Travel reviews by Ms J & Dr S from London
Review Distribution
Total number of trips
1
Countries visited
1
Lodges stayed in
9
Excursions taken
0
A & a in Namibia
Namibia between 3 Oct 2009 and 17 Oct 2009
"We had sought to cover more than most in a 16 day trip, and the combination of road & flights worked really well, so thank you Maruska for putting together such a workable itinerary. It helped that A loves driving and so was more than happy to cover 450km in a day when needed - and the roads were quite okay. Worst bit was a patch on the C12 to Fish River canyon (very bumpy) but other than that we had some fantastic drives, particularly the C13 from Fish River canyon up to Aus - stunning!
Our route was Windhoek-Bagatelle-Fish River Canyon-Aus-Luderitz-Wolwedans-Little Kulala (by car) and then Doro Nawas-Ongava Lodge-Windhoek by plane. It was a throughly enjoyable mixture of hikes, wildlife, dunes, scenic drives and flights. We consider ourselves immensely privileged to have seen Namibia's nature when it wished to reveal itself - be it lion cub, hyena, scorpion, desert elephant, rainbow, lightening... fabulous!
Suggestions for improvements:
Only thing I would have appreciated was a simple guide to birds & wildlife - just a basic booklet of the most likely suspects. I picked up a check-list (no pictures) at Little Kulala, and bought the Etosha guide booklet - but that was our last stop so it was tricky remembering what we'd seen. Couldn't find anything suitable in any of the lodge shops en route and didn't want or need individual books on birds, mammals, reptiles etc"
Our route was Windhoek-Bagatelle-Fish River Canyon-Aus-Luderitz-Wolwedans-Little Kulala (by car) and then Doro Nawas-Ongava Lodge-Windhoek by plane. It was a throughly enjoyable mixture of hikes, wildlife, dunes, scenic drives and flights. We consider ourselves immensely privileged to have seen Namibia's nature when it wished to reveal itself - be it lion cub, hyena, scorpion, desert elephant, rainbow, lightening... fabulous!
Suggestions for improvements:
Only thing I would have appreciated was a simple guide to birds & wildlife - just a basic booklet of the most likely suspects. I picked up a check-list (no pictures) at Little Kulala, and bought the Etosha guide booklet - but that was our last stop so it was tricky remembering what we'd seen. Couldn't find anything suitable in any of the lodge shops en route and didn't want or need individual books on birds, mammals, reptiles etc"
Arranged By Maruska AdyeRowe
Heinitzburg Hotel
"Heinitzburg Hotel review"
1 night
Arrived
4 Oct 2009
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good
Location
Excellent
Service
Good
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Good
Bagatelle Kalahari Game Ranch
"Bagatelle Kalahari Game Ranch review"
1 night
Arrived
4 Oct 2009
"Within half an hour of arriving we had a fabulous encounter with a meercat who foraged just metres from our room, and then ran into the shade of our patio. We also saw the rest of the pack about 40metres away.
The food was good, and they have a nice outside dining set-up. Decided to head out early in the morning and skip the cheetah viewing opportunity, which in hindsight we regretted as we didn't see any cheetah elsewhere on our trip."
The food was good, and they have a nice outside dining set-up. Decided to head out early in the morning and skip the cheetah viewing opportunity, which in hindsight we regretted as we didn't see any cheetah elsewhere on our trip."
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good
Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Good
Rooms
Good
Food
Good
Canyon Lodge
"Canyon Lodge review"
2 nights
Arrived
5 Oct 2009
"Beautiful location and our room (no.25) was lovely: with integrated granite boulder walls, and lovely views. The pool is really nicely located - make sure you go for a dip! We had a good 8km hike (trail is well marked) which stretched our legs nicely after a 400+km drive. Food was good, with a nice salad & main course buffet. Beware the red horsefly thingies by the water features in the gardens - I got stung/bitten as I passed by.
The only reasons we don't rate it as 'excellent' are: on our departure morning, someone was waiting outside our room from before breakfast (7.30am), waiting for us to leave; and when we did leave it took over half an hour to check-out, as they were having problems with people paying by credit cards. I was paying by cash and eventually someone told me how much we owed and I just put down the cash and left, as my partner had been waiting in the car all this time (and it was hot...)."
