Reviews of safaris to Namib-Naukluft National Park

"We enjoyed Namibia, especially during Covid times when there are so few people.

One lodge, Ai Aiba was disappointing and felt “low end”- our travel consultant should have suggested a different place.

The other issue was with Etendeka and Tok Tokkie: my wife and I found the description quite misleading: there is nothing Luxury about Tok Tokkie, and it should have been presented as a camping trip with no tent. I believe that Etendeka is similar. Expert Africa should have made it very clear that conditions are very basic and that it can get freezing cold, windy and sandy at night and the bed is a very basic foldable one, and this was not conveyed to us clearly. While Mandulea was also not luxurious, it did have some basic comforts like light, real bed, shower and toilettes which worked well for us.

On the positive side, Onguma and Hoodia exceeded our expectations and were superb." Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"My family had high expectations for this Namibia trip, but it exceeded all of them! All of the lodges were excellent, staff amazing, and the food delicious.

In terms Covid, all staff wore masks and, from what I understand, were vaccinated.

Lastly, Maruska at Expert Africa went above and beyond to help us plan the trip and ensure it went smooth and safe. She helped us defer from 2020 to 2021, including changing the entire route due to lodge availability. She helped us find a Covid testing site prior to our return and informed about the very last minute entry requirement changes, which we would've missed otherwise. We are now looking forward to booking our future trips with Maruska and Expert Africa!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

None, everything was excellent." Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"It's hard to know where to start. Perfect, amazing, unforgettable.

The personalised advice on the itinerary, accommodation, and activities great from Sabina our local advisor with a true passion for Namibia. Then COVID-19 hit and Sabina was understanding, flexible and made endless changes always with a smile and a laugh. Ultimately it was due to her reactivity, solution orientated approach and ability to adapt and make changes at short notice that we were able to spend an amazing and unforgettable family holiday in an amazing country, indeed were privileged to regularly feel like we had Namibia to ourselves. We were alone on Dune 45 for a good hour.

Sabina was available to reply to all our questions however minor and even helped us with an NEW reservation that we had made directly with the park, she really couldn't do enough to make our holiday amazing.

What a country, we were intimate with wild elephants, lions and a leopard.

For me Expert Africa is the only place to go for a holiday in Africa.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

I really struggle to suggest any improvements. The trip was amazing, the service from Sabina and then Chris when COVID made things really complicated was faultless/first class.

The reception at Windhoek from the folk at Wilderness Safaris was a great start to the trip but there is nowhere to rate it on the feedback forms." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 17 on a Namibia trip

"This was my first trip to Africa. It won't be my last. I traveled with 2 friends who had been to southern Africa 3 times previously, one time using Expert Africa. I was extremely impressed with how smoothly the trip went, and how well chosen the itinerary was.

We wanted to see animals of course, but 2 of us are birders, and one is a fisherman. The fisherman had wonderful catches at Kwara and Setari, and the birding was wonderful throughout the trip. And the animal sightings far exceeded my expectations. I want to especially commend the trackers at Kwara and Lagoon, Mike and Ken. I did not expect to see nocturnal animals, but they were able to show us some wonderful creatures, lesser bushbaby, African wildcats, serval, scrub hares, bat-eared foxes (we saw those in the daytime too), small spotted genet. I was really thrilled.

The accomodations were far more luxurious than I had expected, and the food was overall superb. All the travel arrangements worked perfectly.

Maruska Adye-Rowe, who handled this trip for us, was great. The trip was delayed for a year due to covid, and really evolved. She dealt with our changing ideas very well. First it was a shorter trip to Botswana and Victoria Falls, then that got lengthened, then we added the time in Namibia.

Maruska stayed on top of the covid testing situation. On our way, during our layover in NY, Maruska called to tell us the entry requirements for Namibia had changed, and she'd arranged covid testing for us at our hotel at the Johannesburg airport the evening we arrived." Read full review: 23 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari

"This was a very complicated trip and overall had very few hiccups. The complications arose because of crossing four borders during a pandemic and the multiple tests we had to have. These were unforeseen at the time we were planning the itinerary. However, it was either that or postpone which we were not willing to do. Maruska guided us through every step of the way and we are and will be eternally grateful for her expertise in planning this trip of a lifetime!

