An Assessment of NWR Resorts

NWR recently upgraded its resorts to coincide with the centenary celebrations of Etosha National Park.

The upgrade is still underway but most of the accommodation has been completed. My wife and I have visited four of the resorts in the past few weeks and experienced a considerable variation in standards which may interest many future visitors.We have stayed at Okaukuejo, Halali and Namutoni in Etosha as well as Waterberg Plateau Park.In each instance we were booked into a double room at a cost of N$500 per night.Certainly not unreasonable.To this cost must be added the park entrance fees, which for a South African amount to N$60 per person per night plus N$10 for the car.The rate for Namibians is slightly less.Self-catering accommodation is being phased out and visitors are encouraged to make use of the dining room, which naturally adds to the cost of your stay.In fact, for our type of accommodation you had no choice.Considering that all four resorts are owned and run by the NWR it is remarkable how different each place is.The only similarity was the bedding provided – a very heavy duvet and two extremely large pillows for each bed.Fortunately we carry our pillows with us and had a couple of light blankets, so we were able to put the duvets and pillows into a cupboard (with difficulty due to their bulk) and sleep comfortably at night.Here are some of the notable variances: Complimentary tea and coffee: Waterberg had no kettle, no cups and no tea, coffee, milk or sugar.Thus no early morning drink was available! Okaukuejo had a kettle, two mugs, two teaspoons plus tea, coffee & sugar.Halali had the same but with the addition of two wine glasses.Not to be outdone, Namutoni had stainless steel cups and S/S canisters for the tea, coffee etc, plus a water carafe and large tumblers and a further two glasses in the bathroom.The deposit: At Waterberg we were not asked for a deposit, but at Okaukuejo my passport was taken, at Halali my credit card number was noted and at Namutoni again it was my passport and the offer of a credit card number was refused.The alternative in each case was to leave N$500 in cash.Your passport or the cash would only be returned when a radio report was given to Reception by the House Keeper that all was in order.At no stage were we able to find out what was supposed to be in the room as there were no inventories available.At Halali the receptionists thought that having an inventory in the rooms might be a good idea.However – don’t hold your breath.Everything is taken on trust by the visitors, but not management.The rooms: All rooms were en suite with a shower and toilet – Namutoni also had a sunken bath nog! At Waterberg we had a semi-detached room of reasonable proportion with coffee table, two chairs and a small fridge.There was a sliding door onto a patio with a bench which made the evenings very pleasant.Parking was in the road about 20 metres from the door.A screen door was in place so that you could sleep with the door open and the mosquitoes outside.At Okaukuejo the room was so small we could barely move between the beds and the walls.There were huge mosquito nets over the two beds with screens over the windows which could then be left open.No chairs and an extremely small bar fridge.The room was one in a row of five per building.Parking was also close, but one had to park your car and go on an expedition to find your room, as the numbering was somewhat haphazard.The convenience of having your car nearby is that everyone else’s car is also nearby and next doorses have a habit of getting ready to leave at 05h30 which involves starting the diesel 4X4 and leaving it idling.(Sunrise and camp gate opening is at 07h00).Halali was a pleasant size with a comfortable chair and a fridge.Once again the abundant mosquito nets over the beds and with a screen over the small window.As with Okaukuejo there were 5 or 6 rooms to a row, but this time the numbering was adequate and visible.Parking was available at either end of the building.Namutoni was at the very least completely over the top! Parking was outside the restaurant with a 50m walk to a raised boardwalk which meandered some 100 – 200 m to the waterhole observation site.The rooms were connected to this boardwalk via their individual boardwalks with wooden palings along the side opening into an atrium.Glass sliding doors opened into a huge room with comfortable chairs, tables, fridge, dressing table and a large glass door leading to the bathroom.From the bathroom again one could go through another sliding door to an outside shower under the stars.It was very private and very quiet.The downside was that there was no mosquito netting or screens of any kind.Perhaps they have trained their mosquitoes to stay outside.Plumbing: As mentioned above, all rooms had showers.The drawback was that no shower had a shower curtain so you ended up with quite a mess on the bathroom floor.At Waterberg the shower rose was attached to a corner of the shower, which required that you had to back hard into the corner to get under the shower.No way you shower with a friend as this would lead to serious conflict about water rights! At Halali the shower-rose was the size of a large pizza whilst at Namutoni the pizza was still in the pan.Each place had an obscurely shaped washbasin mounted on a raised block – except Namutoni which had two! The trick was to get the water out of the basin.In Waterberg and Namutoni it required a deft pressure downward on the plug, at Okaukuejo there was a cunning lever hidden behind the inlet pipe which had to be raised and poor Halali had to make do with an ordinary rubber stopper without a chain.Of course, if you wanted to wash your face you did have a problem in that the water inlet pipe was immovably situated in the centre of the basin so you had to lean to one or other side to get over the basin.Dining: Waterberg had an excellent a la carte menu which was changed daily.The food was good and the prices reasonable.Okaukeujo used a marquee as a dining room and offered only a buffet dinner at N$110 per person.This was expensive particularly in view of the fact that the meat sounded fancy – ostrich, crocodile, kudu etc, but was so tough it was inedible – you had great difficulty even cutting it with a knife.The vegetables were tasteless, but the salads were good.In Halali there was also a buffet at the same price, but we were told we could have cold meats and salads at $55 each.This was very nice.Namutoni, once again the inedible costly buffet but without the Halali choice.Conclusion: It appears as if each resort manager was given a large amount of money to spend and an interior designer to work with and allowed to do his thing.The accent has been on making the place as “way out” as possible with no thought for convenience or functionality.There are, however, two big plusses.The parks are without doubt exceptional and well worth visiting and the staff were the