Waterberg Wilderness Lodge
D2512, Waterberg Wilderness, Otjiwarongo 00100 Namibia
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Prices above are provided by partners for one room, with variable occupancy rules as provided by the property, and do not include all taxes and fees. Please see our partners for full details.
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About
#6 of 19 Specialty lodging in Otjiwarongo
Location
4.5
Cleanliness
4.1
Service
3.8
Value
3.6
The buildings of Waterberg Wilderness Lodge shelter in a long valley in the midst of the Waterberg mountain range. Built from red Waterberg sandstone they nestle under enormous old trees. The atmosphere in the mature, well-kept garden with its two pavilions, many cool and shady places and an immured spring water basin lined by giant bamboo is idyllic.
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Property amenities
Free parking
Free internet
Pool
Free breakfast
Hiking
Mosquito net
Non-smoking hotel
Laundry service
Internet
Pool / beach towels
Outdoor pool
Bar / lounge
Restaurant
Breakfast buffet
Ironing service
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Room features
Clothes rack
Bath / shower
Complimentary toiletries
Room types
Non-smoking rooms
Good to know
HOTEL CLASS
HOTEL STYLE
Family
Great View
Languages Spoken
English, Afrikaans
Location
Full view
Contact
D2512, Waterberg Wilderness, Otjiwarongo 00100 Namibia
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262Reviews1Q+A10Room tips
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+1
Loved the location! Right in the middle of Waterberg bush. The whole place is designed to deliver that feeling of being closely connected to nature. Beware that the rooms are actually bungalows with walls made of cloth. So you literally hear everything that happens outside and you cannot block the room from insects. So I recommend to take a repellent with you, and check the bags before handing them and clothes before wearing. We also absolutely loved the plateau hiking experience with the local guide! He showed us the best viewpoints and shared lots of lifehacks, rhino tracks etc. Warthogs and baboons were cute on the way. Dinner is also great and full of local specialties. Booking with the dinner is strongly recommended because the place is very remote and you wouldn’t find any restaurants around. And yes, be ready to disconnect during your stay: there is barely any mobile connection here and wifi did not work during all our stay :)…
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Date of stay: January 2022Trip type: Traveled with friends
Room Tip: I recommend to take a repellent with you, and check the clothes before wearing.
Plateau hiking...
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Helpful
Response from Waterberg Wilderness, Owner at Waterberg Wilderness Lodge
Responded Feb 13, 2022
Thank you for this super review! We love your simile on connecting with nature and can just agree – there is no wi-fi in the bush, but we promise you will find a better connection. With warm regards, your Waterberg Wilderness Team
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Safe and Healthy Travel wrote a review Jul 2021
Hellendoorn, The Netherlands229 contributions109 helpful votes
I have stayed here for 3 nights. Did some hiking in the area and really loved the Waterberg and it's history. I stayed in a cabin overlooking the Kalahari desert and had my own private small swimming pool. I really enjoyed it a lot after spending lots of time in my rooftoptent.
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Date of stay: February 2021Trip type: Traveled solo
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Response from Waterberg Wilderness, Owner at Waterberg Wilderness Lodge
Responded Aug 4, 2021
Five stars - thank you very much! Our entire team was delighted with the positive feedback. With warm regards, your Waterberg Wilderness team.
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The road in is very poor indeed and needs maintenance. The rooms are rather tired. There is no air conditioning or fan and no netting on the windows which means you can’t open the windows at night. The staff are friendly but seem to spend a lot of time chatting in loud voices outside your room. At one point they were shouting at each other in a very unprofessional way. The food is just about OK but the rhino safari really excellent. Not very good value for money.