We had no Covid concerns while traveling throughout the entire region. Protocols were well established, everyone wore masks, disinfectant sprays were used liberally, and social distancing observed wherever possible. The staff at all our lodgings was totally committed to our safety and wellbeing. And, although being tested every time we crossed a border was an inconvenience, it added a huge level of confidence that we were healthy." Read full review: 26 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari

"Amazing trip" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"We had an excellent trip to Namibia with the assistance of Expert Africa.

We were fortunate to time our trip right in the middle of COVID waves and found Namibia to be operating largely as normal. Cities such as Swakop were quite strict on safety protocols. The remote camps were a bit more lax. But we found a self drive as a great way to vacation during the pandemic and were lucky to have many of the camps to ourselves with a full staff serving us.

Many thanks to Maruska for her excellent recommendations and her flexibility in dealing with passport issues - she truly went above and beyond. The highlight of our trip was the drive from Swakop up to Damaraland and through the Skeleton Coast park.

Self driving is an absolute must in Namibia!" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"Our overall trip experience was excellent. The decision to book the trip with Expert Africa was to a very large degree due to Sabina's advice, responsiveness and enagement to make sure I had all the necessary information and also to answer all my questions. Sabina was very good at providing the various tour options and accommodation combinations and subsequently at organising the whole tour once we had settled for an itinerary.

Sabina was in contact with me and/or available before departure and well as throughout the whole trip to help or provide advice. This was very good as a first traveler to Namibia as we felt that there was always someone available to help us with any unexpected situation. Sabina is very personable and also very good at what she does. I felt 100% comfortable dealing with her and receiving her advice.

The literature, advice and information provided was also comprehensive and very good. The map, itinerary and instructions were also very good and also the logistics and communication with the various lodges. They were all expecting us and checking in and a fast service was never an issue.

In particular the advice regarding the following points was useful:
- Purchase local Super Aweh SIM card at the airport
- Exchange EUR/USD at Maerua Shopping Mall in Windhoek/withdraw cash at Cash Machines along the trip (roughly 100 EUR per day on a self-drive tour to provide for fuel, food, entrance fees and payment for extra activities at the various locations)
- Covid tests in Windhoek (Rennies Travel)
- Payment of the tour quote in USD with Euro credit card (everything worked well with this)

The quality of all the lodges/accommodation was very good, except for Halali as already explained, and I also understand the reasons for it.

Doing a self-drive tour was also a good experience and luckily we did not experience any negative issues on the roads and also not with Herz the car rental company upon returning the car (Isuzu 4x4).

We were also lucky to meet another family with teenagers during out trip, which we coincided with at two locations during our trip, and so this was a very good experience for us and for our kids to get to know other people.

We would be very happy to book again another tour with Expert Africa and with Sabina in particular.

Damaraland Petrified Forest: One minor negative comment...
On the C39 road, a couple of Kms. from the crossing of the D2612 and the C39, on the right hand-side of the road there is a hand written sign for the Petrified Forest, we did not realised this is not the "official" site after driving into the side road a few hundred meters upto a parking and agreeing to pay N$100 per person to a "local community". The locals were very friendly and did show us some pertified trees lying on the ground in addition to some Welwitschias. This was only maximum 20 Minutes visit or so, it was interesting, however, it was clear that this was not the official site. All other archeological/official attractions provide an official fiscal receipt upon payment. We did not make an issue of it, however, were disappointed to be tricked into this site. Because of this experience and the time that we had already spent, later a few Kms. along the road we did not stop to visit the "official" Petrifed Forest." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"I have been to >25 countries in Africa. Sabina is the best travel agent I have ever worked with. Just GREAT. THANK YOU!" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"We were able to complete two weeks of a four week trip before having to leave at short notice because of the travel restrictions imposed due to the Coronavirus.

What we saw and did in those two weeks we loved.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Nothing at all. Sabina worked tirelessly to sort out flights for us to get us out of Namibia and back to the UK. The situation was changing every few hours as did the airline timetables and seats were very limited indeed. We absolutely could not have done this ourselves. I should point out that we had booked our flights independently and were not meant to be flying out of Windhoek at all so Expert Africa really did go above and beyond in helping us.

We have used Expert Africa a number of times over the years and always recommeded to friends. This trip absolutely highlighted why !" Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip