Emanya@Etosha Game Lodge — Hotel in Oshikoto

Wow...this beautiful, stylish, friendly and intimate hotel is exactly what you need at Etosha, we would HIGHLY recommend you to choose this place for any Etosha visit.

Positives It's 11km from Etosha gate, 30km from the first watering hole, it's close enough for it to never be a problem if your plan is to visit Etosha most days of your stay.

The hotel has a watering hole behind it where we saw around 10 different species drinking, including giraffe and zebra. There is a viewing platform with two floors looking over the hole. You can sip on an evening drink and watch as the animals come and go. Just stunning.

Having only 17 rooms it felt very intimate and personal. The rooms are all set around a courtyard with beautiful plants and trees and goats roam freely around keeping the grass trimmed. Each room has AC, a TV, amenities for the bathroom, and very comfortable beds. Two mattresses which can easily be pushed together if a couple or separated for friends. Each night the maid will light candles and leave a bottle of water beside the bed, a great touch. Beds exceptionally comfortable and room cool with a gorgeous airy ceiling.

Meals wow just wow, our evening meals were set with a choice for the main course. We had FIVE courses every night. A small taster to start, then a smallish starter. Then a sorbet pallet cleanser. Then your main which is substantial. Examples were king klip fish, Oryx steak, braised shank, chicken cor don bleu etc. Dessert was always small but always tasty.

The pool...it's a salt water affair which means it's cloudy, but it's fine to swim in. Their are only 10 Sun loungers as most guests visit the park they don't seem to need more. Communal areas are boutique and stunning, if a little hot. We had 42 degree heat!

Staff...they are quite young and some inexperienced in hospitality, however they all have a smile on their faces and enjoy their work. The manageress is very warm and welcoming and really wanted to ensure you have a great time. They organised for a breakfast take away when we entered the park at sunrise so we ate our breakfast while watching hyaenas drinking, alone!

Negatives Really very few! However to write something...

The wifi is slow and comes in and out. You won't be able to post of Facebook easily or watch you tube! Do remember though...you're in the middle of nowhere and you are here to see the animals! If you are desperate to get work done or get online, wait till 10am when most guests are in the park as the wifi strength is better when less people are using it.

Water pressure, on a few occasions the shower pressure was out and so we just had a trickle, this was acknowledged by the staff who got it fixed by morning.

Some TLC required, two sofas were grubby and in need of a wash! Some light fittings need fixing, tables glass was broken, etc! Overall it was nothing massive but they need a little work.

Overall this is a stunning venue and we would stay here again in a heartbeat! To find something this beautiful is hard in this region. If you like modern design and sleek lines you will love this place. The staff and food make it...

Unfortunately never again and actually zero stars!||The lodge has nice facilities and the waterhole is great and there are lots of animals passing by.||We stayed at the lodge a year ago and felt very comfortable.|That's why we came back this year to spend a relaxing day by the pool.||Unfortunately, the lodge has slowed down considerably in the last year. The local staff are very hard-working and friendly, but the manager/owner seems to be overwhelmed. The staff convey a feeling of enormous insecurity, if not fear.||The pool looked completely filthy. The floor and walls were black in places and I think it was mould. It didn't look at all inviting and I assume it was a health hazard.|Despite this, my son (10) was personally promised by the manager that the water was clean and that he could go swimming without worrying.||I wouldn't have had a problem if the pool had been officially labelled as unusable. It would have spoilt our stay, but things like that can happen. However, I cannot accept that my child was knowingly exposed to danger.|When asked about this, we were shouted at by the elderly lady, who was obviously the owner or at least the boss of the lodge, and we were threatened that we would have to pay, if we damaged her reputation. My son was completely terrified after the boss went berserk. He was really scared for our lives.|The pictures are attached, you can see for yourself if you would have let your child swim in this pool.|After our complaint, they tried to clean the pool late in the evening in a panic, which probably proves that it was not as clean as they claimed.||Most guests only stay for one night, which is why a dirty pool and a sun deck in poor condition will certainly not result in so many negative reviews.||The rooms are very nice but smelt a bit musty (rooms 1 + 2) and the wall under the roof looked damp.|There is no mosquito net over the bed and no mosquito net on most of the windows.||It's astonishing how you can let such a great resort get so run down. The deck by the pool is rotting away. Several places are broken or boards are sticking up. Parts of the steps to the viewing deck at the waterhole were missing, which is very dangerous, especially in the dark.||Unfortunately, the food wasn't great either. We have eaten much better at other lodges.|The prices on the drinks menu did not match the bill.||So after two nights we left disappointed and quite stressed after all the trouble and will unfortunately not be visiting Emanya Lodge again.||The management urgently needs to change something here so that the lodge can shine again in its former splendour and guests can feel comfortable again without having to fear damage to their health.||The lodge advertises itself with the slogan "Discover quintessential African luxury in Namibia". Unfortunately, this is currently far...

We came away with very mixed impressions of the Emanya@Etosha Lodge. Overall I we would not recommend.||On the positives: |• the building is modern and with a lovely view over a watering hole|• the food is a la carte and a big effort is made to make it a culinary experience (apart from the frozen cocktails that are out of a frozen pouch and run under under a tap to extract them…)|• free foot massage offered|• Staff are very attentive||On the ngatives:|• The shower power is very poor compared to anywhere we stayed – one very small boiler serves a row of four rooms and the power to the end two is very weak|• Wifi was poor in most locations|• The roofs are thatched which is beautiful but resulted in our room (and the room for our children) having droppings and urine from rodents inside the room each day. One night three squirrels were inside the room so we slept in the room with the kids on the floor but ended up with the squirrels in there also with fresh droppings in the room during the night (also landing on the beds where we slept).|• Some rooms have mosquito nets and others do not. Ours did not and we ended up bitten a lot. This is an easy win for the lodge to remedy.|• I got a sense that some of the staff were not happy based on some of the comments received during our stay but this hard to judge. | |Of all the lodges that we stayed in, this was our least favouite but it has a huge amount of potential esp in terms of location.||One surprise was that there was no real effort from the staff or the management in particular to come and speak to us about our experience but the reception staff did apologise when I handed in the...