Travel reviews by Jacana family from Bristol

"Arrived late morning after flight and were delighted to have rapid access to rooms for shower and change of clothing. A good quality town map helped us locate road quickly, the sketch maps are correct but not necessarily easy to use. Provided with very useful advice about travel, and supper booked for us at Joe's Beerhouse. Hilltop House currently surrounded by building works, but these did not trouble us at all.

Walked into town and had cafe meal at Zoo cafe. Stores closed on Saturday afternoon, but had pleasant stroll around main buildings. The electric fences guarding most of the houses look rather threatening and do not reflect the extreme courtesy and friendliness that we met throughout our stay in Namibia.

Found it easy enough to walk back up hill in afternoon and to walk to Joe's, but were advised to take taxi back after evening meal. Driver collected us from dining table - an initial indication of the extraordinary efficiency of the tourist infra-structure that we encountered throughout stay."

"5 hour drive from Windhoek. Excellent introduction to Namibian lodges. Rooms built into hillside in idiosyncratic style without apparent assistance from a set-square, and improvements still being made to surroundings. Clean spacious and comfortable. Very friendly welcome.

Lots of beautiful birds and a diversity of wildflowers around lodge, brought out by some unseasonally late rains in June. Evening walk to quiver tree and tackled canyon walk the next day. Not for the faint-hearted as the trails are steep, but as keen walkers the 1000 ft climb on the canyon walk was rewarded by outstanding views. Provided with excellent packed lunch to break the day. Good walking shoes or tough cross-trainers recommended as paths stony and vegetation spiky.

Plunge pool on chilly side after some cold nights, but we all managed to have a splash to cool off after day's exertions. Food at shared tables gave up opportunity to meet other guests. A dawn stroll on the airstrip was rewarded by views of springbok, zebra (a solitary youngster) and baboons. By the end of our trip this amount of wildlife would have appeared sparse, coming early on it was exciting to see and photograph the animals."

"Road from Zebra to Sesriem the worst we encountered on trip. Rear tyre punctured by 30cm steel fence rod of which all but 2 cm penetrated tyre - fortunately without disasterous results. The road has drifts that are deeper than elsewhere and at time of visit appears not to have seen a grader for some time. We were told that a visitor had rolled a car on it within the previous fortnight. Be warned and keep speeds lowish. Puncture was repaired within 30 minutes by Sesriem garage.

We loved Kulala Wilderness lodge with its glorious westward facing views over a grassy plain towards mountains. An unconventionally placed window in each bathroom allows one to enjoy the scenery while sitting on the toilet! The first of several swimming pools with an outstanding view. Great food on the terrace. Only drawback is that it is about fifty minutes drive from Sessriem park entrance.

On arrival the manager warned us about the exploits of the local mice, who are chocaholics. No kidding! Our daughters were woken by a mouse that had liberated a "Tracker" bar from deep inside a suitcase and was carrying it across the room, while in the other room a mouse chewed through six aluminium wrapped chocolate drinks sachets - to the detriment of nearby clothes. Sweeties went in the room safe the second night.

We had a glorious day amongst the Dunes, but after a leisurely start and slow drive arrived at Sossus Vlei road head about 1100. Although we had a 4WD Toyota Hilux, it was on road tyres and was glad to accept advice not to attempt drive to end of 4WD track and instead paid to be taken in. Without off-road skill on sand I think could have got bogged.

We arranged to be collected after 2 hours, but would have needed more time to see and walk whole area. Dead Vlei more interesting than Sossus Vlei for photography, but wind and heat built up by midday and would recommend earlier arrival at roadhead to others. Take plenty of water and some food as no refreshments available in park.

On journey back stopped at and climbed Dune 45. A stiff climb of about 500 ft on soft sand in mid-afternoon 30+ temperatures is not for the unfit, but was amply rewarded at the the summit of the dune by one of the very greatest views I have seen anywhere on my travels. Long vistas both up and down the valley. Climb is much recommended if you have the stamina. Sesriem canyon offers cool shade during afternoon, but other features of park are more impressive."

"We were booked into the Villa, which is the most luxurious accommodation we have ever encountered. Two stories, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, with a huge picture window upstairs giving views from the emperor sized bed out to sea. Whole assembly of buildings looks to have emerged from the computer game "Myst" and is unlike anything I have seen anywhere else in the world. None the worse for that. Well situated close to South end of Promenade. We were told that the tourist part of town was safe and encountered no problems walking around before or after dark.

We ate the first night at The Tug (N$840) for four people including wine which was really excellent and the second night at Der Keller (N$580) which provided quantity rather than quality - the steak being tasty but requiring much chewing.

We were booked onto the day tour to Sandwich harbour, but this was frustrated by rising tides and onshore winds, so spent a day in the dunes instead (a bit anti-climatic), and the next morning kayaked on Walvis Bay. An early start, but a very strongly recommended trip - we got really close up views of the seals and their colony and more distance sightings of porpoises."

"We spent two days at Cape Cross and thoroughly enjoyed it. Arrived mid-afternoon after kayaking trip and were greeted with coffee and cakes (delicious). This was the nearest to a "conventional" hotel that we encountered on the trip. Nice sitting area with fire at night, good bar service and lovely dining room. Patio has breakfast time visits from jackals drinking from water bowl. Sea front rooms fairly basic, but nice views of sunsets. A great place to chill out for a day after earlier long days on the road and early starts.

