Travel reviews by Pygmy Falcons from UK

"Hilltop House was a very pleasant place to stay on our first night in Namibia, the welcome was effusive and the room was splendid and vast with a lovely view over Windhoek and the hills beyond. There was a slight mix-up over a quick sandwich that we'd ordered when we arrived but everybody was most apologetic. The building work below the hotel meant we could not use the balcony because of the dust.

We took the car down to African Roots in the evening, a restaurant recommended and booked by them, and this turned out very well, with a huge (too huge!) and original meal. We spent the morning, after the good breakfast in our room, in Windhoek before driving south, and this was worthwhile."

"Our stay at the lodge was good except I had a pair of sandals taken from outside the lodge - I had left them to dry following wearing them back from the pool - during dinner and unfortunately they did not turn up before it was time for us to leave.

The larger pool was excellent though the other did seem rather small. The meal was excellent and the atmosphere in the dining room good with all guests eating at the same time. The staff were very helpful and willing to talk about their experiences and life outside the lodge. Before the meal started the staff made a point of announcing the menu in their own languages."

"A beautiful setting in the middle of nowhere, about 30 miles from the Fish River Canyon. The service was excellent and the staff very friendly.

The rooms were plain but pleasant although it was pretty cold in the night. The swimming pool looked lovely, but it was a little too cold and windy to use it! We spent our day gazing at the Fish River Canyon and walking along the top."

"The location was incredible, a 7km drive from the main hotel. We had the Rock, courtesy of Expert Africa's influence, and this amazing house built around a large boulder was beautiful, with a little terrace overlooking the desert and its sunsets. There were a pair of black eagles in a nest on the rocks above us, feeding young, we think.

We drove the 7km to the main hotel on both evenings for dinner, and the meals and service were both very good. We had a breakfast platter at the Rock on both mornings, whcih lasted most of the day. The walk we followed was easy to follow and had fantastic views."

"After a long drive from Aus, with a splendid break at Helmeringhausen on the way, we had a lovely welcome at Kulala. The staff were extremely friendly and mostly Herero, and two of them stayed with us after dinner for a long chat about life!

The food here was outstanding, rather more inventive than elsewhere in Namibia and slightly smaller portions, which wasn't unwelcome. The room was splendid, quite close to the main house (another coup for Expert Africa) with a splendid view over the desert.

We had a tour to the Sossusvlei dunes on our one full day which was outstanding, a nice combination of travel, walking, climbing dunes and watching wildlife and birds. Our guide, whose name eluded us, was brilliant."

"We decided to spend 3 nights in Swakopmund. The Secret Garden was simple and pleasant, if rather cold at night.

The guests were mostly German, and the welcome was warm, with every effort made to find restaurants for us, as booking appears essential in Swakopmund. We had 2 contrasting days here, the first was beautiful, sunny and warm, and we went to Sandwich Harbour with Turnstone Tours.

The second was cold and windy, though we had a nice time seeing the sites of Swakop."

"This was the hottest part of our trip. We spent 3 nights here and spent quite a lot of time lounging around on the beautiful balconies to recover from exertions on the earlier part of our trip.

The room was vast and very comfortable. The location was fantastic with endless views over plains and hills. On the first morning, we went out on our own to see the rock paintings which was interesting, if not compelling - far greater paintings in Kakadu in Australia!

We went on 2 fantastic guided trips, both with Gabriel, on both occasions we were on our own. the first was by LandRover to find elephants, and he found 2 herds for excellent close-up views, as well as loads of birds. The second was an early morning walk through the scrub, and we really appreciated the amazing efforts of explorers like Livingstone who walked (for years) in the bush.

All the staff were fantastic and very professional, especially Florentia, with whom we talked for hours."

"Okaukuejo is unique, it's a large complex in the middle of the safari park. It's not luxurious, though our Waterhole Chalet was very comfortable and beautifully located.

The food is institutional and the service tends to the terse. But that's not the point! The location is fantastic, the waterhole at night is spectacular, and not bad during the day. There are plenty of places to drive to to watch even more game, and the birdlife just wandering about the camp is excellent."

"Namutoni was a pleasant experience but not in the same class as Okuakuejo.

The room was wonderful with a bath! The service was much better than Okuakuejo with the exception of the restaurant which was rather amateurish compared to most other places.

The location though was by no means as good, the waterhole held no animals at all while we were there and the area around was not as interesting. We felt that the whole camp did not fit in with the surroundings - the huge walkways and fences in particular did not feel or look right."

"To finish our stay in Namibia we had 2 nights at Erongo. This was an excellent idea, the location was very good, in a montainous area of Namibia and we used the 4-wheel drive for the first time to get to the lodge.

Our room was very secluded, if a little cold with its outside washroom and shower, especially on the first windy evening. We went on one guided early morning walk, which was a little bit slow for us, and one excellent walk on our own to the top of the adjacent hill as the sun faded.

The welcome from Brian and Adele was excellent, and they, and all their staff, were very helpful. Birdlife was very good. A beautiful and peaceful end to our holiday."