Epupa Falls Lodge

Tented accommodation • Bird watching • Rafting • Visit the Epupa Falls

Epupa Falls Lodge is situated in North West Namibia and consists of nine riverside safari-style tents erected on stone platforms, each with two single beds and en-suite bathroom. All tents have electricity and mosquito netting and an outside, shaded balcony overlooking the tranquil Kunene River. Large makalani palms overhead provide welcome shade from the midday sun. The adjacent dining room and lounge area also face the Kunene River, along with a lounging pool for cooling down from the midday heat, or enjoying a glass of sparkling wine while watching the sun set.

Epupa Falls Lodge works closely with the local community to provide them with access to development opportunities and direct benefits through tourism. The Lodge has a sound ecological policy that includes removing all solid waste from the area and, whenever practical, recycling waste.

Epupa Falls Lodge offers a wide range of activities that give you a rare opportunity to explore this fascinating corner of the world:

Visit to Himba settlement:  Join one of the local Himba guides as they take you through one of the small Himba villages in the region and learn how these fascinating nomadic people live, work, think and worship. You will be allowed to take photographs and will also be taken for a private visit to a traditional Himba graveyard.
Sundowner:  Every evening approximately one hour before sunset, you are taken in an open safari vehicle to one of the hills overlooking the Epupa Falls for a sundowner as the surrounding desert landscape explodes in colors and fascinating shadows.
Rafting:  For those of our guests who want more than just to gaze at the river, there is half-day and full-day rafting or canoeing trips down the gentle Kunene river. After taking you to the upriver launch station in an open safari vehicle, your qualified guide will provide you with all equipment needed and brief you on the day's expedition. He will then lead you on a gentle cruise down the river, with ample time to stop and enjoy the scenery, watch the birds and the crocodiles sunbathing on the banks, and take photographs.
Bird Watching Trip by Boat: For bird lovers, there are half-day river birding trips where expert guides will point out some 238 different species that inhabit the Kunene region, including cinderella waxbills, rufoustailed palm thrush (a permanent resident at the camp), Rüppell's korhans (one of the regions 10 endemic birds), hornbills, paradise fly catchers, goliath herons, fish eagles, various bee-eaters, kingfishers ranging from the giant to the tiny malachite kingfisher, louries, bulbuls, rollers (purple, lilac, breasted, and European), lovebirds, golden and lesser masked weavers, and scarlet-breasted sunbirds, to name just a few. This is as close to nature as you will get, and a truly soothing way to spend your morning or afternoon.
Visit to Epupa Falls:  Every day, there is a guided walk to Epupa Falls with the option of taking a dip in one of the many rock pools or in the shallow water before the falls themselves. The walk will take you past the calm waters before the dramatic falls where the Himba people often come to wash their clothes, bathe, or play in the water. Finally, you will be taken to the best lookouts of the falls further downstream. The falls are a total of 700 meter long with a height of 35 meters, including rapids. Depending on the season, the falls have a typical flow from 20 (winter) to 800 m3 (summer) of water per second.
Hiking:  You will be taken along the river or into the surrounding hills to explore the flora and fauna of the Kaokoland and enjoy stunning views of the Kunene snaking its way through the dry desert landscape. During your hike you are likely to come across large Euphorbia bushes (whose poisonous milky-white latex has been used by the Himba for hunting for centuries), rose quartz crystals, mopane scrub, and the flat-topped umbrella thorn with the almost Mexican name: Acacia tortilis.

At Epupa, three meals are served a day as well as afternoon cake and tea. Complimentary coffee and tea are available all day, while our bar is always available for something more exotic. Dinner is as much a sociable as a culinary event and takes place around our 7-meter long dining table, in company with the manager and/or one of the guides. Depending on the season, some of the vegetables will be their own organic crop, home-grown in one of othe vegetable gardens. The wine list comprises a small but hand-picked list of distinct South African wines for every taste. Each bottle of wine is of course stored and served perfectly chilled.

Romantic candle-lit dinners on the river front can be arranged upon request.

[ Contact us to plan your safari ]