Ai Aiba - The Rock Painting Lodge — Hotel in Erongo Region

This is a wonderful place: remote, peaceful and with the most wonderful staff.||Set on elevated terrain about a 45 minute drive off the main road, the Al-Aiba Lodge's elevation gives commanding views over the plains below. We were booked in for just one night through our UK booking agency, and on arrival were welcomed with drinks and chilled flannels. The wonderfully friendly Hilma gave an excellent welcome briefing, and soon we were able to drive from the central lodge to our accommodation.||The central lodge is a striking building constructed in traditional style, open plan but with a wonderfully serene ambience. It houses the reception, a smalll shop (with some very appealing and high quality products), the lounge and dining area. It opens out to the outdoor area, with lawns, a reasonably sized pool and fire pit. It's just so relaxing, especially with such commanding views to the far mountains, with a waterhole in the foreground.||The site has a one way track, which we took to our lodge. The lodge was semi-detached, with sufficient parking for two vehicles adjacent to the track. Our accommodation was perfect: well appointed and comfortable. Note that water is a precious commodity here, but it's amazing how little water is required for a shower.||Our arrival brief included details of the lodge's activities. It advertises itself as a centre for mountain biking, and indeed the trails looked good. Also a sunset walk (may be defined as a hike in American parlance, bit far too short under the UK definition to qualify), and information on the rock painting trail. The latter appealed, so with our trail running shoes, we did a few circuits of the short trail, taking in the magnificent rock paintings. The trail is well marked, and the initial steep ascent offers superb views.||We enjoyed an excellent dinner on our one evening. Superb food, nicely presented. An early departure meant we were unable to stay for breakfast. But we enjoyed the afternoon tea and cake!||it's possible to see wildlife from the lodge, either from the outdoor sitting area by the main lodge, or the patio from one's own accommodation. We saw giraffe, Oryx, Springbok and cheeky warthogs 'mowing' the lawns! Out running, inquisitive primates spied on us, and as the evening drew in, rock dwelling hyrax (like over-sized guinea pigs) came out.||I briefly mentioned the staff. Professional, efficient and very friendly. I've already mentioned Hilma who welcomed us. But also, the manager was excellent. We thought we might have had a tyre pressure issue. But armed with his tyre pressure gauge, we established that we didn't. And he arranged for us to have a pre-prepared 'grab and go' breakfast to accompany us on our very early morning departure.||We loved our brief stay here, we wished it could have been longer. But we recommend it...

This lodge is remote and offers a lot of memorable experiences, even to the most seasoned traveller.||||- You can meet and greet San people, who until this day live as hunter-gatherers||- you can admire superb rock paintings||- you can see rare species like Hartmann's Mountain Zebras or Damara Dik-Diks, endemic only to this area.||- or you can just marvel at the stunning scenery and breath-taking sunsets.||||We had chosen this lodge to break up the long journey from Swakopmund to Etosha and we are glad we did. ||||We arrived around midday. I really wanted to meet the San people in the nearby Living Museum, whereas my family was hot and couldn't wait to get into the swimming pool at the lodge. As a compromise we chose the short demonstration tour of 30 minutes. ||||It is an exhilirating experience, yet it has its fair share of awkwardness. While the San were very nice and welcoming and demontrated how they make fire and ropes, the short time we spend there wasn't enough to make us feel less like being intruders and more like guests. That being said, I would highly recommend it - just that next time I will come earlier and do a whole tour of 2 hours. ||||On to the lodge. Nice, yet the place felt a bit old-fashioned and the swimming pool was suprisingly cold. The resident grazing warthog was an amusement for the kids, though. ||||We did the well signed walk above the lodge, which had stunning views and magnificent rock art. Probably the best one-hour long "free activity" of any lodge in the whole of Namibia (see pictures). We also joined a sundowner Rock Art/Game drive in which we were unlucky in terms of animal sightings - we barely saw any wildlife. Ronny, our guide, was an awesome companion, though. He showed us some more rock art and nice rock formations, so the whole drive turned out to be very memorable. However, we saw a lot of wildlife when we left the property (giraffes, Damara Dik-Diks, Mountain Zebra and other antilopes - you just cannot predict nature!||||Food was good, so was the overall service. ||||In a nutshell, this place has something going on, with a few refurbishments this place will be an...

We have made 6 years in our marriage and we were searching for a great place to spend our little romance and we saw the Ai Aiba the Rock Painting and we came here to celebrate our memories and our love. We arrived very late and Mr. Jesephate was waiting for us and called us to make sure we are on track and gave us a great service. Our dinner was waiting for us and was hot as we arrived and we were so impressed with the service. Now the actual day of our anniversary the 29 Nov 20 we woke up for breakfast and all was great service was great and we then went back to freshen up for the dinner and head back to the dinning area. We the arrived at 8 and ask to have our dinner outside by the pool sine the dinning area was having A lot of other guest and we want privacy and the manager said we can't have a dinner outside and I told my husband if it is like that then I think we have to have our dinner at the room and Mr Josephate came to our rescue and apologies on behalf of the manager and gave us a increasable dinner as we desired. After having our dinner we then went back in the dinning hall since it was getting cooler outside to also get internet access so we could get internet connection and the manager had the audacity to switch off the internet on us and as I write this now we back in our room waiting for the morning to book out. If you have a black skin like mine don't bother to come here because you will be waisting your money...