Travel reviews by T & T from woodside

"This is what one calls a "pension" in Germany. Very comfortable with a great view from the balcony.

Awesome breakfast with eggs, cold cuts and yummy french toast. Because of the unseasonal storm it was too cold for breakfast on the balcony, and the staff moved the table into the room.

Friendly staff, and fine way to start our trip!"

"This place is a bunch of superlatives. The setting with the orange dunes is spectacular. Just the drive in is interesting as we saw Oryx, Ostriches and Jackal.

We parked and were welcomed and got a ride up the hill to the lodge. We had our own cabin/tent which opened up on a spectacular view. Meals are communal, very tasty, and with excellent company to chat with. Due to the odd stormy weather the nights were intense with incredible thunderclaps and wind, but by morning it would always clear.

We went out an excellent excursion, saw zebras and red hartebeast and oryx and Springbok. The landscape is iso incredible with the blue-green grass, the camelthorn trees and the red sand. In the evening we did the sundowner and became fascinated by some unusual flowers. The storm had caused a sudden greening of the landscape. Just an excellent experience -- the setting, the activities, the accommodations and the staff.

One has to have a ton of respect for Albi Brueckner -- and his vision both for this place and for Namibia."

"Set against the edge of the mountains this lodge has a visually impressive location.

We were greeted on arrival by the super friendly and ever hard-working owner. We had a lovely cabin/tent of our own. The central lodge is an attractive building.

The staff is friendly and very hardworking. Very nice meals too. For our activity we took the day trip to Sossusvlei. They also gave us a nice bag lunch for the drive out.

Couldn't be better!"

"The Cornerstone guesthouse has relatively small, very clean rooms in a very quiet location convenient to the "downtown" and the beach. Excellent breakfast and friendly staff. The room has a nice patio.

It was a fine base for exploring Swakopmund. We combined this with the Turnstone tour of Sandwich harbour which is highly worthwhile.

Our guide was entertaining, our fellow guests fascinating and we met some very friendly jackal, a hyena active in the daytime, seals, and lots and lots of flamingos and other sea birds."

"What an amazing place. We had our own house to stay in. From the patio one could watch animals all day long. The birds come visiting and want one to put out birdseed, which is provided. Once one obliges one gets a true bird picnic. The Monteiro's hornbill is the clear ringleader. Meals are quite tasty. Again, very nice staff.

The activities were awesome. We encountered a leopard who had dragged his warthog dinner into a tree and was munching on it. He then came down and we surprised each other driving right past him, got some good closeups of a surprised looking leopard. We visited with cheetahs, who were in a mellow mood and purred like huge house cats. We saw a family of giraffes. And one of baboons. Lots of different antelopes - kudu, oryx, Springbok, duiker, impala, eland, the usual jackals.

A visit to the Africat Foundation was quiet interesting. Our guide was knowledgeable and interesting to talk with. After dinner we went on a night hike and from a blind watched hyenas having their dinner.

Truly a great experience!"

"The location -- built onto huge rocks in the mountains -- is amazing. Our tent/cabin had an incredible view. And the sundowner is fabulous. We were a bit tired, so this was a good place to unwind a bit. We went for a nice hike in the morning -- saw a big flock of Springbok.

We did the afternoon execursion to see the Tweifelfontein rock art. The rock art is great, but the heat was brutal. It's too bad they don't do this excursion in the morning. On it's own though this place is a bit dull in comparison with the other places we visited, which was ok because we needed some down time.

The food was odd -- the menu is fine, and it looks pretty, but tastes weird. The chef has few taste buds. It felt more crowded with guests than the other places we stayed, and the service seemed a bit off at times, even-though the staff certainly is working hard to please. It's not a bad place, the setting is amazing, just doesn't quite compare to the other lodges we stayed (eg Woldewans).

A small thing about this place is they charge you for all drinks, even bottles of water. It's kind of like USA domestic airlines charging you random fees. No big deal really, but ... somehow this was our least favorite place on our trip. Maybe we had just gotten spoiled by all the other places."

"This is a very intimate, quiet camp where all the tents and the main eating area look out on a water hole. The water hole provides an endless supply of animals who come to drink -- all kids of anteopes (oryx, red hartebeast, kudu, eland, Springok, waterbuck, black-faced impala came by. At dawn hundreds of silly Guinea Fowl show up. It's too much fun watching the animals directly from the deck.

One interesting thing about this camp is that you can't leave the walkways, and you can't walk from building to building at night unescorted because there's no fence. The animals are right there. For our excursion we went out and found a bunch of lions who had killed a giraffe and were eating it. We got very close to some very bloody looking lions. We met a mother white rhino and baby at a waterhole. That night a whole family of rhinos came to the waterhole and splashed around while we were eating dinner, looking like pale ghosts in the moonlight.

The next morning we went to Etosha. We saw huge masses of zebras, gnu and antelopes politely taking turns one species at a time at the waterholes, Huge bull elephants slowly approached like some huge container ship and splashed into the waterhole for a drink, all the other animals giving them a wide berth. In camp a funny fat hyrax munched on leaves in a tree, and the Monteiro's hornbills came to our table again. Way fun! Our tent was comfortable -- but it is a tent, it gets cool at night in winter, although they do put a hot water bottle in the tent which sure helps. It was fun chatting with other guests. Our guide was great."

"We stayed there our first and last nights.

The second night was as good as the first, and this time the weather was good so we could actually enjoy breakfast on the balcony!"