Lodge Damaraland

Awesome lodge. Rooms are the best we stayed in while in Namibia, very modern lodge, good swimming pool area, food was great and we really enjoyed staying here.

What a wonderful lodge. The luxurious lodge is one of the finest I’ve encountered in Namibia.
The food was exccellent. Especially the grill every evening they grilled all kinds of meat. Everything was fresh and tasty.
The rooms were upmost luxury. Very good designed.
But most of all the hospitality. Especially Vicky was one of the best. Her kindness was out of this world the attention and personal approach made us feel very very welcome. Although it’s almost a year after visiting this wonderful place you can’t forget this kind of good/ outstanding service.

Lovely place to stay, with super lovely staff. We were sad to leave this place. You can lay by the pool with a drink or enjoy the bar after an activity. To end the day with a great buffet of food with baked to order meat and all sorts of pastas.

Stayed here for two nights in May — it was originally supposed to be 1 night, but extended it and so glad I did. Lodge is beautiful with a great pool area. The rooms are very comfortable and the bathroom is really generous. Food was great and the staff were very friendly and attentive. If staying here, you must do the desert elephant game drive — a massive highlight of my time in Namibia!

Special attention and all in all was carefully selected in finer details like the whole selection of African lodge welcoming style. I like the way that the rooms are not overly decorated and that they have a fresh aproach to how to make the guests feel relaxed and yet private. It is worth every penny.

Positives:
— The lodge itself is beautifully designed, and the rooms are spacious and tastefully decorated.
— There is a small spa offering, which is nice after a long day of travel.
— Special mention goes to the very friendly young bartender (white guy, I assume with a Dutch background) who made a real effort and stood out positively from the otherwise inattentive staff.
Negatives:
— Not the hotel’s fault but the location is remote near Khorixas. Travelers planning to visit Twyfelfontein, the Fingerklip, or to see desert elephants should be aware: distances are still significant, and the lodge is not ideally situated for these excursions.
— Overall service was disappointing: no assistance with luggage, reception often unattended, no one asks if you would like coffee or anything extra at breakfast. Staff seem untrained – even basic tasks like properly opening a bottle of wine or serving us during dinner were poorly handled.
— The beverage and wine selection is far below expectations for a lodge in this price range: only a small list of wines and cocktails, with open wines being cheap options from Tetra Paks. Completely unacceptable for this category.
— The pool was cloudy and full of insects, as was the entire outdoor area. It seemed that no real effort was being made to manage it – very different from other lodges and hotels we stayed at. — Dining outdoors was impossible without being swarmed by mosquitoes and flies.

Nice hotel in between Etosha and coast with great pool and new facilities. Great potential if they get service right.
Unfortunately airco currently cannot cope with the heat and rooms, bar and restaurant are often way above 35c, while drinking water is not supplied. Service from most staff is uncertain. Most tend to stare at you all the time but only provide service if you repeatedly articulate what you like.

Great place to stay!
The staff is super friendly! I had a great time at the bar with Simon telling me a lot about Namibia and the people/life in this region.
Thank you for having us it was a pleasure!

Excellent lodge. Very friendly and helpful staff. Extremely stylishly furnished. Extremely clean. The rooms lack nothing. Large pool. Romantic evening atmosphere. The food was the best we had in Namibia, definitely eat here. Very fast laundry service. Not important for us, fast internet connection. Such a shame we only booked one night. Thank you very much.

Overall, this is a comfortable place to stay. It is a bit far from the Twyfelfontein activities area (approximately 1 hour by car) — unfortunately, I was booking late so this is all that was available. But as I was heading to Etosha afterwards, I was also an hour closer, so if you are passing through from the south it is a decent choice — you just need to double drive for the day.
The room is massive and comfortable, high ceilings, modern furnishings, with a huge bed, a terrace for sitting outside during the cool evenings. There is coffee and snacks (and even a bit of amarula) available in the room.
Breakfast is quite good, with eggs to order, a pancake station, delicious fruit salad, cold cuts/cheeses, cereals and yogurt. The dinner is decent — it consists of a grill station (chicken, game meat, sausage), pasta station, hot sides, a good salad bar with freshly made vegetable salads and a make your own salad bar. They serve a house dessert afterwards which is just a couple of small bites of pastries that they've made.
The grounds are nice, with a big terrace overlooking the valley, and there is a small pool. The staff is very friendly and willing to help. I saw the previous reviews about untrained staff — but I encountered the opposite — a proactive, friendly, professional team.
 
There is not much to do in terms of activities, but I did do the sundowner walk (Gin and Geology walk).

Damaraland Lodge exceed our expectations in every way. Not only were the rooms and facilities second to none, the food and service were impeccable. The buffet breakfasts and dinners in particular were delicious, with fresh, high quality, homemade foods and grill plate. In addition to all this, the staff were exceptional. They were all very friendly, from our welcome to our departure they were always happy to help and meet our every need. When we were leaving we had an issue with our car battery and they help us to no end; first trying to jump the car, then assisting us to the local service station and working with the local mechanic until our battery was replaced and we safe to go on the rest of our journey. We could not recommend this place more and advise that everyone visiting the area should stay at Lodge Damaraland.

We changed hotels to arrive at this one to be closer to Twyfelfontein before heading to Swakopmund. The hotel is beautifully decorated with a lovely pool. The rooms are spacious and modern, especially the bathroom. The staff is very friendly and sings traditional songs at the end of the meal. I highly recommend it.

We stayed for two nights and had a fabulous experience! The lodge, an architectural masterpiece, is nestled within a geological wonderland. Our room was spacious and reflected attention to detail – from the colour palette which matched the breath-taking landscapes, to the subtle introduction of the two papilionaceous leaflets of the surrounding mompane trees. The food was exquisite and was complemented by excellent service!

This lodge is a lovely place to stay and has so much potential to become even better. We stayed out of high season and seemed to be the only guests. It still feels very new, not only the building but also in the inexperience of the owners and their staff. This is not necessarily a bad thing — they are all enthusiastic and attentive.
The rooms are beautifully appointed, comfortable, with an open ensuite (toilet enclosed), which seems to be the normal in Namibia.
Gwendoline and Mathew were wonderful on the sundowner walk, it was a great opportunity to talk and have some insight into local life, culture and nature.
The pool is beautiful (if a little cloudy) and good fun after a long drive.
We wish we had time to do some of the local safaris.

We enjoyed our stay here which enabled us to visit the surrounding attractions, Twyfelfontein Elephant Drives (the desert ellies) worth doing 😊, Damara Living Museum, Petrified Forest, Twyfelfontein Rock Art etc but unfortunately, all difficult long drives because of the poor road conditions. The lodge is relatively new and is a beautiful design with each “room” freestanding, in a quiet environment and very comfortable, with all you could require…. Except for suitable light for locating the bathroom in the middle of the night! The staff (Tanya, Memory & Terrence) are friendly and very helpful, but some could do with further training. The breakfast and dinner were initially enjoyable, but as we stayed 3 nights, became quite monotonous as the same dishes appeared each day, with minor changes.
Further staff training required, sorry didn’t get the name of the “bossy boots” who tried to tell us where to sit on a couple of occasions…. Surely the guest can choose not to sit out in the hot sun and indoors instead or not near where the swirling smoke and smell of the boma fire affects the guests asthma! Perhaps the kitchen shouldn’t assume everyone only stays 1 or 2 days…. An alternative for those that stay 3 or more days would be great 😊

Absolutely underrated. This is an excellent lodge, newly built and very well maintained. The rooms are spacious, very nicely decorated and with everything you need. Each room had a little private balcony overlooking the bush. Whatever the staff lacks in experience they make it up in kindness and courtesy, hands down the most friendly I've encountered traveling Namibia. They also have a small SPA that is great after a long day of excursions. The Himba village is 5 minutes from the lodge and a must see. After dinner you can hang out by the fire pit and relax.

The room is spacious and beautifully designed.
Service team was great and caring, and responded quickly to an issued we had.
The food was great too.
It’s also close to a small town with a gas station and supermarkets. The location is convenient but still keeps its tranquility.
Highly recommend!