The only reasons we don't rate it as 'excellent' are: on our departure morning, someone was waiting outside our room from before breakfast (7.30am), waiting for us to leave; and when we did leave it took over half an hour to check-out, as they were having problems with people paying by credit cards. I was paying by cash and eventually someone told me how much we owed and I just put down the cash and left, as my partner had been waiting in the car all this time (and it was hot...)."
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good
Location
Excellent
Service
Good
Activities
Good
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Good
Desert Horse Inn
"Desert Horse Inn review"
1 night
Arrived
7 Oct 2009
"The best food of our trip (with Wolwedans coming a close second and Little Kulala third).
We're keen hikers, and the Inn is nicely placed for a number of hikes. We took a 10km one from the camp site and it was very nice - reasonably well marked too, bar the odd lack of an arrow here & there.
If you're driving here from Fish River Canyon, make sure you take the Orange River route via the C13 and Rosh Pinah - it is a stunning drive, through the mountains and then by the river, which is beautiful. The gravel roads were fine, and it's tarmac from Rosh Pinah"
We're keen hikers, and the Inn is nicely placed for a number of hikes. We took a 10km one from the camp site and it was very nice - reasonably well marked too, bar the odd lack of an arrow here & there.
If you're driving here from Fish River Canyon, make sure you take the Orange River route via the C13 and Rosh Pinah - it is a stunning drive, through the mountains and then by the river, which is beautiful. The gravel roads were fine, and it's tarmac from Rosh Pinah"
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Good
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Good
Nest Hotel
"Nest Hotel review"
1 night
Arrived
8 Oct 2009
"We only stayed here because we weren't able to get two nights at Klein Aus Vista. Only stay here if you're desperate!
We were given a room with a partial sea view (301): probably one of only three rooms with just a partial view, and I can't believe it was that busy.
Maybe eating here will serve us right for not being more adventurous (ie, going into town) but I had the worst meal I've eaten (or not!) for decades. For 'Thai stir fry of seafood in own juices' read 'not particularly fresh seafood in canned lobster bisque soup'. It was inedible. And not cheap, so it's reasonable to expect more. I didn't eat it and said it wasn't enjoyable, and so a supervisor marched over, and basically said I should have expected it to be a soup (??).
They then seemingly redeemed themselves by not including it on the bill and my partner gave a good tip as she thought they'd dealt with it well. However, when we came to check out, they had charged us for it."
We were given a room with a partial sea view (301): probably one of only three rooms with just a partial view, and I can't believe it was that busy.
Maybe eating here will serve us right for not being more adventurous (ie, going into town) but I had the worst meal I've eaten (or not!) for decades. For 'Thai stir fry of seafood in own juices' read 'not particularly fresh seafood in canned lobster bisque soup'. It was inedible. And not cheap, so it's reasonable to expect more. I didn't eat it and said it wasn't enjoyable, and so a supervisor marched over, and basically said I should have expected it to be a soup (??).
They then seemingly redeemed themselves by not including it on the bill and my partner gave a good tip as she thought they'd dealt with it well. However, when we came to check out, they had charged us for it."
Average
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Average
Location
Good
Service
Poor
Rooms
Average
Food
Poor
Wolwedans Desert Lodge
"Wolwedans Dune Lodge review"
2 nights
Arrived
9 Oct 2009
"Stunning location, beautiful rooms and great food. Friendly staff. The first 'sociable' lodge we stayed at, with communal eating, and it was very nice.
One slight downside to the canvas tent nature of the rooms is that in stormy weather (which we had on our first night) it is impossibly noisy and we only got couple of hours sleep. But the next night was still.
It's great waking in the night and being able to just look out, through the screen 'walls', and see the night sky. We also got to see a full rainbow, which was lovely in the red desert setting."
One slight downside to the canvas tent nature of the rooms is that in stormy weather (which we had on our first night) it is impossibly noisy and we only got couple of hours sleep. But the next night was still.
