Guest experiences
We arrived home today after our wonderful five nights at !Xaus Lodge and a few days spent travelling home to Cape Town.
The place is truly fantastic – especially the accommodation, food and hospitality in general. Anel and Abram are great hosts. Nothing is too much trouble for them, and they made us feel comfortable and at home, as did the staff and the guides. The view over the pan, with a bright moon each night made a special atmosphere.
Unfortunately we didn’t see any big cats, but many wildebeest, giraffes, jackals, bat eared foxes, gemsbok and birds of prey. The entire experience was one to be repeated one day. When you next speak or write to them, please tell them how very happy we were there.
Wendy Lopatin, August 2011
We were guests at the first wedding hosted at !Xaus Lodge.
Last week, Karen and I had the most awesome opportunity to enjoy a stay at the fabulous !Xaus Lodge in the western parts of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. Situated south of Mata Mata near the Namibia border, it must be one of the most remote places still within South Africa. This is one aspect that makes !Xaus Lodge so very special. The entrance road is exclusive, covering 30km over 90 red dunes, ending at the lodge alongside a large ‘heart shaped’ pan. It was here that my friends Phil and Samantha (now both Hockey) lured us for their wedding.
This was apparently the first wedding hosted at !Xaus Lodge, and hopefully the first of many others. A more appropriate and unforgettable place to make your vows I can’t imagine – !Xaus mean ‘heart’ in Bushman, the local staff treated the wedding event with such dedication and perfection as if it was their own family. One of the wedding couple photographs was of the bride and groom with a back-drop of a Gemsbok crossing the pan in the sunset behind them.
!Xaus Lodge is a unique and exclusive get-away in the Kgalagadi which offers one luxurious yet friendly service and your own experience of the openness of the Kalahari. Lions are a regular feature of the surrounds of !Xaus Lodge and our stay was serenaded by the calls of Northern Black Korhaans, a nesting pair of Greater Kestrels and Black-chested Prinias and Red-headed Finches sighted while relaxing in the refreshing pool. I could write an article on our visit, but the best recall is the wholesome memory we have. I suggest that you all consider a visit to !Xaus Lodge. We thank Barry Gray and the staff of the lodge for offering such a great venue and for treating us with an experience that will linger long amongst our southern African travels.
Rob Little Percy FitzPatrick Institute, UCT
Hi,
We were lucky enough to stay at !Xlaus Lodge in Feb. of this year. This was for 3 nights, at the beginning of a one month tour of SA and Namibia. We cannot say enough about the high standards and knowledge of the Manager and his staff, who really made us feel specially welcome, and we particularly enjoyed our early morning walks, the setting, the food etc..
The manager actually took the attached photo with my camera- I promised to send it to him. I would be grateful if you could please forward it to him.
Thank you, Paula Farmer
Hi Marchien
We had a brilliant time at Xaus lodge. The highlight of our stay was watching a cheetah kill! It was awesome. Arnette has promised to email these to Byron, my youngest son. Would you be so kind as to pass on our home email address so that she can send pics. Byron is planning to blow them up and put them on his wall.
Thanks so much Helen Bowes
To the whole team,
We were at !Xaus Lodge between the 5th and the 7th April.
We’ll keep a very delightfull memory of these moments.
Please transmet our friendly (salute) to everybody : Warren, Torsten, Bruce, Elvis, Yelen, Helen, Brenda and all the so kind people who received us.
I hope, that, perhaps, someday we shall come back at !Xaus Lodge to meet once again the plants and the animals of this paradise.
Best regards.
Jean NATOLI
Dear Arne and Peter and all at !Xaus Lodge (who remember the crazy family!!!)
After not having access to e-mail/internet for about 10 weeks due to incompetence of computer services and thunderstorm it is working again. And so I decided the very first e-mail must be to you up there. Hope you are all well.
We are having the last days with Sanja at home. She is leaving to the States on Saturday and mom is quite heartsore… There is still a lot to organize. Jan is doing well at varsity. He’ll come to say good bye on Friday.
Arne- you remember the blisters on my shin?? They turned out to be most probably a spiderbite/bites and I still have lots of fun with them… putting on ointment and plasters everyday. At last they seem to be getting a bit smaller now (after about 7 weeks or so?). Nasty things… Don’t go near these buggers!
We are having lots of whales in the bay and our guests really enjoy them- so do we.- The weather is a bit of everything. We had a really very cold spell a few weeks ago. But since then lots of sunny days and occasionally big storms and rain. Bet you have it much nicer up there.
Stefanie has started working for us and I see her every now and then. Think she is enjoying it. She is such a lovely person.
if you go for a walk around thepan please remember the Lutzeyers
Wish you lots of guests
luv
Dorothee and all the other family members
Hi Pieter. Arne, and all at !Xaus
I have just received messages on my phone from Michael Lutzyer and his wife ( I haven’t met her before and I couldn’t hear her name so perhaps one of you can tell me what it is).
In short they said the following:
Michael’s wife:”We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at !Xaus Lodge. Thank you very very much”, and
Michael said: “Thank you for an incredible holiday at a great, great place”
To understand how meaningful this tribute is to you all, you should look at the website (see www.grootbos.co.za) of the 5* lodge they own called Grootbos near Gansbaai because this is the quality with which they are used to being associated and the quality they deliver to their guests. It is also an indication of how beneficial it has been over the past few months to really focus on aspiring to as well as developing and maintaining high standards of excellence in all we do.
Well done all of you for the wonderfully warm and professional way in which you looked after them especially as it was for 7nights. It is really pleasing to see that we are able to compete in terms of the quality of the service and the friendly and positive attitude our people display with the best lodges in South Africa.
With my very best wishes
Glynn
Hi Marchien
We had a brilliant time at Xaus lodge. The highlight of our stay was watching a cheetah kill! It was awesome. Arnette has promised to email these to Byron, my youngest son. Would you be so kind as to pass on our home email address so that she can send pics. Byron is planning to blow them up and put them on his wall.
Thanks so much Helen Bowes
Hallo Marichen
Wonderlike tyd gehad met Pieter en Arne by Xaus Lodge!
Baie geleer by Ouma Lena, Oom Gert en Oom Agrop. My seun Bernard (7) het so lekker met die twee boesman seuntjies Xanan en Baluwe gespeel dat hy vir ‘n uur gehuil het nadat ons vertrek het. Hulle het hom leer pyl en boog skiet en hy het met hulle karretjies gespeel.
Die sonsondergange en die veldloop was uitnemend!
Kos uitstekend en akkommodasie eersteklas.
Sal graag weer wil gaan
Groete
Gert
To All,
Debbie and I would like to thank everyone for making our engagement so wonderful and special. We had such a fantastic time.
!Xaus lodge will always have a special place in our hearts.
We are sure you guys will make many more as happy as we are.
Charles & Debbie
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