Travel reviews by Mr S & Ms J from Cymau

"Great little place to stay as a base for an evening in Windhoek, conveniently located close to Joe's Beer House.

Clean and tidy, quiet and friendly. Owner was happy to advise us on our trip before setting off, especially all the good places to stop for cake and coffee in Namibia!"

"Of all the lodges we stayed at, this was a particular favourite. Stunning landscapes with more than enough walking opportunities.

We did the Canyon walk which afforded fantastic views of the area, and can be completed by any moderately fit person in around 5 hours. Great home cooked food shared with the other guests in the lodge. Staff knowledgeable and friendly."

"A highly enjoyable 3 day walk through the NamibRand area with an experienced and knowledgeable guide. There were only 2 other guests on the walk which helped maintain the sense of wilderness and remoteness. You get plenty of time to study the less visible elements of the natural world on this walk, like insects, mammals, reptiles, birds and plant life. We learned a lot from this walk, much of which gave us a better appreciation of the rest of the areas of Namibia we visited.

The camps themselves are in surreally beautiful locations. Whilst this is outdoor wilderness camping, you are made very comfortable. Depending on what time of year you go, be prepared for very cold nights. We did this walk in early September, and although we had several layers of warm clothing, we were still cold and wishing we'd brought a woolly hat and gloves!"

"This is fairly new and up-market lodge in an enviable location. Set against a back-drop of rugged low lying mountains, with views across a vast plain to the dunes, there is a canyon on your door-step, and you can beat the hordes to the dunes as you're inside the gate and don't have the restriction of waiting for sun-rise to enter the area.

The chalets (mountain or dune view) won't fail to put a smile on even the most seasoned traveller's lips. You can sit on your balcony without seeing the other chalets due to the clever way they've staggered them. Food is of reasonably high standard, and drinks were surprisingly good value.

When we visited, however, the manager was away, and his deputy was standing in. He was eager to please, and helped sort out a booking mess up which threatened to spoil our stay. That said, during our 2 night's stay, there was an air or disorganisation about the place, culminating in us almost missing our balloon flight. We were told to meet at the reception at 6am. Wake-up calls had been arranged, but these never happened. There was nobody to meet us at 6 at the reception, except a security guard, who wasn't particularly helpful. By 6:10, we were concerned something had gone wrong. Knowing this was a balloon flight, we didn't have time to dither, and following the advice of the guard, decided to drive to the main gate, where we assumed our lift would be. There was nobody to drive us to the car-park. Normally this isn't a problem in the day, but it was pitch black, and you literally couldn't see where you were going without a torch. We eventually met our pick-up vehicle on the road, half way to the main gate.

Ultimately, the pick-up vehicle was late, and not the fault of the lodge, however, it just felt as though the lodge hadn't made to effort to supply at least one person who could be around to coordinate.

All the above aside, this is a great place to stay, and we would recommend staying here."

"This is a modest little B&B tucked into one of the side streets of central Swakopmund. The delightfully quirky owners are extremely helpful, and this forgave the sometimes regimental rules we had to abide by. By the owners admission, the only room left to us was very basic, and after watching the sun-set on our balcony at Sossus Dune Lodge, the barracks like atmosphere of our room was a stark contrast. However, it was clean, comfortable and functional.

The location of the Guesthouse is excellent for getting to restaurants and the town centre. It is literally on your door-step. We spoke to other people who were staying at more luxurious places, but they had a fair trek into town.

In essence, a simple B&B (although we suspect there are better rooms here) in a great location in town. If we ever came back this way, we'd stay here again."

"Doro Nawas failed to deliver on the service we expected at a lodge of this nature. We weren't met at reception, and it took a while to attract someone's attention. At our first breakfast there was a large party of people and the serving staff struggled to cope. As a result, we had to continually ask for stuff. We weren't offered a cooked breakfast, but this was clearly available. Breakfast on the next morning was better organised, and we suspect this was because it was much quieter, as a lot of people had left.

Lunch was a buffet, and the food was of a decent standard, but expensive. Dinner was half served half buffet. Some of the dishes were very good, others were average. We ordered a bottle of red wine which was served chilled.

There are several trips you can do from this lodge, but we passed on the Twyfelfontein trip, as it was expensive for what it was, and you can do this trip so easily on your own for a fraction of the cost. We did do the elephant trip and saw elephants.

If this lodge is aiming at the luxury end of the market. they need to focus on those little details that make staying in a place like this a more seamless experience. It is a fabulous lodge, and the staff were friendly, so maybe we just caught them on a bad day."

"Etendeka Mountain Camp is what staying in Africa is all about. You get a real sense of being out in the wilderness. Through the flap of your spacious and comfortable tent, you can see game wandering by, and at night you can hear the animals through the canvas. It is a remote camp, even by Namibian standards, and we saw our best night sky ever here - awe inspiring. It's a well run operation, the owners were good hosts, the staff were friendly, the guide excellent and the food fabulous.

We did a fantastic morning bush walk which was a leisurely 4 hour on-foot safari, and an afternoon game drive. Even after 2 weeks in Namibia, we still found the scenery new and spectacular.

We left the camp wishing we'd booked a 3rd night, however, on our drive back to the pick-up point, we were rewarded with a once-in-a-life-time view of a young leopard, who wandered up to our jeep out of curiosity!"

"Arriving at Okaukuejo from a spell in Damaraland, this restcamp came as a bit of a shock to the system. It's a very large camp, with lots of people. Through a booking mess-up, we were put into a standard double room which was perfectly adequate. Meals are all buffet style and generally the food quality was fine. The highlight however are the steaks cooked to order, including African game and the usual beef, chicken and pork etc.

Apart from being within the park, the other main feature of the restcamp is the floodlit water-hole. Whenever we were at the water-hole, we always saw something interesting, including elephant, rhino and giraffe. However, there are a lot of seats around the water-hole (think auditorium) and invariably enough human noise to dispel the 'wild' atmosphere, although the animals didn't seem too bothered. It is very impressive at night!

There are other lodges in the area, but the location of Okaukuejo is ideal for visiting the park without lengthy journeys in."

"Of the 2 Ethosha restcamps we stayed at (Okaukuejo being the other) we much preferred Namutoni. The water-hole doesn't have the big game that Okaukuejo attracts, but it was a more intimate setting, and gave the opportunity to observe other birds and animals.

The rooms were of an excellent standard, including indoor and outdoors showers. Meals, taken inside the fort, were served at your table, with a couple of choices for each course. There are several excellent water-holes within 10 minutes of the restcamp, giving you the chance to be at them straight after sun-rise, and to linger to the last possible moment in the evening."

"This lived up to our expectations, and was a great way to end our holiday in Namibia.

The chalets were great (including integral bird feeding station!) and the food was superb."