Etosha Safari Lodge

This is the first stop on our tour of Gondwana Collection's series of lodges across Namibia. We spent three nights at Etosha Safari Lodge.

In our experience, you are welcomed as guests...but you depart as friends.

Located only 9 kms south of the Andersson gate of Etosha National Park.

Near the south entrance to Etosha National Park.

The main entrance gate. You then have a 3 km (1.8 mile) drive along a cobbled road to the reception area.

Arriving at reception!

We were greeted with a smile from receptionist Monika and assistant manager Simon. They remembered us from when we had stopped in on our way back from Etosha when we had been camping! 

There are 65 "rooms", which are actually a row of individual cabins. 

65 individual cabins, with the restaurant building on the upper right.

We were assigned room number 5.

Our room was beautiful! Even had a remote control air conditioner, and coffee and tea station to make your own wake up beverage first thing in the morning.

This lodge is busiest during the months of May through October. This is when it's the dry season and it's also a little cooler. Because of the lack of rain during those months, the animals at nearby Etosha National Park are most easily seen near the waterholes.

But if you come during the off season, you receive more personalized service, and the staff will often have time to chat with you. We enjoyed that we were able to spend some time with some of them.

One of the highlights of Etosha Safari Lodge is the bar area and sundowner deck...

Kevin at the bar.

 When does the bar open? Whenever there are people wanting a drink. 

When does the bar close? When there are no more people!

The outdoor bar area.

Ruth, enjoying the view of the African savanna from the sundowner deck.

We enjoyed dinner the first evening we were there. Most rooms are available on a "bed and breakfast" basis, and then you pay for lunch and/or dinner as you wish. We found lunches to be very reasonably priced at between N$45 ($4.86) and $N65 ($7.00) and you got a good sized and well prepared plate of food. Dinners are truly delicious, but a little on the pricey side for a buffet style at N$220 ($23.76) per person. But, this includes soup, salad, appetizers, main course, and dessert. You will leave the table full, and you should arrive hungry!

The dinner menu!

The buffet.

The food was excellent, although some items were a little salty for our tastes. One of the best buffet style dinners we've had.

During your relaxation hours, you'll probably want to spend some time by the pool. You can choose one of three pools. One is located near the restaurant area, and then one each down the rows of cabins. Another benefit of being there during slow season was that you have the place to yourself!

Heaven!

Of course nowhere we have ever visited is perfect. We feel that it's only fair to our readers to present any criticism as well as the good stuff! We're being pretty picky here to find anything wrong with Etosha Safari Lodge, but if we each had to find something, we both agreed that some of the food was too salty for our liking. And Kevin thought that the windows in our room could have used a good cleaning. Pretty minor stuff overall.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay, and we hope to return some day!

Co-manager Fred, receptionist Monika, co-manager Liesl, and always smiling assistant manager Simon!