Mokuti Etosha, an expansive hotel with a design edge

Instead of the traditional colonial décor and thatch, Mokuti Etosha have created a contemporary interpretation of Namibia’s landscape. It still incorporates a degree of thatch but with a modern twist, for example in the porte cochere-style lobby where you’ll see an inner and an outer layer of thatch bound together at the spine by a skylight. Huge windows open up to vast views of the bush. The flat roofs of the communal area resemble the similarly flat expanse of the Etosha Pan while the hotel’s rock hewn walls mimic the cracked rock effect found in the local clay huts, everything playfully juxtaposed. Although it’s a huge 114-room lodge, you don’t realise it at first because people intersperse over various tiers and into the bush among the beautiful gardens and huge, indigenous trees. But then you go to the dining room and see all the action; the buffet is more of a live kitchen with chefs firing up feasts like huge prime ribs fire-grilled in a massive wood-burning oven – it’s basically a Weber on steroids.

There’s a massive pool, almost Olympic size, where you can swim or sit on a lounger submerged in the water. Meanwhile the energetic can enjoy the glass-walled gym and tennis courts. When it comes to wellness, we have a dedicated spa with five treatment rooms for massages, manicures and pedicures, as well as a steam room and jacuzzi. Kids can enjoy the wading pool, play area and educational reptile park. At night, the colonial-style bar becomes more of an adult playground with cigars, champagne and top-shelf whiskies.

Then there are the outdoor adventures. The lodge offers twice daily game drives into the bordering Etosha National Park, perfectly located since we’re only 40 metres from the eastern gate, as well as night drives on our four-and-a-half thousand-hectare reserve where you may see creatures such as giraffes, kudu, leopard, hyena and dik-dik (dwarf antelopes). But personally, I love the morning bush walks accompanied by a member of the local Hai//om bushmen where all is quiet except for the crunch of leaves beneath your feet. You’re tracking through the land with descendants of the first hunter-gatherers. The sense of adventure is phenomenal.