Reviews of trips to Luderitz

"In general this was perhaps one of the most enjoyable and spectacular holidays we have had. We know Namibia quite well so were partly revisiting places we had seen and liked before and partly filling in gaps to see places we had missed before. We were slightly concerned that we needed to maintain a complicated schedule, our trip totalled just short of 6000km and involved staying at 18 different places so there was obviously a worry about what would happen if for some reason we got behind schedule, but the planning was excellent (thank you Sabina) and everything went as planned without any difficulty. So we never found out what would happen if things went wrong! We felt sure in such a situation we would have been sorted out.

Expert Africa's information was excellent (brochure, website and specially prepared information).

We are very tempted to do similar trips with Expert Africa in future." Read full review: 30 nights in Africa; 25 on a Namibia trip

"All worked out very well. Toyota Corolla was perfectly adequate, the two passes have new surfaces so no trouble,most dirt roads very good but two sections on Klein Aus to Sesriem corrugated.

Discovered at Solitaire we had lost our oil filler cap but mechanic fixed a temporary repair which lasted for the remaining 2500km.

Disappointed the Budget office in Walvis Bay shut since wanted to talk about the cap.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Thought Angela was brilliant,very helpful and quick to reply." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 17 on a Namibia trip

"The trip was superb.

We are very happy with your recommendations, with your help and with the whole planning of the holiday.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Would be nice to indicate people traveling around Namibia in a self-driving trip the distances between locations.

We knew that and for us it was OK, but I think that for some elder drivers some of the distances between one hotel to the next can be fairly long." Read full review: 34 nights in Africa; 21 on a Namibia trip

"We had a wonderful trip and including the highlights we had it was even better than expected.

We always want to come back and see more of this vast and arid contry.

There are some regions left that we not have been, so until next time, cheers!" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"This was a comprehensive trip of almost a month, travelling in an anti-clockwise 'circle' ranging from Etosha in the north to Luderitz in the south.

We love this laid-back, spectacular country and the freedom that self-driving gives. It has to be one of the safest countries there is and we always felt completely comfortable. Apply normal common sense and visitors of any age can enjoy a wonderful adventure. In tourist terms everything is small scale and personal, even the most famous attractions attract very few people. Hugely enjoyable." Read full review: 27 nights in Africa; 21 on a Namibia trip

"Thank you Maruska for organising this trip for us. We had planned to join an organised bus tour but the one we wanted was full. Thank goodness it was. You told us that driving ourselves was ok and you were right. We would have been very frustrated on a bus tour. We like to do our own thing and sit and watch the scenery and chat to the locals.

We did not lose our baggage at Johannesburg airport. We booked it all the way through. Very pleased to see it arrive with us in Windhoek and Newcastle.

We met many people who had not gone to Fish River or Luderitz. We were really glad to have gone there. Not many people at Fish River and we enjoyed Luderitz very much. You warned us in the book about driving to Luderitz- the sand and wind- but we found it much worse appropaching Walvis Bay- I suppose it depends on the weather on the day.

We did not feel we had time to arrange a trip to the ghost town of Kolmanskop so we dropped in there on the way east to have a look from the gates. We had been told we needed to book in advance in Luderitz but the man on the gate sold us a ticket so we went in. So it's worth trying that, or maybe they have changed the rules. We did not join a group but wandered around ourselves.

We were pleased to have a 4WD. We attempted more because of that eg tracks down to the coves on the Luderitz peninsula and certainly we would not have got up back up one of them withpout it! I did worry about having a puncture in the middle of nowhere but we did not have any. But drivers seem very helpful- we stopped when we saw someone else at the side of the road and hopefully we would also have had offers of help.

We went up the Cape Cross to see the seals after leaving Swakopmund. That was certainly worhwhile.

We would thoroughly recommend the trip to see the Desert Elephants in Damaraland. We visited the other places there by ourselves. We also visited Sossusvlei ourselves from Kalala. The drive up the entrance was not too bad and the road was empty. We spent all day out and visited the Sesriem Canyon on the way out.

All the hotels/ guest houses were excellent. We thought the standard of service was superb.

Thank you again for your help and advice. I will certainly recommend Expert Africa to my friends. We would love to go back to Namibia; it is such a big country and we felt we just scratched the surface. We want to go to Botswana too so I suspect we will be back to talk to you!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Can't think of anything.

Being open at 10 pm UK time ( in NZ) was very useful to us!" Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"This was a second holiday booked with Expert Africa. For the first trip they were excellent, but this time not so good. Three comments -
1. this second trip was across two countries and Expert Africa staff seem organised by country. I was passed from one person to another and initially nobody seemed responsible for the whole trip
2. lack of answers to e-mails. On a couple of occasions I gave up waiting and had to phone
3. I booked 10 months in advance and even that far out some lodges were already fully booked. We were wait listed. A month before departure I contacted Expert Africa to make a final check of our wait list status and was somewhat surprised to find that in 10 months Expert Africa had not followed up on the bookings. By lucky chance only, we eventually got our first choice lodges, but only because I followed up" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 8 on a Namibia trip

"We enjoyed our trip very much. We would have preferred not to have gone to Halali, but to have had an additional day inn Swakopmund, as we did not have an opportunity to explore the town. Personally, we preferred the smaller lodges, i.e. up to 20 people. We enjoyed meeting the Namibian staff and finding our more about their country.

Our trip has inspired us to make a further visit to Africa.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

We were told that credit cards would not be accepted throughout the country, but in fact they were. This needs to be amended in your information. Also, we would have liked a detailed breakdown of the individual costs in the quotation.

We will certainly recommend Expert Africa to our friends, and will be using you again." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 20 on a Namibia trip

"Our trip as a whole was superb, from the initial contact with Sabina, to our arrival home.

We had enjoyed our visit so much 2 years ago, that we wanted to return, and see more. this could well have been an anti climax, but fortunately it wasn't. None of us have any regrets.

We noticed the effect of no rain for more that 2 years, very little greenery anywhere.

The unmade roads were in a bad condition, which we were told was due to the increase in large tourist transports.

The people, the accommodation and the food were as wonderful as we expected. Thank you Sabina for putting such a great trip together for us.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

A little caution is required when driving from Dolomite to Okaukuejo, especially in a 2x4 car. We were warned, by a frequent visitor, of very deep tyre ruts, at the start of the most direct route. We took the slightly longer southerly route (an extra12 Kms), which was fine.
We were also warned of the extremely large Anteater holes in the roads, some were 2 feet wide & 18 inches deep. Many could be seen, if driving at a sensible speed, as they had pile of earth beside them, but others were not visible until nearly on them! They need to be avoided, or the car would get stuck, and you could do serious damage!

There were none east of Okaukuejo." Read full review: 30 nights in Africa; 24 on a Namibia trip

"Overall another wonderful trip back to Namibia. Very well organised by Sabina yet again. Regarding dietary requirements, everywhere ( except for the Nest Hotel in Luderitz) went to great efforts to fulfil our requirements, and where the more remote lodges were unable to do so, they informed us on arrival, again except for the Nest Hotel who were not at all remote. Tok Tokkie and Ultimate Safaris went to a lot of effort on this.

The highlights were; Ultimate safari in The Kalagadi with Polentswa and Rooipots lodges, The Mule Trail Hike, The Sedina boat trip, Sinclair Guest Farm and Tok Tokkie. The outstanding guides were Tarry (Ultimate), Manilow (Mule trail hike) and Domingo (Tok Tokkie) and last but not least, Taso from Sinclair guest Farm a very able guiding dog.

It was good to explore Southern Namibia & a brief excursion to Botswana & South Africa in the transfrontier park - stunning for wildlife.

As ever, Namibia provides huge contrasts & inspiration.

A big thank you to Sabina for sorting out potential problems with Budget car hire & other issues." Read full review: 27 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip