Hakusembe River Lodge

Rundu in the Kavango Region of Namibia is a town of only 60,000 people, but sometimes we still need to escape the hustle and bustle of town living. Our favorite place for a weekend getaway is Hakusembe River Lodge just about 15km west of town. Usually we tent camp at their beautiful sites along the river (each with its own private bathroom with hot showers!) but due to the flooding of the Kavango River this rainy season, the campground is closed until June. We had to settle for the bungalow shown below to celebrate Lisa’s birthday weekend. We even had the chance to do some birding in between relaxing at the pool and eating great food.

Hakusembe is owned by Gondwana Collection and they own many lodges and camp sites in Namibia. Lucky for us, they offer an amazing deal for Namibian citizens and Visa holders (us) that if you pay N$100 then you get a card that gives you 50% off all accommodation and a discount on dining. It’s a bargain in American dollars to stay at such a beautiful place, especially the camping (with the Gondwana card it is $7.50 per person for a campsite). In America when we went camping/backpacking we didn’t shower. Ironically, since we don’t have a hot shower at our flat, we go camping to GET a hot shower. 🙂

Some of our favorite parts about this serene place are the songbirds that wake you, coffee delivered to your bungalow doorstep at dawn, seeing otters play in the river, feeling grass beneath our feet, the cool, crisp air and the welcoming staff. It’s a place to relax, reflect and breathe deeper.

We put in for a site transfer with this bungalow as our housing…

The pool oasis of Hakusembe

The landscaping is beautiful with grass, flowers and a vegetable garden to go along with the palm and banana trees.

They are currently using this floating house as a registration area since guests are arriving by boat due to flooding, but usually it is available as accommodation.

Another amazing sunset on the Kavango River. The boardwalk on the right leads to a large group of newly-built bungalows and the camping area.

White-crested helmet shrike

Scarlet-chested sunbird

Red-billed firefinch