Reviews of safaris to Central Highlands

"The walking safari format worked very well for us. In both cases, our guides were excellent (Boas at Etendeka and Bruno at Mundulea). We were able to see so much wildlife that we would have missed, but for the guides. We also liked being able to support projects like the Mundulea Reserve and Etendeka that are working to protect and restore habitat and wildlife in Namibia. The folks that we met (I am adding Harry Waterberg here) are doing such important work in protecting and restoring habitat.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
The trip logistics were great (accommodations, directions, choice of guides, locations, food, etc). One suggestion: This was our first time in Africa. We found it very helpful to have Grace's assistance when we arrived at the Windhoek Airport. We took your advice to check in at the Wilderness Safaris office there, and Grace took us under her wing and walked us through the process of using the cash machine to get local currency and picking up the rental car. She made that process so much smoother for us." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 8 on a Namibia trip

"I have recommended Expert Africa and Tracy Lederer several times to travellers I met on this trip. The first part in Namibia at the Namib-Naukluft Park was even more rewarding than I expected. It was very hot, however, I had 6 clear nights and took advantage of them to do my astrophotography with some excellent results. Being allowed to enter the main park early at 4.30am was a huge bonus. After that I was a little sleep deprived, but it was worth it Both Sossus Dune Lodge and Sossusvlei Desert Lodge were excellent.

The two "cat" related lodges Okonjima Bush Camp and Cheetah View Lodge were interesting and worth visiting. I spent 6 days at Cheetah View Lodge, 3 days at both lodges would have been sufficient.

Olive Grove Guesthouse and Ilala Lodge were repeat visits and I enjoyed both.

The disappointment of the tour was the Pangolin Photo Tour. It should have been excellent but the combination of an inexperienced Photo Host and poor drivers at the Ker and Downey camps was not effective. I would recommend the Chobe River as a wildlife photography site, however, I would be less enthusiastic about Pangolin Tour Company unless you were assured of an experienced photo host. The two Ker and Downey camps were OK, however, I've stayed in better camps in the Moremi and Kalahari areas." Read full review: 33 nights in Africa; 19 on a Namibia trip

"Fantastic trip. Well-organised and we really appreciated the level of information and detail sent by Expert Africa, and the local knowledge.

Sabina made good suggestions and we enjoyed staying in a variety of places, and the mixture of self-guided and organised activities. Helpful to have the airport lounge when we arrived after an overnight flight - cold drinks and somewhere comfortable to sit and watch the safety video, but also useful info and they helped us to get a SIM card sorted out etc.

I've never done a trip which was organised by a company before, and I'm a convert!

We have recommended Expert Africa to others already, and are thinking/ dreaming about the next trip...

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Would be good to strongly encourage people to know how to change a wheel before they travel (the Europcar rep told us 50-60% of travellers have tyre trouble). Also to make sure before people leave the airport that they have some idea of how to change a wheel on that specific vehicle - we came across a young family who were struggling, in 38C heat, to find the notch to put the jack into.

Also to make people aware that, while they may be able to check-in for their return flight online, Windhoek Airport doesn't have QR code readers for digital boarding passes. If the attendant in the Wilderness lounge hadn't made us aware of this when we arrived for our return flight we would have got a bit stuck, but if people are short on time or don't go into the lounge they may not discover this until too late.

In hindsight, we would probably have fewer one-night stops - it was wonderful, but I think we were trying to cover too much ground, really. Not Sabina's fault - we were over-ambitious!

A note for some of the lodges - often we were given a lot of verbal info upon arrival, including the different activities available. Sometimes we were and sometimes we weren't told prices. It's a lot to take in, and would be very helpful to have the activities written down and definitely with info on prices (some lodges did provide this either in the room or at reception)." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"Amazing trip and very well organised by Tom Morris of Expert Africa.

Having been to Namibia before, and knowing roughly what we wanted to do, we set out to book the trip directly ourselves, but after discussion with Tom he came up with quite a number of options / lodges that we hadn't considered or been aware of.

After putting together a suggested itinerary it was clear that it was easier, and just as economic, to let Expert Africa organise all the accommodation. With map, guidebook and detailed intinerary and directions everything was made easy for travelling almost 4000km round Namibia over 3 1/2 weeks.