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Date of stay: January 2020
1 Helpful vote
Helpful
Response from Caroline R, Inhaber at Waterberg Wilderness Lodge
Responded Feb 21, 2020
As we mention in our information brochure handed to every guest upon arrival, we have solar power. It supports hair dryers, shavers and battery chargers, but not air cons. In the process of our annual renovations the rooms will be equipped with fans and broken mosquito screens will be replaced. Loud chatting in front of the guests is not acceptable. We forwarded your complaint to our lodge manager. In January we received good rains which we really needed after this terrible drought we experienced. However, the rain also causes damage to our roads. However, our maintenance team is making sure that cars can pass without a problem. Great to hear that you enjoyed your encounter with some of the white rhinos in our private nature reserve. Best regards from Waterberg Wilderness
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We were recommended by friends to spend some time in Waterberg Plateau as a stopover en route to Windhoek. However feel very strongly that we chose the wrong place to stay. We booked a econo chalet for a night for £96, which included dinner and breakfast. The scenery and location are both fabulous with spectacular views from the chalet and restaurant, but it all ends there. The place is run on a shoestring despite the cost of staying here. Our chalet was a tent with a wooden floor, which is absolutely fine, as we had stayed in a few tented rooms during our stay in Namibia, however the others were quite luxurious and spotlessly clean ( similar cost or cheaper). This tent was extremely basic and dirty. There was nowhere to put anything except a dusty table, the mosquito net had holes in, bed uncomfortable and hard, towels threadbare and no fridge. The advert specifies a fan, there was a fan, however it was a fan standing on the floor and such a short lead, was only effective from one side of the bed. The cold water was so hot in the en suite bathroom, it was not possible to wash your hands. And it gets worse - we decamped to some filthy dirty rickety sun loungers around the swimming pool further up the valley to try and cool down ( it was 36 C) pool was too dirty to swim in. On our arrival back at our tent, there was fire lit at the rear of the tent, to heat up the hot water - we couldn’t believe what it, what with the cold water too hot to wash in.... unfortunately we had left the bathroom window open too and the bathroom and tent were all smoky. The restaurant has fabulous views of the plateau and is a lovely place to watch the sun go down, however it is so hot in there and we were served boiling hot soup as a starter ( no choice). Food was not great but not terrible. The breakfast buffet was sparse with little choice. We were so disappointed with our last nights stay in Namibia after staying in some absolutely fabulous places and would definitely not recommend this place to anyone…
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Date of stay: December 2019
Location
Service
Sleep Quality
2 Helpful votes
Helpful
Response from Caroline R, Inhaber at Waterberg Wilderness Lodge
Responded Jan 13, 2020
We regret that you did not enjoy your stay. May we add that you were staying at the Waterberg Valley Lodge, our budget accommodation. The nine tented chalets are all the same, in size, layout, equipment and price. We recommend to place the fan at the foot end of the bed and switch it to auto-turn. The other complaints we forwarded to our lodge manager. Kindly note that we renovate and exchange all worn towels, mosquito nets etc. on a regular basis. Pity that you did not mention any of our activities, such as the five nature trails incl. "botanical garden", our History Path, the guided Plateau hikes and Rhino drives & trackings... Best regards from the Waterberg Wilderness private nature reserve
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+1
We were traveling in Southern Africa..in a particularly small camper van. After spending far too many nights in this vehicle (1 night) we decided to treat ourselves to a bit of decidence. This lodge did not fail to impress. It offered a truly wild experience without missing out on any of our creature comforts. Our accommodation was visited by cute little rock dassies, and the midnight sounds of the howler monkeys. The views from the plateau were mesmerising, while almost being able to see the curvature of the earth. Topped off nicely with the restaurants finest refreshing rock shandy beverage!
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Date of stay: November 2019Trip type: Traveled as a couple
Helpful
Response from Caroline R, Inhaber at Waterberg Wilderness Lodge
Responded Dec 3, 2019
Thank you very much for the five stars :-) Although we do not see any decadence in our Wilderness Lodge - if it really was the Wilderness Lodge, that is, because the rock dassies seem to prefer to "visit" our Plateau Lodge... Greetings from the whole Waterberg Wilderness private nature reserve team - including its four-legged members ;-)
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We loved our one night stay! If I had known what to expect we would have stayed longer! Our family lodge was large, cool, full of character and ready for our arrival with tea and coffee. The staff are super friendly and we were very pleased to get afternoon tea, coffee and cake! We enjoyed a couple of walks in the tranquil setting surrounded by nature. We saw dassies, baboons, dik dik, mongooses, warthogs and much more. We highly recommend to anyone visiting Namibia. The lodge is very conscious of the environment and all energy was provided by solar panels so no a/c, mini bar or fridge but we did not feel the need to have any more than we had. Showers were plenty hot enough and we also had option of a bath.
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Date of stay: October 2019
Helpful
Response from Caroline R, Inhaber at Waterberg Wilderness Lodge
Responded Oct 29, 2019
We are really glad to hear that you enjoyed your stay. Should you come again, we recommend to join us for a Plateau Hike with our guide introducing you to the plants and explaining how they were (and still are) used by the local Herero people for several purposes. Or go on a Rhino Drive, experiencing these impressive pachyderms on eye level and as close as can be :-) Kind regards from Waterberg Wilderness private nature reserve
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The place is well located, but the food is horrible... such a shame that they can’t deliver a proper meal for the guests... poor service in general... the game drive is OK but also too crowded... too many people around a few rhinos...
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Date of stay: September 2019Trip type: Traveled with friends
Helpful
Response from Caroline R, Inhaber at Waterberg Wilderness Lodge
Responded Oct 17, 2019
Our kitchen now and then is criticised, especially on this platform. However, when we ask our guests at the time they are checking out, the majority is quite happy with our four-course dinner and our breakfast buffet. We guess it is the set menu on the day of your stay that did not meet your taste. In normal years our white rhinos are roaming in all areas of our nature reserve, enabling us to offer each group of guests their own rhino experience. Unfortunately Namibia is suffering from a severe drought. Even at the Waterberg there is hardly any grass left. Therefore the rhinos meet at the spots where we feed them hay and lucerne. We are sorry about that. Kind regards from the Waterberg Wilderness private nature reserve
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Here is a recap of my amazingly poor experience with Waterberg. 1.We contacted them directly to book an accommodation. 2.They told us only 200$ rooms were available, and asked us to pay 100% of the amount 6 months prior to our trip. Which we did. No terms and conditions were shared. 3.Further to this, radio silence. No questions about our arrival or potential specific needs were asked. And no further information was shared from them. Not about the terms and conditions, nor about the “rules” or specific guidelines of how your place works. 4.Two weeks before our trip, we find out on Booking.com that there were cheaper rooms available (100$ instead of 200$). We had a tight budget for our trip so we tried to change our reservation. We called. We wrote emails. We called again. No answer. No assistance. No service. Of course, our booking was never changed despite the availability. (That's smart, 100$ is indeed less revenue than 200$...) 5. The day of our trip, we learn that we need to get there before 7pm, otherwise the gate would be closed. Unfortunately, an unforeseeable event (late plane + long time at the airport) gave us some delay. There was no way we could get there in time. We had to cancel. We kindly called as soon as we could (we had to get a phone first) in order to let them know, so that we could find a solution together, and so that they could keep the room available for someone else. The answer we got was quite straightforward: “send an email if you want to find a solution as we do not work after 5pm”. (I find these hours really interesting for an hotel, and I guess that we definitely do not have the same idea of service.) 6. We did send an email anyway, again in the positive and optimistic perspective of finding a solution. Of course the answer was again really straightforward : “the room is canceled but the cancelation fees are 100% in the terms and conditions" (that we had never received). After several emails, the hotel did not have any of it and kept its position. Our experience : from the moment we had paid, no answer, no dialogue, no assistance, no service. I trust that keeping the 100% of the amount we had sent 6 months ago is a little abrupt. I trust that the provided assistance, the lack of terms and conditions explained, and the radio silence during 6 months after our payment is really not professional. Finally, I suppose it may have been a good thing not to have been able to reach this place in time considering the way they treat and answer their clients. It's the only establishment in Namibia with which we have had any difficulty.…
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Date of stay: September 2019
Rooms
Location
Service
Helpful
Response from Caroline R, Inhaber at Waterberg Wilderness Lodge
Responded Oct 9, 2019
As we tried to explain to you in a long and exhausting email conversation: 1. to 3. In order to confirm a booking, we require a payment of the full amount. The terms and conditions are clearly stated on our booking confirmations. 4. You suddenly change your story; in our mail conversation you said it was one week before your trip. However, we found no evidence for any vacancies of our Econo Chalets of Waterberg Valley Lodge for the day of your intended stay. It was fully booked. 5. On the day of your intended arrival, you notified us of unforeseen circumstances that made it impossible for you to come to Waterberg Wilderness, asking us to waive the cancellation fees. After a long discussion about the cancellation policy our booking office asked you to send a mail, because we need claims in writing. We do close our gates for security reasons at 19:00, but obviously a guard opens them for guests who arrive late. Allow us to re-emphasise: It is dangerous to drive at dusk as the game is getting active, crossing the roads and being less visible in the fading daylight. 6. Up to now we invested a lot of time in the email correspondence with you. However, you refused to acknowledge that our cancellation policy is clearly stated on the booking confirmation you received. On the payment form which we also attached we even recommend to take out a travel insurance which covers costs for unforeseen incidents like yours. We are really sorry that we cannot grant a refund. Kind regards from the Waterberg Wilderness private nature reserve
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when we arrived around noon and went to the reception, we requested to be booked in for dinner. We got a simple and firm: sorry no room, everything is booked for the people in the lodge. We then requested to have lunch which was accepted but still, there was no menu to choose from, only plain eggsalade. We then asked for a reservation for breakfast next day. The guy in the restaurant said it was fine but we had to confirm with reception. When we went back there we got a very impolite: no, no room for breakfast for camping guests; when we opposed that the guy in the reception confirmed it was ok they just said: we at the reception are the ones who decide yes or no...finally, being desperate for some food, we ordered braai packages. First they were not willing to give them (everything was reserved for the meals for....the lodge guests ) but eventually they did. Afterwards, it would have been better if they had it turned down as meat was not okay. Such a shame that for people who most of the time are passing there last days in Namibie at Waterberg have such a lauzy service. We spoke to a couple of girls who stayed there last night at waterberg before catching a plane the next day. That to drive to next lodge quite some time to get some food...although we loved the campsite itself, I would not recommend waterberg. For what it's worth, someone who stayed in the lodge and paid a huge amount had the same unpleasant feeling about it, lauzy breakfast and average diner...and no welcoming feeling as we had in the rest of namibia…
