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Reviews of Emanya at Etosha Game Lodge

4.5 out of 5
Emanya at Etosha Game Lodge
Emanya Lodge, Etosha, Tsumeb

Reviews

8.8

Excellent

Rating 10 - Excellent. 131 out of 216 reviews" "
Rating 8 - Good. 57 out of 216 reviews" "
Rating 6 - Okay. 17 out of 216 reviews" "
Rating 4 - Poor. 3 out of 216 reviews" "
Rating 2 - Terrible. 8 out of 216 reviews" "

9.0/10

Cleanliness

8.8/10

Staff & service

8.8/10

Amenities

8.8/10

Property conditions & facilities

7.8/10

Eco-friendliness

Reviews

10/10 Excellent

Wolfgang

Stayed 3 nights in Dec 2023
Response from Dolly on 27 Dec 2023
Dear Wolfgang,Thank you, do come again.Kind regards

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great place when visiting Etosha
Staff was great Pool needs maintenance
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2023
Response from Dolly on 17 Nov 2023
Good Day, Thak you for the feedback. Kindly note that on your next visit, the pool will be accomodating.kind regards

10/10 Excellent

Andrea

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Modernes Anlage inmitten der Wildnis
Schöne Anlage, reizendes Personal, üppiges Dinner, gutes Frühstück, Wasserloch mit vielen Tieren direkt an wunderschöner Terrasse. Nähe zu Lindquist Gate sehr gut.
Stayed 3 nights in Oct 2023
Response from Dolly on 2 Nov 2023
Dear Andreathank you for the review.we are glad you had a wonderful stay, kindly, come back soon.kind regards'

10/10 Excellent

israel

Stayed 1 night in Sep 2023
Response from Dolly on 27 Nov 2023
Dear IsraelI trust you are well.Thank you and come back soon.regards

10/10 Excellent

Linda

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Brilliant Lodge
Lively lodge. Modern. Very high standard. Roims very comfortable. Food very good. Lodge gas waterhole which has lots of animals at night. Close to Etosha. 30 minutes drive to park
Stayed 2 nights in Sep 2023
Response from Dolly on 19 Sep 2023
Dear Lindathank you for your valuable review.we are very glad you have enjoyed your stay.looking forward to your return.

10/10 Excellent

callu

Stayed 1 night in Sep 2023
Response from Dolly on 19 Sep 2023
Dear Calluthank you for your high rating.we are looking forward to receiving you again.

10/10 Excellent

elisabeth

Stayed 1 night in Sep 2023
Response from Dolly on 18 Sep 2023
Thank you, Elisabeth.looking forward to having you again.kind regards

10/10 Excellent

Erik

Stayed 1 night in Jun 2023
Response from Dolly on 19 Jun 2023
Dear Erikthanks and come back again.best regards

10/10 Excellent

Jacek

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
This was probably the best stay in Namibia for us. The place was superb. The stuff excellent. Food was very good and the place was a pleasure.Not only we would recommend it, but we wold stay there again.But longer!

10/10 Excellent

Attilio

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Aug 2022

2/10 Terrible

Ishana

Travelled with partner
Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Very disappointed after this stay - staff let mosquitoes in our room and didn’t have a mosquito net so me and my partner were bitten numerous times after never being bitten in our two week trip to Namibia. We were served pork that was burnt on the outside and extremely undercooked on the inside resulting in food poisoning the following day. After raising our concerns with staff, no effort was made to amend this. Other accommodation in Namibia requested we have short showers to conserve water while Emanya has unnecessarily green lawns due to inappropriate sprinkler usage. Proximity to Etosha is convenient though
Stayed 2 nights in Aug 2022

10/10 Excellent

Ester

Stayed 1 night in Aug 2022

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Definitely Resort like
Initially we were abit annoyed with the insects flying all over while dining. But we know its in the middle of a forest. The place itself is newly constructed and modern, however the maintenance seemed a bit lacking. However the staff is beyond amazing. Our server Elsa was so amaazing that she made sure she remembered even the drinks and allergies of our group of 5. We celebrated our anniversary there and they were beyond excited to make a celebration possible for us. Thank you so much for that. Chalet wasn’t my style but still because of their hospitality I came to love it. Everyone else in the group loved the place already. I would encourage everyone to book this place, they make it feel like home.
Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2020

4/10 Poor

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Property conditions & facilities
Disliked: Staff & service
Likes: The lodge has very decorative design and beautiful scenery. They even have a great watering hole that attracts zebras, giraffes, warthogs, and other animals. Dislikes: I did not like the windows on the bathroom doors that don't provide privacy, and the light shines into the bedroom and wakes the other person up. I also did not like the two gates you have to get out and open each time you enter or leave the property. There is also a set 4 course dinner menu each night, and if you don't like it, there aren't any other option around. We ended up eating snack food and drinking wine for dinner each night. And if you want to go on a guided game drive (safari), you have to book with another lodge because Emanya's truck is broken.
Stayed 3 nights in Jan 2020

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
The setting was beautiful. We appreciated the foot spa, the great meals. The rooms were great. Keep up the great work!
Stayed 3 nights in Nov 2019

8/10 Good

Yvonne

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 2 nights in Nov 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Stayed 2 nights in Sep 2019

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
The staff were exceptional and the property was spacious and quiet. Meals were good, though if you stay for more than 2 nights the menu is repeated. Some parts of the property were in need of a little upkeep and we didn’t enjoy the smoking of other guests when dining outside.
Stayed 4 nights in May 2019

10/10 Excellent

Kasper

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2019

10/10 Excellent

Edward, Cobble Hill BC Canada

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Architecture and use of space was spectacular. Service was excellent.
Stayed 1 night in Mar 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Excellent place to stay to visit Etosha near Namutoni. Dinner is an a la carte choice, but for vegetarians they specially prepared a different dish each evening.
Stayed 3 nights in Mar 2019

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Positives: The watering hole on the property attracted all sorts of wild life! Free foot massage. Lovely rooms (except for bathroom door, see below). Water running throughout property is nice. Coffee and cake midday. Cool bar. The owners were extremely helpful. Close enough to Etosha Nat'l Park to be convenient for day trips. A lovely, relaxing place. Negatives: A little too large for the number of rooms. Felt a bit more like a convention center than a quaint resort. Bathroom door was glass, so you could see into the bathroom from the bedroom, resulting in insufficient privacy. Nowhere to eat but restaurant, and food was just okay.
Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2019

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner, Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Staff was very friendly and helpful. Food was great and internet good taking in consideration that the hotel is in the middle of nowhere. Rooms clean. The only downside was that there is no fridge there in the room and we were told that it is not allowed to drink our own wine or beer in our rooms. This was not explained on Expedia web site/confirmation. Saying this it was really a minor thing for us, but weird in an upmarket hotel.
Stayed 3 nights in Mar 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2019

8/10 Good

Kiki

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
The hotel is about 25 mins from the Etosha gate on the east side. It’s not that far and we self-drove to the park everyday. The design is different than your typical safari lodge but it is very pretty in person. The rooms are spacious and very clean. They have TV and air con but no fridge. The manager received us on check in and toured the hotel with us which was nice. They offered free foot massages too. The water hole viewpoint is one of the highlights animals come there all the time. The breakfast was good, there’s always a hot option. Lunch is very average and dinner was a 5 course set menu every night at a very high rate. I wish there was more choice on what to eat. However the manager was very accommodating in providing food for our dietary needs. There’s also complementary cake and tea every afternoon. The staff are friendly but could use some more training so they appear more confident. The pool is beautiful and nice after a long game drive though it could be cleaner. The lodge also does game drives with a guide but I done mine myself.
Stayed 4 nights in Jan 2019

10/10 Excellent

itzik, kiryat tivon israel

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
A luxury hotel. All services are of a five star standard.
Stayed 1 night in Aug 2018

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Fantastic place with great facilities and staff. Close to Etosha plus their own watering hole and viewing area
Stayed 2 nights in Jun 2018

6/10 Okay

kent, sweden

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, room comfort
Nice hotel, very calm and silent,
Perfect for resting and doing nothing.There is no entertainment, exsept footmassage. Dinner they hv only 2 main meal with full meny for a price of 290 Nd+drinks. Not worth the price.
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2017

10/10 Excellent

Stephanie

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Wonderful stay
Beautiful spacious room in a lovely quaint setting. Romantic dinner and decent breakfast offered.
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2017

10/10 Excellent

ian

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great Lodge, superb food, well worth a visit
Excellent hotel, with great rooms, superb food and great service. At a reasonable price. Some may think the hotel is a little far from the park (about 30km). But for me that did not matter, you have to travel a lot of distance anyway around Etosha so that bit extra was worth it for the above reasons. In comparison to the lodges in side the park, this place is miles better. So don't be persuaded to stay in the park. It offers little extra for a lot worse service.
Stayed 3 nights in Sep 2017

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Cape Charm just outside Etosha
It is a lovely place, the rooms are spacious, the service good, the dinner and breakfast tasty, one cannot fault the place. I was just a bit surprised to find a place, clearly inspired by the Cape winelands in the bush, just outside Etosha. I expected a bush lodge.I found it a bit out of place, but this is my personal sentiment. There is nothing wrong with Emenya.
Stayed 2 nights in Jul 2017

8/10 Good

Anik

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Modern, clean lined bush lodge
Quite a surprise to see the modern lines of this lodge. Waterhole and quiet surrounds.
Stayed 2 nights in Jun 2017

2/10 Terrible

Verified traveller

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Bed Bugs @ Emanya
I decided to treat my parents to a luxury stay at the Emanya. The place looked amazing and it could be, if not for the unwanted guests sharing your bed with you at night. There are tiny creatures in the beds and most guests won't notice them until they look closely at their pillows/sheets. You just feel something "walking" on your skin. Once you look closely, you won't sleep again - that feeling is a thousand tiny little living bugs falling down from the thatched roof onto your bed! I woke the owner at midnight asking for a new room. She was clearly aware of the problem, but not apologetic at all. She merely told me, they don't bite! OK, that makes me feel better at over N$10000 spent at Emanya for a luxury 2-night stay. She gave me a new room, but never walked with me to check that it was ok. The new room had the same problem - all the guest rooms do. No-one slept that night and it was too late to find alternative accom. The owner did not refund us for our terrible stay. Instead she kept saying the bugs don't bite and charged us the additional N$2600 for dinner for 4 people for 2 nights without so much as an apology. Unbelievable... and just shows that there is no intention to resolve the problem soon. According to the manager, the bugs live in the thatched roofs due to the grass not being treated properly. The dining hall has the same grass roof and I actually saw these bugs in my tea cup and plates as well. No doubt they fall into the food containers.
Stayed 2 nights in May 2017

2/10 Terrible

Verified traveller

Liked: Room comfort
Disliked: Staff & service
Disappointing service
On our travels, we usually do not care much about service and focus on getting a good night of sleep. However, our experience at Emanya has been so disappointing that we feel obliged to share. In comparison to the effort put into designing and building the place, it is a stark contrast how it is being run today. Staff are friendly, but in need of training to provide better service. Dinner was served warm (and pricey); staff made no effort to clear the cobweb built up by an army of small spiders on our dining table (we had to ask for a different table); staff were more interested in helping the manager to sort out the cashier than serving guests; tap water was salty in room 7. The overall feeling is that the management is not setting a good example and not solving the right problem. Our sleep was fine in the end. For any potential holiday makers, we would strongly suggest reading up reviews on other websites, especially the negative ones. Although our experience was not as bad as some, there were glimpse of truth in a lot of the negative reviews.

