Dead Valley Lodge

Dead Valley Lodge, enterence

The short version: The only good thing to say, it´s inside the park gate.

When you see the promotional material and pictures from Dead Valley Lodge, it looks like a desert fort with a fantastic location. In reality, the lodge is just inside the Sesriem Gate to the right on the border of the busy “Klondike" of NWR office, exposed Sesriem Campsite, medical centre, petrol station, police station, and staff facilities.

However, after paying approx. 7300 NAD for full board for one night, our expectations were high. Therefore, we were surprised to receive very little attention at arrival at the lodge. There was limited commitment from our host who handed us the mandatory paper forms. We sensed we were just one of many new guests arriving that day.

As we arrived early and our tent (room) was not yet ready (fair), we waited in the open-air lounge. Open-air was to be taken quite literally, as the area was exposed to the strong winds that prevail. We had dust sneaking in from all sides covering everything. It appeared that it was possible to close the area with glass sides, but that did not happen at any time during our visit. 

We asked politely for a cup of coffee (after no reaction from the staff). The waiter informed us we could use the self-service coffee station and pointed us in the right direction. In addition, I ask for a glass of white wine. The waiter informed us, that at the moment, we could not buy white wine by the glass (but whole bottles). They only have red wine by the glass. I replied – I admit now slightly sarcastic - that this was the first time we have been unable to buy a glass of white wine in a (luxury) lodge in Namibia after 5 trips and visiting approx. 60 different "lodges".

Dead Valley Lodge, Pool

Finally, we got our tent. It was in “the back row” of tents with a view to the many tents in the front row. All tents were quite close together. 

Tents packed together

Inside, our tent smelled of tobacco, even though smoking is prohibited in the rooms. It also turned out that the cooling system was not working. The staff promised to fix it. In the meantime, we waited to see if they would succeed before unpacking. We had already decided to find another lodge if not fixed ASAP. However, the cooling was fixed (telling them we were about to leave the lodge speeded up the service). Yet no apology or regret.

The view from our tent, Dead Valley Lodge

In the evening, we had the dinner buffet, which was included in the full board. Excellent food - but still no white wine by the glass.

The next day, we were glad we were only booked 1 night for this place. Needless to say, we will never return. On departure, our host did not ask us about our experiences with the place nor provided an evaluation form. It actually makes perfect sense.

PRO´s

• Inside Sesriem Gate
• Good dinner buffet with amusing chef

CON´s

• Just about everything, read above

We suggest: Stay outside the gate. We liked Hoodia Desert Lodge (link) including their full day excursion to Sussosvlei (link), but there are many other options in the area.