Reviews of Mundulea Reserve
Wildlife sightings and reviews
85 independent comments and wildlife information from our travellers who have visited Mundulea Reserve and kindly agreed to share their thoughts. They do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa
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"Mundulea Reserve review"
It is a rustic, ecologically sound and minimum impact camp that brings you up close to nature, a counter point to the other camps and lodges we had experienced. No safari drives, just walks , but not without its creature comforts at the end of the day such as hot showers, flushing loos and hot water bottles.
Our host, Bruno Nebe, owner, an exceptional guide and first class cook, is a mine of information and intriguing anecdotes drawn from across a wide range of subjects. Great conversationalist." See all these reviews: 19n in Namibia
"Mundulea Reserve review"
Sitting in the blinds and watching wildlife behavior was one of the best experiences of our trip. Bruno was wonderful in sharing his preserve with us on daily hikes. He is very knowledgeable. He shared his extensive experiences with us and provided a view into the world of managing preserves. The staff are very helpful and took great care of us." See all these reviews: 16n in Namibia; 8n in Botswana; 2n in Zimbabwe
"Mundulea Reserve review"
Bruno is the passionate , highly knowledgable , owner and guide who taught us so much about the bush through the guided walks that we did with him .
He also cooked delicious meals from the bush kitchen - the oven is a modified fire extinguisher that sits on hot coals." See all these reviews: 15n in Namibia; 3n in Botswana
"Mundulea Reserve review"
Tents are comfortable but not meant for luxury seeking people. Good food.
A very memorable experience if one likes to walk." See all these reviews: 15n in Namibia
" A wonderful unique stay at Mundulea"
Bruno has huge knowledge and experience of everything Namibian, which he passionately shares. Mundulea is his reserve which he established more than 20 years ago, and has gradually reintroduced native animals and carried out bush restoration.
The camp is a proper bush camp with all food cooked on an open fire by Tommy who is Bruno's right hand man. We plan to return as soon as we can to spend more time walking in the bush with Bruno." See all these reviews: 13n in Namibia
"Africa as we remember it"
We were exceptionally privileged to be the only guests staying at Mundulea when we visited. Bruno is a quite fascinating host with seemingly several lifetime's wealth of experience, but it is perhaps his work at Mundulea that commands the most attention. As he will freely admit, the reserve is all about the wildlife and not the tourists. Appreciating this holds the key to enjoying one's stay. Nonetheless, when we expressed disappointment that we had not yet seen eland during our Namibia trip, Bruno was able to lead us on a walk, tracking a mother and calf to the point where we managed to get a good clear view.
Other walks covered all four compass points from the camp, during which we came to understand how the fundamental basis of the re-wilding project lies in restoring the balance of the vegetation in the reserve. A particularly enjoyable walk was to the top of nearby hills, from which it is possible to appreciate the true scale of the project that Bruno is undertaking. Evenings were spent in interesting and far-ranging conversation with Bruno.
If you like walking, and are happy that you may only glimpse wildlife while you are doing so, then walks with Bruno are fascinating and educational.
This was definitely the highlight of our Namibian trip." See all these reviews: 20n in Namibia
"Mundulea Reserve review"
Bruno was so full of information and knowledge (and so good at passing it on), it was a real privilege to spend time with him. His understanding of Namibian - and wider African/world - problems and his measured, well-considered response is rare to see. The sustainability of the camp and what he is trying to achieve at Mundulea is impressive.
I suppose he is too busy but I'd like to propose him for a newly created post of King of the World (or at the very least, world environment minister). He'd do a lot better than the shower we've got at the moment.
PS He also tells a very good story." See all these reviews: 17n in Namibia
"Back to the wild at Mundulea"
Mundulea is the vision and passion of Bruno Nebe, a project that he has invested his life in in more ways than one. He's aiming to bring what was cattle farming land - over grazed and denuded of most of its wildlife - back to its original state. He's a pioneer, who has spent the last 20 years working out how this can be done - with a bit of trial and error. He's had a quite astonishing life - you'll have to go there to get his stories, I couldn't do them justice - which you'll gradually learn about in your time at Mundulea, as you walk through the bush, drink a much-needed beer by the fire or enjoy the food. This is cooked in a bush kitchen and as far as possible from the resources of the property (warning: you may be eating what you've been looking at, but trust me, spicy wildebeest stir-fry and home-cured eland salami are delicious). The bread is baked in an oven fashioned from an old fire extinguisher!
Anything that isn't done by Bruno is done by Tommy, the only member of staff - the feeling you get is very much that you're joining them at their bush camp, rather than staying as guests in any conventional sense. Although it's called a bush camp there's plenty of hot running water and good solar lighting at your tent; the camp is next to a water hole with hides so you can see who's out there. At night, prepare to be absolutely gobsmacked by the stars - the Milky Way in full view - which you can appreciate from your open-air shower after the afternoon walk!
We reckon we were probably walking around 10k per day - mostly with lots of stops to look at things, but in some cases requiring a reasonable level of fitness. I think he would adjust this according to the guests but you do need to be comfortable being on your feet and walking for 3 or 4 hours. I would not recommend this as a first safari - you are unlikely to see, for instance, the big predators (and you might not want to as all activities are on foot!) - but if you've got an interest in getting a little further under Africa's skin than you might do on other safaris, this place is ideal." See all these reviews: 9n in Namibia
"Mundulea was a special place"
The directions were clear. When we got to the gate it was about a 25 minute drive up to the main farmhouse on the property. I'm not sure what I expected -- but we left our car and immediately had our bags loaded into Bruno's open air safari vehicle for the 20+ minute drive in to the bush camp. I had given no prior thought to the fact that we would be both incommunicado and without power, so my one regret was that I had forgotten to text my kids to tell them we'd be unreachable for the next few days. And I had not thought to bring a spare camera battery -- but luckily had charged it fully the night before, and Bruno was able to charge my iPhone in his vehicle using my USB cord -- so that was my 2nd camera which I used in airplane mode to preserve the battery. So it all worked out despite my lack of prior thinking.