6/10 Okay

William

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Disliked: Staff & service
Close to Etosha, but could use some work
The hotel is rated 4.5 stars. I'd say the facilities have the potential to be 4.5 stars, but the management is poor and the staff are not trained at all. The food and restaurant are nice. The game viewing in the adjacent waterhole is the best part. Etosha is only 25 minutes away. It's a great stopping point for the park, but don't expect much from the staff.

8/10 Good

Rebecca

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Beautiful but strange stay.
The working staff was very nice. The rooms, concrete, had a strange odor and auto spray deodorizers/air pollution. The dinner was good, but the highest priced meal we paid anywhere in the country. By far! There was a lack of communication overall from management that made everything confusing. Another guest sneering at our child made it feel not kid-friendly. Beautiful grounds.

6/10 Okay

oswald

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
comfortable rooms, meals not what we expected
Average. Rooms were OK. The meals were grossly overpriced and the meat ( sirloin steak and pork chop) was very tough and thinly cut. Probably old animals? At the charged price one would expect something better. No tissues in bathroom.

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, room comfort
Disliked: Staff & service
Was I just unlucky?
Hotel seems to be badly managed Aircon didn't work ,just batteries.Tv didn't work unplugged DST box to sort.Restaurant ran out of gin and all but one beer.These things should be checked!However it could be excellent with a little care,great waterhole ,good food.

8/10 Good

Isaiah

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Nice stay with all the luxury
The hotel was very good (bed/bathroom/breakfast/dinner) but the extra point it got from the included foot massage that was offered (included in the price of your stay). The hotel is 20 km from the Etosha entry and that's a bit far. Very nice swimming pool, close to a local waterhole were you can see some animals.

8/10 Good

David, JOHANNESBURG

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Good base 10/15mins from Namutoni Gate Etosha
Hotel owners/managers made no effort to talk to guests at meal times.No personal contact which would have added to our otherwise great experience.Comments like how was your day?-did you see much game?-any great experiences? would have added huge PRO value. All hotel staff and waiters were friendly,helpful and effecient. No cake of soap in bathroom. Shower fitting needs repairs in room 10. David Harpur room 10 from 9th to 12th Sept 2016.

8/10 Good

filippo

Liked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Nice lodge close to Etosha park
Very nice lodge at 20min from Etosha east gate Room very spacious and comfortable Wild Animals close to the lodge, really amazing We suggest to have a dinner in the lodge, as it's good and costs only 20€ each Breakfast good Staff really friendly

10/10 Excellent

silvano, malindi kenya

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
good but not the best
we stayed three nights and we enjoyed all the time not all the staff was up to the standard of the hotel the atmosphere was not really joyful missing a trolley for carrying the luggage , we had three big suitcases

8/10 Good

Stephen, Guildford

Attractive hotel that could be better
This is an attractive hotel with interesting architecture and peaceful calm about it. The food is good. But the place is let down by little things that would be easy to fix. eg the entrance road is potholed and scruffy. The staff were very casual about a toilet that did not work.

8/10 Good

julian, Somerset

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Decent place to stay outside Etosha gate.
My wife and I stayed one night prior to Etosha visit and overall we thought it a decent place to stay. The rooms are a good size and well kept. The swimming pool area is good and the lodge has its own water hole which had a lot of wildlife at it in the evening. Evening meal was not great but breakfast good. Staff seem to be a little nervous.

6/10 Okay

Thomas, Jeffreys Bay, SA

It was a good stop off point, and actually the food was excellent!

10/10 Excellent

TM, Texas USA

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great Place. Enjoyed the rest. Very nice owner and staff!

8/10 Good

Daniella, The Hague

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great stay coming out of Etosha national park
we had a great stay, nice foot massage and great pool.

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Peaceful and enjoyable place to stay
A very quiet and relaxing place to return to after a day of wildlife viewing. We enjoyed the meals, the staff were friendly and helpful, and the animals coming to the waterhole at night were an added bonus.

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Emanya
Lodge is very stylish, with very cool shared/public space and pool area. Staff are very friendly and accommodating. The offer od a spa treatment on arrival was appreciated by my wife. Location is great for visiting Etosha. Great value at the price we paid