Reviews of Olive Grove
(88%) From 266 travellersThey do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa.
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Olive Grove review
A lovely small hotel and a very practical place to stay for our final night in Namibia. We were well looked after and well fed.
Useful to find internet access available for checking onward travel arrangements and the like.
Olive Grove review
Very welcoming so early in the morning. Great bath!
Read more about the whole tripOlive Grove review
Within walking distance of town centre. Once you are inside the gates you feel that you are in a good quality lodge.
Staff were helpful when we arrived early from our flight.
Olive Grove review
Ideal spot for an overnight stay, but our room was all dark kharki concrete!
Read more about the whole tripperfect for a first night stay.
perfect place for a first and last night stay. Directions on the flyer not brilliant, but spot on in the Bradt guide book. Excellent breakfast. Surprised they charge for the internet - very few places around the world now are charging even in Namibia eg Sam's Giardino.
The stone wall at the end of the bed was easy to stub your toe against when the covers were hanging over and hiding it but not sure how you could avoid this!
A reasonable overnight stay
We arrived late, about 21:30, as my (Brian) luggage did not arrive with me and Wilderness Safaris spent some time with me sorting out the paperwork, however the staff at the guest house very kindly provided some sandwiches as we hadn't eaten since lunch time.
We had 2 problems at Olive Grove. Firstly we had several insects in the beds, which we had to remove before settling down. Secondly, we had no hot water in the morning. I contacted reception and was told to let the water run for 10 to 15 minutes, which I was unhappy about, knowing how short of water Namibia is. I let it run for a couple of minutes but then rang reception again and spoke to the manager who told me that we shared the hot water tank with the next room. Apparently they had had a shower and bath and taken all the hot water. As the hot water is solar powered and there was no sun she said she would switch on the immersion heater and we would have to wait. We eventually showered at about 07:45 having got up at 06:30. Coupled with the fact that I did not have a change of clothes this was not a good start to our trip.
Expert Africa comments
Lindy Van den Bosch, the owner of Olive Grove Guesthouse, wrote to us regarding these travellers feedback as she was sorry to hear that they had a couple of problems during their stay. Her response was:
Thank you for taking the time to pass this feedback on to us.
We would like to apologise to these guests for the lack of hot water in the morning. We are in the process of converting our geysers from electrical to solar, in an effort to be more environmentally friendly, and this incident has shown us that we need to monitor this process a lot more closely and carefully. We generally have 1 geyser for 2 rooms, and past experience has shown this to be adequate. We are alarmed to hear that the advice given by our Reception was to "let the water run for 10 to 15 minutes". We can only assume that there was some misunderstanding or miscommunication on our part - we have discussed this with all our Reception staff again, to ensure that such incorrect information is not passed on again.
As regards the insects in the beds, we usually leave the bedrooms windows open for arriving guests, but as these guests arrived late at night, the insects may have been attracted into the room by the lights - once again, we apologise for this inconvenience.
We are pleased that we were able to assist with a later check-out, and hope that this went a small way to relieving the inconveniences caused, including the added frustration of luggage not arriving.
We strive to be a good first impression of Namibia, and to be an oasis for weary travelers arriving off a long flight, or back from a long drive around the country. We are truly sorry that this was not these guests’ experience and sincerely hope that this did not distract from the rest of their Namibian holiday.
First night in Namibia
A very promising start to our holiday, ideal after a long journey and very easy to find.
The staff were helpful and made us feel welcome, the room was comfortable and the food excellent. We loved the bath/shower (in room 8) that felt like a very upmarket cave!
We left after one night feeling refreshed and ready for the adventure to come.
Olive Grove Review
Very good breakfast. Best of holiday. Very friendly service.
Downside is design of guest house with rooms next door to dining area. Not good if you need an early night, following a 22 hour journey from UK.
Olive Grove review
Whilst the room and bedding were clean, we found the place a little austere and not as welcoming as we would have liked.
The pool looked dirty and not very inviting.
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.
