Day 134: Idling in Namibia
Soutpiel Safari
John & Jenny
Sat 19 Mar 2011 06:51
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Day 134: Friday 18 March 2011. Dinosaur's footprints
camp site, near Ejo Mountain, Namibia S21 02.530 E016 24.098 Distance
driven 258 km
We passed the 22,000 km mark today.
At dinner last night I met the Chairman of the Board of
the owning company of Taleni Etosha Village (and three similar developments near
Sossusvlei) and, hearing that I had stayed at Namutomi the night
before, we reflected on the comparisons of the two. Namutomi has a
prime position right in the centre of Etosha Park and is run by NWR, a
Government organisation. They have a monopoly within the park and their
attitudes are like all monopolies; "take it on our terms, or leave it".
The staff are surly and unhelpful, the food is dreadful and the layout is
customer unfriendly. The Park office has no information to give to the
public; no maps, no information on wildlife, no records of animal sightings and
they couldn't even tell me which roads were closed because of the flooding. NWR
is a disaster in all respects, but if you want to stay in the Park you have no
choice.
By comparison, Taleni is focused entirely on
customer service. The staff are beautifully trained, attentive,
highly motivated and a delight to talk to. Nothing is too much
trouble. The facilities are beautifully
constructed, with great through to the environment and use of materials. Taleni
seems to be a model of successful tourism development, successful for the
visitor, the staff and, i would suspect also the owning company. Why is it
that once Government gets into the Hospitality Industry they always get it
wrong?
I left late, drove to Outjo taking with me the
Taleni Reception Supervisor to have her baby -due in a week! Then I slowly drove
on gravel roads, which the Namibians do so well, to Mount Ejo and stayed at a
this odd little camp site at the Dinosaur's Footprints where I am the only
visitor. I'll go looking for footprints tomorrow but hope there are no dinosaurs
in the night.
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