Reviews of safaris to Okonjima Nature Reserve

"This was everything we could have hoped for and more.

Namibia is a very special place - vast, deserted, so varied in landscape, full of beautiful options.

At the end of our 17 days, our family of 5 adults each ran through their own highlight. We had 5 different versions such was the richness of this holiday.

Best one ever / Tanzania had topped the list before but Namibia offers so much more!

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Very satisfied with expert Africa and have already recommended." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"Amazing! Whilst we have travelled around the world, this was meant to be the trip of a lifetime and it was. It is a holiday we will long remember. We have always wanted to go on safari and see elephants, lions and other wildlife in their natural habitat, but it was also special in terms of the fantastic scenery, friendly people and some of the amazing places we stayed. A great way to mark a special birthday! Thank you." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"We spent 16 days in Namibia in June - July 2017. We had chosen Namibia because the £/ rand exchange rate was attractive whereas other countries quoted holidays in US $s which made them more expensive. Also the country was a good and safe one for self-driving. I found the good, straight, empty roads a pleasure to drive on compared with UK. We stayed in 10 different locations during our trip and three places stood out so far as bird and animal sighting was concerned: Okauhuejo, Nkasa Lupala and Ndhovu. Why?

The Okaukuejo water-hole provides a magnificent arena from which to view birds and animals. The floodlit night viewing of two male rhinos fighting was something I never thought to see and will treasure for the rest of my life. In comparison some years ago I took two trips to Tanzania and they produced one distant viewing of a rhino. Sadly two have been killed in Etosha recently and one day there will be none. Okaukuejo Lodge itself is rightly very popular, big and busy. Checking in was slow as there were a number of people queuing ahead of me who thought they had reserved accommodation,but who discovered too late that their internet reservations had been ineffective. I was grateful to Wilderness Safaris that I had no such problems. The key is to posses a reservation number!

Nkasa Lupala on the River Kwando was interesting for the variety of birds and animals. It was here that we finally saw some lions. The night drives are also well worth doing. One night drive produced amongst other animals two civets; one wild cat, a porcupine and some spring hares. I was glad I hired hired a 4x4 because I was able to drive straight to this Lodge & this saved time, money and hassle. The route there is fairly well signed from Sangwali to Nkasa Lupala and takes about 35 minutes to drive. The lodge itself needed some TLC - not everything was working in our tent. Ndhovu has in Michael someone with the sharpest eyes on the River Kavango. We had three boat trips with him and each one was an adventure in to wild Africa. In addition the lodge is very efficiently run by Horst, Peter and Bola. It is within a 10 minute drive of the Mahango Game Park - the best place in this area to see birds and animals.

We also stayed at River Dance Lodge where the admirable owners have put huge amounts of effort in to the design and building of the lodge and also in to staff training. The results show. However the boatman on the river trip we took knew less about birds than myself and and the Mahango Game Reserve is just under an hour's drive from here. Ndhovu therefore offered better in my view. We spent one night at Taranga Safari Lodge on the way out of the Caprivi Strip. We would not stay there again - the sole attraction was the small bird viewing. Roy's Camp would have probably offered a more evenly spaced stopping place on the way back to Windhoek.

The Frans Indongo Lodge and Okonjima Camp are both very comfortable and well managed places and we admired the design of Frans Indongo in particular. However both these places have had animals imported and one has the sense that these are 'safari parks' rather than the real Africa. This may appeal to many but the slightly canned effect was not quite what we wanted.

At the start of the trip we had stayed at the Hilltop Guest House in Windhoek. This took some finding and I was grateful I had bought a map map of Windhoek to help us do this. Once we were there we were very well cared for and the owner gave us the good advice to dine at the Social. We had an excellent meal there.Also we were grateful we did not have to drive far that first day since we had not slept much on the overnight flight from London. We stocked up on lunch type food and water at the Eros Centre below the Guest House before leaving Windhoek next morning.

We were supposed to be met by Wilderness Tours on our arrival at Windhoek Airport but found no one. However we spotted a Wilderness lounge in Arrivals and someone inside. He proved to be a great help. We were able to buy a mobile chip from the MTC rep at the airport for £3 for 150 minutes. Expert Africa had arranged for us to hire a 4x4 from Bidvest. However without the help of Wilderness tours we would have struggled to take over the vehicle as the Bidvest man did not appear to know much about the vehicle. It was a very basic Ford 4x4. Nevertheless it served us well although its gear-box was a bit like stirring porridge. Also I forgot to ask the size of the fuel tanks and the hand-book surprisingly did not not reveal this information!

Later I reckoned it was about 100 liters and the fuel gauge appeared to report the combined usage rather than just the second tank! The return of the car posed no problems and Bidvest were happy to sign Expert Africa's form at the back of their hand-book.

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No comments - but many thanks for arranging an excellent trip with no problems! Quite an achievement." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"Expert Africa certainly raised the bar for others to follow. Our experience from start to finish has been completely excellent.

The personal knowledge in discussing schedules, planning where to go and where to stay were absolutely exceptional. Every last detail was considered and given our interests and budget,suggestions of what might work well were greatly appreciated. Everything felt as though it was personal attention to detail ( even down to the road map with our route clearly marked on it). Loved that we got a guide book written by one of the expert africa team!

Really exceptional - will recommend you to everyone i know who is considering Africa. Thanks so much.

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You were EXCEPTIONAL. Thanks so much for putting together a great trip for us." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"Our Namibia holiday was perfect in every way.

Based upon the service we experienced from Expert Africa, the help and support from Tom, our representative, the exceptionally detailed website, chock full of very detailed feedback and information, and the arrangements which went without any hitch, made this holiday one of the very best we have ever experienced.

I don't think there is much more we can add - other than we look forward to our next holiday in Africa with Expert Africa and indeed our next return to Namibia." Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 19 on a Namibia trip

"Really enjoyable, memorable holiday.

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Continue to listen to your customers and react to their comments!" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"Excellent trip itinerary well organised by Sabina Hekandjo of Expert Africa.
Would go again tomorrow.
Many thanks to Sabina." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"As above." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"Fantastic trip with such diverse experiences. We loved it !" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"This was a fantastic holiday that surpassed our expectations. It was an amazing country and every area was different. We had a lot to fit in within a relatively short time but it was do-able and we didn't feel rushed.
Such a different country to the UK and everyone we came into contact with was friendly. We were lucky enough to stay in some excellent hotels.

Driving around Namibia was very easy. Being able to stop the car anywhere to take photos was great and the landscape changed every 50km or so!
We did experience the police road blocks 4 times, but only at one did we have any issues - we would recommend bringing an international drivers licence for peace of mind as although this was not needed, the police seemed to think it was!

Thank you Expert Africa for organising our trip at short notice and for all the advice before departure. We loved Namibia and want to go back and explore more on another self-drive trip!" Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 9 on a Namibia trip