Reviews of safaris to Central Highlands

"This was a very well planned & well thought out trip, Sarah was so helpful in explaining what would work & what wouldn't, she explained she thought some of the drives would be too long in one day, which were the best places to spend more than one night etc. She certainly knew her stuff!

Our mistake perhaps was trying to do so much in 28 days, we could have done with a couple of 3 day breaks as we got very tired with so much chopping & changing.

Also when trying to stipulate & stick to our budget we ended up with a lot of the venues with only B&B & not half board which meant that overall we ended up spending a lot more than we had planned." Read full review: 28 nights in Africa; 27 on a Namibia trip

"Everything went according to plan. Namibia is an incredible place with so much to see and enjoy.

The planning of our trip worked very well for us although one night less in Swakopmund and one night more somewhere else would have been perfect." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 18 on a Namibia trip

"Well organised self-drive tour. I would definitely recommend a 4WD as the roads on this trip were very rough in parts.

There is a lot of driving, sometime quite slow-going but the scenery is so amazing it's worth it." Read full review: 7 nights in Africa; 7 on a Namibia trip

"Timing: November is on the cusp of rain, pretty hot, but still just about dry. I believe it is a relatively quiet month. Some parts of Etosha had seen rain and game viewing was good. Southern Namibia remained bone dry. It is a lovely time to escape the European drear, if you can.

Itinerary: For the wildlife, we wanted Etosha (1 week) and we wanted the Transfrontier Kgalagadi Park (5 days). Previous experience has shown Sabina to be a star at knocking together a sensible itinerary, and she managed it again. There was some difficulty finding accommodation (even in a quiet month) which meant one or two compromises had to be made. It all worked out well. If you haven't been before, it is worth saying that distances are huge and the dirt roads make them feel huger ....but then that all helps to emphasise the emptiness of Africa. It made sense to link our two parks with a visit to Soussevlei. I'm a bit ambivalent about the place. It was worth seeing the endless dunes, but the whole idea of a desert is to have a wilderness, and with only one road, you are not alone. We actually preferred the getting there and away again, 100s of kilometres with vast landscapes, and little sign of humanity (except for fences). The Transfrontier is off the beaten track and just in South Africa. It was very worthwhile (although I'd choose Etosha ahead of it (for its variety)), but there's no obvious attraction to break up the journey returning to Windhoek. Sabina did well to find a couple of comfortable lodges that had game activities on offer.

Practicalities: The journey had no glitches at all. It was so well organised. Even the 'misplaced' car hire voucher was sorted in a few minutes by Expert Africa (via Wilderness Travel). Instructions had all been clearly expressed (for example, what needed to be done to take a hire car into South Africa). We had no issues with petrol, reported in some reviews" Read full review: 25 nights in Africa; 19 on a Namibia trip

"Thanks to Josh for all his advice and support - especially for persisting in persuading us to hire a vehicle with higher ground clearance. This decision made the travelling more enjoyable. We probably could have managed in a standard car, as on previous trips, but life was a lot easier not having to think about the underside of the car! This was particularly important on some of the tracks leading to the lodges. Thanks also for all the emails keeping us up to date and for all the paperwork.

In previous trips to Namibia we had booked everything ourselves: flights, car hire and accommodation. It was great to be relieved of these tasks and to know that Expert Africa staff had visited and reviewed all the accommodation. The voucher system worked well and there were no unpleasant surprises apart from Bagatelle.

Eningu and Erongo remain our favourite lodges. Bullsport is the best place for varied walking and the Cornerstone Guesthouse gets "the attention to detail" prize. The staff at Cape Cross Lodge deserve special commendation for being so helpful and friendly. Thanks again to Expert Africa for yet another great holiday in Africa.

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Keep up the good work!" Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 19 on a Namibia trip

"Namibia lived up to our expectations.

Very impressed with Wilderness Safaris. They appear to provide excellent training and career development for their staff." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 18 on a Namibia trip

"This was an excellent trip - a great way to celebrate Peter's 75th birthday. We were away for almost 5 weeks, visiting Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia. We enjoyed every bit of the trip - The Hide and Hwange Bush Camp in Hwange; the mobile safari with David Carson in Botswana and our self-drive through Etosha in Namibia.

As usual the organisation from Expert Africa was perfect - with seamless transfers and bookings etc., all the arrangements spot on throughout the trip. And there were some unexpected and pleasant surprises - like finding that Andrew Dalzell was our guide again in Hwange and the unexpected upgrade to a luxury tent on the Botswana mobile safari.

Our thanks to Claire and all the team at Expert Africa for making this such a fantastic trip.

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It is hard to think of anything." Read full review: 33 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"A fantastic trip which we both thoroughly enjoyed - it completely exceeded our expectations.

Very well organised and great lodges. Highlights were Wolwedans, Safarihoek and the Scenic Air flights - but everything else was very very good. We were pleased with our route - we met some people who had done Etosha first (so seen all the animals) and where as we were so excited to see the desert elephants they were rather blasé having seen so much wildlife already.

We found the countryside amazing, in particular the desert, and in most case the guides were extremely knowledgeable, friendly and good to be with. It was good that most of the our "drives" were just us and a guide and not a jeep full of people.

The service everywhere was excellent - and staff were lovely and very very welcoming.

Thanks to Sabina for organising a great trip to a fantastic country - we are already saying that we need to go back…..

I would happily recommend Expert Africa to friends" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"We loved the trip as a whole and most lodges we stayed at were great - Ongava and Okonjima especially. Everything fitted together well.

The short welcome at Quivertree was a surprise as everyone elsewhere was so welcoming and friendly, but as it was just 1 night it didn't matter.

By the time lunch, drinks and game drives are added to the HB cost I suspect it's not much cheaper than Ongava which had a lot more to offer." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 21 on a Namibia trip

"This was our first trip to Namibia after much planning and we were definitely not disappointed. It is a vast country with beautiful, ever changing scenery and friendly people. The wildlife is spectacular and all our accommodation was wonderful. Although bumpy, the wide roads were virtually empty and we really enjoyed our drives and wouldn't have wanted to miss that aspect of the trip .In addition to the journeys the one night stops added to our experience of the unique variety of Namibia and brought us into contact with more Namibians. They certainly offered more than just a stop over. We had an amazing time and would love to return one day.

Can I just give special thanks to Chris for helping us out when our flight was delayed for 24 hours. He reorganised our itinerary very quickly and his advice was invaluable." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 17 on a Namibia trip