Reviews of Etendeka Mountain Camp
(96%) From 110 travellersThey do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa.
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A dream come true
When we first started to plan our trip to Namibia, this was one place that we were determined to get to. We were not disappointed. At first glance it may appear & does have a certain simplicity, for us it was a unique experience.
Fabulous walks taken with guide Bonny, on earth liberally strewn with beautiful minerals & crystals hardly trodden by humans & vast open vistas, plus amazing night skies studied with our host Dennis. Three perfect days of tranquillity but always with plenty to do & enjoy.
Food & hosting was excellent, it's a very special place.
Etendeka Mountain Camp review
Etendeka is an absolute joy to visit; the camp is more authentic in all ways than the more modern camps. Here, you feel like you are truly in the wilderness, with more than enough luxury but not too much, and it’s run by the solid partnership of Denis and Bonny. The combination of these two absolute experts in this unique setting makes this a very special place indeed. If you just want lazy luxury, with people running around after your every need, then this is not the place for you. However, if you want an authentic African experience, then this is impossible to beat.
The guiding by Bonny, and especially his walks, were a pleasure. The food, often just simple but flavoursome Bush cooking, was outstanding. Denis was a pleasure to meet; an intelligent, quietly spoken man with a prolific knowledge of the area, including the beautiful starlit skies.
An unforgettably marvellous experience. Do not stay less than 2 days to enjoy this place at its best.
We loved it!
Such a good experience in a wonderful isolated setting.
Great hospitality from Dennis and great guiding from Bonny.
Going on a long walk after all the driving - and learning so much along the way - was just what we needed.
windy!
Shana was there - not the owner and sent her best wishes to Marusha and congrats on your new addition. She rates Expert Africa very highly - said "you run a tight ship".
It was fun - and an experience.
The walk was boring - and early - but all entertained by the guide spitting oryx poo.
The drive in the evening was great and the sundowners.......made it great. Saw lots of animals, guide was engaged and informative.
Place was extremely windy - which made the bucket shower horrendous! Food nice, people very friendly...
Etendeka Mountain Camp review
This was a change from usual accommodation/ - much more basic in every way but this felt appropriate to the location and we thoroughly enjoyed it
The personal attentiveness of host Dennis could not be faulted - his experiences and knowledge were fascinating and the astronomy lesson an unexpected bonus.
Personally I feel inspired to take up night classes now / I will never forget viewing Saturn and mars through his high powered telescope.
One of our best camps
Etendeka was for us a "must do" (again) experience. It is set in the extraordinary Etendeka conservancy, which is itself a triumph of Namibian trendsetting, combining the interests of the Damaraland local community with those of tourism, often a difficult marriage. Etendeka is intimately connected with its inspirational proprietor, Dennis Liebenberg, who helped successfully pioneer this joint approach more than 20 years ago. But Bonnie is an equally inspirational co-host and guide.
We spent 2 nights there which is probably about right although a third night would not have been a hardship posting. Activities include both game drives (including the arrival and departure as the roads are not accessible to "ordinary" vehicles so one is collected from Palmvag Lodge, itself an atmospheric and historic camp) and guided walks, with Bonnie during our stay. We did see game, kudu, giraffe, etc. but the landscape is the main reason to visit.
Food was homespun but delicious, the camp fire attractive, and Dennis's star-gazing talk very informative.. Tents are relatively simple but very comfortable, complete with outside showers, and uninterrupted views of the mountains.
We couldn't recommend Etendeka more highly, bags of character, real intensity and commitment.
A great experience
The pick up went smoothly altho delayed by the lateness of other people arriving.
The tents worked well, our guide Bonny was great, we learned a lot on the activities we went on.
Pristine wilderness, great guiding, fun camp
This was a really outstanding visit despite getting maybe 20% of the annual rainfall in the two days we were there, with associated cloud etc. One evening drive was a washout.
Tents are straightforward (but totally adequate). Loved the shower bucket. Food was very good (but straightforward). Denis is a splendid host, and we much enjoyed his company.
Our guide (Boaz) was both modest and first class. We clocked up 23 different birds and 11 different mammals. Day one is on foot and day two we went up the escarpment, which is an interesting contrast.
The setting is extreme. Pristine and starkly very beautiful. The camp area is as clean as a whistle: every item of rubbish is driven out, so there's no scavengers.
Game viewing, because there are no fences and the game is wholly wild, is all long range, but because of that in setting. There are rhinos but very few are left and one wonders for how long. We didn't see any, or elephant either, but there was so much water around they had all Namibia to wander around in. We heard lion and saw fresh evidence of leopard.
I would like to go back when the weather is better.
Allow some time to enjoy Palmwag before setting off up to Etendeka. It's a contrast!
Most interesting
Interesting to learn about the place from Dennis.
We liked the fact that it was totally wild - in contrast to Ongave, Mundulea and Okonjima which were all fenced in and most of the animals had originally been purchased.
It would have been helpful to have seen a map of the area showing the boundaries, mountains etc
Etendenka adventure
We had a very interesting time- starting with a thunderstorm that flooded the lodge! It was all hands to get the furniture off the floor- most of it ended up on the bar. Everyone was thrilled by the rain after years of drought, and the 'instant' waterfall on the river behind the camp provided quite a spectacle. We liked the simplicity of the camp, providing a nice contrast to the luxury of Hoanib. We had two great walks - especially the extraordinary 'crystal' walk up on the plateau with the excellent guide,Bobby, which I gather not everyone is allowed to do!?
(WHY?) A real paradise for geologists... something to look at with every step!
The evening drives were a tad long- a bit repetitive.
Dennis a very interesting person- we enjoyed talking to him. Relief manager, Shireen, was very competent and paid a lot of attention to visitors requirements with some very thoughtful touches.. such as a beautifully illustrated recipe for Elias's excellent goulash, which we requested! The chef, Elias, obviously a treasure, provided impressive dinners every night complete with irresistible puddings.
We loved it, but perhaps two days would have been preferable...
