THE MOST UNIQUE HOTEL IN AFRICA
There are so many interesting components to traveling: sightseeing, immersing yourself in a new culture, visiting hidden gems, rest and relaxation, and the list goes on and on. One mistake that many travelers make is not treating their accommodations as part of the travel experience. Instead, folks just treat it as a “bed” for the night(s) as you continue to map out things moving forward. However, if you change your approach and really treat accommodations as part of the travel experience, your accommodation itself can be a “hidden gem” or a “sight to see,” adding to your overall travel experience. It Is with this approach that I had the pleasure of staying at the most unique hotel in Africa – Zannier Sonop!
So what makes Zannier Sonop so unique? Picture being taken back to the 1920s in terms of style and décor (not the racism/colonialism) and merge that with luxurious modern glamping in the middle of stunning rock formations. This hotel epitomizes stunning aesthetics. The tents are located beautifully around the rock formations giving you a view of the vast desert landscape around the property. The hotel has a remarkable dining room, billiards room, and several viewing decks where you can enjoy a glass of whiskey and smoke a cigar. This video epitomizes that fact!! The pool is breathtaking, and in addition to offering an amazing place to relax, also doubles as the location for the outdoor cinema where you can watch classic cinema on the projector. This truly is the most uniquely designed hotel in Africa.
Design aside, let’s talk about the service. I thought the service was good, but not great. Part of this may have been the fact that we visited during a very unusual locust infestation that was happening across the desert in Namibia, and that may have compromised the service. However, one would argue (and I’m making that argument) that the staff should have gone above and beyond during this somewhat peculiar time. Staff at the restaurant were spectacular. However, staff around the pool and staff responding to room requests were particularly slow to react. One situation comes to mind – we had our tent opened up during the afternoon to enjoy the view and to take in the surroundings. Right before we went to dinner, we asked staff to come close up the tent. It took almost 40 minutes for staff to come, and, after we left, we returned to find out that the entire tent was not fully closed up and locusts made it into our tent for the night. This made it very difficult to sleep that night. So, in all, the service needs to get better and the staff need to pay attention to these details. 5* hotel service in Africa is usually the best of the best, so it was unfortunate that this one didn’t live up to the same standards.
Finally, Zannier Sonop offers a cavalcade of unique desert experiences that make for a remarkable and special vacation. A sundowner on top of a sand dune is one of the most unique things you can do! We learned a lot about how the dunes form, got to see some of the unique magnetic properties of the dunes, and got to drink some spectacular liquor as we watched the sun set. We also had a champagne breakfast one morning at sunrise – another remarkable experience win a picture perfect setting. The content from this breakfast was unreal!! Horseback riding and the outdoor cinema were among other experiences that blew our mind, and the hotel offers so much more in addition to what we did!1 The experiences were undoubtedly all 5 star.
In sum, I’m going to give this hotel a 4.5* overall, with the only faltering aspect being on service. My hope is that the service faltering was just a fluke (especially due to the locusts). I would still very much recommend the hotel to anyone making a trip to Namibia!!
