Eningu Clayhouse Lodge
Premier
₤ 49 (Pps)
Premier
₤ 49 (Pps)
Eningu Clayhouse Lodge is a unique guest farm in the thorn bush savanna of the Kalahari only one hour's drive south-east from Windhoek airport (65km). As such it makes the ideal first or final overnight stay in Namibia for a taste of the Namibian Kalahari.
This owner-run welcoming Namibian lodge is a real gem with a unique quirky style. Built of 120,000 handmade terracotta clay bricks and creatively decorated, it offers nine large hand-painted suites, a good-sized swimming pool with adjoining Jacuzzi under shade, and hammocks for those all important afternoon siestas. There's something reminiscent of Mexican adobe buildings with its terracotta colouring and curving walls.
Eningu Clayhouse Lodge's rooms are comfortable but simply furnished with stone furniture built into the walls brightened by colourful bedspreads and cushions. Each has a ceiling fan for summer, heating for winter and en suite bathroom with a large walk-in stone shower.
Good cooking is offered using home-grown herbs and vegetables and a choice of 2,000 bottles of wine from the underground clay cellar. The dining room is used in the winter however summer dinners are often served in the outside lapa area. There’s a small lounge with adjacent library area and curio shop selling local Namibian based crafts and jewellery. Outside wide stone steps lead up to the flat roof which is ideal for sundowners and admiring the stars of the southern Namibian sky from Eningu's sizeable telescope.
Eningu Clayhouse Lodge has laid out some marked hiking trails on the reserve including a botanical hiking trail which offers information boards on the various vegetation types that you see. There's a small hide for watching birds and the evening porcupine feeds. You can even try out their archery range, volleyball or badminton.
If you stay for a couple of days, you could visit various local sculpture studios and artists based near the farm. Eningu Clayhouse Lodge offers a truly relaxing stay at the beginning or end of a Namibian holiday. Though many people only stay one night, we would recommend two nights, if you can spend the time, in order to soak up the Kalahari atmosphere.
Eningu Clayhouse Lodge accepts children with a family room which sleeps four people comfortably and two other rooms which share a veranda, ideal for families with older children.