Xaus Lodge

Difficult to describe our 3 night stay in !Xaus other that it was a true life experience. The atmosphere was spiritual and emotional, the view across the salt pan was a wonder to behold. The magic of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier park is palpable in this magic part of South Africa. The knowledgeable staff (Koos and Donovan) added significant bushman depth to our experience.

Not staying more nights. There was nothing to complain about at !Xaus, it was excellent and surpassed expectations.

Wonderful location

Meeting at picnic site - could have driven without guide.

Excellent experience all round. Great service, guiding, room and food. Hopefully the pool will be rebuilt soon. Important destination to support local communities.

Both my fiancé and I love adventures and we have no problem with living under local conditions and circumstances such as in the Kgalagadi like showering with salt water, being some days without WiFi and any other connection to the outside world, etc. But what !Xaus offers is simply a rip-off! Serving greasy pork belly on Christmas Eve with a cold soup as a starter, needing to pay for drinks at lunch and dinner, having no fridge with cold drinks available and no AC in the cottages, being provided with just a small drinking bottle like school children which we had to refill at a water dispenser in the dining room, having electricity for only two hours during the day to operate the ventilator in the heat (approximately 45 degrees Celsius), etc. is not acceptable for the amount we paid. We clearly want to exclude the guides from our critics. The guided tours were very informative and interesting. Our résumé: The value-for-money ratio is very very poor!

The hotel is in a private concession (owned by the local tribes) within the Kgalagadi national park. A truly beautiful place, though hard to get to. The location is incredibly peaceful and picturesque, and I am very happy we got to see it. The hotel is also owned by the community, though managed by a professional manager. This is where the problems begin, I'd say. In summary, the issues with the hotel were as follows: - it is not eco. The electricity runs on a diesel generator and only works for a few hours a day (not at night). For a location in the middle of the desert one would have expected solar panels (!), but there were none (!) - the rooms and overall facilities were not renovated in decades and are rather dilapidated - broken wooden planks etc. There is a water hole with a light on it to see animals during the night and it was broken for 2 nights of our 3 night stay, so we couldn't see the night wildlife there. The pool is tiny and hasn't been cleaned in weeks - it's really rather disgusting. - some of the staff are super nice (like Linky, the Head Chef). Others, like the head guide, are frankly lazy and bored. They are all (other than the manager) locals. The guide point is super important here - he was responsive only when asked, drove the car too quickly on drives and helped very little in identifying wildlife (the guests did most of the spotting). One could easily fix it up and make it nicer with limited investment. This is the most disappointing thing.

Get remote. Drive 91 orange sand dunes to reach !Xaus. Great place to chill out but also bags to do. Great staff, loadsa knowledge, very tasty and hearty food. Stayed four days and thoroughly enjoyed.

Die Lodge ist seit etwas über einem Jahr unter neuer Führung. Der aktuelle Manager gibt sich grösste Mühe und ist als Ansprechpartner stets erreichbar. Die Anfahrt ist wirklich einzigartig und führt über 90 Sanddünen. Daher sollte man den Service nutzen und das eigene Auto stehen lassen. Die Lodge hat alles was man braucht, dass Strom nicht 24 Std. zur Verfügung steht, das Wasser im Zimmer relativ salzig ist und der kleine Pool (welcher Luxus mitten in der Wüste !) viele Bienen anzieht - ist wohl logisch und für 1 - 3 Tage zu verschmerzen. Das Essen hat mich positiv überrascht - sehr lecker. Die einheimischen Mitarbeitenden verhalten sich freundlich, sind aber eher zurückhaltend. Die Ruhe, die Aussicht, die Touren zu Fuss und per Jeep sind sehr schön - DARUM ist man da und bezahlt dafür. Grosse Tiere sind eher selten zu sehen (wer Glück hat, aber auch Kalahari Löwen). Außerdem hat man hier meist einen wunschderschönen Sternenhimmel. Man überlege sich die Transportwege und Kosten, vor allem das Süsswasser aus dem Grundwasser zu holen - das kann nicht billig sein.

Die Lodge liegt etwas abgelegen, aber das macht es so grossartig. Nur Ruhe, absolut entspannend, tolles Sternenbild. Die Servicequalität ist sehr gut. Das Hotel hat alles ausser Telefonempfang und nur Strom zu gewissen Zeiten. Essen war gut. Es wird schon bei der Buchung nach Allergien gefragt. Es gibt unterschiedliche Aktivitäten und man lernt viel über die Gegend und die Kultur der Buschmänner. Es liegt abgelegen und Wasser ist ein knappes Gut. Kleine Pannen sind nicht ausgeschlossen, aber das Personal und Management ist gut vorbereitet. Für uns hat es gepasst und wir können es nur weiterempfehlen