Gondwana Etosha Safari Lodge

During our self drive trip to Namibia, we visited Etosha National Park. We have chosen this accommodation because - besides from the reviews we found online - we wanted to stay near Anderson's Gate. The location of this camp is really good, just a few kilometers from the Anderson's Gate and it's located up in a hill right at the side of the road. We stayed in one chalet which had a really large room and very good bathroom. It also had a small porch. Our chalet had a lot of privacy - as I believe the remaining have - which was really good. The restaurant and terrace area was very nice with plety of tables around and a bar. The swimming pool seemed nice, but we didn't used it. The staff was nice and friendly and ready to help when needed. We didn't had the dinner, as we preferred to eat some self-catering we carried with us at the chalet. The breakfast was good with plenty of options. The wifi was a joke. When we arrived, we needed to ask the lady at the bar to help us connecting and she only could do it by restarting the router. After a while, we realize that all arriving guests had the same problem, so the lady at the bar needed to restart the router each new gust arrived. A couple of weeks before my arrival I've sent an email asking if it would be good to book the half day game drive in advance and we received the answer that we could just book it on arrival. I've done it on arrival but... it was fully booked. So, if you want to book a game drive, book it in advance.

This lodge is circa 20 minutes' drive from the Andersson gate at Etosha. We had the chalet furthest away from the restaurant, so it was very quiet and peaceful. At sunrise, we were excited to see two giraffes standing right by our chalet's terrace. Amazing. The chalet was clean and beautiful inside. We booked a safari drive to Etosha from here and although we did not see a lot of game that afternoon, our guide was helpful and friendly, and he pointed out many birds, including an eagle owl and a goshawk chick. Food was excellent. We liked the non-routine aspect of being allocated a different table every night and morning. The outside bar area is a lovely place to watch the sun go down and you can also view animals at the small waterhole there. Although there are tour groups, the management cleverly keep individual travellers as far apart from them as possible for meal times and for accommodation. All in all, a great experience!

This camp is actually a variety of seperate bungalows spread through the bush land. The rooms are nicely furnished & I especially liked the “elephant” shower. There is also, thankfully, good aircon in the rooms because it gets very hot. However the bungalows are spread out throughout the bush & it is quite a walk in the heat to get to the main buildings for meals & the pool. The main building is decorated as a shebeen (well know in apartheid Sth Africa, originally an illicit bar or club where excisable alcoholic beverages were sold without a licence) which is done really well. The dinner & breakfast are buffets with a good selection & good quality of hot & cold foods. Make sure you check out the neighbouring & sister property next door, the Etosha Safari Lodge for a sundowner & to see the fabulous sunset. The location is not too far from the entrance to Etosha National Park.

Lovely lodge, beautiful rooms. Intermittent Wi-Fi disappointing We were only here for one night and enjoyed some relaxation by the main pool. Went to the raised pier area for sundowners, seating looked good but was quite uncomfortable! waited quite a while to order drinks ended up going to the bar. When it came to eating the buffet was mediocre, good salad bar but the rest was not to our taste so we returned to the salad bar. Pudding was nice. Drinks service was very slow through out the dinner. Breakfast was pretty average, took too long and we needed to leave early. Over promised under delivered on food and service