Namibia User Reviews

After a luxury, customised Safari across Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana, we did a 19-day self-drive Safari around Namibia. All of this was organised through Wayfairer Travel, who were fabulous. They also worked inside Namibia with ATI Travel who organised the car rental, customised map and navigation directions for us. All of this worked really well.

We drove around the bulk of Namibia in a clockwise direction starting from Windhoek. We chose mostly luxury accommodation and we can recommend the following (with occasional relevant comments):

Kalahari Red Dunes Lodge Tented Chalet was the most beautifully appointed place we stayed at in all of Africa. No expense had been spared here. The attention to detail was extraordinary and the facilities were extensive; including a pool, huge, luxurious bar and dining areas (indoor and out). All chalets look out over waterholes and feed areas for the animals that come in for this. (Don’t stay only one night)

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/> Fish River Lodge Chalet is situated on the very edge of the massive canyon which gives you an extraordinary view of it. (It is however, an extremely long drive over some rough gravel and sandy roads to get there. The optional activity of driving around the canyon is actually a day trip to the bottom of the canyon, and is not worth the price or the five hours of discomfort to get there).

Klein Aus Vista is hard to find, but the pool area and relaxation areas around and overlooking it were terrific; and great for sunset watching. (The rooms next to this may be okay, but the Eagle's Nests Chalets we stayed in were almost 9kms of gravel road away from the above amenities, and they are built almost directly under a cliff face of massive boulders that have obviously rolled down from above at some time in the past, and will logically continue to do this again at some point. The cabins are also almost side by side, so you can’t enjoy the isolation you might expect that far out. Unless you like climbing large rocky hills, I don’t see the point of these remote and very basic chalets).
Desert Hills Lodge Chalet near Sossusvlei is an amazing architectural feat. The chalets and huge main buildings have the most beautiful thatched roofs, and there is a large pool area and extensive dining deck; all with an expansive view overlooking a huge, beautiful, vast and rocky desert area. Each chalet has a private and uninterrupted view of this.

Okaukuejo Camp is conveniently located well inside west Etosha National Park. Whilst the cabins are not by any means luxury accommodation, staying in the chalets right beside the waterhole meant that you were immersed at any time of day or night in the experience of almost every type of animal up close and personal.

Mushara Bush Camp Tent near east Etosha National Park was very nice and quiet, and it had a pool, and a beautifully designed lobby, bar and dining area. Unlike Okaukuejo Camp, it is just a little way out from the park though, so you need drive about half an hour to get to any of the waterholes.

Ai-Aiba Rock Painting Lodge Chalets are beautiful and cleverly built. The chalets and huge main building have beautiful thatched roofs, and there is a pool area and an extensive glassed-in dining area; all with an expansive view towards the Erongo Mountains. Each chalet has a private and uninterrupted view of this.
There is however, about 48 kms of winding, hilly, gravel road just to get there from the main highway, so unless you love climbing around rocky outcrops and intend to stay at least two nights, I don’t know that it is worth it.

Also the chalets here are also built almost directly under a cliff face of massive boulders that have obviously rolled down from above at some time in the past, and will logically continue to do this again at some point)

Activities that I can recommend include:
Climbing to the top of Big Daddy sand dune near Sossusvlei (be aware it is too tough for some)
Lie-down sand boarding down huge sand dunes (at speeds up to 70 kph) at Swakopmund

Most of the highways in Namibia are very good. The bitumen roads can legally be driven on at up to 120 kph, but most of them have no dividers between each side of the road, so some may prefer to drive at lesser speeds.

There are some very long stretches of gravel roads which are mostly being constantly graded, but it can be tiring watching almost every section of road for potholes, small ditches or loose edges.

Regardless of the road types, much of the scenery is just stunning in terms of geology, mountains, gorges, desert area and changes in vegetation. Depending on where you are, there is often a lot of wildlife to see along the way.

The weather was perfect the whole way around, and we felt quite safe everywhere; even at night. Of course, there are some national parks where you cannot wander around at night, due to the proximity of wildlife.

The country had been suffering from drought for some time before we arrived, but we still saw quite a lot of animals around. Many waterholes are fed by water 24/7 from boreholes, and some lodges bring in feed for the animals. Etosha was by far the best location for large herds of elephants, zebra and wildebeest, and we saw many giraffes and a few rhinos. We even saw cheetahs here, and we hadn’t seen these anywhere else.

Swakopmund and Okaukuejo at west Etosha were the best places we found for some great souvenirs.