Reviews of safaris to NamibRand Nature Reserve

"we have, we guess, become bitten by the Africa bug. We had a great time though we know that our measures of enjoyment are not necessarily those that others might use. This was our first trip to Namibia and it lived up to expectations. Stunning landscapes, extraordinarily nice people, a history that you should learn about to understand the place.... and for those that live in great cities, just amazingly empty. What will we remember? Sabina said to us that we shouldn't waste money on hiring a 4x4 but suggested we got a vehicle that had good ground clearance. We went with this.

On our drive back from Wolwedans to Windhoek, having still not seen any major rain, we had to drive over a small range of mountains, and on the way to the main pass I realised that it had rained here and the road was largely washed away. But we got over the pass and I said it should be easy from here.My partner took over as we drove down to the plains, and the we remembered that if it rains in the mountains, the water has to go somewhere. When we drove into the second bit of flooded road which seemed to run as far as we could see in front of us, we swapped driving again, and after a couple of hiccups, we got through. Thanks for your suggestion Sabina, in a VW Golf, we'd still be sitting in the middle of a fllor, and as you know, not many cars come along in Namibia ....... We will of course go back; the deep south around the Snake River is there to visit and then we'd like to go along the Caprivi into Botswana and Zambia....

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Our experience of Expert Africa is that you are content to let people work out their own routes for particular sections of a trip and then help with areas where they are less confident. It probably reduces your income but it means that we feel that you are helping us work out what we want to do, rather than just selling us a package. This is more like the old time 'outfitters' who helped you buy your kit and suggested the best routes, than a travel agent. It suits us well and makes us feel confident in following your advice.

Thanks Sabina and you helped us enjoy your country." Read full review: 28 nights in Africa; 28 on a Namibia trip

"This was a truly fabulous trip. We loved the country. In particular, the landscape was so varied but consistently breath-taking. This meant that the long drives in between destinations were as much of a treat as the excursions in between.

We were very pleasantly surprised by the standard of food and service throughout the country and the warmth and friendliness of the people everywhere we went - and more generally, by what an easy place Namibia is to travel around. The game viewing (not just at Etosha) also exceeded our expectations. Returning home has been even more difficult than usual, but I have come back determined to encourage my friends and family to visit Namibia. We certainly plan to return and see more of this beautiful country.

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Only a couple of very minor points around car hire:

1. It is worth recommending to clients in the very helpful pre-pack you send out that if they need to buy a new tyre, it is worth phoning ahead to check the nearest town (which could be over a hundred kilometres away) has a spare in stock. We made the mistake of assuming we could get a replacement tyre for a Nissan X Trail which meant we wasted time travelling from Etosha to Tsumeb when in fact the nearest tyre available was in Otjiwarongo, another 200 km or so away.

2. Partly for the above reason, you should recommend/insist upon clients having two decent spare tyres.

We were very impressed with Expert Africa (as was everyone we met who had booked through you) and would certainly use you again." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"we loved Namibia and every single aspect of the trip went like clockwork. Its a very special country with amazing organisation coupled with a true sense of isolation" Read full review: 7 nights in Africa; 7 on a Namibia trip

"A special treat to celebrate 25 years of marriage - an adventure in Namibia. Spectacular scenery, abundant wildlife, delicious food, & great company. We have brought home so many memories of a truely amazing place and thousands of photographs!

A special thank you to Maruska, for patiently explaining all the various options and helping us construct our special trip. Thank you!" Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"Fantastic holiday, but not happy about attitude of wilderness safaris when our Namibia Airline flight was cancelled. We informed them be e-mail at 6.30 am on that morning and think that the initial demand of £950.00 to continue our holiday schedule was totally unreasonable. We think they could have rearranged transport for us to continue on that day, within the timescale they had, we would like to say we were very impressed with the guides and staff at the lodges.

They were all extremely friendly and helpful and we were able to learn a little of Namibian culture. Also, the wildlife was amazing.

