Travel reviews by Mrs A & family from UK

"Although not particularly central the Elegant guesthouse was well situated to the centre of town. It served perfectly well for an overnight stop following our arrival from the UK and prior to our departure on our 15 day road trip.

The staff were friendly and helpful, the rooms clean tidy and well appointed, and breakfast included a wide selection of choices, and perfectly cooked eggs!"

"A very efficiently run Guest Farm. Well established stables/stud attracts many visitors interested in trekking, often returning several times to visit.

We stayed one night en route to Sesriem, and walked in the Naukluft hills in late afternoon, follwong a well marked trail from the farm, through the river bed, up to a desrted farm and bushmans cave, before returning via the waterhole to the farm. This was very atmospheric and set the scene very effectively.

We enjoyed a bottle of Reisling watching the sun go down spectacularly behind the mountains, and then enjjoyed a fine dinner in a communal setting.

The farm owners were welcoming and helpful, but the housekeeping/kitchen staff were less forthcoming and chatty than we subsequently became accostomed to."

"We loved Sossusvlei lodge. We arrived after a long drive on gravel roads, feeling weary and very dusty. We were greeted with cooled flannels and chilled apple juice to refresh us. We were accompanied to our lovely individual tented cabins with spectacular veiws of the desert and mountains.

We would have enjoyed a refreshing swim in the pool had it not been so bracingly cold...

The staff were all freindly and helpful. The food was delicious and plentiful, the setting glorious-the view of sunset from the observation tower was stunning.

We thoroughly enjoyed our quad biking round the river bed and up into the foothills, but even more stunning was our trip to Dead Vlei, which was awe-inspiring. I have memories and photographs which will keep me smiling for years to come. A very very special place. We were sad to leave."

"We booked to stay 3 nights at the Stiltz, to rest before our journey up the Skeleton Coast. The Stiltz is well located and easy to find, within walking distance of the centre of town.

It is certainly an eye-catching place to stay, we treated ourselves to the Villa which was a stunningly impressive space with large open plan fireside/dining area with adjoining terrace overlooking the beach. The main bed was on a mezzanine floor, also with a rather disconcertaingly open plan bedroom/bathroom arrangement which might not be to everyones taste.

The whole villa was boldy decorated in brightly coloured soft furnishings with the liberal use of wood, cane, stainless steel, leather, silk and organza curtains and faux-fur throws on the beds, and many wooden artefacts which might have been Namibian, but equally could have been Tiawanese or Polynesian!? That said it was certianly very comfortable and there was acres of space for 6.

The staff were especially friendly, especially in the office helping with restaurant booking and general advice about local amenities. We had a great boat trip from Pelican Point in the company of Pelican seals and dolphin.

Swakupmond itself was not particularly inspiring, and with the sea mist we actually felt quite cold, and were pleased to be back on the road again when the time came to leave.

These travellers commented about their boat trip:

Having booked the kayaking, due to a hiccup we ended up on the boat trip, which arguable was a better option.

We were taken out well into the lagoon, in an effort to see whale (there were none) but we had an excellent trip with lots of chat and enteratinment in the form of pelican feeding and fly-bys, seals coming onto the boat for petting, feeding and photos, and a look at the flamingos on the shore.

We were treated to a picnic of sparkling wine, oysters and other canapes before return home 3 hours later.

A good fun trip."

"What a beautiful place Damaralnd is. So much space, the ever changing scenery, beautiful colours in the rock, and so dry and deserted.

To slowly come across this large buiding perched on top of a small hill, so dark and brooding at first glance we thought it had been damaged by fire, was very exciting. We received another warm welcome with cool towels and cold drinks and were taken through to the enormous balcony, with panoramic views of the landscape, for our now customary welcome talk and explanation of services and activities.

The large huts were very comfortable, and we all enjoyed wheeling our beds out to sleep under the stars. There was an indoor and outdoor shower which amused us, and a small swimming pool as well.

We were able to watch sunset from the roof prior to our excellent cooked and served set 3 course dinner. We were treated to some singing from the housekeeping and kitchen staff, who made their way through the restaurant singing and and dancing as they went.It was all very jolly.

We went on the desert elephant trekking, and were rewarded with a good siting group of 9 female/calves in the river bed. Doro Nawas is a strong contender for our favourite lodge that we visited."

"Palmwag Lodge has a slightly shopworn feel about it, but that in itself is not unattractive. It is well located, and the staff freindly and helpful, and the food excellent as before, but the pool area certainly needs some renovation, and the service at lunchtime in the pool bar was very slow. It took over an hour for our toasted sandwiches/burger to arrive!

However, we liked our tented accomodation units, looking out on the reed bed, stuffed full of starling (and lots else besides no doubt) and we saw lots of game on our drive in the morning.

Similarly the tented sleep out was a good adventure for the children, and it was all acheived with a certain old-colonial style - table cloths, hand washing facilities, and folding camp beds in the tents... We enjoyed looking at the stars, and learned a lot from our guide about the night sky, as well as animals and plants that we had seen.

Worth a visit."

"Okaukuejo is not an attractive campus. A lot of concrete, a lot of visitors, and an impersonal welcome on arrival. I suppose this is to be expected in a large camp, but we were pleased we had only booked one night there. Taleni Etosha Village, at Andersons gate, was a much nicer place to stay.

That said, the water hole was fantastic. There were a group of 25-30 Elephant the night we were there, together with a black and white rhino, all having a stand off around the rim of the water hole. We wouldn't have seen that anywhere else. We sat and watched for ages.

The rooms were simply arranged, but clean and with perfectly adequate bathroom/kitchen facilities.

The food was average, but fresh and plentiful. The staff in the restaurant were helful and friendly: in the shops the service was excruciatingly slow as items were not priced, and had to be individually looked up, and then stock codes typed in. We avoided shopping for snacks and souvenirs as a result.

Worth staying to get overnight views of the water hole (anyone can visit during the day), and also has the best swimming pool we found (also can buy a day ticket for this), but otherwise would suggest Teleni Etosha village and driving in from there in the morning."

"The description of Taleni Etosha Village in it's brochure does not do it justice.

The setting in woodland is, in itself, unusual and charming. The tented villas are all secluded and attractive, each with outdoor shower and washroom area, and aircon/heating if necessary.

2 beautifully clean swimming pools with lawned sunbathing areas (with proper lush, green grass- not seen for hundreds of miles around!)

Attractive open air bar and dining areas, all characterful with trees, statuettes and wood fires.

Access to the internet should you need it. There didn't seem to be much evidence of activities, but we were happy to do our own game drives in any case.

The food was fresh, beutifully cooked and far too plentiful for our own good.

The staff very freindly and produced a birthday cake which the entire staff brought to our son at breakfast, singing as they came. A great start to his day.

We really enjoyed our stay there, it was easy to access the park first thing in the morning, we did not experience queues at Andersons gate to get in, as we had heard can happen from time to time. Definately worth a visit."

"This camp came highly rated, and there is no doubt is was exciting to see the Cheetah and Leopard, but in comparison to the wide open space of Damaraland and Etosha we found the set up slightly contrived.

The original farmhouse building is a very attractive open plan seating and dining area, but overall the atmosphere was more formal than in other places, even a little stuffy? We found it slightly disconcerting having to decide what we would like to drink in the evening and what time we would be having tomorrows breakfast, upon arrival at 12 midday the first day....

The rest of it is "what it says on the packet" , an opportunity to see the big cats and close quarters, some behind fences, others a little too close for comfort?

The accomodation was comfortable, the setting and food was excellent. Access to the airport the following day was good, approx 3 1/2 hours door to door."