Travel reviews by K&G from London

"A very warm welcome awaited us as we drove towards the Lodge as staff were waving at us and greeted us with hot face/hand towels and a drink.

Check in was thorough and helpful, and the room was just as described online, very pleasant.

The food here was amongst the best on our trip - the steak on our first night was not bettered anywhere else - and the view from the terrace for pre, and post dinner drinks was divine."

"This was a modern hotel in a great location with a good selection of eating and drinking places over and above the breakfast that was included.

The oysters in the Ocean Cellar restaurant was delicious!

They have a vehicle available for guests for drop off/pick ups around Swakopmund - free of charge, just have to tip the driver - and we used it quite a bit, especially as we wanted to visit a micro brewery as well as a small gin distillery slightly out of town (Namib dunes brewery https://namibdunes.business.site/ and Stillhouse Gin http://www.stillhouseatlantic.com/ )"

"With the warmest of welcomes - the staff gathered in the reception to sing a traditional song to us - this place was set in the most sublime of locations.

The view from the wraparound deck in the main building was just gorgeous and the rooftop dining area was even more spectacular. The staff were the best we came across - knowledgeable, friendly, helpful, nothing was too much trouble for them. The activities we did - morning and afternoon drives - were worth every penny as we saw not only lots of desert adapted elephants up close, but also giraffes, baboons and even a vulture. The locations for the sundowners were perfect. A quick visit to the Damaraland living museum was very interesting and worth a stop.

Although we could have slept outside we chose not to, but did spend a very happy couple of hours on our deck at nighttime just sat sipping on wine, looking at the gazillions of stars we could see.......heavenly!"

"This is such a luxurious Lodge and is in a perfect location so close to the Andersson Gate entrance to Etosha.

The rooms are massive and have a beautiful deck with chairs and sun loungers so we did have a couple of hours relaxing on there looking out over the private reserve, watching springbok and steenboks mainly. We did an all day trip into Etosha with the Lodge which was good but, to be honest, it is so easy to drive yourself around (there is no off road driving) that it felt like the activity was more of a local taxi service between water holes. That said, we did get to see a heard of about 40 elephants having fun at a waterhole (Aus) as well as a pride of lions just lying on the open space along the main road between the Gate and the payment point at Okaukuejo.

However, we also saw loads of animals when we were driving ourselves the day before and the day after (including a rhino along that same main road, so don't forget to keep your eyes peeled along there, it's easy to forget that you're in the park once you drive through Andersson Gate and before you've paid!)."

"The tents here are located around a waterhole which is very close and as we arrived there was a giraffe having a drink, which was a pretty good first impression.

We booked on the sundowner 2.5 hour trip but this turned out to be quite disappointing as it was mainly about birds and there was no attempt to look for other animals....we knew we were in trouble when the guide stopped the vehicle for the other 4 people on board twice in the first 10 minutes to show them a bird, and then waited for about 15 minutes to watch another bird fly off from a branch! In hindsight we should have been clearer with the guide that we weren't that interested in birds but we felt too embarrassed to as the majority of those on the trip clearly were twitchers and we didn't want to offend them.

We did give this feedback to the management on departure though. The tents have excellent mosquito nets around the bed plus an air con unit that works just inside that net - very effective, neat and clever. The open sides of the tent - made of strong mesh - were a surprise to us as we thought canvas covers would be pulled over them when we went to bed.....but that's just us being nervous nellies!

Lions came to the waterhole in front of us during the night and their roars, which sounded like they were right next to our tent (they weren't!!) will stay with us for a long long time!"

"What a place this was! The c20km drive to the Bush Camp from the road itself was really interesting, so by the time we got to the Camp itself we were very excited to see what was on offer.

The rooms were superb and the huge, separate lapa (we called it the party room!) was a fantastic addition. The setting for meals was also beautiful and the quality of the food and service was excellent.

The trips themselves - we did 4 in total, 3 game drives and a visit to the Africat foundation/cheetahs/lions - were brilliant. We had a great guide (Immanuel) who really knew his subject expertly as well as the leopards we were tracking. We were lucky enough to see a leopard hunt, stalk and then kill a steenbok; then saw it again with its cubs; had a leopard walk up so close next to the vehicle that it's tale almost brushed up against us; and 3 rhinos up close at a water hole......amongst other more "normal" sightings!

It really was an extraordinary place and made for a perfect end to our holiday; I would also say that 2 night minimum are needed here.

It was also a very easy drive from here to the airport for our flight home, along very good quality tarred roads (part of the B1 is now called the A1 as it's a dual carriageway!)."