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No" Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 19 on a Namibia trip

"wow

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

find a better airline to get to Namibia ?" Read full review: 34 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"Namibia is not the country to go to for lashings of big game. If you want that, it's Botswana, then perhaps Tanzania and then Zambia. Namibia is a destination where the scenery plays as much a part of the experience as the game. Accordingly, if you're full-on animal spotters like us, the country can disappoint a little.

Having said that, there is plenty of fun to be had, the accommodations are delightful, the light aircraft trips are spectacular, the scenery is indeed amazing - and, of course, there are the unforgettable black rhino. We did not self-drive, and met many people who were finding that experience fairly challenging (but others we met were loving it). All in all, we enjoyed the visit, but probably would have wanted to speed it up here and there, and maybe cut down some of the 2 night stays where one had done everything within 24 hours.

Not sure either about Etosha - some marvellous moments, but not up there for us with the truly great African game parks.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

1. People can do Erongo fully in one night if they have a late afternoon flight home from Windhoek.
2. On private safaris, issue guests with a voucher making it very clear what is included and what is not (eg local beverages)
3. Seriously consider whether Kulala Desert Lodge is suitable
4. Wolwedans and Sossuvlei did not merit 4 nights - could this be done in for speedy types like us?
5. Clarify that Erongo and Damaraland scenery are actually really quite similar - we had expected Erongo to be a sort of green and pleasant land!" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"The holiday of a lifetime, incredible places to stay, unbelievable scenery, exciting experiences, delicious food and lovely people, how do you improve on that, a very big thank you to Angela at Expert Africa for arranging it all.

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Can't think of anything" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"This was a great trip and Tracy helped us a lot with fixing it up and working out where to go. Thank you so much. I was slightly worried about not staying any longer than 2 nights in any place but this turned out to be right for the majority our trip. On reflection the only thing we found that we would have changed was in Etosha. The trip from Okaukuejo to Mushara was a long one considering that we had already done the main waterholes immediately east of Okaukuejo the day before and we basically bypassed them. By the end of the day we were very tired. It probably wasn't helped by the flat tyre we had. I would suggest thinking about stopping for 1 night in Halali camp. We didn't have time to do any waterholes north or west of Okaukuejo.

Sandstone trip from Swakopmund was a good trip. The driver had not long started working for the company. He was a good driver and was cautious driving along the beach. However he was a bit less good at the birds and all 4 of us knew more than him.

Swakopmund. We had two great evening meals. The first in the Jetty restaurant was superb and then at the Tug which wasn't quite as good but was enjoyable too. Great fish well presented, good service and a lively atmosphere. Highly recommend both. Neither very expensive by UK standards.

Driving. We had three long drives but set off early on all three and had arrived in time to do afternoon activities or just rest for a while. The drive from Swakopmund to Doro Nawas took about 6 hours. The coast salt road is a s good a tarmac with little traffic. The first 50-80 kms going in land on C35 were easy but the further we went the less good it became. There had been some recent grading work on some sections. We stopped in Uis. Petrol easy although one of the petrol stations was closed. Had coffee in the restaurant in town sorry forgotten its name. This was ok.

We didn't stop at Brandberg because of time really. The road was less good after Uis but ok. The D2612 was less good quality than before and needed a number of times to slow down. However it was in the process of being graded and the sections already done are in good condition. We got to Doro Nawas in time for the evening activity and this meant we had seen desert elephant really well that evening.

From Doro Nawas to Okaukuejo was a good trip. The gravel road was ok to Khorixas and then is tarmaced all the way. We stopped at the petrified forest which was good and worth seeing. We also stopped at the bakery in Outjo which was excellent as recommended.

The drive from Mushara to Windhoek was easy on the tarmac road with little traffic. We stopped at Otjiwarongo. The Kameldorn Garten had closed and we ended up in fast food restaurant.

