Zannier Omaanda — Hotel in Khomas

We stayed three nights at the incredible Zannier Omaanda lodge!|You just know we have experience with very luxury safari lodges, so our expectations were very high (we stayed at Four Seasons Serengeti last year for example).|From the preparation of all the tours, perfect pick up at the airport of Windhoek everything went smoothly from the beginning, also very flexible in changing our first planned stay at Sonop to Omaanda because of the heavy rains and organizing all the transportations.|We booked the all inclusive package which is absolutely worth is! |The property: |it’s located in its own private reserve where rescued but wild animals (hunting by their own no feeding) are living. The lodge has 12 or 14 private Huts which are very luxurious! Great spacious bedroom, nice private terrace overlooking the reserve and huge bastion with a bathtub overlooking the amazing reserve, too.|Food:|There is only one restaurant, for our 3 nights more than enough! The hotel was max. 50% occupied during our stay. Breakfast is a la Cart with several delicious options, lunch is Meze style to share (but if you don’t like something or you are vegetarian they will prepare something else for you) and dinner is a nice three course meal.|The included drinks like Prosecco, wine, cocktails, whiskeys are great, we didn’t miss anything!|Activities:|In our all inclusive package we had a daily game drive in the morning or afternoon included. It’s a maximum 6 person vehicle, the first night we shared with another couple, the last night we had it all for us alone.|We did the game drive twice in the afternoon. The first time we saw three Rhinos and got really close and on the way back the 4 lions living in this reserve right next to our vehicular, amazing! |On the way back our great driver stopped in the middle of the reserve, pulled a nice table with finger food, wine, beer and gin and tonic out so we could enjoy the sunset in the middle of this beautiful reserve.|You can also change one of those game drives to a 60 minute massage per person.|The other two activities we did had to be paid, approx 65-70 USD per person, they took place at the Na’an Kuse reserve right next to the Zannier reserve. We did the Cheetah walk in the morning and the next day the carnivore feeding experience. The feeding experience was amazing!!! We had the opportunity to go see almost all the carnivores, feed them and learn about their habits.|We also visited the local school of this reserve, a very beautiful experience, too!|The last game drive we saw the huge elephant Apollo and again three rhinos, including a rhino baby|We loved that the game drives were only 2,5-3 hours so could do one in the morning, come back relax at the pool have lunch and head to another one before dinner. If you go to bigger safari places like Krüger, Masai Mara or Serengeti game drives are at least 6 up to 10 hours and can be very tiring.|Service:|Amazing! From Julian who did upfront all the planning and reserving for us to the rest of the team.|I also want to mention Javier who did like everything to support us and Andy from the Rezeption supporting us in our very flexible changes!|Now thanks to the two most special employees of Omaanda: Ralph and Balon. With Balon we had our best game drives, very experienced with interesting information about the reserve and the animals. We had probably one of the best game drives ever with him on our first evening, where he managed to bring us so close to the rhinos and limos and then made us a fantastic gin tonic to enjoy the sunset.|Last but not least, Ralph! This guy is amazing! From breakfast, lunch to dinner he always knew what we want to drink , knew our name after first evening and made us great suggestions! The effort and empathy he puts in his job is not often seen! People like Ralph make your stay different in those 5 star luxury resorts/lodges.|Summary:|We would definitely come back! In our opinion three nights should be the least stay of nights you should consider to have 2-3 game drives and also 1-3...

I had a mixed experience about this place. It’s true what people say about the safari. It’s cheap and artificial . I sort of knew that going in so I wasn’t surprised , but don’t let this be your first safari experience . Go to Etosha or Kruger and there’s various others. But I didn’t choose this lodge for the “safari”, I chose it because it looked beautiful, (and it is). The pool and the views and the rooms looked amazing !

I booked a 2 night stay, but I ended up checking out 1 day early because of BUGS in my room. My room was filled with crickets, and I had no idea where they were coming from. My bathroom had about 7 in the shower, and then were some in my bed and pillows! The first night I probably killed about 15 !!! I tried to complain, but there is no one overnight at the reception desk. They claim to have given me an emergency number on WhatsApp which I never received, nor is it listed anywhere in your room or property what the emergency number is.

I had to endure the whole night with fear about more crickets in my bed, I probably only slept about 2-3 hours that night. I kept waking up every 2 hours to check for bugs. They give you a bottle of bug spray , and tried to kill as much crickets as I could ….but they kept coming! The next morning, I found a scorpion in my bathroom (photo attached).

The next morning, I kindly asked the manager if I could switch rooms after explaining my situation , and luckily there was another available room but I still encountered the same problem … more crickets in my new room!! I ended up having to check out early, because I didn’t want to spend another night with bugs. The manager was polite, but said there was nothing they could do about them. Given that’s it’s summer and they’re active. He also said I was the only guest complaining about bugs. I was surprised, but maybe it was my bad luck. I read through the reviews on here, and no one else seemed to be complaining about bugs, so maybe this was my terrible luck . I will say overall the staff have been polite and friendly, and attentive to my concern. I didn’t get refund for the second night of my stay , but they gave me a free meal and a free ride to another hotel I chose to stay at.

Overall I did feel the staff was friendly and attentive , but I would not stay at this hotel if you’re looking for a real safari/game drive experience . I also wouldn’t stay in the summer months because the bugs WILL get into your room nonstop.

The food they served was average.. nothing special. The drinks were inconsistent: the first round of margaritas I ordered was amazing, and the second felt watered down and sugary .

Overall I wouldn’t go back to this hotel. Yes the views were amazing, but not worth the endless amount of crickets in my room. Was not expecting this from a...

Stunning lodge in its own gated park. It is very different from the usual safari concept which you need to adjust your mind to. There are a very limited number of the main game (lions, rhino, elephants) as they are rescue animals. But the rangers know where to find them so you do get incredible viewing, even when we went and it was very green we got up close and had an amazing experience on the game drives.|It is hard though when you hear the large bull elephant keeps trying to escape and ram the fence. He clearly doesn't want to be there. There are no females, just 2 other young males.It is captivity and, on balance, whilst it is a great concept, it left me feeling quite uncomfortable (I hate animals in captivity). What is that bull elephant's quality of life? They are not endangered - is it kinder to put him out of his misery?|On the lodge itself...it's beautiful. The 'huts' are stunning. It's exclusive and so peaceful. The pool and views incredible. The food too was excellent. I am vegetarian and whilst there wasn't a 'choice', you'd be told in the morning what chef was planning and if you didn't like the sound of it chef would change it for you. The quality of the ingredients was great.|I did have some real gripes though. When you are paying this very high daily rate (and its not a normal lodge where prices are often high) you expect the best. In the room there was no room safe, despite their in-room brochure boasting a 'lap top sized safe in every room'. We were not keen to put our valuables in a central safe which was the suggested alternative. There was no gym. Again despite this being in the brochure. And, most significantly, when I booked online for dinner, bed and breakfast, it clearly stated that in the rate all drinks (non premium) were included. The in room booklet said the same. On check in they tried to change this and say it was only soft drinks. This was actually totally outrageous and, along with the other issues mentioned above, left us feeling ripped off and very dissatisfied.|However, after I complained to the assistant manager he agreed to include the drinks in the rate and sent a bottle of fizz to the room to apologise for the other matters. That was the right thing to do and meant we enjoyed our stay as we felt valued customers (we weren't there to drink ourselves silly, it was the principle of it).|The staff were all absolutely lovely - every one of them.|Would we go back? Probably not, there is so much competition and it is very expensive (and I do struggle with the 'conservation v captivity' aspect). But if you wanted a night or two close to the airport it's probably...