What a magical place Bruno has created! The camp itself is nestled into the bush with all kinds of wonderful details -- chairs made out of the leadwood fence posts he removed from the cattle ranching days, a beautiful dining table made from a tree from the property. Even the fire pit was made from recycled iron bars. I loved our tent -- a very spacious tent with a comfortable bed, an outdoor patio area and an outdoor bathroom with hot and cold running water and flush toilet. What luxury!
After a brief rest upon arrival, we met for coffee in the "kitchen" and then set out on our first walk. The days fell into a very comfortable rhythm. We would meet at 7:15AM for breakfast. Then head out in a new direction around 8:00AM and walk until around noon. After lunch we would rest and/or hang out in the hide to watch animals come to the watering hole and salt lick. Then we would meet for late afternoon coffee and head out for a late afternoon/evening walk -- coming back almost in the dark. This would be followed by a nice cold beer around the fire and dinner, before heading off to bed. We slept more soundly here than anywhere else -- including home!
THE WALKS. Bruno has created an amazing habitat and is a wealth of knowledge about every aspect of it. I loved learning a little bit of everything. Starting with the animals, he showed us all the different tracks -- and could discern not just the difference between all the different antelope tracks, but what they may be doing (such as one male wildebeest chasing another male out of his territory). He could even discern the tracks of different species of snakes. When you are walking you are more likely to scare off animals, or only see them from a distance, so we did not see a ton of animals on our walks. Our two most exciting sightings were 1) a giraffe, and 2) a honey badger we came across trying to get into a giant tortoise. We also saw a few antelope from a distance (a kudu, impala, wildebeest), and a very large male warthog. And a brief ostrich sighting. From the hides (both the camp hide and another, bigger one we visited on our walk) we were able to get much closer -- we enjoyed watching impala, red hartebeest, a tsessebe, tons of warthogs, a dik-dik, oryx and on our last day a herd of 15 kudu. We probably saw our greatest number of animals on our drive out near the farmhouse -- large herds of widlebeest, springbok and impala. But it was so much more than just animals. We learned about lots of different insects -- including the dung beetle, antlion, termite and others. Bruno indulged my interest in wildflowers and spent time at lunch looking through all his books to help me identify them. We learned about the trees -- fig, leadwood, marula, saringa. We learned about the rhino and aardvark from their holes and tracks -- even though we did not see any in the flesh. We did not move quickly, but we covered a lot of ground -- about 7.5 miles (12km) the first day and 9.5 miles (15km) the second day.
We loved our meals here too. His helper, Tommy, was a whiz cooking over the fire. The homemade bread was delicious. Breakfasts were granola, fruit and yogurt with bread. Lunch was a Nicoise style salad with bread. The dinners were the highlight. Kabeljou (fish) with rice and pumpkin; chicken tagine with pasta, and on the last night, eland strips with re-fried polenta and locally grown spinach.
I really didn't want to leave!
A note on clothing. Everything worked out fine -- but I may have done things differently if I had put more thought into it. First a word on shoes. My husband and I both wore trail shoes -- basically high quality sneakers. On day 2 Tom went to remove what he thought was a rock, and discovered it was a thorn that had gone through the sole and pierced the footbed. He then proceeded to pull about 20 thorns from the soles with a pair of pliers -- and I have about 3 or 4! I think a much thicker soled boot would have been a better choice. The same with clothes -- I wore capris and shorts, which worked out fine -- but I did get a few inevitable scratches so a wiser choice may have been long pants. I also was lucky -- due to the unfortunate drought situation the grass was neither thick nor high -- but if it had been a normal year it would have been unpleasant with shorts." See all these reviews: 11n in Namibia
"Absolutely fantastic"
We were very lucky that Bruno was in residence and he led our walks. Apparently we were the last guests of the year before Bruno closed the camp until January. There was only one other guest so we were a small and quite intimate group. Bruno is fascinating and interesting company and we seemed to spend much time, without noticing the passage of time, discussing his ideas and ideals, world politics and matters of common interest at the communal dining area. Bruno led us on a series of walks from the camp through the bush and was so very informative on flora and fauna as well as landscape and geology. The walking seemed at times to be so tranquil and idyllic, especially in the evenings as the sun was setting.
At Mundulea, one does not see game in such close contact as in game parks where one is driven to waterholes and other such areas where game concentrate. We saw a lot of different antelope and giraffe through the bushes and we were shown signs of pangolin, aardvark, badger, hyena and ostrich as well as fresh tracks of rhino, cheetah, lynx and leopard. The walks were more about discovering the habitat and behaviour of animals and about the natural and not-so-natural vegetation and landscape.
After visits to Desert Rhino Camp and Etosha where one sees the game at close quarters, Mundulea offers a contrasting learning opportunity and we were very pleased that we visited after having been to Etosha. We gained so much of the context of the wildlife. A pair of binoculars is absolutely essential as from the top of some of the hills we climbed, Bruno could pick out animals way below.
All the meals at Mudulea were nutritious and delicious and many thanks to Tommy for producing it all by means of a camp fire and wood oven.
Our visit was another unforgettable highlight of our stay in Namibia." See all these reviews: 17n in Namibia
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