Travel reviews by C & D from NL

"Ai Aiba looks like the Garden of Eden. It's the most beautiful setting.

It's amazing to be able to walk straight out into it from the accommodation, whether with a guide or on your own. The trails are discreetly marked but easy to find and follow.

We enjoyed an early morning walk (nearly three hours) before breakfast with Deon, one of the professional guides. Deon was was very knowledgable and observant and helped us understand what we were seeing around us, whether right at our feet or in the distance - animals small and large, birds, plants, geology, the rock art. And often there were things to hear, smell and taste too.

It was clear that he loved the land himself and enjoyed sharing it with us. We could happily have spent another few hours in his company.

The next morning we took a shorter walk alone into the rocks above the lodge, just after sunrise. After our walk with Deon we felt we had been tuned in to our surroundings, and you just have to be still for a few minutes to see all kinds of things, for example to realise that you are being watched by a little group of rock dassies.

Of all the memorable experiences of our trip, the one that lingers most strongly is of walking in the wilderness at Ai Aiba.

The staff at the lodge were all cheerful and friendly and happy to help. The food was very good. Our room was unfussy, comfortable and clean and looked directly out over the beautiful landscape.

Even the road to and from the lodge - inside the Conservancy - had a lot to offer. We stopped to watch tortoise and herds of giraffe crossing the road in front of us, more than once.

We stayed two nights at Ai Aiba and would have been glad to stay at least another in order to explore at more leisure."

"When we arrived at Okonjima Plains Camp (for our stay of three nights) we were informed that we had been upgraded to accommodation at the Bush Camp, which was indeed of the very highest standard (these comments .

It would be hard to imagine a more luxurious setting. Our room had wide windows looking over the bush, with a conveniently-placed watering hole not more than a couple of metres away, that during our stay was visited by warthogs, meerkats and all kinds of birds, including some spectacular hornbills.

Our meals, at the main lodge building, were outstanding (and the setting, on the edge of the bush, was breathtaking). The staff were attentive, friendly, warm and helpful.

The lodge is geared to offering visitors the experience of sighting animals in the wild, with numerous activities on offer to help ensure that they do. We visited the night hide - none of the animals decided to come out that night, and Juuson, our guide, seemed more disappointed than we were. He was determined to make up for it on a drive early the next morning, on which we saw rhino, wildebeest, hyena and leopard (amongst many, many other things).

Like the other Namibian guides we've met, Juuson was full of insight and enthusiasm for his work. We got an extra insight into his skill when we met another visitor who was out for a long walk alone. A few minutes after that encounter Juuson stopped the vehicle and pointed at the ground nearby and said "Hmm, he *said* he wasn't lost, but he spent quite some time here walking around in different directions trying to decide where to go" - clearly, a good guide can also track human animals very effectively.

There are numerous walking trails at Okonjima, accompanied by some slightly eccentric maps. The trails are not always sign-posted as well as they could be and it was a little too easy to lose the trail. But walking peacefully in the wilderness, we saw all kinds of things at close hand - it was a beautiful thing to be able to do.

Our stay at Okonjima was a first-class experience."