most friendly and helpful that we have come across anywhere.Really nice people.Eric Saunderson Via e-mailMy wife and I have visited four of the resorts in the past few weeks and experienced a considerable variation in standards which may interest many future visitors.We have stayed at Okaukuejo, Halali and Namutoni in Etosha as well as Waterberg Plateau Park.In each instance we were booked into a double room at a cost of N$500 per night.Certainly not unreasonable.To this cost must be added the park entrance fees, which for a South African amount to N$60 per person per night plus N$10 for the car.The rate for Namibians is slightly less.Self-catering accommodation is being phased out and visitors are encouraged to make use of the dining room, which naturally adds to the cost of your stay.In fact, for our type of accommodation you had no choice.Considering that all four resorts are owned and run by the NWR it is remarkable how different each place is.The only similarity was the bedding provided – a very heavy duvet and two extremely large pillows for each bed.Fortunately we carry our pillows with us and had a couple of light blankets, so we were able to put the duvets and pillows into a cupboard (with difficulty due to their bulk) and sleep comfortably at night.Here are some of the notable variances: Complimentary tea and coffee: Waterberg had no kettle, no cups and no tea, coffee, milk or sugar.Thus no early morning drink was available! Okaukuejo had a kettle, two mugs, two teaspoons plus tea, coffee & sugar.Halali had the same but with the addition of two wine glasses.Not to be outdone, Namutoni had stainless steel cups and S/S canisters for the tea, coffee etc, plus a water carafe and large tumblers and a further two glasses in the bathroom.The deposit: At Waterberg we were not asked for a deposit, but at Okaukuejo my passport was taken, at Halali my credit card number was noted and at Namutoni again it was my passport and the offer of a credit card number was refused.The alternative in each case was to leave N$500 in cash.Your passport or the cash would only be returned when a radio report was given to Reception by the House Keeper that all was in order.At no stage were we able to find out what was supposed to be in the room as there were no inventories available.At Halali the receptionists thought that having an inventory in the rooms might be a good idea.However – don’t hold your breath.Everything is taken on trust by the visitors, but not management.The rooms: All rooms were en suite with a shower and toilet – Namutoni also had a sunken bath nog! At Waterberg we had a semi-detached room of reasonable proportion with coffee table, two chairs and a small fridge.There was a sliding door onto a patio with a bench which made the evenings very pleasant.Parking was in the road about 20 metres from the door.A screen door was in place so that you could sleep with the door open and the mosquitoes outside.At Okaukuejo the room was so small we could barely move between the beds and the walls.There were huge mosquito nets over the two beds with screens over the windows which could then be left open.No chairs and an extremely small bar fridge.The room was one in a row of five per building.Parking was also close, but one had to park your car and go on an expedition to find your room, as the numbering was somewhat haphazard.The convenience of having your car nearby is that everyone else’s car is also nearby and next doorses have a habit of getting ready to leave at 05h30 which involves starting the diesel 4X4 and leaving it idling.(Sunrise and camp gate opening is at 07h00). Halali was a pleasant size with a comfortable chair and a fridge.Once again the abundant mosquito nets over the beds and with a screen over the small window.As with Okaukuejo there were 5 or 6 rooms to a row, but this time the numbering was adequate and visible.Parking was available at either end of the building.Namutoni was at the very least completely over the top! Parking was outside the restaurant with a 50m walk to a raised boardwalk which meandered some 100 – 200 m to the waterhole observation site.The rooms were connected to this boardwalk via their individual boardwalks with wooden palings along the side opening into an atrium.Glass sliding doors opened into a huge room with comfortable chairs, tables, fridge, dressing table and a large glass door leading to the bathroom.From the bathroom again one could go through another sliding door to an outside shower under the stars.It was very private and very quiet.The downside was that there was no mosquito netting or screens of any kind.Perhaps they have trained their mosquitoes to stay outside.Plumbing: As mentioned above, all rooms had showers.The drawback was that no shower had a shower curtain so you ended up with quite a mess on the bathroom floor.At Waterberg the shower rose was attached to a corner of the shower, which required that you had to back hard into the corner to get under the shower.No way you shower with a friend as this would lead to serious conflict about water rights! At Halali the shower-rose was the size of a large pizza whilst at Namutoni the pizza was still in the pan.Each place had an obscurely shaped washbasin mounted on a raised block – except Namutoni which had two! The trick was to get the water out of the basin.In Waterberg and Namutoni it required a deft pressure downward on the plug, at Okaukuejo there was a cunning lever hidden behind the inlet pipe which had to be raised and poor Halali had to make do with an ordinary rubber stopper without a chain.Of course, if you wanted to wash your face you did have a problem in that the water inlet pipe was immovably situated in the centre of the basin so you had to lean to one or other side to get over the basin. Dining: Waterberg had an excellent a la carte menu which was changed daily.The food was good and the prices reasonable.Okaukeujo used a marquee as a dining room and offered only a buffet dinner at N$110 per person.This was expensive particularly in view of the fact that the meat sounded fancy – ostrich, crocodile, kudu etc, but was so tough it was inedible – you had great difficulty even cutting it with a knife.The vegetables were tasteless, but the salads were good.In Halali there was also a buffet at the same price, but we were told we could have cold meats and salads at $55 each.This was very nice.Namutoni, once again the inedible costly buffet but without the Halali choice.Conclusion: It appears as if each resort manager was given a large amount of money to spend and an interior designer to work with and allowed to do his thing.The accent has been on making the place as “way out” as possible with no thought for convenience or functionality.There are, however, two big plusses.The parks are without doubt exceptional and well worth visiting and the staff were the most friendly and helpful that we have come across anywhere.Really nice people.Eric Saunderson Via e-mail