Travel reviews by Miss N from Leeds

"We only stayed here for one night and it was a welcome rest after a long flight, including the steep walk up the hill to stretch your legs if you walk into the city. The location is really good as it is only a short walk from the main part of the city. The rooms are to an excellent standard and very comfy.

The staff are very helpful and immediately upon arrival will make an evening reservation for you. We went to Joes Beer House which is a brilliant place with a great atmosphere, good if you are a meat eater, but us veggies are well catered for also!

It is worth checking with the owner of the hotel in the morning for directions onto the main highways as there are a number of roadworks and diversions at the moment, we found this advice and the route pointing out on the map really helpful."

"As soon as you arrive in Sossusvlei it takes your breath away it is such a beautiful environment and Kulala Desert Lodge fits is perfectly. The chalet style rooms are amazing with views out from the porch stretching for miles with no obstruction from other chalets. You can sleep on the roof but it was a bit cold in September!

The staff here are very friendly and are only to happy to accomodate any of your needs, and you can join in with singing and dancing on alternate evenings but don't worry they don't pressure you join in, it is good fun to watch to, or sit by the open fire!

We had a brilliant guide Piertrus taking us on a sundowner nature drive and to watch the sunrise on Dune 45 along with a drive to Deadvlei, you can do these excursions yourself and save a few quid but we found the information the guide gave us very useful and would recomend it."

"This is a good guesthouse in a convenient location in the city, to be honest we didn't spend a great deal of time in the guesthouse and only had breakfast here. We were able to make reservations for restaurants here, we went to Grapevine which is excellent, The Tug which you need to book in plenty of time and Kucki's bar. If you need money for the next part of your trip make sure you use the ATM's in Swakopmund.

We had 3 nights in Swakopmund which is well worth it if you want to do a number of activities as well as taking in the city. We chose:

Kayaking which Expert Africa pre arranged for us and is really worth it, the seal pups will come and play with you it is such a brilliant experience, and the lady who does the trip is so knowledgable about the local area, the meeting point however has changed from the Mola Mola Coffee Shop I can't remember the new location but is worth double checking when you confirm with her.

Quadbiking and sandboarding which are both really good fun and the guide we had was brilliant, this can be booked in Swakopmund centre we used Outback Orange but there are loads to chose from.

You can also drive to Cape Cross seal colony in an hour as the roads are good salt roads all the way, make sure you look out for shipwrecks on the coast line there is a good one between Swakopmund and Cape Cross."

"This lodge was my absolute favourite of the whole trip, we stayed here for 2 nights and it is in a great location a short drive from Twyfelfontain, the chalets are decorated to an amazing standard. More than anything else the people that work here are just fantastic.

The camp had only been open 6 weeks when we arrived and there was still a bit of building work going on but not that you would notice. The staff were still receiving training, having mostly been builders themselves prior to the opening and they were just so friendly and chatty, you would have thought they had been doing it for years. The main restaurant and seating area overlooks the plains and is really inviting and intimate. You can also take your drinks to the Kopje above the camp to watch the sunset.

Ivan the guide is such a cool guy, we went on a nature walk and learnt so much about the area he is really enthusiastic. We also went on the elephant safari to track the desert adapted elephant, it was well worth doing, we drove for 5 hours and finally got to see about 10 just wondering along with the calves, the local area is just beautiful to drive through and again Ivan made the trip really interesting and fun stopping and showing us tracks and animals along the way, it was actually like been with a friend he has such a good sense of humor.

It was our honeymoon and when we arrived one of the guys gave us a card he had made himself and after the nature walk we were suprised to find a bottle of champagne and fruit in our room, it was little touches like this that made the stay even more memorable."

"We stayed here for 2 nights but I think 1 is enough, it is a decent place and a short drive from the Anderson Gate. The food and restaurant area is really good and a lot going on as there seems to be a lot of groups passing through. I have nothing negative to say about it, but compared to some of the places it was more practical than different.

Be careful on the roads insde the camp that lead to the chalets if you are in a saloon the bumps are very high in parts and it nearly took the bottom of the car off, so we left it in the main carpark, if you chose to do this they will help you take your bags up in a 4x4!"

"Before you get to Etosha if you are using cash make sure you have drawn some out before you get there as there are no ATM's at any of the camps/gates, credit cards can be used. Remember that you need to pay an entrance fee everyime you go there including if you stay at one of the camps in the park, sounds obvious but we forgot!

Obviously been inside Etosha, Halali is in a great location. But the camp really seems to lack any type of atmosphere, the two other lodges in the park seemed to have a lot more going on. The watering hole here was very disapointing, but to be fair there had been a fire in this area recently and we had heard it had scared some of the animals away. I didn't find the staff very helpful either.

That said if your spending a lot of time inside the camp between sunrise and sunset you are probably in the wrong place! The the full reaches of the park are easily in reach from here, and we found that some of the watering holes you had to drive for ages to were often the ones with the best sites like Ozonjuitji.

Remember to look at the side of the roads under the trees as this is where the lions seem to like to lay out! The guide books will advise on the best watering holes, but checking the books in the reception of the camp for other peoples sightings was often a really good way to gage activity especially around Halali as some activity had changed since the fire."

"We stayed here for 2 nights and we could have easily stayed for more. We went on a waiting list to get into this lodge and I am so glad we stuck it out, if you love walking, want beautiful rocky scenary with plenty of wildlife this is the place, so relaxing. The staff here are fantastic really friendly and accommodating.

We stayed in what I think was there honeymoon suite and it was brilliant, all the chalets are essentially the same tented room attached to a purpose built bathroom just surrounded by nature and all decorated to an exceptional standard. You sometimes get a wake up call from the Baboons on the mountain behind which is useful if you are off for one of the walks which start really early to avoid the heat! The sundowner walk to the top of the Kopje is worth it for the views it really is breathtaking, and the guides are excellent.

The reastaurant area is a great place to relax chat to other guests and staff and from the terrace there is a view of the flood lit watering hole, but the real stars of the show are the porcupines that run up to the kitchen to steal scraps at night! During the day there are loads of Rock Dassie everywhere and Damara Dik Dik's!

It is really worth staying here it is lovely to take a walk in the early morning and spend the day just relaxing, especially if it is the end of your trip which sadly it was for us."