Ai Ais Hot Springs, Namibia

As I said in my previous spot Ai Ais Hot springs is not one of those places you go to for the accommodation. The campsite is Ok, though most spots have no shade, which in Namibia can make a difference, but then of course at least you have the springs. Most of all we were lucky because New Year, and in general summer I am told is a quiet time of the year. But apparently in winter the place can be packed, full to the brim with people camping pretty much on top of each other. The hotel has an interesting design (sorry no photos) with a long central hall where pools of different temperature are set and along each sides there are two storeys of room opening onto the pools. This unfortunately, I am told, and I easily believe, makes for noisy rooms.
The semi-detached cabins are just plain boring, very square, plain and "normal".

If you have the equipment camping is really the way to go. But if you don't go anyway and stay in in one of their accommodation, which ever you can afford. It is not as if you are likely to spend much time in your room!

The springs are in a valley, the Fish River Valley. In fact this is the end point of the famous Fish River Canyon hike.

The "resort" is on the side of the valley which is not very wide at this point. When we were there is never rained so the valley remained dry but flash floods are known to rush through.

There are interesting walks/hikes with beautiful views, but for me this was a "rest and relax" holiday so I didn't do any hiking. In summer (New Year is summer on this side of the equator) the Fish River Canyon hike is closed due to possible flash floods and possible dangerously high temperatures.

The campsite is fairly typical of southern African campsites where everybody is meant to be next to each other. In Canada if you can see the site of your neighbor you consider the site to not be great, in southern Africa the vegetation does not allow for this type of privacy, you just hope for  little bit of shade.

Typical South African tents (I saw the same set up in Australia) with the tent on the roof of the vehicle.

The facilities where OK. but again this is not why you want to be there.

We did manage to get good shade, and we were right by the pool. You can't see it but we traveled in comfort and in fact have 2 tents.

For some reason I didn't take many pictures of the pool itself. Probably because it just looks like a very large totally normal pool. The real treat is when you get in and the water is just perfect!

When we were there the place was very quiet and it made for beautiful days, but particularly beautiful mornings.
You are missing something if you have not experience a sub-saharan African morning.