Xaus Lodge

We watched the stars and the Milky Way after a beautiful desert sunset, then fell asleep to a lion nearby. The guides were so knowledgeable and made sure we had a great experience, and the local food was delicious. Staying at a hotel owned by the local community was amazing. Highly recommend!

A great community lodge, and the guides are friendly and know their stuff. You meet at the pickup point, then drive yourself west over dune after dune until you reach iXaus, looking out over an ancient pan. The duneveld scenery is unlike anything else, and this has to be one of the best Kgalagadi experiences. Don’t miss it.

The scenery alone had me reaching for my camera constantly: rolling red dunes, yellow grass and a deep blue sky. !Xaus Lodge is in a stunning spot, and I can’t wait to return. The rooms were clean, comfortable and well stocked, and the food was great. The guides shared fascinating details about plants, animals and insects, as well as how the San Bushmen lived in this semi-desert and how wildlife manages there today. On a morning walk, our San Bushman guide found fresh lion tracks and we followed them for a while, learning as we went. Later, the game vehicle caught up with the lion. On the drive to the lodge, across more than 91 sand dunes, we saw a female cheetah with her cubs. Then a night drive brought us a rare brown hyena stealing ostrich eggs from a nest. There was plenty of wildlife to keep us interested.

That last evening and our departure brought a leopard sighting, a wonderful way to remember !Xaus. The lodge is so remote that at night you can hear the silence. Anthony and Suzy were incredibly helpful when we had car trouble, and Hendrick and Kali were excellent guides, happy to share what they knew about animals, their tracks, plants and anything else we asked. The food was very nice, too. Meals became a lovely time to sit with people we hadn’t known before, all of us brought together by a love of nature. We’ll remember this stay for a long time.