Internal flights were excellent. All the pilots were helpful and friendly. The best flight was from Sossusvlei to Swakopmund. This went up the valley across Deadvlei and Sossusvlei, across the desert and then low up the coast past a couple of wrecks and many fur seals on the beach. Brilliant.

The internal flights in Botswana were all very good as well. All on time except when we had to wait for the other passengers to sort their luggage. We managed to find a bag which fitted the dimensions for the little planes. However it didn't seem to matter too much in Namibia but did in Botswana. We found a bag from Eagle Creek(American company on website but bought in Hathersage Derbyshire) a duffel bag which was the right size but quite expensive at £80. We also used some packing cubes for shirts, toiletries etc which made life very easy. the other passengers had a framed bag which was twice the recommended size and spent 40 mins arguing with the local airline and then having to put half their stuff in another bag provided by the airline.

We took a suitcase with us and it was easy to leave both at Windhoek and Maun airports with Wilderness. The only problem was we couldn't open it when we got back to Windhoek! Eventually opened at home.

Etosha. We really enjoyed Etosha. We could have done with more time. We in the end did not visit any waterholes to the west of Okaukuejo as we decided to do those east of there on our first day and then travel halfway on the second day before visiting waterholes. In the end we were very tired by the time we arrived at Mushara. The NWR map is useful. Waterholes:
Ombika Brilliant start. Many elephant, Oryx, Zebra, Springbok, Impala
Okaukuejo as stated elsewhere some great sightings. Worth visiting even if not staying. 8 rhino the highlight.
Aus Kudu, springbok, oryx, hartebeeste,
Nebrowni spotted hyena
Salvadora 3Lion with zebra kill, Jackal, lots of Wildebeest crossing Pan
Halali middle of day Giraffe, impala
Goas 53 elephant including many young in the middle of day. Really playing in water
Nuames more elephant
Near Springbokfontein Black rhino trying to mate
Dik dik drive many dik dik. Leopard seen by others
Klein Namutoni Elephant zebra giraffe kudu impala springbok
Most of the others were dry or had little game." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"We had a fabulous time! Unfortunately, this once-in-a-lifetime trip makes us want to go again, and again, and again!

I do hope the concessionaire's are careful not to over build. They are able to charge top dollar because of their high concentration of animals to a low density of visitors. But when vehicles are stacking up, waiting for a 10 to 15-minute turn to see the animals, the concentration is already too high for my tastes. There is something to be said for having more eyes in the field, because you then have more opportunity to make a good sighting. But there needs to be a balance, and we saw many new camps being added, and many camps are increasing the number of guests they can accommodate. As someone going to visit, note not only the number of tents in your camp, but of all the camps within the concession.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
With your booking, Expert Africa has a general interest, basic requests, etc box; it would be nice to be able to customize that for each activity and/or camp to accommodate interests and expectations for different locations.

You guys and gals at Expert Africa are great! Everyone I've dealt with, though primarily Maruska and her sister Saskia when she was still with you, has been most helpful, honest, and pretty-darn-accurate, which I appreciate more than I can express!

Filling out this review has been a nightmare for me. Next time I will type things out elsewhere, and then cut and paste them in, which should work. When I tried to go back to previous page, whatever I'd typed was swallowed. If I hit save, it kicked me out, and I had to start again at the very beginning. I hated having to scroll forward through every page from the beginning, so I tried cheating and leaving the form open, but it would time out, again swallowing whatever I'd typed. It would be nice to be able to open on any page, so I could complete as time and mood allowed. Oh, well.

Sorry it's taken me so long to complete. I know I really appreciated other people's reviews and used the reviews heavily in making my choices--I would also like to see a scale of 1 - 10, because I would've liked to differentiate between good and excellent with a very good. The overall quality of all these camps is at least good, but some were far more excellent than others." Read full review: 34 nights in Africa; 17 on a Namibia trip