Reviews of safaris to Okonjima Nature Reserve

"A memorable fifth trip to Namibia and our first fully self driving.

Having travelled all round the country on previous visits, we deliberately confined this trip to the Otavi area & Etosha, so did not have huge distances to cover. Okonjima, Mundulea & Esther Farm were all return visits , eastern Etosha was new to us.

We will not be returning to Okonjima. It was a good stop on our first trip, but we would now prefer to take our chances on seeing truly wild animals, rather than stressed looked radio collared animals. Okonjima has become a large, very commercial operation and has lost its appeal to us.

We had a wonderful time at both Mundulea & Esther Farm - with focus on walking & soaking up all aspects of the ecosystem at both. It was good to spend a few days at Esther Farm as our hosts, Axel & Silkie, were keen to try out having their first purely walking guests. While it is a working farm, they are reducing stocking rates and taking down fences, so there are good numbers of game becoming established on a very varied terrain - including hills & mountains. Axel has a good knowledge of the flora, fauna and geology, so as with Bruno, much time on the walks is spent discussing how they all fit together. Likewise there was much discussion, over excellent meals, about life in modern Namibia.

As ever we had lots of new sightings & experiences from a Leopard Tortoise to hours of torrential rain.

Esther Farm was an easy drive and a good stop between Mundulea and Etosha on the old road to the Namutoni gate.

This was our first visit to Eastern Etosha (we stayed at Okaukuejo on our first trip). We were rewarded with excellent sightings of Rhino, Cheetah, Lions & Elephants as well as many birds & other game in large numbers. The Etosha experience complemented the walking part of the trip.

Special thanks to Bruno, Axel and Silke, and a thank you to Sabina for organising another excellent trip." Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 11 on a Namibia trip

"Beautifully organised again by Expert Africa and Maruska in particular. Attention, guidance and care second to none. Thank yoi

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Keep on going." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 10 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

"An excellent itinerary which, after discussion with the very knowledgeable staff at Expert Africa, we tailored to fit our interests. The only thing they got wrong was the pick up point for Entendeka Camp but that did not cause any problems.

The quality of accommodation was very good value.

Driving was very easy with so little traffic. Wherever we stopped people were friendly and helpful.

One of our best trips." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"Our holiday was superbly planned to allow us the opportunity to include a wide range of activities, landscapes and wildlife. We particularly enjoyed the opportunities to stretch our legs both independently and guided. We had a framework of ideas at the planning stage but Sabina, expanded and improved them. Her idea to go to 2 centres in Damarland, in particular Etendeka, was inspired and suited our love of wild scenery.

The other suggestion which worked very well was to include the Dolomite Camp which allowed us to do our own self drive the whole way across Etosha from west to east.

We were very lucky as we both had never been to Africa before and we saw so much wildlife at very close range.

We also enjoyed the variety in style and location of the lodges, and the distances between lodges was such that we never arrived too late to have the chance to relax a little in the afternoon. It was nice that the longer transfers were usually interspersed with a shorter transfer.

If or when we decide to return to Africa, we will be back in touch! Thank you so much." Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 21 on a Namibia trip

"This was our first time in Africa and Namibia was fantastic. We didn't know much about the country but told Tracey what we wanted to see - dunes, Skeleton Coast, Etosha - and she put together an itinerary which covered everything and more e.g. she suggested Okonjima which we loved. And I think she gauged our accommodation preferences really well - we loved most places we stayed at.

The food was much better than we thought - plenty of fresh fruit & vegetables and vegetarian options at the majority of places, and a cold beer or nice wine could always be found.

Namibia felt safe and welcoming. So much to see - varied scenery, great experiences (kayaking) and of course some of the most unforgettable wildlife viewing, more than we expected. A photographer's delight!

We took 3 weeks and the pace felt good, and I'm glad we did in the order we did.

We will definitely go back to Namibia, we'd love to go back to Etosha and also visit the north Caprivi Strip.

The Bradt guide provided was way better than the DK one I had also bought - it was a great source of current info, facts and generally good reading - thanks!

An excellent holiday, wonderful memories.

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I wish we had upgraded the car - the saloon car we had was fine and coped with every road, but it was much slower to get around - I'd recommend to others that it would be worth it." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 15 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

"Again we had a wonderful time we met some extraordinary people and explored a really beautiful country at our own pace we could not ask for more Even our episode at weavers rock has given us some moments of laughter So again you will here no complaints from here" Read full review: 29 nights in Africa; 21 on a Namibia trip

"An excellent, varied trip. The pace was just right.

One of our best trips, mainly due to the easy driving on tarred roads." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"Wonderful. SA was lovely but Namibia was just stunning. Scenery was amazing, wildlife abundant, roads empty and the people very friendly. Easy paced holiday allowing us to do as much or as little as we wanted. Drove over 2,500 miles but barely noticed it! Thank you so much for the excellent itinerary.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Warn travellers about the chaos at Joburg airport!! Do not book people onto internal connecting flights that leave within 2 hours of initial arrival." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip