Reviews of trips to Fish River Canyon

"Absolutely amazing! Great country, great people, great food, great animals. Lived up to all of our expectations. Would recommend Namibia as the African country to visit - without any reservation at all.

Would love to go again but there might not be as much pampering next time! This year was a special holiday so we splashed out a bit but now we've been once we wouldn't mind a bit of camping another time. The campsites we came across all seemed very safe and well equipped. And the beer was good too!

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Keep up the good work!" Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 19 on a Namibia trip

"We had high expectations of Namibia and were never disappointed. The landscapes were vast and varied, the people helpful and friendly and there was so much so see.

The country was so beautiful in so many different ways. Going in winter we saw arid desert, red dunes and flowers everywhere. It was truly breathtaking.

The people are quite reserved but really helpful. All the accomodation and facilities wherever you went were very stylist and spotless.
The driving was a challenge; hard work in some areas, and the distances vast.
We will never forget it.

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We were incredibly impressed by your service, and mentioned your name in many places. We had no problems with any of the arrangements ; all worked well.
Your advice was spot on and literature well laid out and informative. I found it very useful to have a discussion about an option and then be able to look at it on your website and read the comments.
Thank you very much." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"The trip was excellent, the places we stayed were great and we had a marvellous time.

The drives between the accommodation were just the right length, we always arrived at or just after check in time and had the afternoon to explore, which was good.

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The only thing we would do differently if we were going again is to miss out one night in Clanwilliam and add the night to Erongo instead. There wasn't much to do in Clanwilliam outside the wild flower season and Lambert's Bay was pretty much closed down for the winter." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"We thought this an incredible holiday.

The accommodation you booked for us was all good and the advice you gave was excellent. If we were doing it again, we might not visit Luderitz and probably would not visit Erongo. That apart it met or exceeded our expectations. We saw incredible scenery, lots of wildlife and interesting geology.

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We thought your service was pretty exceptional. We met one of your staff in Luderitz and again at Sinclair - she was seeing some of the hotels and lodges and had clearly seen quite a bit of Namibia. We thought it excellent that you were really keeping in touch with the locations you recommended." Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 19 on a Namibia trip

"Amazing! We were lucky to have a month here but would have liked longer. There is so much to see and do.

A lovely country with great lodges and fabulous wildlife. I think we saw the best of everything thanks to the excellent advice from Sabina for whom nothing was too much trouble.

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It was really really cold, not just on game drives but also in tented camps. Windproof jackets need to be recommended at this time of year. Temperatures fell to at least -2 deg. C. We didn't feel prepared for it being quite so cold at nights. We were glad we had our thermal underwear with us! It even snowed at Solitaire two days after we left the area.

I was really glad that you recommended a 4x4 to us and think you should have pushed us in that direction earlier as it really enhanced the trip, e.g. we could fully explore Fish Canyon and the Luderitz Peninsula. Having no experience of 4x4 driving, a short course at the beginning of the holiday would have been useful and we met a woman (Rome, who is Willems neice) at the Barchan Dune Resort who was talking about doing just that in Windhoek where she lives." Read full review: 28 nights in Africa; 25 on a Namibia trip

"We had an amazing adventure through SA, Namibia and Botswana. Being independent Kiwis, we were keen on arranging our own itinerary and travelling under our own steam, preferably off the beaten tourist track. Namibia appealed, and once I found your amazing website I was hooked. In a former life I was a travel agent here in NZ, but most trips were packaged and rigid, and that was not what we wanted. Having worked out roughly where we wanted to go, I emailed your office, who then referred me to your Namibian expert who (unbelievably!) actually lived in NZ.

Maruska's in depth knowledge of Namibia and her recommendations really made the trip work. Travelling distances were good, and although we travelled over 7,500 km in 5 weeks, it was very do-able. Maruska listened to our preferences and we were delighted with her choice of accom. We enjoyed having the freedom of travelling in the 4WDs to suit ourselves. I fully expected the odd hiccup when we finished with the vehicles and then were reliant on a complicated series of transfers, boats, small planes with no set schedule, more transfers etc, but it all went according to plan and worked like clockwork.

Full marks to Maruska and your agents in Namibia and Botswana for attention to detail and for putting it all together.

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Just keep doing what you do so well. Your website is just fantastic, great to read other peoples reviews, which is why I've spent all day putting up all this feedback (Sorry it took so long!).

The Brandt guides to Namibia and Botswana are actually in our local library, and it was from there I picked up the website in the first place. Our copies are well worn from the trip, and there was a bit of a bun fight over who kept them. Maybe one per couple would be good, or at least one per vehicle? The Namibia maps were great and Maruska had highlighted each of our stops which was also great attention to detail. We were very happy with the service we received from Maruska - she's a gem - look after her!" Read full review: 33 nights in Africa; 19 on a Namibia trip

"We travelled a little over 2,600 miles in 3 weeks and could have carried on! We had an excellent holiday and really appreciated the differing styles of accomodation. We learnt a lot and thoroughly enjoyed Namibia. What a range of things to see and do. We would recommend Turnstone Tours who gave us an excellent trip to Sandwhich Harbour.

Chris McIntyre is clearly well regarded in this country as his name was mentioned several times.

This is our second holiday organised by Expert Africa and we would not consider travelling with anyone else to the African countries they deal with.

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No - you had this one absolutley spot on. Sabina had taken on board our likes and preferences and had suggested an ideal itinery" Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 17 on a Namibia trip

"Overall it far exceeded my expectations. The Namibian people were extremely friendly and we found consistently high standards of rooms, service and food.

If there was a downside it was that perhaps on a few days we ended up having to drive for longer than was comfortable. However, I knew it was an ambitious programme which was necesary in order to see and do everything that we could. If there is any blame attached to this, it rests solely with me.

I would not hesitate in suggesting Namibia as a self drive destination - although a high clearance vehicle is almost compulsory in some parts.

Many thanks to you all for making it happen." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"Namibia is a unique destination, which still ticks all the boxes for us, even after 10 years of annual visits!" Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"Overall our trip was marred by the fact that we had an ordinary car. This was totally unsuitable. You have already received comments on the especially bad roads. This made travelling stressful, uncomfortable and tiring. We would often only reach our destination at dusk as we had to travel so slowly.We could not enjoy the journey or stop because of the stress of the hours of daylight left to get to our destination. Once at our destinations we were exhausted and shaken which marred our enjoyment of the lodge, location, wildlife.
Etosha, one of our planned highlights was especially disappoiting due to the fact we only had a car (see earlier comments).

We saw almost no other 2WD vehicles throughout the trip and everyone we spoke to, either locals or in the tourism business could not believe we had been advised that a car would be ok for the journey we were undertaking.

We advise that under no circumstances future guests are infomred that a 2WD vechilce is acceptable.

One final recommnendation....provide some advice on tipping and especailly advise on the car park security attendants. The first time we parked the car and saw someone coming towards us with a cosh we thought we were going to be attacked and not that he was coming to offer to look after the car.!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

see comments throughout questionnaire.

I reiterate again DO NOT recommend 2WD vehicles... the stress, discomfort, seeemingly endless punctures/tyre problems overroad any real enjoyment of the holiday." Read full review: 23 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip