Reviews of Halali Camp
(78%) From 181 travellersThey do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa.
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Halali Restcamp review
although ratings sound bad, this camp had a great pool and nice rooms but our room was never serviced. (minor gripe). waterhole was good
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Halali Restcamp review
A very high standard of accommodation and service with obvious consideration being given to sensitively developing the camp.
However it would be beneficial if parking of vehicles on the route to the water-hole could be discouraged as it was at times intrusive and seems unnecessary.
Practical, very good chalet and central
Chalet far better than we expected. But you do need to bring your own tin openers, bottle openers, knives, forks, etc if you want to bbq. Worth noting that. We ate in restaurant which was very good buffet service. The chalets seemed very new and we were impressed. Nice showers and even soap, shampoo etc all provided and laundry service available on request. We got a lot of clothes washed here.
The reception desk needs more staff - slightly disorganised but all lovely staff. Noone checked our rooms before or after arrival. We had to ask for the an extra mattress for our youngest son. No problem - it came. A feeling that they were very busy. Not very clear about gate times of shutting or opening. But we liked the lay out of the camp, and it had a very nice feel to it, safe, clean and everyone walking about happily and rather like a piazza atmposphere at times.
Good shop although needed to stock up on foodstuff as nothing for picnics really or it had sold out by 9am.
Good to have some night drives on offer here.
Great big pool for swimming. Underused. Overall, good atmosphere of campers, and chalet dwellers all mucking in and obviously far more in the real world than at the lodges where we had been totally spoilt! Waterhole came up trumps second night when we saw rhino family. Might be good to erect a big sign asking people to stop talking when they start walking up to the waterhole on the path. Often noisy chitter chatter going on.
Good place from which to explore Etosha
We like Halali it is a great place to explore from.
We drove ourselves and found lots to see. The advantage is you can stop at any point for s long as you like
Halali Restcamp review
The chalets at Halali were very well furnished - the recent refurbishment has paid off. I suspect, however, that they will not last in good condition too long, because there was an obvious lack of good maintenance. Signs of "bits dropping off" the fittings and a smell of drains did not engender confidence in the management of the place. Staff were generally indifferent and even surly and there were signs of inefficiencies everywhere.
The food at Halali was dire - so much so that we avoided eating in it after the first dinner. The meat was tough, there were no vegetables with the main course, there was little choice or variety, the service was perfunctory. The coffee was cold or ran out altogether. To charge the equivalent of ten or eleven pounds for a three-course meal that was virtually inedible was quite indefensible.
In hindsight, we should have booked Namatoni instead of Halali - partly because the eastern end of the park has some quite distinct ecosystems and partly because, when we stopped briefly at the restcamp at Namatoni, it looked as though it had better facilities than Halali. Also, we saw virtually no game at Halali waterhole - probably just unlucky there, however.
At both Halali and Okokuejo, the shops were quite poorly-stocked, despite the large number of campers and self-caterers.
Better room than Okaukuejo
As for Okaukuejo - if you decide to stay in Eotsha, then you stay in the three rest camps or nowhere. The family room we had here was better than the two adjoining doubles we had in Okaukuejo and the self catering faciltiies were better - albeit still at the kettle and fridge only level.
It is a smaller place than the other two camps and less affected by tour buses and overland trucks. However, there is a slight paucity of good waterholes nearby
Halali Restcamp review
The accommodation exceeded our expectations and our game viewing was first class.
The shop at the camp was inadequately stocked for anybody wanting to enjoy a picnic lunch.
The evening meal buffet would have been repetitive for anything beyond a 2 night stay.
ok
Camping very dusty, but this is to be expected. Nice facilities for camping. However, the camp site was only about 1/4 full yet they assigned us all sites right next to each other. Not too impressed with this! If they spread us out there is less noise issues and less dust issues. Seems like a simple change that would make the camping so much nicer.
We didn't notice any of this, maybe they have it but if so, they need to promote it. When we were in Kruger each camp had a set of activities you could sign up for. Such as night drives, day drives (which I think Etosha does have this) but they also had bush walks and guided mtn biking on game trails, which gave us some of the best experiences we had while in South Africa. These are very good ideas!
Halali Restcamp review
Despite the commendation in Bradt, I thought this was a little disappointing. We had to change chalets after the first night and were promised this would all be done by their staff while we were out. But in the event we had to take all our luggage to Reception and pick it up later in the day.
The chalets were well designed but one had no sitting out chairs; the other no kind of table in the living room. Towel rails in both chalets either fell off the wall or threatened to do so. On the other hand the restaurant was pleasant and the food good.
We visited their waterhole on 4 different occasions but saw very few animals - night or day. But it is a good enough base for drives outside the camp, where there is plenty of game. (We were unable to book Namatoni, which was the preferred option)
Halali Restcamp review
The chalet at Halali was double the size of the waterhole chalet at Okaukuejo and very relaxing. The waterhole at Halali was, not surprisingly a little disapointing after Okaukuejo.
The best waterhole outside the camp was probably Rietfontein.
We have always believed that acting responsibly is the only way to approach tourism and we're one of
the few companies to hold AITO's original coveted 5-star status for responsible tourism. It's a lead
that others are now following.
