As requested in their pre-arrival email, we called the lodge from the winery to give them a heads up on our arrival time, and they said they were expecting us.
From the gate it’s a about a 15 minute drive to the resort on a well-maintained dirt road. A lady was waiting for us with a cool welcome drink and directed us to the covered parking area. At that point we discovered we were the only visitors to the lodge that evening – we had the whole place to ourselves!
Our cabin was cozy with a large central space for the bedroom and wardrobe, plus some extra seats, and a bathroom split into three parts – a semi-open shower, a sink in the middle, and the toilet. Nitpicks: the bed was rather firm for us, and we weren’t a fan of the of the open-ceiling toilet area (fairly common across Namibia). On the plus side, there was lots of room for us to re-organize our bags, which had become rather messy over the preceding days.
Our first order of business was laundry. After we started soaking a few things, Eric noticed the laundry price list was reasonable so we opted to have a bunch of shirts and pants washed. 13 items for 130N$ (~$9USD). Well worth it!
Since we were the only people at the lodge we signed up for the sundowners tour which featured a 4×4 ride up a mountain for sunset views plus snacks and wine.
This tour was a memorable highlight of the trip! Stanley and William were wonderful guides and we didn’t let the troupe of chacma baboons barking at us discourage us from staying past sunset.
The views were stunning…
Given the remote location we had reserved dinner ahead of time. We were served a set menu and everything was tasty: butternut soup, kudu steak with roasted veggies and beet salad, followed by a red wine pear tart with ice cream. The kudu steak was the highlight – cooked perfectly and so tasty. We each got a small bottle of red sparkling wine and a complimentary sherry as well.
In the morning we knew we didn’t have far to drive, so after a pleasant breakfast – and a warm greeting by Miley the yorkie – we asked if we could check out a bit later and then hang around watching the birds and reading by the pool until noonish. No problem! Plus, our freshly clean laundry was delivered at 9:40am. Yay!
Our stay at Roidina Safari Lodge was amazing, from the service to the sights, and we’d definitely recommend a stay with them.