News

How about joining an egg hunt this Easter? The Gondwana Collection and Cymot as project partners invite you to find the golden Easter eggs hidden on their corporate websites. The grand prize is a family voucher (4 people) for three nights with full board at a Gondwana lodge of the winner’s choice plus a Cymot voucher worth N$ 5000.

Imagine a scrumptious dinner at a picturesque lodge, enveloped in African warmth and surrounded by nature - plus powerful voices singing a cappella. That is sure to get right under your skin. African Vocals, a band from Swakopmund, performed at Etosha Safari Camp, Hakusembe River Lodge and Damara Mopane Lodge during the week from 4 to 11 March and delighted our guests with well-known African songs like The lion sleeps tonight and local compositions.

It is the third year in a row that a property of the Gondwana Collection has reached the final of the Responsible Tourism Awards. In 2018, the Namib Desert Lodge is competing for the prestigious award. The other two finalists in the Accommodation Establishment category are Grootberg Lodge and Damaraland Camp. In the Tour Operators category, which includes shuttles, car rentals and the like, the three finalists are Abenteuer Afrika Reisen, Wild Dog Safaris and Ultimate Safaris. 

“Congratulations!! You scored 5 Eco flowers (92%)!!” Gondwana’s environmental officer, Quintin Hartung, who accompanied the Eco Awards Namibia inspectors to Kalahari Anib Lodge in late November 2017, rejoiced with the lodge management and staff at the fantastic score. 

Last week, we launched our #itsup2us campaign at the Delight Hotel in Swakopmund. The Gondwana Collection Namibia has adopted a “Zero waste to Landfill” goal together with our partner in this venture – Rent-a-Drum (RaD) who originally adopted this initiative. 

On 2 February, the Gondwana Collection welcomed Three Wheels Co, a group of travel bloggers attempting to create a world record! The three gentlemen hail from all over the world. Travis Bluemling is the US, Chris Parkes is British-South African, and Ross OC Jennings is the Scotsman who aims to play the bagpipes in every country across the globe.

The year started with various groups of Gondwana Employees making their way to the Kalahari Farmhouse for the 2018 Gondwana Training Academy. The Lodge Group invites promising employees from all over the country. A total of 220 of Gondwana’s 850 employees will participate in the Academy this year.

Remarkable sound effects were emanating from the grounds of the Gondwana Travel Centre in Windhoek on Friday, 19 January. The noise of hammering and sawing mingled with peals of laughter as some 70 staffers deserted their desks and rolled up their sleeves for some manual work. It was an afternoon of teambuilding, the highlight of the entertaining exercise was a group project to construct small, portable vegetable gardens. All the effort was for a good cause: the little vegetable gardens were handed to the Mammadù Trust.

Leave it or go for it? When it comes to planning a trip and deciding on accommodation, TripAdvisor, the world's largest travel site is a popular source of information. Four of our lodges received the TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence for the excellent reviews posted in 2017: Kalahari Farmhouse, The Delight Swakopmund, Namib Dune Star Camp and Eagle's Nest Chalets of our marketing partner Klein-Aus Vista.