Reviews of safaris to Okonjima Nature Reserve

"This was our 3rd trip to Namibia with Expert Africa doing variants of the caracal self drive safari. All 3 trips have been fantastic which is why we keep going back.

Sabina did a fantastic job in planning our trip and making suggestions and booking restaurants and activities. She put together an excellent itinerary which was perfect for our group of 7 which ranged from 8 to 61!" Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"BEST NATURE EXPERIENCES

The first antelope by side of road - day1

Sitting on veranda at first lodge - afternoon of day 1 - watching antelopes , warthog family , lots of birds .

Close enough ( 6 ft) to cheetahs to hear them purr - Day 2

Mongoose pack being harried by 2/3 hawks - herding? - day 3.

Warthog Male trying to kill youngsters - because Female then goes into heat!?

All alone at waterhole in empty west Etosha watching 25 giraffes of all sexes and ages and then enthralled by the herd galloping away - because I spooked them by getting out of car!!

Bird with corn cricket in beak - bashing it on branch like on an anvil

Chasing 'flocks' of hornbills along Hornbill Highway in far north east Etosha !

The noise of seals at Cape Cross - especially deep bellow of males!

Flamingos sieving the water as the tide came in ( went out?) leaving puddles behind

The garden at Mushara Lodge - mongoose hunting snakes in long grass - dik dik grazing - wart hogs grazing and fighting - lots of birds - very cold swimming pool

Elephants coming to Hobaterre lodge waterhole - could reach out and touch but must not!

Lizards everywhere - especially at Erongo - all colours - all sizes!

Huge flocks of cormorants at Cape Cross !

Thousands of pelicans , flamingos , shore birds in Walvis Bay. Watching the pelicans fishing by diving from 10 metres up!" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"Most of the accommodation that Expert had booked was very good although we didn't find the staff, on the whole, as welcoming as we would have expected.

Once at the accommodation, in general, we found assistance with activities poor & some activities were just provision of a driver. We would have been happy to pay for such activities if they took us to places we couldnt get to on our own and offered more educational/informative elements.

However, we loved the country - the scenery was absolutely amazing - so varied and so devoid of people & we saw loads of birds and animals - BRILLIANT !!" Read full review: 23 nights in Africa; 23 on a Namibia trip

"Tom from Expert Africa did a really good job of guiding us through the process of planning our holiday, where to go and where to stay in Namibia. He was certainly very knowledgable and helpful. Although he made a few carless mistakes these were all easily corrected (before anything was finalized) and we had a flawless trip and are very grateful for his knowledge and assistance." Read full review: 7 nights in Africa; 7 on a Namibia trip

"This was our second trip to Southern Africa and was very different from our previous organized group (36) excursion as we were only 6 and planned the trip ourselves with huge help from Expert Africa.

[Ed: this 'previous organised group of 36 was not organised by Expert Africa.]

The desert scenery that covers about 2/3 of Namibia proved to be beautiful and diverse. We always felt comfortable wherever we went and we were constantly impressed by the friendly and helpful people.Getting around was no problem at all and communication was easy as English is spoken everywhere.

We highly recommend visiting this country as it is different from rest of Africa, very unique.

One word of caution regarding the roads which are asphalt on the main arteries but gravel elsewhere. The gravel roads are generally wide and well laid out but the washboard effect of the roads results in loud and somewhat rough ride, of course very dependent on the vehicle used. So if renting a vehicle, consider that it will spend a lot of its time on gravel if you want to see the best scenery on the "roads less travelled".

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

We were very pleased with the arrangements suggested and made by Expert Africa and Sabina's knowledge of Namibia proved invaluable.

The pros and (if any) cons of the resorts, hotels, safaris and itinirary were clearly communicated to us to allow us to makeour decisions for our final itinerary.

We give full credit to Sabina's patience with our many "twists and turns" in our itinerary and we wound up wth a terrific self drive trip in a beautiful country." Read full review: 28 nights in Africa; 22 on a Namibia trip

"We had long wanted to visit Namibia, and it exceeded all our expectations. The tourism offer is really strong and the people we met at all our destinations were friendly and charming, as well as the people we encountered in the wider community. It rivals Costa Rica as one of the friendliest countries we have ever visited. The wildlife (we are close to safari novices) was all that we hoped for, and our three children (aged 13, 9 and 3) really enjoyed their encounters too, and exploring the camps we stayed at. Our children are well travelled and survived the long drives largely - but not always - in good humour. We met other families with younger children who also seemed to be coping, and frankly Namibia is only going to attract those families who have already travelled fairly widely anyway.
Expert Africa organised a great itinerary for us in the time available (we booked with only 2 months to go and should have booked earlier), and we met a safari travel industry consultant whilst in Namibia who only had words of praise for the company, and in particular its commercial independence compared with many operators, who are often incentivised to recommend some destinations over others. This was very good to hear, as the travel industry is opaque and it is often impossible for clients to tell which agency has incentives with which locations, and therefore may be making recommendations more in their own interest than in those of the client. The level of detailed information provided on the Expert Africa website is also extremely helpful in terms of making choices.
We would recommend Namibia to anyone who will listen. For those who are widely travelled, this is a destination that will surprise and delight, especially if you love wide open, remote and stunning deserts and mountains, and don't mind driving 4-6 hours each time you relocate. (If you don't have time for such journeys you better fly but you will miss out on the sense of vastness that driving provides.)
Next time we would want to explore up into the far north west to see the Skeleton Coast sand dunes in all their glory.
Finally, we mislaid a couple of items during the trip and the London team were helpful in contacting camps to see if our possessions could be relocated. In the end the camps themselves located them and we hope our missing items will arrive shortly!" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"We have travelled a lot but this trip is one of our most memorable.

Not only is Namibia a fascinating place but Expert Africa made the trip easy.

We enjoyed the Self Drive and the itinerary which was planned.

The standard of accommodation and level of service and food were beyond our expectations." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"We had a wonderful month and intend to return to Namibia with a longer trip into Botswana." Read full review: 28 nights in Africa; 26 on a Namibia trip

"Our trip was fabulous. Only one of us can drive but we still enjoyed ourselves and didn't find the distances too far.

One of the highlights was that the trip was to celebrate a special birthday and several of the hotels kindly acknowledged this.

There is so much great stuff to see and we didn't feel too rushed spending a couple of nights in each place.

Marked up map was very useful." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"Outstanding trip, fabulous experiences. Everything went smoothly with our reservations and activities.

Excellent planning by Claire Scott and other staff. The only problem we experienced was that the air conditioning in our private vehicle didn't work.

Neither we nor our guide realized it until we were already away from Windhoek so there was no opportunity to fix it.


We asked these travellers about their private guide, and they commented:

Johann was outstanding in every way. Knowledgeable, helpful, thoughtful, always pleasant and easy to be with. He has a great sense of humor.

He made sure we made the most of every activity and went out of his way to enhance our experiences.


Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No suggestions. We couldn't ask for a better trip." Read full review: 23 nights in Africa; 8 on a Namibia trip