Wolgang and Elizabeth gliding their way across Sossusvlei
Natasha booked her guests Wolfgang and Elizabeth on a Namibian Safari where they stayed at Little Kulala in Sossusvlei, Little Ongava near Etosha National Park and Serra Cafema on the Skeleton coast. They spent one night in Windhoek before heading to South Africa, and Cape Town. They stayed at the Clarendon Bantry Bay before taking a trip up the Garden Route to Phantom Forest and Shamwari Game Reserve. Shamwari is a malaria free destination.
Climbing the big orange dunes in Namibia
Hi Natasha, hi Brett,
we are back home now and have time to remember our  vacation at Namibia and South Africa. As promised we will give you a more detailed feedback about our impressions.
In General we are very happy about your suggestion to fly the big distances in Namibia instead of driving an own car. The flights itself were very impressive (especially the ‘sight seeing part’ from Sossusvlei to Swakopmund and further to Ongava), saves a lot of time and makes our vacation more comfortable. Thank you again for that helpful recommendation.
Dead Vlei in Sossusvlei
All the three Premium Camps in Namibia (Little Kulala, Little Ongava, Sierra Cafema) were very nice, every one had its own charm. On every location we experienced a warm welcome and a hospitably care.
Little Kulala is impressively due to the sand dunes, especially the Hot Air Ballooning we can recommend.
Little Ongava is unique because of the littleness. The privacy in such an extensive furnished villa with all the artwork is wonderful. We only had not enough time to enjoy all the nice things.
Sierra Cafema – remember you forced us to visit it – was really great. To stay ‘in the middle of nowhere’ like in a landscape of the moon was thrilling. To see the crocodiles in the Kunene River and to visit the Himba people was also very interesting for us. Simply gorgeous.
The Himba women selling their curios.
Back in Windhoek it was good to stay there for one night and have a short overview on the city center (half a day is enough).
As already mentioned, Olive Groove guesthouse is just a place for overnight, has no really charm and is quite expensive for that service level. The house and the property we felt more like staying at a backyard with attached rooms, so it would be ok for a 3 or max. 4 star location. The suite itself was ok, but … e.g. one stay we had an evening service, the other stay not. The pool area is poor. The mattresses there have been seen much better days and the pool towel serves was bad at every 2 stays (we had to ask for and then to wait several minutes).
We would more recommend the hotel on the top of the hill. Don’t remember the name, may be ‘Luderitz’ or so, but not sure (we saw it because we picked up some guests during transport to Eros airport).
In summary the overall feeling about Namibia was very good (although it was quite expansive) and your suggestion for the locations and lodges was great, we appreciated it very much.
South Africa as you know we knew already and so there was no big surprise for us (except again the quickly changing weather). The hotel in Cape Town (The Clarendon Bantry Bay) was a very good alternative to ‘Ezard House’ (although Ezard House is still operating and seems to be as good as in the past). Phantom Forest – you booked for us – was again very nice.
All the other hotels and guesthouses we booked by self (we sent you our private itinerary) were also totally ok, nice and cozily.
Only Shamwari is no longer that good experience that we had in 2007. We communicated it to the management and I attach you the concerning email. We think there is no need for further action but you should know that there is a change since 2007 (we guess it is due to the selling abroad to a Arabian investment company, they want only make profit and obviously have no sense for hospitality and nature).
Again, we want to say ‘Thank you very much’ to your team and yourself for helping us, making our vacation as nice and interesting as it was. We can really recommend your services to other customers (and we will do so as you requested on www.safaribooking.com). If we plan another journey to Africa, be sure that we come back to you again.
Best regards and a lot of greetings from cold Austria (snow will come next week),
Elisabeth and Wolfgang
PS: as wished from Natasha please find enclosed some pictures from Namibia 🙂