Overall a fantastic trip with great places to stay and visit.

Keep up the good knowledge of the country and its ever changing accommodation." Read full review: 25 nights in Africa; 23 on a Namibia trip

"The trip as a whole was very nice.

The only problem was having a bat in our room while we were sleeping for 2 nights in Okakuajo and one night in Kalahari Red Dunes. But that isnt Expert Africa's fault!" Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"Our third trip booked by Expert Africa, and as always it was wonderful!" Read full review: 7 nights in Africa; 7 on a Namibia trip

"Really good." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"Great trip all round" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"A difficult start to the trip due to flight diversion, cancellation and three days stuck in Johannesburg. Airline (travel not booked through Expert Africa) were very poor with little communication and terrible customer service

In contrast, the standard of service from Expert Africa, one-to-one contact, liaison with lodges, and sourcing of alternative tickets to make sure we had a back-up plan to get to Namibia and could commence our holiday as soon as possible was well beyond what is expected. This is found in very few companies, was excellent and should be highly commended. Many thanks to Sabina, Chris and others who got involved over their weekend.

Once we arrived, the trip was excellent.

For travellers going via Frankfurt, it is worth highlighting that it is not an easy airport for short connection times. We had three hours on the way out which was ok but not generous. On the return, flights were changed several times and we were rebooked with 1 hour 40 minutes. Security was a total shambles and despite running or queuing all the way with no stops for anything we were very lucky to make the connection as bags were just about to be taken off. We would think very hard about a connection in Frankfurt in future with less than maybe 3 hours outbound and less than 2 1/2 hours inbound.

We have travelled in southern Africa several times with children since the requirement to carry birth certificates and never had to show them. On this visit, they were required on entry into Namibia. This seemed to be a requirement across all desks as we arrived and several families appeared to be having difficulties. What was actually sought was a document with the parents' name - not shown on a UK birth certificate. This was not a problem for us as the birth certificate was taken by our immigration officer as being what it is, although she clearly was not familiar with it. However, carrying a copy of the certified copy of entry into the register as well might be a good idea for parents.

We were pulled up at a traffic stop and required to show a driving licence. A UK licence in English was not accepted (despite being legal). The officer was determined to issue a ticket. He eventually relented and allowed us to phone his Chief Superintendent - who told us and him that he was wrong. Despite having to let us pass, he remained convinced that he was right and assured us that he would check, stop us again on the return, make us read the Road Traffic Act and issue a ticket then. He happened to be otherwise engaged further down the road later. It might be worth carrying an international licence for such situations and is definitely worth pursuing a resolution with a superior." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"We had a lovely and memorable trip with two teenage boys. The itinerary was realistic for the time we had available and we had a great range of experiences tailored to our requests.

We have given individual feedback on lodges and experiences but overall they were of a very high standard.

Estimated timings of road transfers were reasonable although we appeared to be slow on dirt roads. Overall B and C roads were good and we never felt we needed to rush.

We went “off piste” from Mundulea to Ongava - going north to the east gate to Etosha and driving through the park rather than the suggested route on tarmac. This meant we got to Ongava around 4pm and declined a sun down drive but meant we saw the east of the park.

We visited Namibia 25 years ago with no children, the first edition of Chris’ book and no device that needed to be plugged in to USB. Despite the changes in the world since we had an equally amazing time in 2023.

This was (for us) an expensive holiday but the service we were provided was good and we had confidence we would have a great holiday. That confidence was well founded.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Wilderness Safaris did not meet us at Windhoek - another guide showed us their lounge where we invited ourselves in.

But the lounge was a godsend as Europcar tested our goodwill with unprepared hire cars on a very cold morning and when check in IT failed as we tried to depart - leading to very long queues and our Frankfurt London flight “waiting” for us.

I was a little put off by Maruska living on the other side of the world. If we went again I’d have a 30 minute call before we left the UK to check my thoughts on gas stations (much easier than 1990s) and to get some insider tips - the one disappointing experience for us was a poor sundowner drive at our last stop at Red Dunes which we should have skipped." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip