Reviews of Ai Aiba Lodge

"Ai Aiba Lodge is situated 1,200 meters above sea level on the Northwestern side of the mountain range. The name comes from Damara/Nama language and means “someone who leads the way”. Perhaps how to integrate tourism and nature conservation? The natural game in the area includes kudu, springbok, oryx, dik dik, duiker, klipspringer, mountain zebra, giraffe, jackal, leopard, brown hyena, warthog, aardwolf, aardvark, bat eared fox, small spotted genet, African wild cat, porcupine and many more. Nevertheless, it seems like a safe place to walk around, you only see few animals. Look where you place your feet and hands, it´s also an area with occasionally a snake or a scorpion. Should you meet a cat – don´t run

At arrival, the lodge seems a bit unorganized. No welcome committee ready as we have become used to. Finally, a receptionist welcomes us and introduces everything. We are in room 9. This appears to be a rather large lodge and it´s quite busy with clients right now. Perhaps also because of German autumn school holiday which means many German couples and their children are on the premises.

We are not used to the lager lodges but have been spoiled by intimate luxury lodges with a personal appeal or visiting very remote locations. At dinner first night, children are playing everywhere including inside the restaurant, not exactly candlelight romantics.

At arrival, we are offered a sunset walk to a nearby mountain peak. It turns out to be a party of seventeen (!) newly arrived guests alone with one guide only (!) It would have been reasonable to split into at least two groups, families with their children and couples. After this peculiar “experience”, we decide only to book additional excursions given the group is not too large. Fortunately, there is a nice pool with stunning views.

Next morning we do our own walk along the well-marked trail next to the lodge. It´s only 1 km but takes 45 mins because of the many rock boulders to navigate and interesting bushman paintings. It´s easy to follow the guiding signs. The 2nd evening, we enjoy the sunset in sun chairs by the swimming pool. Afterwards a peaceful dinner in the restaurant – this time only nice children playing on the lawn outside. We are impressed by the high quality of the food in this lodge compared to other good lodges. Third day, we got our own guide for a 2,5 hour morning walk on the plains below the mountains. It was very beautiful and relaxing. If we were to visit again, we would ask for a full day walk.

Pros:
- Spectacular (!) setting in Erongo Mountains
- Nice comfortable clean spacious chalet with air con
- Large pool area
- Perfect with small children
- Good wine list (try the Snow Mountain pinot noir & Groote Post riesling)
- High quality food

Cons:
- Rather big lodge = many guests
- Many families with young children “all over the place” in school holidays
- A bit disorganized / busy, no personal feel
- Many guests per guide, however we got private guide on request" See all these reviews: 35n in Namibia

"Nothing special. Room very basic. Food basic. Scenery fab.

Didn’t have enough staff. Too big.

Not sure why we went here in hindsight" See all these reviews: 14n in Namibia

"Our first night in Namibia. Sadly our flight was delayed (in Auckland) which meant we only had one night here.

The food was excellent and the guide who took us on the sunset walk was terrific and the kids (8 + 10) absolutely adored him. Not entirely sure why we were encouraged to taste Giraffe poo but the 8 year old still dines out on the story!

The pool is small but really welcoming.

Would not recommend driving all the way from Windhoek to get here, which was a bit of a mission, but we had a really interesting trip to get here." See all these reviews: 14n in Namibia; 1n in South Africa

"Beautiful setting in a lodge in need of some renovation." See all these reviews: 14n in Namibia

"Very nice welcome from a friendly staff team who looked after us well. The rooms are good and the food first rate. The highlight was a half day tour guided by Immanuel who more than held his own against a fellow passenger who was an emeritus professor of Zoology. Their gentle sparring revealed just how experienced and knowledgeable is Immanuel and we lay passengers learned a lot as a result.

The local signposted rock art walk from the lodge is for the nimble and not for the faint hearted." See all these reviews: 21n in Namibia

"Ai Aiba is beautifully set amongst the mountains and an ideal stopover on the way back to Windhoek.

The staff were welcoming, the rooms luxurious and the food good. It was an ideal place to wind down for an evening before making the return journey home.

It was also nice to have the self guided walks available - a change from sitting in a vehicle all day!!" See all these reviews: 11n in Namibia

"This was another place that was really too far off our route to make it a worthy one night stop.

The service here was more slapdash than we have encountered elsewhere. The initial greeting at Reception was muted, with a speedy rendition of information and then we were left to find our own room. Fine, but other lodges pay much more attention.

The room was comfortable and well-appointed, but perhaps somewhat tired and in need of a little tlc. It was rather odd to have a walking trail at the end of the veranda; having a sundowner drink with other people walking past isn't the norm at lodges.

The food was good, but service was haphazard and slow. We were asked if we were ready for dessert, before we'd eaten the main course! We liked the individual breakfast baskets on each table.
We didn't have enough time here to join a tour of the rock paintings. We attempted a self-guided trail, but were unable to deal with the steep path and couldn't clamber over the rocks. That was disappointing." See all these reviews: 15n in Namibia; 7n in South Africa

"Superb lodge located in the kopjes with hotel provided game/rock art drives and self-walking trails.

Excellent lodge cabins and restaurant. Staff were excellent - very attentive and helpful.

The (young) Eland we saw was in fact the food for a resident leopard that was being stored up a tree - unfortunately no direct leopard sighting, but they are there" See all these reviews: 14n in Namibia; 6n in South Africa

"As a one night stop off on our way back to the airport we were taken aback by the stunning location.

The staff were very accommodating in assisting us with the on-line check in for our flight home." See all these reviews: 16n in Namibia

"Unworldly location in a landscape that is unlike any I have seen.

Huge boulders forming hills which light up in the sunrise and sunset. Good short walking trails with bushman paintings to be seen.

Activities include guided walks and drives, both were very enjoyable." See all these reviews: 16n in Namibia