It's great waking in the night and being able to just look out, through the screen 'walls', and see the night sky. We also got to see a full rainbow, which was lovely in the red desert setting."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Good
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Little Kulala
"Little Kulala review"
2 nights
Arrived
11 Oct 2009
"Stunning rooms and a beautiful main lodge. Very friendly staff, and we enjoyed the Monday night singing experience - Rosa has an amazing voice. Our guide was Rosie, and we found ourselves with 4 other women when we went on excursions, and it was tremendous fun.
Three of us managed to climb Big Daddy, starting from the tail (2 hours to get up, 10 minutes to run down...). It was tough going, but really worth it. Rosie was an excellent guide, always with suggestions to make sure we had the best experience/got the best photos.
We saw a secretary bird here, and a hyena at the watering hole. We did a short hike too.
I spent one night on the roof bed - the night sky was just incredible, and I hardly got any sleep as I just wanted to take in the sky!
From here we flew to Damaraland, via Swakopmund, and we were given a stunning sightseeing flight on the bit to Swakopmund. I'm a GA pilot, and it's not often I have a flight that's this much fun!"
Three of us managed to climb Big Daddy, starting from the tail (2 hours to get up, 10 minutes to run down...). It was tough going, but really worth it. Rosie was an excellent guide, always with suggestions to make sure we had the best experience/got the best photos.
We saw a secretary bird here, and a hyena at the watering hole. We did a short hike too.
I spent one night on the roof bed - the night sky was just incredible, and I hardly got any sleep as I just wanted to take in the sky!
From here we flew to Damaraland, via Swakopmund, and we were given a stunning sightseeing flight on the bit to Swakopmund. I'm a GA pilot, and it's not often I have a flight that's this much fun!"
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Good
Facilities
Excellent
Doro Nawas
"Doro Nawas review"
2 nights
Arrived
13 Oct 2009
"The rooms are huge (we had no.3) and very nice.
We had a very nice guide - Michael - who was clearly very into the desert elephants & nature. In addition to the desert elephant tracking, we had a treat on our 2nd night: we opted for a short hike with sundowner drinks back on the lodge roof, and to our surprise a group of 19 elephants were trudging in a long line about 1km from the lodge. It was beautiful to see them this way, in the evening light.
The food was a bit disappointing, redeemed only by a delicious lunch as we waited to leave."
We had a very nice guide - Michael - who was clearly very into the desert elephants & nature. In addition to the desert elephant tracking, we had a treat on our 2nd night: we opted for a short hike with sundowner drinks back on the lodge roof, and to our surprise a group of 19 elephants were trudging in a long line about 1km from the lodge. It was beautiful to see them this way, in the evening light.
The food was a bit disappointing, redeemed only by a delicious lunch as we waited to leave."
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good
Location
Excellent
Service
Good
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Good
Facilities
Good
Ongava Lodge
"Ongava Lodge review"
2 nights
Arrived
15 Oct 2009
"Certainly the place to go and see lions. We had about 7 encounters (excl water hole visits), including coming across a group of 13 in a row across the road at sundown. There were six cubs, three of which were just 3 months old, who kept having to run to catch up with the others.
It rained both nights we were there: the second night was a torrential storm, with amazing lightening & 22mm of rain. The downside of this is that it plays havoc with animal viewing (it being the dry season) as suddenly water is plentiful and the water holes less alluring. This impacted on the trip to Etosha, where the water holes were practically deserted. But animal viewing is often down to luck, and I was very happy with what we did see, which included white rhino & calf, a baboon (unusual there), a tortoise (!) and a python (in addition to lions, zebra, giraffes, elephants etc). We were also treated to the lions roaring during the night."
It rained both nights we were there: the second night was a torrential storm, with amazing lightening & 22mm of rain. The downside of this is that it plays havoc with animal viewing (it being the dry season) as suddenly water is plentiful and the water holes less alluring. This impacted on the trip to Etosha, where the water holes were practically deserted. But animal viewing is often down to luck, and I was very happy with what we did see, which included white rhino & calf, a baboon (unusual there), a tortoise (!) and a python (in addition to lions, zebra, giraffes, elephants etc). We were also treated to the lions roaring during the night."
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good
Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Good
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Good
Facilities
Good
Food good but it did take an absolute age to get our bill (ended up going back to room & then coming back 10 minutes later & it still wasn't ready, and after our journey from the UK we were zonked)"