Reviews of Hoodia Desert Lodge
(97%) From 121 travellersThey do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa.
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Hoodia Desert Lodge review
Welcome place to recuperate at the end of a long day of seemingly endless bumpy roads. Very comfortable. We did the whole day excursion to Soussevlei and can thoroughly recommend it :)
Read more about the whole safariWonderful stay at Hoodia Desert Lodge
Hoodia exceeded our expectations. The welcome was so lovely…to be greeted with those iced flannels and chilled tea! The owner and all the staff were so friendly throughout our stay there. It was wonderfully deserted and all the facilities and the food were first class. My husband & I stayed in one lodge and our 3 (adult) sons shared another. The lodges were beautiful and we particularly enjoyed the outdoor showers. The main lodge building was luxurious and welcoming and the suppers and breakfasts were excellent.
We opted to do a fabulous, private day trip to Sossusvlei and the sand dunes, with a very knowledgeable and interesting guide. We left early in the morning and our guide showed us some of the wildlife in the desert…the spiders and the tracks of animals. We climbed 'Big Daddy' and our guide then served a lovely lunch in the shade with a linen tablecloth & fine wine. the day was a high spot of the holiday! We then walked in the canyon at Sesriem.
great!!
Hoodia - nice, slow WiFi - but managed this. Very friendly service, rooms nice. Staff tried to "sell" us their own tour to Sossusvlei....but it was over £100pp. we did it much cheaper - maybe missed some key points, but was not concerned!
Nice to see the baboons and ostriches.
Great view of the milky way from this place!
could sit in main lodge with a couple of beers and enjoy the silence......enjoyed it.
Great lodge in the dessert
A beautiful lodge in the dessert. Fantastic food, fantastic wine, and john was a super manager. Extremely helpful, professional and went out of his way to do his best. The trip to the dunes was super. An unforgettable experience.
Read more about the whole safari
Disappointing and unwelcoming place
I have already passed our comments on, but this was the one dud part of our fantastic holiday.
The staff were surly, rude and unwelcoming from the start. We told the guide that I had a bad back and couldn't do much walking on the excursion to the Dunes, but we were placed with a (very nice) Swiss couple clearly wanted to go hiking up the Dunes. The guide, who was disinterested from the start, told us to wait by the Landrover whilst they went for a short walk. However, we were left alone for nearly two hours without water or anywhere to sit and did not receive any apology from the guide on his return or from the manager at the Lodge.
The room was nice - if a bit too small and the food was okay.
The location was amongst the least photogenic of the places we stayed on our trip.
Expert Africa comments
We are very sorry that these travellers did not enjoy their stay at Hoodia Desert Lodge. As they alluded to in their feedback we were also in touch with them whilst they were in country to let them know that the owner of Hoodia had contacted us about the situation, but more importantly to find out if they were both OK and if there was anything that we could do to make the rest of their stay more comfortable and enjoyable.
We were reassured after our conversation with these travellers that they were both fine and that one of the travellers had hurt their back prior to the trip which we had not been made aware of. The core of the bad experience at Hoodia stemmed from the full-day activity that runs into the Namib-Naukluft National Park. Although we consider this to be one of the best excursions on offer in the area, it is an active full day out and we realise that we may not have made the extent of this activity clear.
We are really very sorry that these guests were left on their own for nearly two hours. It sounds as though there was an unfortunate breakdown in communication and the guide had no way of gauging how long they would take on the tour, with the other guests, as it really depends on what they find along the way and what the other traveller's levels of interest are. We know that Hoodia’s guides are some of the most professional and we have always had very good reviews about the Hoodia guides from our past travellers. It is very unfortunate that these travellers' experience was very different from our experience of the activity.
We have relayed all these traveller's comments to the owners of Hoodia and no doubt it will help their service going forwards.
Hoodia Desert Lodge review
Hoodia was WONDERFUL. The owner and all the staff were fabulous and committed to making our stay as comfortable as possible.
The rooms and lodge were very comfortable and the views were stunning.The day trip into sossusvlei with the guide was WELL worth it - despite having our own transport we elected to take this trip with the guide and were not disappointed: very informative and very well put together package including a delightful lunch under a shady tree with a view (Plus oryx keeping a close eye on us!)
I would highly recommend staying at Hoodia.
Exceptional quality
Hoodia is a wonderful place to stay. Thomas, the proprietor, is a very extrovert, uber hospitable host, who runs the place with admirable efficiency.
Hoodia is set in a secluded plain, some way from the main Sossulviei area. This means it takes a little longer for the dawn drive to the dunes (which is the obligatory excursion) but in our view this was more than compensated for by the attractions of Hoodia itself.
We ate very well. The individual rondavels are very comfortable, complete with the Namibian speciality of outside, but private!, showers.
We took the Hoodia guide, Enos I believe was his name, for the Sossulviei excursion, which we thoroughly enjoyed and learnt a lot. We stayed 2 nights.
Great day in the Desert at Hoodia
This lodge did not disappoint.
The atmosphere was relaxed but professional. Our room was excellent. The food was excelent.
The day trip to the desert was memorable.
Hoodia Desert Lodge review
Read more about the whole safariSuperb
Very comfortable, excellent staff, really good food and an extremely pleasant host (Thomas).
Cannot fault this place at all. Top service.
