Reviews of safaris to Central Highlands

"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

"It was a fantastic trip and we have made many great memories.

We hope to do many such trips in the future." Read full review: 24 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"EA and Maruska provided great guidance and support. Very flexible in allowing us to modify the trip to meet our expanded intentions. Great vehicle, excellent itinerary.

We were surprised at the km of unpaved road. 3000km of 4000km. All serviceable, but occasionally very rough. Fuel readily available. 4305km/12.62km/liter/N$6905/$387 We consider this a good value.

We were very fortunate in that we had no tire or vehicle issues. We thought we were well prepared for communications. To our surprise neither of our iphones with T-mobile worked. We did not want to be out on the road without a phone to call for assistance, so we bought a che ap phone and 100 minutes of time. In the end we didn't need it but would not undertake the drive without a phone. Suggest you offer a phone as part of the package.

2nd- offer a basic sat based GPS system. Map is very good and easy to use, but a GPS allows better definition as to location, time and distance. We brought a basic Garmin GPS with southern Africa maps and it was indispensable.

In summation this was an adventure of a lifetime and EA made it possible." Read full review: 26 nights in Africa; 22 on a Namibia trip

"Many thanks to Sabina for her help and patience. Although I've been to Namibia many times and travelled a lot it hasn't previously occurred to me to use a tour operator (I've just booked things on the spot, or just turned up - easy enough in Namibia in February).

This was a good experience, with some definite advantages.

I don't know whether it was less expensive to do it this way than by doing it myself, but valuable the advice and help from Sabina was certainly something I wouldn't have got otherwise." Read full review: 6 nights in Africa; 5 on a Namibia trip

"Wonderful first trip to Namibia.

Exceeded our expectations and we enjoyed all aspects of the trip. Landscapes are stunning, animals are exciting to see and we felt that the lodges and overall trip was making a positive contribution to supporting local people and environment efforts.

Would recommend kayaking with seals at Walvis Bay as a side excursion. Going out of season did mean that a couple of lodges were very quiet but in the positive side we had some personalised excursions, found that the Etosha waterholes were not mobbed by visitors and that the heat was manageable.

We would certainly recommend this trip and ExpertAfrica to others - thank you to Tracy for the fantastic service and also for sending us the Namibia guidebook which we found so useful and used extensively." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"Sabina was endlessly patient in tweaking this trip to get it just right for us, and she succeeded beyond our expectations.

We had a great mix of accommodation styles and Sabina took on board our request for lots of hiking, giving us plenty of opportunities to really explore Namibia.

Overall a great trip." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 20 on a Namibia trip

"Running out of superlatives - we simply loved our trip, every single minute of it. We were a bit apprehensive at travelling after getting out of the way of it over the last three years. However, everything went so well, we'll be back for more soon, we hope.

All the arrangements went so well, from our arrival at Windhoek airport to the return two weeks later. We absolutely loved the Namibian people, who couldn't be nicer, at everywhere we went.

The land, the landscapes, the variety of animals, the food, the accommodation - we've never had better.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Can't think of anything. It all went so well." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"Overall our trip was amazing, we found Namibia to have such a contrast in scenery. On the whole the accommodation was perfect.

We have 3 problems we would like to highlight.

1: Bullsport, we are not sure why we were booked into low cost accommodation for one night when we could have gone straight to Hoodia for 3 nights.

2: Mushara lodge was less that 15 minutes drive from Onguma, and this should have been pointed out to us by Sabina. It was a waste of time and money staying for one night.

3. The greeting at the airport by Mclinda, she had a nice smile but that was about it! We asked for directions to Galton House which she said she didn't know how to get there. The Hertz rental man who showed us the car was far more helpful!" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"This was our 5th trip to Namibia, which we know very well. That is why we are probably also slightly more demanding customers, as we know what the options are and what we want.

For now four of the trips, we have used Expert Afrika, which we have great confidence in. This time was no exception, we had a wonderful trip to Namibia.

However, there was one - not insignificant - moment of irritation this time. We ended up with a hopeless 2WD Kia for the round trip in the beginning. This was very far from our request of a solid 4WD car (as also important during previous trips). When booking, we had an OK 4WD car on hand and then accepted the trip. Later however, we got ""upgraded"" to a larger 2WD car. This was not OK. Fortunately, we got the right category of car (Toyota Forester) after approx. 10 days - otherwise it would have been a disaster.

We look forward to use Expert Africa again for the fifth time, but next time, at first, we will make sure we have the right category of car before proceeding with the planning." Read full review: 36 nights in Africa; 35 on a Namibia trip

"Fabulous holiday which exceeded expectations

Tom was fantastic in setting up

Think to improve some hints on where to stop on the long drives would be nice" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip