Safarihoek Lodge

The lodge stands on Etosha Heights, the private reserve along the park's southwestern boundary, roughly six hours by road from Windhoek. Flying is the easier way in: about an hour by light aircraft from Windhoek to the reserve's airstrip, then a road transfer to the lodge.

We can arrange a private charter, typically a Cessna Caravan or Pilatus PC-12, timed to your itinerary rather than a scheduled circuit. The light aircraft take soft bags only, so pack a duffel, and give us your full route so the flights line up with the rest of it.

Yes, seasonally. Etosha and the country around it lie in Namibia's north, where the UK's official travel health advice recommends antimalarial tablets for the higher-risk months from December to April and rates May to November as low risk, with bite avoidance the main precaution. The CDC includes these northern regions among those where tablets are usually advised.

Guidance shifts year to year, so have a travel clinic or your doctor confirm the current position before you fly, and keep repellent to hand for the evenings, particularly in the hide after dark.

Expect big daily swings. Winter, from May to September, brings clear warm days and cold nights, and the first hour in the hide or on a morning drive can be bitter before the sun does its work. Summer runs hot, into the high thirties, with afternoon storms most likely from December to April.

Layers solve it: neutral daytime clothing, a warm jacket and beanie for early starts, and closed shoes for the bush walks. Photographers should bring dust protection for camera gear, and everyone should bring more sun cream than feels reasonable.

Children of any age are welcome, and the family suite gives parents and children their own rooms with a shared space between. The practical rules sit around activities: the lodge asks families with children under twelve to take a private vehicle for game drives, which we arrange and cost into the quote from the start, and the guided bush walks are for twelve and older, with the guide holding the final say.

The photographic hide, a short session of sitting still while elephants drink a few metres away, tends to be the part older children remember. Tell us the ages and we will build the stay around them.

You can, but it is worth being honest about the geography. Safarihoek sits deep inside its private reserve, more than an hour from the nearest park gate, so days here are built around Etosha Heights itself rather than daily loops through the park. A full-day Etosha excursion with a packed lunch can be arranged for those who want the pans and the famous waterholes.

The reserve is the reason to come: night drives, walking and hide photography that park rules do not allow, on ground shared with only a couple of other small camps. If daily time inside Etosha proper matters to you, tell us and we will pair the lodge with a stay nearer a gate.

Yes. Unlimited wifi is available for a small donation that goes straight to the reserve's anti-poaching programme, the unit protecting the black and white rhino that make Etosha Heights what it is.

It is comfortably enough for messages, email and backing up photographs from the hide. If you need to be dependably contactable on particular days, let us know and we will plan for it.