Dead Valley Lodge — Hotel in Hardap

We stayed at Dead Valley Lodge as a family of four in two chalets, paying slightly over €1,000 for one night. Given the price, this hotel should meet luxury standards, so I’m focusing on details I wouldn’t scrutinize at a €200 per night accommodation. This was the second week of our Namibia journey, so we had ample references from other, more affordable accommodations that often offered equal or better service.

Starting with the positives: the hotel’s location is its main USP. Situated behind the first gate of Sossusvlei Park, guests can enter the park earlier and leave later than those outside the gate. The lodge is a 5-minute drive from the control gate. The hotel looks upscale, with each room being a private tent with an own bathroom. The reception area features a small pool, a lounge, and a restaurant where all three meals are included in the price (excluding drinks). Breakfast includes an option for takeaway bags. The dinner buffet was outstanding, with a wide variety of delicious foods and a BBQ station offering meats like ostrich, warthog, lamb, and more.

Now, for the downsides. Given the price, the hotel should offer more than just a great location, as there are plenty of cheaper options nearby that allow you to reach the park with only a slight adjustment to your schedule.

Upon arrival, the place was deserted, and other guests' luggage was left unattended in the reception area.

During lunch, we were told there was no buffet, just a light lunch due to low number of guests. We were offered a choice of four salads. Soon after, the restaurant filled with guests up to the last table, making the decision not to offer a buffet confusing. Even our waiter was puzzled, noting that preparing a la carte salads for so many people was more work for the kitchen.

The chalets, while beautiful, have a major design flaw. They are tent-like structures with insect nets instead of glass windows, allowing hot air in. To compensate, they close all the blinds from the outside with zippers. This means that once you’re inside, you’re in a cold but dark and windowless room, losing the experience of being in the Namib desert. We opened the blinds for photos but found them filthy. It’s a hassle to put them up manually, and at night, it’s best to keep them closed as temperatures drop significantly. Unfortunately, the A/C doesn’t provide heat, making the room uncomfortably cold at night.

The private bathroom is in a separate tent, requiring you to go outside to use it. While this adds to the sense of being in the wilderness, it’s inconvenient, especially at night when it’s cold.

In both rooms, the toilet seat was loose, the toilet brush was broken, and the towels were stained.

Hot water was inconsistent and unreliable.

In-room Wi-Fi was virtually unusable, connecting only sporadically.

The breakfast buffet was underwhelming. We had better breakfasts in far cheaper places.

The outdoor lighting is minimal, which is fine in the wilderness, but at least the stairs leading to the lobby should be illuminated. My brother didn’t see them at night and fell on the concrete, though thankfully, he wasn’t hurt.

The pool, while large enough to refresh in, was filthy in the morning because it hadn’t been covered overnight. We decided against swimming as it was full of insects and debris. They either need to cover it at night or clean it in the morning.

We found opened coffee milk containers in the kettle area left by previous guests. The chairs in the restaurant area are too low, making the tables feel too high. We felt like children while eating.

The staff, though friendly, were not very attentive. We often had to ask them to refill items, like hot water for tea, which was nearly always empty. Breakfast was served in a shaded area under an open roof, making it quite cold in the early morning. There were sunny tables behind the pool, but they weren’t set up, and there was no direct access as the glass door was closed. We used them anyway, but it was inconvenient, and the staff could have opened part of the glass front for...

I chose Dead Vlei Lodge for my trip, mainly because of its beautiful setting and the privilege of early access through the inner gate.

We arrived at the lodge around noon and had a wonderful lunch. The first impression was truly positive, especially thanks to Son at reception, who advised us to enjoy the sunset at the lodge instead of going to Dune 45 as we had planned.

After lunch, we returned to our room. The room itself was nice, though the outside curtains were a bit inconvenient, and unfortunately, there was no hot water when we showered. Still, at that moment, I felt it was acceptable, especially since we later enjoyed a magical sunset effect across the whole landscape, viewed from the pool area, which was definitely the lodge’s highlight.

Dinner was a buffet with not too many options. The grilled game meat wasn’t of the best quality.

The next morning, we started early at 6am to catch Dead Vlei before sunrise. Just before leaving, I realized I had left my bag ( cash inside ) the safe box, but it couldn’t be opened. I reported it to the driver and reception staff. On the first attempt, they brought the wrong master key, and since I didn’t want to keep the whole group waiting and risk missing the sunrise, I told them I’d come back later to retrieve it.

When we returned at noon, the staff brought the right key and told me it hadn’t been opened before. Honestly, when I opened the safe, I felt it was slightly cool inside, but I didn’t double-check as I trusted a lodge of this caliber completely. It wasn’t until later, when I unpacked my luggage at our next stop, that I was shocked to discover $1,000 USD missing from the cash bundle I had left in the safe.

I immediately contacted the lodge. Son, the receptionist, answered and said he would report it to the manager. However, I waited almost a whole day without hearing back until I called again and was connected with the manager. I was extremely disappointed with their response and the way the matter was handled.

To be fair, it was my fault for not checking the cash right away, so I wasn’t expecting much compensation. What I hoped for was a responsible and professional resolution, to prevent future guests from facing the same situation and to protect the reputation of such a high-end lodge.

But after all my experiences, I must say that it was not worth what I paid. I sincerely hope other travelers who read this will take extra care to protect themselves and avoid a...

OVERPRICED!

Location is super, you can enter the park 1 hour earlier because it's inside the park already. Dinner was good, staff was friendly, common rooms (reception, restaurant, lounge, pool) are very nice en modern)

We had way better accomodations for even the half of this price. The price is really not in proportion to the quality you get. No friendly welcome as in other lodges. If you go in the winter please note that there is no heating in the lodge and bathroom, but this is in every tented lodge so keep that in mind when you are booking for the winter. Also for the bathroom you need to go outside for 2meters, which is not a big problem but also not very nice at night when its icecold. We never had warm water in the shower, we made complaints 4 times but it never really got fixed, they tried though but seeing some other reviews i think it's a bigger problem that they have all the time. Please note that it's a tented lodge, if you haven't been in one before you should know that when it's windy there is a lot of noise. It is very annoying and makes it difficult to sleep. They do mention it so that's no fault on their end but I do feel if you offer a tented lodge you can not ask this outrageous price per night. We didn't know this beforehand so I just want to warn other guests.

Also you can only do activities with 3 people at least. If you are with two you need to pay for a virtual 3th person if no other guests have also booked.

When we complained about not having hot water for two days, they just shrugged it off and said sorry, no compensation or a drink on the house. Not really up to standard for 500eur per night!

I would suggest stay 1 night in sesriem camp (next to this lodge) ,so you can enter the park early. And go to another lodge (not tented) outside the park the second night. It will save you a...