at least 1 cave on his property. Commercial caving is huge in Europe and big money! It would be worth his time to check some of these out to see how they set up these caves and promote this as well. Have overalls, helmets, lights etc

Maybe make a little touresty 4x4 track on the land for tourests who rent 4x4s to take a bit of a "tough" drive on. A little guy thing eh?!?! Promote it.

They have a very nice water hole close to the lodge. problem is, you have to cross their open lawn to get to the blind. The anlmals see you and run away, this happened to us a number of times. We saw lots but were willing to sit for a long time to see them. They should set up a "hidden" pathway to the blind. People are people and most want to see animals but being human, "waiting" is not big.

Not in the guides, but they have some very nice pictographs you can hike to see. Better signing at the site is needed though. It is very easy to walk right past them and not notice. There is now a very good set of trails leading all over the place past the site from people (including us) trying to find them. And the bush is real nasty here!

Sorry, I hope I don't sound too harsh here! The only reson I've gone on hear so much is that we did LOVE this place so much and the people there are GREAT. We want them to do well so thought we'd pass on some thoughts.

Oh yeah, and this is a problem with the whole country, local cultural events need to be promoteted better (unless of course the locals don't want this). For example, whilst at Gaub we went to the native village display at Tsumeb. It was ok. But the next day, by dumb luck as we just decided to pull into the village parking lot to have lunch, we find they are having a "county" traditional singing contest! It was FANTASTIC!!! And we were the only tourests there! Maybe they didn't want us there, but this stuff could be promoted as well>"

"This stop was another of your suggestions Tracey. We loved it! GREAT ambiance!!!

The "dining" room in particular was great!

The sunset drive was also great! However, I would suggest they move the sunset viewing spot to somewhere where there are some interesting trees to include in your sunset photos that we all scampered to take. Where we were there was only a fence and flat horizon to include in your shot.

Poo spitting was fun!
Excellent guides!"

"Camping very dusty, but this is to be expected. Nice facilities for camping. However, the camp site was only about 1/4 full yet they assigned us all sites right next to each other. Not too impressed with this! If they spread us out there is less noise issues and less dust issues. Seems like a simple change that would make the camping so much nicer.

We didn't notice any of this, maybe they have it but if so, they need to promote it. When we were in Kruger each camp had a set of activities you could sign up for. Such as night drives, day drives (which I think Etosha does have this) but they also had bush walks and guided mtn biking on game trails, which gave us some of the best experiences we had while in South Africa. These are very good ideas!"

"Very nice rooms, pool, buildings, location, water hole!

HOWEVER, Jill and I have rarely had a worse dinning experience in our life! The food was AWFUL and the set up was like we were back in summer camp only with really pretty plates! Sure we had this whole cool selection of "wild game" meat to try. All of which was so tough and over cooked that we could hardly cut it.

The guys working there had no personality (except for the lady who sat us). And they could not keep up with the volume needed to feed everyone there. BAD BAD BAD Someones job needs to be re-evaluated!"

"Of our whole trip, for beauty and experience, we loved this area and up to Purros the most! By far! We like "wild places", off the tourist routes etc. And this fit the bill! I wouldn't say Etosha was "beautiful". Great for what it is, animals etc. But not really really beautiful land scapes. Ses to Purros is.

Fort Ses has great character!! Some of the "boss" staff not so much but most of the people were very nice. Local kids came and sang at night. Very nice touch!

We had rented a 4x4 so we hired a local guide (Frank) to take us out in search of elephants. BEST day of the trip!!!!! Frank was GREAT!!! Not real knowledgeable yet, but he is still very young and wants to learn and will get better! Very friendly, very nice guy. BUT, his real gift, is his eye sight! HE MISSED NOTHING!!!!!!!!!! Two of us trying to spot game, we wouldn't have seen half what he did! Amazing! Highly recommended! He works out of the "info" place right at the Fort entrance. We 4x4ed 70km up the Hoanib and saw tons of game. We even came onto a big bull elephant while entering a very narrow canyon. Took us by surprise and we had to back out quick as he chased us!! Frank is GREAT. Ask for him!

We didn't do the Himba village out of the Fort, but a couple who were also staying there, did this with Franks friend out of the same "info" place We met him. Same age as frank, seemed like a very nice guy. This other couple told us about their Himba trip and it sounded very good! Very informative, very well done. We should have done this instead of at Purros. Very interesting but a bit configured at Purros and our guide could barely speak English nor Himba.

Oh, there was another guide at the Info place by the Fort, seemed like maybe he was the head guy. Didn't like him much! Very slimy/pushy! Tried to con us a few times. We weren't impressed. Forgot name, maybe 27? Good looking. slick! beware"

"We should have spent much more time in this area and farther north into the Kaokovald. Nice area, nice people, seemed safe enough. I thing our time hear gave us a taste of what Africa might have been like before a lot of our types HA HA HA showed up.

One of the nicest camping sites we have ever had! No-one there, stars, big trees, open grasslands, elephants come through your site in the evening..."

"For a busy place, very good camping!

Excellant guides!!! Top notch!

Guided walk well worth doing. We saw baby Leopards."

"Fantastic lodge location! Built right into the rocks. COOL To be honest, the san art right in the rocks at the entrance were as good as any we saw at the world heritage site!

Food very good. Singing cooks a nice touch!

Rooms need to be improved! They need to but some of our tourist coin back into up keep!! Looked run down,felt a bit like a cheap motel room to be honest. Fan didn't work etc."

"Tracey, you asked why we would want to go there? You were right, bit of a dump, Henties Bay is. Should have given it a miss.

Didn't stay a Bucks. Seemed nice enough but we weren't too sure about security. Also had a bit of a dodgy experience at the Spar store getting food. We've been attacked in our tent at knife point before (on another trip), so it tends to make one a bit watchful. Seemed sketchy so we bailed and got a B+B.

Played golf here though. Had a great time! Whole course is a sand trap! Much fun."

"The books make Walvis out to be a dump!!! Not so! Sure it isn't Swok but we found it very nice and not so busy. Very good restaurant on the dock!

One of the BEST B+Bs we stayed at. Nice location, nice building/rooms, great food, nice owners... THANKS AGAIN FOR THE RECOMMENDATION TRACEY!!!!

Booked up but all we heard was good about some guy who does the "Small Five" desert tours. Guess it's Very good!"

"Very friendly lodge! Nice location. Very wild (but few animals). Very helpful. Lots of good info. Could put a bit more cash back into the up keep of the place. Some finishing details to the rooms were a bit sloppy. Like tacks holding up curtains and mice running all around and over you at night. This didn't bother us, infact it was a bit of a laugh. Especially when the mouse almost poops in your mouth from the ceiling at night.

The drive to and from the Park is no big deal. There aren't many animals in this area and if you go slow it's only about a 1.5 hour drive back after dark to get back to the lodge. They do it all the time.."

"thanks for the recommendation again Tracey! Good for a nights stay when going home."