Travel reviews by Cape turtle doves from UK

"The whole business of getting through the airport at Windhoek and picking up the Europcar rental went very smoothly - although we had to remind them to provide the extra spare tyre. The car was in very good condition indeed.

The 64 km gravel road drive to Eningu went well enough but it was a firm reminder that we had another 2000 plus kilometres of this kind of road ahead of us!

The welcome at Eningu was very warm indeed. We were instantly offered refreshments as our bags were taken to our room. It provided a much needed respite after what was a long and rather boring Air Namibia flight - the poor in-flight entertainment didn't help!
We liked Eningu a lot, wonderful food, a comfortable room and a chance to go for a walk. We also saw porcupines!"

"The drive to Zebra River lodge was very hard...dusty and in places deeply rutted. Although we had no breakdowns or punctures during our entire trip, 2500kms of dirt road does take it out of you. To be honest our Toyota Yaris struggled with some of the conditions and in hindsight we would have been better off with a 4 wheel drive vehicle, if only for the peace of mind.

It is a bit daunting to be in the middle of a desert, miles from anywhere, in a car best suited for Oxford Street!

Zebra River Lodge was wonderful. Marianne and Gail made us very welcome. Wonderful food, some very interesting walks, a comfortable room and long evenings, talking, singing songs and generally relaxing. Highly recommended."

"Another long and arduous drive to Tok Tokkie. After 6 hours on the road we felt like we had been beaten up by a bunch of drunken sailors! The last 60 kms we had to virtually crawl along as the road was so rutted.

Gail at Zebra River was very apprehensive about us doing the Tok Tokkie Trail and our anxiety wasn't helped when we heard that on the previous walk one of the guests had collapsed with the heat and had to be brought out of the desert by Land Rover! When we eventually arrived we were made very welcome by our guide Rene who told us that this would be the last walk of the season because it was getting too hot! Caramba!

We had a light lunch, meeting up with the 4 other guests and then set off. That first afternoon was very easy, stopping every 30 minutes or so for water, and after walking about 6 kms we stopped for the night. The arrangements were as expected but comfortable with good food. Rene was very reassuring that we wouldn't get eaten by lions!

The next day was very very hot and there were moments when we thought that we wouldn't make it - but urged on by Rene we made our lunch stop where we rested for about 4 hours. When it cooled we then pressed on to our evening camp and relaxed. We had walked about 14 kms. During the night I was spectacularly sick. In the morning Rene suggested that as nobody else had been ill it was probably due to the heat.

We continued the following morning - again mercilessly hot - and reached the base camp at about 11.00am.

Although it was very hard at times, I cannot deny an enormous sense of fulfillment and would do it again - but next time in a cooler season."

"Another warm welcome at Kulala with cool drinks waiting for us. The food here was rather good although I wasn't able to eat much as I still wasn't up to scratch. The first evening I spent in bed.

Our visit to Sossusvlei was very interesting with an informative guide and lots to see. Unfortunately we were unable to climb Dune 45 because of the large number of parties ahead of us. We spent time at Deadvlei and then had lunch. That evening we drove out into the desert for a "Sundowner".

The following morning Amanda went on a hot air balloon trip but I had to cry off as I was still feeling unwell. She really enjoyed herself.
Our only adverse comment about Kulala was the wind which blew incessantly in the evenings and made eating out both chilly and difficult."

"The drive to Walvis Bay was once again very demanding, especially the passes through the mountains. When driving you could not afford to relax for a single moment. As the car thumped along at 30 kph I keep wishing we had hired a 4 wheel drive car. The Toyota did very well indeed but one felt that there was no 'extra' to pull you through if things went wrong.

The Lagoon Lodge at Walvis Bay was a very welcome respite with a warm welcome and comfortable rooms. My only complaint was I got electrocuted when I accidently touched the unmarked electric fence around the swimming pool!

The highlight of our entire trip was the day we spent with Ernst at Sandwich Harbour. We saw birds, dug for water, opened up 17th century rubbish dumps (middens), tried to rescue seals caught up in fishing line and were given a heart stopping demonstration of what a Land Rover can do in expert hands. Fantastic. Ernst is a real expert on the flora and fauna of the desert dunes and I would recommend him and his company to anyone. A wonderful day.

We also went on a township tour recently set up by a young Namibian Fried Fredericks. (EMail - mmsaf@mweb.com.na
Tel +264 64 205 511) Up to then the only black faces we had seen were serving drinks or driving Land Rovers so it was very interesting to see how black Namibians lived. We visited an AIDS/HIV centre, a vast open air canteen and a shabeen and really enjoyed ourselves."

"Doro Nawas was actually rather difficult to find as it hasn't got around to issuing a map yet. It is also a rather strange looking place, rather like an experimental laboratory in the desert run by a mad scientist. As ever the welcome was very warm - cold drinks and cool towels. The food and rooms very excellent.

We managed to combine two different activities into a single drive- seeing elephants along the river bed and then continuing to see Bushman art in the nearby mountains. Very interesting....but apart from that there is not much else to do. In hindsight we would have been better off staying only 2 nights at Doro Nawas and having an extra night at Waterberg."

"Oh the joy of driving most of the way to Waterberg along paved roads! Waterberg is wonderful and so different to the other lodges we had stayed in. It is set in a green, well watered valley running into the mountains - and the game drives, which we were not able to take, offered animals not seen in the desert - e.g rhinos, zebras and giraffes.

The lodge caters mainly for German visitors - and that was the language mostly spoken but it was friendly with good food and some excellent walks through green, dappled meadows full of Springbok. We could have stayed longer.

P.S During our stay they also cleaned out our car, inside and out without being asked. It sparkled!"

"Another smooth paved drive into Windhoek where we enjoyed an afternoons shopping, a visit to a war cemetary and an excellent 'cordon bleu' meal in the hotel restaurant. We held our room until 4.oopm the following day and were able to swim, shower and generally lounge around until leaving for our flight home.

A nice, friendly and classy joint!"