We walked cross to seal colony, entering by main gate, but were given permission to return to hotel using short cut along beach. Total walk an easy 9km with plenty of wildlife to see on way. Spent prolonged period photographing colony. In afternoon walked along beach in northerly direction.

Scenery fascinating, but curiously unsatisfying to do a walk in the knowledge that the scenery will look pretty much the same however long one walks. Had been attracted to Namibia by adventure stories of the skeleton coast, but was very grateful for advice from Expert Africa not to spend too much time exploring this area."

"Sadly only one night at this camp owing to booking requirements. Drove up from coast at Cape Cross, stopping off at Twyfelfontein en route. Access to camp was much further eastward towards Bergsig from Twyfelfontein road junction than we had expected (about 30km). Sketch map could be improved and signs not very visible. Access road takes 30-40min to drive in 4WD. Lodge gloriously sited in valley looking south towards mountains.

Were looked after tremendously well. Supper was under the stars in the camp's hidden kraal on a night when shooting stars were expected and falling. Next morning went on trip to look for desert elephants: mission successful (viewed from 10-20m away) and plenty of other wildlife seen. Lodge arranged lunch for us before we moved on.

Felt very personal and friendly place to stay and would have liked to have been there longer to find out more about the local community (camp offers cultural trips to the nearby village). Some walking in area, but we didn't have time to follow trails."

"We only used this camp as a staging point. Externally the main building appears to have been designed in the style of a second world war gun emplacement complete with camouflage, but is internally delightful with central courtyard and a roof platform allowing extensive views over the region by day and star sightings through a telescope by night.

A larger camp than many and felt a bit less personal, though maybe that was just because we only had a short stay. Rooms large and comfortable, offering choice of inside or outdoor shower. Food good. Advised not to walk on local trails without guide owing to presence of local predators, so cooled off in swimming pool.

Advised not to drink local water, but lodge did not provide bottled water in room and it had to be purchased; a curious omission."

"Previous feedback on Okaukuejo had led us to expect a rather down-market experience. In every way this place exceeded our expectations. Check-in was prompt and we knew that we would be required to deposit N$500 (we were only charged one deposit for two rooms). Bush rooms were clean, tidy and decently sized. Only one of our two rooms had a inventory present and an ice-tray was missing from the fridge; we did inform reception who didn't seem too interested.

Swimming pools and grounds were beautiful and overall impression is that this place is good enough to compete with any resort hotel in the world. Restaurant meals in the evening were rather a scrum with significant queues for main courses, but choice was wider than anywhere else we visited and quality was excellent . Second evening ate at 1830 rather than 1900 and avoided most of the queuing.

Some info we read in the UK before departure suggested that Okaukuejo had an ATM and internet cafe, but neither were present and nearest bank was south at Outjo. Hotel and park fees can be paid by credit card, but don't rely on topping up cash reserves here.
We spent hours at the water hole, both during day and at night. Constant visits from big groups of large and small animals. Just fantastic.

During our full day at Okaukuejo, we explored the furtherest western water holes and found these teaming with life, but with few other visitors. Didn't feel need to take guided tour, and managed to see virtually every animal that we wanted at a pace that suited ourselves. After checking out we drove through park eastwards and were rewarded with numerous close encounters of the animal kind.

Before coming to Namibia we thought that we would be lucky to get close enough to get decent photos of any of the big animals. In the event we were regularly stopping the car to allow deer, giraffe and elephant to cross the road immediately in front of us. We have returned home with 6Gb of pictures and 5 hours of video. This place is outstanding."

"You can regard the positioning of an imitation adobe Moroccan fort on the plains of southern Africa either as inspired design or as Disneyland kitsch. Either way the design of the building with its multiple water features, curtains and air vents works beautifully and the site overlooking the western park with a water hole is stunning. Compared to Okaukeujo the water hole was not so busy, but there are not many places in the world that you drink a cocktail sitting in a swimming pool while watching deer, warthogs, wildebeest and jackals.

The camp features in one of the "100 great destination" guides - deservedly, as the ambience is fabulous. By the time we arrived we had been on the go for two weeks and had seen plenty of animals, so we gave the game drives a miss and chilled out all day around the pool, lazy but most enjoyable. Staff did everything possible to make our stay comfortable. Dinner was served in a leisurely and elegant fashion, and was very nicely presented although the overall quality did not quite match the standards to which it aspired.

As walkers we found the need to drive from rooms to main building irksome, but preferable to being supper for the local lions."

"A pleasant wind-down to the holiday in a simple lodge with good walking in the area. The small mammals in the area included rock hyrax, dassie rats and porcupine, while there was a profusion of birds and (interesting) insects. Cute animals by day, but noisy at night and some visitors resorted to ear plugs to avoid nocturnal disturbance from the nearby hyrax.

Rooms simple and tents older than elsewhere on trip. For no apparent reason, a lavatory cistern cracked in one room during one evening and this was efficiently replaced the next day. Good walking with fascinating geology in area; eagle walk to top of nearby hill particularly worthwhile. Early morning guided tour pleasurable with guide offering a fascinating insight into local trees and plants."