Namibia15th November 201810th February 2022

Gondwana Collection’s Etosha Safari Lodge Hotel Review

I start to stir in my sleep. “Is that the sound of a lion ROARING?” I’m so confused. The Etosha Safari Lodge is 10 km’s from Etosha National Park so how I can be hearing lions?

AJ had a terrible night. Around 11pm he started swelling and sweating. Face, ears, toes, hands, oh my goodness, this is frightening!

Jumping out of bed, calling reception, “Please answer, please answer.” No answer. We’re a good 50+ km’s from the nearest town and a few hours away from Windhoek. I think he’s having an allergic reaction and I don’t know what to do! It’s too far to walk up to reception and no one is answering.

With the aircon turned high, he jumps in the shower to try bring down the swelling. 15 Minutes later and fear in my eyes he climbs back into bed. His tongue and throat seen to be ok so we decide to ride out and hope for the best. Quietly he starts to fall asleep and I do too, but the night is fraught with worry and checks about how he’s feeling.

In the morning, I’m exhausted and now I can hear lions roaring. What on EARTH is going on?!

Lifting my head, as the soft golden light filters through the double doors into our light blue room, I exit our canape bed to pop to the bathroom. The WC is separate to the bathroom and shower inside our little brick cabin.

This self-drive trip to Namibia continued with a 2 night stay at premium collection offering.

The hotel boasts beautiful views across the Namibian bushveld, a sparkling blue pool and a deck for African sundowners or dinner moon-rises. We were most excited to visit this hotel due to it’s premium collection status, however, the rooms weren’t a patch on some of their other accommodation offerings.

The hotel offers breakfast and dinner as part of their package and is well appointed. The staff were friendly and helpful, however, we urgently needed a doctor one night and there was no one available at the front desk and no doctor on site! Our room also didn’t include an emergency number book so we just had to sit it out. As a premium offering, I would expect security or assistance on site. Here’s my “6 C” review of Etosha Safari Lodge:

Comfortable Bed (Get a good night’s rest)

In our room we had 2 single beds, which suited us just fine. Mr John has severe sleep apnea, coupled with kicking and pointing and DJing in his sleep! So if we’re together, but apart, I sleep much better. The beds were simple, but clean and comfortable.

Cleanliness

The room was very clean upon arrival, the bathroom counters & mirror in particular. However, the lavatory was really average. Lots of old wood trimmings, basic floors and no shelf space. Although outdated and clean, it didn’t incite comfort.

Counter Space (Bathroom)

I loved the giant sink in the Etosha Safari Lodge bathroom. This is ironic, since I don’t wear much makeup while on safari! However, I appreciated having enough space for my toiletries, makeup and medicine bag. This bathroom definitely compensated for the lavatory as it was well lit, modern, clean and well appointed.

Charging Stations

There were two plug points in the hotel room, both located on a small table. This allowed us to plug in our wares, however, there were minimal plugs in the room overall. These worked well enough, however, I would have to get up in the night to check my phone or grab my Kindle as we were unable to plug in our phones near the bed.

Connectivity

There is absolutely no internet in the rooms whatsoever and extremely low/poor internet at the hotel. If any other guest was online, it became incredibly slow – to the point that you couldn’t get anything done.

In the hotel’s defense, they are in the middle of nowhere, however, I think it would be better to say there was no internet except for emergencies. I plan my trips according to internet (where I can look things up, Google maps, banking apps, etc.) so it’s important to me to know whether there is signal or not. (We had both SA and Nam Sim cards.)

Conveniences

Conveniences in the rooms were extremely limited. Two positives were the large mosquito nets, these never go amiss even though there is no malaria in Namibia, and the two desk chairs – which we could take outside to watch the sun or moon rise. This was well thought out as they work for both indoors and outdoors.

The thing I really missed was a fridge/honesty bar. Considering the nearest shops are 20kms inside Etosha or 60kms in Otjo, I would like to have had a few more options in the room. The rooms are also quite far from the hotel (we had to drive up each time) so you couldn’t just grab a drink at the bar if you were thirsty.

The Real T

As briefly mentioned, Mr John had a violent peanut allergy reaction in the night. He was incredibly ill; to this day this was his worst attack and I was EXTREMELY worried. I rang the reception at 2am in the morning to ask for help – where the nearest doctor was? Did they have an EpiPen? Could they advise us on what to do? No one answered.

It was extremely scary and upsetting being in the middle of nowhere with no hotel staff to assist us. If a man has a heart attack in the night does the wife just lie next to him until the morning?!

Premium Service

Compared to the other lodges we’ve stayed at (both within the group and outside), I really felt that this lodge wasn’t on par with other premium options. While the cost is not much different R3460 (for 2 people per night), the rooms felt like dorms amidst an upgrade. We did, however, also woke up to the sound of lions roaring on the neighboring farm which was pretty cool. (I was already relieved that AJ had made it through the night!)

The hotel itself was very nice with a cute shop at reception, beautiful views, a large dining area and comfortable bar area. The patio is a lovely place to sit during the day or evenings.

Overall, I think it’s a good place to stay because the location is beautiful and convenient. The manager (who we met the next day) was very nice and the food was good (varied and well prepared).

This lodge is solely for accommodation for Etosha though, as I don’t think there’s much to do on site. And if you don’t see any animals in Etosha, you can visit the neighbouring farm who have a variety of wild animals on their farm. Also check out the Etosha Safari Camp which is nearby, this is next on my bucket list! Thanks for having us Etosha Safari Lodge.

Gondwana Collection’s Etosha Safari Lodge Hotel Review