Hoodia Desert Lodge

Stunning out of the way lodge, 44kms from main road , with great accommodation, wonderful food and very friendly staff. Its a beautiful drive in , and if like us , you are coming up from the south take the D707 road . It lives up to its name of the most beautiful road in Namibia. Located by some cliffs and alongside a stream which was full of bird life. Welcomed at the lodge by a member of staff with warm towels, very welcome after a long duty drive. Over an iced tea we were given information on the lodge and its activities and taken on a guided tour : with its restaurant, bar, outside lounge areas and a swimming pool . The guest chalets are located either side of the main lodge and only a short walk away . Lovely large lodge with a great terrace to admire the view. En suite and a large outside bath , unfortunately during our stay the water was only luke warm ( not a problem as it was hot) and the water pressure was not great so couldn't really make use of a deep bath, Main restaurant offers a single choice of starter and dessert and a choice of meat or game for the main ( although they do offer vegetarian and chicken too) Wasn't fancy food basically meat and two veg but cooked well and tasted great. All staff we met were so friendly and helpful. In the evening our guide for the Sossusvlei Excursion came and introduced himself and explained the plan for the next day. We met for breakfast at 6am ( a good choice of hot and cold options) leaving at 6.30am reaching the gate at 7am. There was a short queue to get in , but you then drive to the main dune area. We had a wonderful guide Dion, who happily stopped to allow guests to take photos of the dunes or to point out wildlife on the way. First stop was at the dunes where we got a lesson in identifying tracks and pointing out the animals found there , we then had a lesson about Namibia, its history and tribes . Then some guests walked the big dunes , took them about 2 hours ending with a run down the dunes to the petrified forest, whilst we were dropped straight off at Deadvlei which is 1.5 kms walk from the car park. We had a couple of hours to wander around this incredible place , and took some stunning photographs. We were then picked up by our driver who took us to a beautiful location in the dunes where an Out Of Africa style lunch had been set up for us . the setting was perfect, and the lunch and wine delicious. From there we moved to the Seserim Canyon to walk around in the cool shade of the rocks , although some parts were still flooded after recent rains, but still amazing and a welcome break from the hot sun. Highly recommend you take this excursion it is so special, as is the lodge and especially the staff so warm and welcoming .It was nice to see so many females taken a lead role in managing the day to day running of the facilities. Made us smile on our final morning we had a discussion with one of the female members of staff about the tribes of Namibia, and she went running off to

Beautiful place, nice people, good safari’s. Perfect!! The houses were tastefully designed and decorated.

We spent three nights at Hoodia and everything was great. The owner was incredibly kind and the staff were very friendly. The location is breathtaking!

The property is in wonderful and the staff is very friendly. The food was fantasti!

The lodge is attractively presented and situated on the edge of a hilly outcrop which makes for a spectacular backdrop. Thomas and his staff gave us a very warm welcome. The absolute highlight of our stay was being guided by Lucas around Sossusvlei. He was very knowledgeable and friendly and we enjoyed getting to know him over lunch which was delicious and beautifully laid out under the shade of a tree. He also dropped us off for sundowners on one of the evenings which was another highlight. The stars have to be seen to be believed. Our airconditioning unit struggled to cool our room in the extreme heat of the afternoon, but otherwise the accommodation was very pleasant and spacious. My only disappointment was that on Christmas morning we were made to feel like we were in the way on the verandah of the lodge when staff began cleaning around us. We moved inside,, but there we were also in the way, as vacuuming and carpet cleaning was taking place. Staff apologised for the activity and noise. Whilst we understand the need to keep the environment clean , I don’t think guests pay top dollar to be made to feel this way, especially when there is nowhere else to go. Nonetheless, a very nice lodge with great activities which we can certainly highly recommend.