Reviews of trips to Fish River Canyon

"Apart from Budgets 4*4 which was rubbish (I have detailed it separately) it was a smooth, easy and enjoyable trip. We drove ourselves from Windhoek to Fish River, then back up through all the places one needs to see to Etosha, then along the Caprivi Strip, dropping car off at Kasene in Botswana, crossing the border by boat into Zambia and flying back from Zambia

My rating of "fairly satisfactory" reflects our problems with Budget - but Expert Africa did recommend Budet, rather than me asking for it. The rest of the trip wa better than "very satisfactory" and I was impressed by Expert Africa's knowledge and help, nudging me to avoid driving to far if we were likely to have to drive after dark, and offering help when hotels were wanted were book (remember you are dealing with hotels of 10 to 20 rooms on most of our trip)

In short I can recommend this sort of trip to anyone, it is doable, safe, instructive and enjoyable." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 18 on a Namibia trip

"An excellent experience. I felt Angela had given me all the information and advice I needed and it meant the distances travelled weren't too far in one go, the description of all the accomodation had been accurate and we felt we had back up if needed. The emails to let us know about flight times etc made us feel someone was looking after us all through the holiday.The tyre insurance worked perfectly and it was good to have a form to be signed to check the hire car back in with.

We loved all the places you recommended, Turnstone tours were perfect, all the arrangements were in place. We would not hesitate in using Expert Africa again.

Thank you for a wonderful experience in which we feel we learnt a lot about Namibia and ourselves." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 11 on a Namibia trip

"We are very happy with most of the services and suggestions provided by Expert Africa. The lodge choices were excellent overall. We were also very happy that we decided to follow the recommendation of renting a 4x4. It made the driving much more comfortable and worry-free. Gwynn was a pleasure to work with. She is obviously very knowledgeable and passionate about her home country. The map provided was perfect! We had no problems at all driving ourselves.

I do have to mention two small bumps throughout the process. The first was a problem with the bank transfer from the US. Even though it is clearly explained in the instructions, I wish someone would have made it stand out. There are pages and pages of instructions to read and things are easily overlooked. It would be great if you could have a small list of highlights, including payment instructions. We ended spending over USD$300 to correct the bank transaction problem.

I was also disappointed about our lodging arrangements in the Kalahari. When we first discussed the lodging we were told that we were going to have to stay each one of the three nights at different places because everything was booked. To our surprise, when we arrived in Mata Mata and called !Xaus we were told that they had plenty of rooms available. They told us that they had availability when Expert Africa made our reservations. We ended up losing our entire payment for our night at Mata Mata Rest Camp which was not pleasant." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 11 on a Namibia trip

"We enjoyed it very much - very diverse. It was good to be self-drive.

The highlight was the flying safari.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

A very comprehensive feedback website ! Hope my comments were useful." Read full review: 23 nights in Africa; 22 on a Namibia trip

"WONDERFUL. A really great holiday over three weeks, NWR will not spoil it, a blip on the trip.

We would recommend a larger car than a Toyota Aygo, even though everyone said it could and indeed it did see us through the journey, a 4X4 with higher ground clearance and sand road capability would have been very desirable. With a small car, we were scraping gravel a lot of the time.

Cape Town, Primi Royal Boutique at Camps Bay, highly recommended as an option.

We stayed at some lovely locations and met some wonderful people as chosen by Expert Africa, thank you and well done.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

None, you're doing a great job, keep at it." Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"An excellent African experience and exceeded our expectations. The organisation of Expert Africa was faultless and their choice of local agents Wilderness Safaris and Ultimate Safaris was a very good.

We would highly recommend Expert Africa to anybody who wishes to visit Namibia." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 4 on a Namibia trip

"excellent experience as always" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"I can't find enough superlatives to describe the overall experience of the trip (despite the few difficulties listed in the wider feedback). In fact, even the tyre problems, listed at the begining of the document, were a part of the overall experience and have now become a signifiicant part of the 'adventure' and of the telling.

This was very well organised and the accomodation excellent. I can't thank Sabina enough.

A great trip though hard work at times. Deffinitely not a holiday for those with poolside inclinations but what an adventure.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Some additional recomendations for any one doing a similar trip at this time i.e probably wanting to see the flowers. Don't miss out a trip round the cape for wild protea. Don't miss out Kirstenbosch. On the journey north take the coast road from Cape Town and take in the West Coast National Park with the Postberg reserve. The flowers are stunning and there are also game and bird viewings to be had. The coast road is good with good tarmac. Make sure your car has a ZA sticker on the back as the Namibian police at the Orange river border will threaten to fine you if you don't get one put on at the service station just after the border.

As soon as you get into Namibia go to the service station anyway and get your type pressures checked and deflated to about 1.80 - 2.00Atm for the gravel roads or you risk having punctures." Read full review: 23 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"Gwynneth was very helpful arranging this trip. We had been to Namibia on a number of occasions so we knew what we wanted to do and what we liked. Our only problem was the car" Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 7 on a Namibia trip

"Great trip with lots of good memories." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip