Spitzkoppe Community Restcamp — Hotel in Erongo Region

System is extremely broken. 3 hours to find a spot. There is no check out policy, so selfish people will leave chair and tables while exploring the area and people arriving will not find empty spaces.

Spent more gas in the park trying to find spot than in the entire trip. Asked help from an employee in the western gate (from inside the park), he opened the gate and led us to an offroad way full of dry bushes that scratched the entire car and led us to a non entry area (old lodge gate which we would never have access as we were not in the lodge).

Sky is beautiful, but we had no time to explore the areas as on the next day we were driving to Etosha. The plan of watching the magical sunset also did not take place as we found a spot 6pm (after seeing 2 car leaving - completely non-sense as the area has 20 spots ONLY and is super requested and acclaimed by tourists - completely selfish people that could vacant the spot while exploring as they would be leaving on the end of the day).

Better to book the lodge, trust me!! Shower are near reception, so we had no shower as we had only a little time of daylight to prepare our tent and fire before the darkness and we were afraid of walking in the dark due to snakes and other dangers.

Not my job, but this goes to management:

Control check in and check out (at least for the camping spots - people can still explore the park, but do not leave chairs and tables if leaving on the same day). Assign spots based on first come and first serve, even if people can choose at the time of checking in. At least you will be able to inform people where to head.

Honestly, that is a MUST!!! better to stay far from arch or sunset point, but able to walk during day light, than waste hours trying to find a spot and having to walk at night to explore.

WORST EXPERIENCE!!! THE PLACE IS SECLUDED AND THE SKY IS AMAZING, BUT THE SYSTEM IS POOR. GIVING 1 START AS 0 IS NOT POSSIBLE!!!

PS. SPITZKOPPE DESESVES A LOT OF STARS, IT IS A SHAME THAT THE SYSTEM DID NOT ALLOW US TO...

The landscape is really impressive. It reminded us a little bit of Australia. We entered through the Western gate (not the main one). We got stopped once by a guy who filled his bottle of water from our car and sold us a mineral he had gathered in the mountains. The second gate was where we put our name on a register and were told to go to the reception to register. We drove 10 min to the reception. It is the first time since we arrived in Namibia that we came across a lady who was not nice and not really helpful. She just made us sign the register and told us to choose any camp other than 2 to 5 and drive there. The map was not clear whether we were supposed to chose a number or another camp like Secret or Summit…. We drove to camp 1 and those next to the arch and they were all already occupied. We started getting concerned whether we were going to find a camp. We stopped at Small Bushman Paradise to see the rock paintings and the guide there told us 9, 10 and 11 are nice for sunset. We drove there and got number 9A as 9B and 10 were already busy and we decided that it was a risk to go see 11 and someone coming to 8 in the meantime. Anyway, it would have been nice to have the camps allocated on check-in to avoid the stress for looking for an available spot… Later on we saw a lot of people passing by and looking for an available campsite. The sunset was really nice, the sunrise as well. It feels secluded. Unfortunately we had some noisy people near our campsite who were shouting all the time. We had our own dry toilets (the only showers were at the reception though which may be a 1-hour walk away from your campsite). Overall - still a gorgeous camping spot but the reception should change the welcome. Also on the way out, they ASKED for a tip, which we didn't give them as they hadn't been nice or...

Arriving at Spitzkoppe felt surreal and not great. The area is basically desert and as we were coming into the camp site, we were passing small structures that appeared to be where people lived, or where they took shelter from the shade. Along the drive there were many people begging for water. There were also a couple of men saying their car was broken down and they needed money for petrol - it was a scam. From what I observed here there are very limited resources for the people in the surrounding communities and I'm not sure how much the camp site supports them.

The camp site itself is very beautiful. It is huge with many big spots. We found a great camping spot with a sunset view. No electricity, signal or water, and there’s a private toilet - with a gecko included.

We got there when it was really hot (it was early November) but there were some massive boulders that provided some shade so we sat there for a few hours.

We enjoyed that it was totally secluded and there was tons of space. When the sun set the stars came out and it was unreal. Absolutely beautiful.

Things to consider: First come first served camping places - we snagged one to see the sunset (couldn’t find a number). If there are already chairs at the site it means it has been taken!!! Restaurant and showers at the front. Watch out for the geckos hanging out on the toilet. They don't like to move even if you get a big stick and pry them...