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Date of stay: July 2019
Location
Service
Sleep Quality
Helpful
Response from Caroline R, Inhaber at Waterberg Wilderness Lodge
Responded Sep 18, 2019
Thank you for your feedback. We are sorry to learn that the grill meat was apparently a bit off. This is hard to understand, though, because we have a butchery on site that is providing fresh meat on a daily basis. There are cool rooms to store it, and since we were fully booked, there was not even a chance for meat to get stored too long. Please understand that we have to reserve the tables in our lodge restaurant for the guests of the lodge, as the booking includes dinner and breakfast. That is why we clearly state on our website that dinner for camping guests at the restaurant is subject to availability of seats. Unfortunately our lodge was fully booked. Our staff at the restaurant and our reception managers both were correct: The number of lodge guests booked on a specific day you can only see on our booking system at the reception. If the lodge is fully booked, all tables in the restaurant are reserved, for dinner as well as for breakfast, obviously. But we hear you, as we like to say in Namibia: A lot of our camping guests like to treat themselves with dinner or breakfast. We plan to extend our restaurant next year to accommodate camping guests on top of our lodge guests. Kind regards from the Waterberg Wilderness private nature reserve
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+1
This place is kind of strange. Check in is kilometers away from the lodge, but you can’t miss it because it’s on the road in. Then I had a room which is a few minutes walk from the main area, in a strange gloomy house built around rocks, and with a separate bedroom which could be reached on a weird staircase around a rock. When I had parked in the main area and sorted my luggage out of the car, someone approached me and told me that my room was somewhere else and I could park there. Luggage back in the car....and then I couldn’t find it because I didn’t recognize the strange house as being part of the lodge. Then, when I finally got settled I actually very quickly started to like the place. Helpful staff, lots of activities to choose from, including well marked hikes around the valley. I loved the short yet beautiful and varied Porcupine Trail. Talking about porcupines...there was a porcupine in the evening who tried to get into the kitchen and the restaurant! I also took the honeymoon sundowner which consisted of a guided hike up to the plateau, a laid table with a small bottle of champagne, stunning views, and a beautiful sunset. Not that it was a honeymoon for me. I travelled solo, and the deliberate choice of activity contributed to the strangeness of the place. The restaurant had decent food and good service. Kudos to the staff who went a very long way to accommodate my very early departure. Recommended if you enjoy strange quaint places! And most of all, it is very, very beautiful out there. I added a few photos of it.…
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Date of stay: June 2019Trip type: Traveled solo
Helpful
Response from Caroline R, Inhaber at Waterberg Wilderness Lodge
Responded Jul 2, 2019
This comment is kind of strange, too - but once we got the message, we actually very quickly started to like it ;-) You were accommodated in our room no 12 which is in the same guest building as one of our family units, separated from the main lodge area by the pool. It has been built between and around huge sandstone boulders in order to incorporate the Waterberg into the interior. We apologise on behalf of our lodge team for not having greeted you immediately upon arrival and not having directed you to your room which has its own parking space right next to the entrance. Great that you enjoyed our hiking trails and your "Honeymoon Sundowner". We initially invented this exclusive (first come, first served) guided plateau hike in the afternoons for honeymooners, but offer it to all of our guests. Best greetings from the Waterberg Wilderness private nature reserve
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PRICE RANGE
$207 - $238 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
LOCATION
NamibiaOtjozondjupa RegionOtjiwarongo
NUMBER OF ROOMS
20
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Claim Your Listing Frequently Asked Questions about Waterberg Wilderness Lodge
Which popular attractions are close to Waterberg Wilderness Lodge?
Nearby attractions include Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika (0.6 miles).
What are some of the property amenities at Waterberg Wilderness Lodge?
Some of the more popular amenities offered include free breakfast, a pool, and an on-site restaurant.
What food & drink options are available at Waterberg Wilderness Lodge?
Guests can enjoy free breakfast, an on-site restaurant, and a lounge during their stay.
Is parking available at Waterberg Wilderness Lodge?
Yes, free parking is available to guests.
What are some restaurants close to Waterberg Wilderness Lodge?
Conveniently located restaurants include Casa Forno Restaurant, Crocodile Ranch, and Bohemia: Books & Coffee.
Are there opportunities to exercise at Waterberg Wilderness Lodge?
Yes, guests have access to a pool during their stay.
Is Waterberg Wilderness Lodge located near the city center?
Yes, it is 0.6 miles away from the center of Otjiwarongo.
Which languages are spoken by the staff at Waterberg Wilderness Lodge?
The staff speaks multiple languages, including English and Afrikaans.