Reviews of Halali Camp
(79%) From 270 travellersThey do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa.
| 
Halali Camp review
Somewhat of a disappointment - never an animal at the watering hole, service in the restaurant was average.
Registration was a challenge for the one person working.
halili
This location was disappointing.
We saw no animals at all at the waterhole, even after coming out very early in the morning and staying late at night.
Staff were quite curt and not very helpful around meals.
Halali Camp review
Comments pretty much as for Okaukuejo camp as regards the accommodation although the room was of better quality and size.
We were rather disappointed with the waterhole both as regards its location and the number of animals seen (only one small herd of Elephants)
A good central location with plenty of waterholes around the area and a good midway location within the park.
Ok experience at Halali Camp
I think my expectations were set too high regarding Halali camp due to the article I had read in Wall Street Jounral. Compared to Okaukuejo camp, I thought the facilities and the food was worse here. I know everyone will have a different experience at each waterhole based on the specific day and time of day. We had much more luck at other waterholes along the way and at Okaukuejo camp than at Halali.
The dinner was dismal. There was supposed to be wait staff, but they were overloaded and could not get to all the tables. Dinner was below average; breakfast was better.
Halali Camp review
After the luxury of Namutoni Halali was a little more as we had expected with smaller, more basic rooms a little squashed with a matrass on the floor for the third person in our room but that was fine. It was clean, comfortable and fulfilled our needs.
The swimming pool was great, the warterhole absolutely superb, the restaurant very good and food very good and varied over our two nights. The staff seemed a little disorganised but all worked out fine. We had some laundry done, no problems and took part in an excellent night drive with a very knowledgeable guide with us staying out beyond the three hours expected and seeing amazing wildlife. It was very well organized and thought through with warm ponchos, refreshments etc which were perfect for my 80yr old mother and 11yr old daughter.
One thought for all of the camps was the lack of information available on wildlife, where to see what, a daily sightings list from the waterholes, we discovered African Scops Owl was sitting in the morning by reception by chance in talking with the night drive guide. Lots / most of visitors have come for the wildlife and perhaps mainly the big mammals but I sure many more people would have loved to see the beautiful owl sitting in full view as they walked past every day. Perhaps a sign about how to contact a guide to talk about what is around at the time etc would be helpful.
Nature Reserves worldwide are at pains to communicate with visitors to give them as much information as possible (I work on nature reserves in UK) I think a public noticeboard for staff and visitors to write their daily sightings would be a great source of information and give a live feel to what is going on during people's visits
A secluded camp set in the Mopani
Set among some of the few hills in Etosha and in Mopane woodland this seems like the most secluded of the ENP camps. The chalets are more dispersed than Okakuejo and are spacious, well maintained and kept clean and tidy.
The waterhole is spectacular, set away from the camp so there's little noise to disturb the peace. An outcrop of rock has been cleverly used to create a natural amphitheatre with the waterhole just a few dozen metres distant. A herd of elephants visit in the early evening and surely there can't be too many better places in Africa to watch these animals at close range and not in a vehicle. Black rhino are also in regular attendance and the two species certainly don't appreciate each others company.
The nearby Goas waterhole must be one of the best in the park. An early morning visit revealed saw the place deserted but closer inspection revealed a small pride of lions on what little remained of a zebra, explaining the lack of the usual impala, kudu and zebra. The rest of the morning saw hyena, jackals and vultures awaiting their turn, warily keeping an eye out for returning lions.
The quizzine in the camp restaurant could do with improving but we've commented on this for Okaukaejo and Halali is identical. All in all though, a very pleasant stay. A smell in the chalet could be due to over zealous use of insecticide.
Halali Camp review
We were pleasantly surprised with Halali, after our negative experience at Dolomite. The chalet was spacious, well maintained, and in a very quiet area. Food was good. It is served buffet style but meat is cooked to order at dinner and eggs are cooked to order at breakfast.
Most of the staff were very pleasant and efficient although there were a few in the dining room that wandered around without doing much. As wine drinkers we were disappointed that they did not have most of the wines on their wine list and we could only get wine by the bottle. The only wine available by the glass was a sweet white which seemed very strange. However our overall experience here was good.
The location is excellent as a base for game drives and the waterhole is good, especially for rhinos and elephants.
Bush Chalet at Halali
Again, standard rest camp. We stayed in a bush chalet which was in much better condition than the family room we previously stayed in at Halali. Very spacious and clean.
The food was again good (game meat for dinner was cooked perfectly). The staff were not as helpful as those at Okaukuejo but still everything was reasonable, particularly bearing in mind that this is government run and relatively low cost.
There were elephants at the waterhole and rhino as the sun went down. Waterhole seating area had trash cans overflowing but when we returned a few days later this had all been removed. We would stay here again as it's good value and better to be inside the park than taking the drive out and back in each day.
Ok for short stay
Halali seems to be suffering from lack of maintenance these days and feels slightly more run down than our last visit.
Maybe more staff enthusiam might help.
Rooms are OK but the evening meal was not good value or appetising we didn't bother the second night.
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.
