Mushara Bush Camp was designed for parents travelling with children, and there is no minimum age. It is the youngest of the Mushara lodges, and it takes its name from the purple-pod terminalia woodland around its sixteen tents of canvas, wood and local limestone. The camp lies about nine kilometres from the Von Lindequist Gate on the eastern side of Etosha National Park, in Namibia.
Morning drives reach the Namutoni waterholes before the heat builds
For the youngest guests there are childminders and an outdoor play park, with a shallow pool beside the main one. Morning drives reach the Namutoni waterholes before the heat builds. Meal times are arranged around the children, so a small child’s day keeps its own rhythm, and by the time the fire is lit their parents are planning the next morning’s drive.
Morning drives head out in open vehicles for Fischer’s Pan and the Namutoni area. A single morning can turn up elephants, lions and cheetahs. The guides work from up-to-date news of game movements, which gives every drive a good chance of finding lion or cheetah. A second outing follows in the afternoon, always on the park’s roads between sunrise and sunset.
A single morning can turn up elephants, lions and cheetahs.
Families with young children can book a private vehicle and guide, which puts the whole family together in one vehicle and lets snack and toilet stops follow a child’s clock instead of a group’s. Charter flights land on the Mushara airstrip or at the Mokuti strip close by, with a free transfer to camp from either, so Mushara makes a natural eastern stop on a flying itinerary through Namibia.
Stone and cement keep the tents cool through the afternoon. The walls are local limestone and canvas, the floors brushed cement, and floor-to-ceiling gauze windows let the air move through. Each tent opens onto a small covered veranda facing into the terminalia. The bathrooms are large, with a big window, and the shower looks straight out into the bush. In the four family tents a sleeper couch with its own mosquito net means children sleep a few steps from their parents, under the same canvas.
Through the hot middle of the day, children have a play room in the main house, stocked with books and games, toys and drawing materials. Outside, the play park has a jungle gym and a sandpit, and an old tractor to clamber over, while there is a shallow children’s pool as well as the round main pool. Childminders step in when parents want a quiet lunch or a rest between drives. Children’s meals are adapted to suit them, and the evening ends around the fire.
In the rainy months, thunderclouds build up over the pool through the late afternoon.
Meals are taken on the thatched verandah of the main house, where an open front and a gravel floor leave nothing between the tables and the bush. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are all served here and all made in the camp kitchen, and much of the vegetables and herbs, with some of the fruit, comes from the Mushara garden. The fire is lit early each evening, and by dinner the talk around it has turned to the day’s sightings.
Without anyone leaving camp, warthogs graze the lawns between the tents and mongooses forage across the paths, and birds keep the terminalia busy from first light until dusk. In the rainy months, thunderclouds build up over the pool through the late afternoon. The people who know this ground best are the staff, drawn from the communities around Etosha National Park, and across the Mushara lodges many have stayed for years.
accommodation
Mushara Bush Camp has 16 en-suite tents: 12 double tents and four family tents with a sleeper couch for children. Each has canvas, wood and limestone walls, brushed cement floors, floor-to-ceiling gauze windows, a bush-facing shower, a covered veranda, fan, safe, hairdryer, mosquito net and tea and coffee station.
activities
Guided morning and afternoon drives in open 4x4s cover eastern Etosha National Park, including Fischer's Pan and the Namutoni waterholes, with a private vehicle and guide available for families. All drives keep to park roads between sunrise and sunset. At camp, birding, swimming and the evening fire fill the hours.
dining
Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served on the thatched verandah with the bush a few steps away, and the cooking is homemade: a good share of the vegetables, herbs and fruit comes from the Mushara garden, as at the two sister lodges. A campfire is lit in the early evening for the day's sightings before dinner. This is the family camp of the three, so meal times and dishes are arranged around the children.
Get in touch and let’s start the conversation. An initial consultation helps us understand what you’re looking for, whether that’s specific experiences, luxury touches, or marking a special occasion, and from there we’ll guide you through what’s possible so you can decide if we’re the right fit.
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Etosha National Park
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Etosha National Park
Most people drive. The camp is about 530 kilometres north of Windhoek by road, through Tsumeb on the B1 and then west along the C38 towards Etosha's eastern entrance, the Von Lindequist Gate. The turning comes up on the left about fifteen kilometres after leaving the B1, just past the entrance to Mushara Outpost, and the gate itself is about nine kilometres further on.
To save the long drive, we can put in a private charter from Windhoek, typically a Cessna Caravan or a Pilatus PC-12. It lands on the Mushara airstrip, a 1,400-metre runway a short way from the tents, or at Mokuti beside the park gate, and the camp collects you from either.
No. It sits just outside the park, on the Mushara property off the C38, about nine kilometres east of the Von Lindequist Gate. That puts the eastern side of Etosha, around the old fort at Namutoni, Fischer's Pan and the Klein Namutoni waterhole, within easy reach for the first drive of the morning, and it is generally quieter than the centre of the park.
Game drives into Etosha go out in the morning or the afternoon in open vehicles with the camp's guides, shared or with a private vehicle to yourselves, and park entry is built into the price of the drive, which is booked on top of the room. If you have your own car, you can also drive into the park yourselves; the gates open at sunrise and close at sunset.
Yes, it was built for families. Four of the sixteen tents are family tents with a sleeper couch for the children, and the main house has a play room with books, games and toys. Outside are a jungle gym, an old tractor to climb, a sandpit and a shallow children's pool beside the main pool. Child minders keep younger ones busy and meal times suit them.
The detail that matters is the game drives. Children of any age may join the shared drives into Etosha, but places for those aged eight and under are only confirmed at the camp, depending on seats. For a family with young children we would book a private vehicle, which guarantees everyone a place and lets the drive run at their pace.
Dinner, bed and breakfast. Meals are served on the thatched verandah of the main house, much of the produce comes from the camp's own garden, and a campfire is lit in the early evening before dinner. Lunch, drinks and the game drives into Etosha are added on top, and we fold whichever of those you want into one price at the quote stage.
The tents are built of canvas, wood and local limestone, with floor-to-ceiling windows, a private veranda and a shower that looks out into the bush. Stone walls and cement floors keep them cool, and each has a fan, mosquito net, safe and coffee station rather than air conditioning. Wifi reaches the main house and the shared areas, not the tents.
Yes, seasonally. The camp lies in Namibia's Oshikoto region, which TravelHealthPro, the UK's official travel health service, rates as high risk from December to April, when it recommends antimalarial tablets, and low risk from May to November, when it advises awareness and avoiding bites. Low risk is not no risk. The American CDC lists Oshikoto among the regions where it recommends preventive medicine, with no seasonal split.
We are travel planners, not medical professionals, so we do not make recommendations about tablets: that is a decision for you and your own doctor or a travel clinic, ideally with your dates in hand. Whatever the month, long sleeves and repellent from late afternoon are sensible, more so in the summer rains.
May to September. Once the seasonal pools dry up, animals crowd the permanent waterholes against thin bush, and July and August are the peak, with cool days, cold dawns and big mixed herds with predators close behind. October is still dry but hot, often 35 to 40 degrees. The camp is open all year. This matches our month-by-month advice for Etosha National Park.
The green months from November to April have a real case: calving springbok and zebra, the best birding of the year with the migrants in, flamingos when the pan floods, storm light for photographers and far fewer vehicles. Pack a warm layer for winter dawns in an open vehicle, sun protection for the glare off the pan, and light, neutral clothing for the heat of the day.
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our approach
Every journey starts with a conversation. We take the time to understand your vision before we start planning.
Whether by phone or in person, we work with you directly to shape something that is considered, personal, and expertly delivered.
