Reviews of safaris to Okonjima Nature Reserve

"Dear Maruska,

This is for you. You are sure an expert in what you do. I can't say enough as far as your wonderful, well planned itinerary for us.
The whole trip was beyond our expectations. South Africa and Namibia were terrific.

Perhaps the only thing I would have changed was the City Lodge at Johannesburg. The Intercontinental Hotel was closer, bigger rooms and have a better restaurant. On the other hand, we only stayed at the City Lodge for less than a day and it was easy enough for us to walk and have dinner at The Intercontinental Hotel.

Thanks a lot, Maruska! Let us know if you handle other trips aside from Africa.

It was surely a very memorable, fun trip for us." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 11 on a Namibia trip

"An excellent itinerary (with the exception of 3 nights at Mazambala being too long).

We loved Namibia and would highly recommend a self drive of this type in this country for a family with similar aged children ( 10 and 14)

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Everything went completely smoothly throughout. There are only a couple of minor constructive suggestions:

Charges at border into Botswana are higher than we were advised ( 140bwp rather than 70, comprised of 40 for road permit, 50 for MV Insurance, 50 Road Fund)

Make people aware of limitations of barbecue facilities at Okaukuejo and that meat cannot be taken into park

Some hesitation with Nkwazi lodge as detailed on our feedback- also note your website is incorrect - no air con, mini bar fridges and no electricity for us after 9.20pm.

Other friends who have done similar trips have had a little itinierary brochure with details of how long it takes to drive to the next lodge and some general infomation about the lodge. This is by no means an essential but would be an extra nicety perhaps.

Overall a really excellent trip. We would thoroughly recommend EA to others" Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 7 on a Namibia trip

"Really great.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Try to talk to namibian tourism about their government lodges. Let down by bad service and sullen behaviour, especially from office staff (mostly women) who seem put out when asked to do anything. maids, waiters, etc all fine.

Doro Nawas has some glitches, which we assume are the product of it being a joint venture with the locals. We would not go there again. It costs almost the same as Mowani and lacks something special. Needs attention." Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 17 on a Namibia trip

"We loved the whole Namibia adventure - the bush, the desert, the mountains and, of course the welcome of the people at all times. We will recommend it to our friends as a once in a lifetime African experience.

Due to the high season and the late booking, we were obliged to choose some accomodation which did not always meet our standards of comfort and food service. Unfortunately the last 3 accomodation choices were substantially inferior to the first 4 choices.

It would have been helpful to know in advance that the rooms and the tents would be very cold - at night and early morning - as they had no room heating. We weren't prepared (with the right clothing) at these times and for the game drives and this
did affect our health and thus our enjoyment.

This was made worse by the drought, which caused very low temperatures across the country early morning and late at night - less than 10° and -3 at Windhoeck on one morning!!

The advice and support ( patience !) of Gwynneth was outstanding at all times and greatly appreciated. This was an important part in the planning and the success of the holiday. So many thanks to her." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"Can't praise Sabina and Expert Africa enough for all their help and guidance to make our holiday so enjoyable!

We can't really find anything to fault as everywhere you suggested we stay was excellent.

Just one last point to help others!

Don't fill up your car with petrol in Windhoek on your way back to the airport!

We did, and Budget charged us nearly £30 for fuel! Be warned!" Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 19 on a Namibia trip

"Trip was nice but I became tired of the long car journeys torwards the end. Also, on balance, while we enjoyed our trip a lot, it was very very expensive we felt. Comparing our trip with holidays we've done down through recent years, Malaysia, Cuba, Mauritius, Egypt, Central America, we felt that our money for accommodation didn't really go very far! What I'm trying to say I guess, is that I feel you need to spend an excessive amount of money to stay somewhere nice in Namibia.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Not really. Angela was superb in helping us put our trip together. Expert Africa website is also superb." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"After looking forwards to a trip for a trip to Namibia for many years my hopes were high. Both my wife's and my hopes were more than met. We saw everything we hoped to see and had a great adventure., Everything went according to plan a (except the Erongo lodge) with flights, car hire and accommodation all first rate. We really couldn't have wished for more.

Namibia is a fantastic place to go on a do it yourself safari trip as it feels very safe, the roads are quiet and the locals were all very friendly, helpful and knowlegdable. We didn't encounter any negative attitudes or pressure to buy in markets or shops and the Namibians are clearly proud of their country and keen to impress travellers.

We saw a huge amount of animals in Etosha and elsewhere brought back some fantastic photographs and memories. If only we could start it all over again!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Just to reinforce the care needed when driving on the gravel roads. We had a bit of a hairy moment and saw one car overturn on the costal road north of Swakopmund." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"Our trip to Namibia was marvellous.

We travelled as a family with two kids (12 and 13 year old).

Self driving was easy enough, although some roads can be bad (Sesriem to Swakopmund f.e) . Take an extra spare tyre! One should never underestimate the distances. With kids you need several stops of more than one night, otherwise driving will be to much for them.

Although July is a busy month, it never felt crowdy. During the day and on the road you're almost always alone!

Accomodations and food are more than excellent, at least you get much more value for money then in Europe.

Namibia is a very varied country with stunning landscape. Getting close to the animals is very impressive and an experience we (and certainly the kids) will always remember.

And finally, the support and advice of Expert Africa (Sabina Hekandjo) is more then perfect. I wished everyone would answer mails that quick and informative!" Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"We had excellent service from the outset. The help and information provided were excellent. Chris McIntyre's book never let us down.

We cannot recommend Expert Africa highly enough.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Afraid not! Everything was so well planned for us
We appreciated the first night visit from local rep who supplied some local advice

Cannot thank you enough" Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 17 on a Namibia trip

"This trip exceeded all our expectations. The country was stunning, we saw far more animals than we expected, everyone was very friendly and very happy to answer many questions etc. We had fewer incidental expenses than we expected, fuel, food and drink being relatively cheap. This obviously helped to make the holiday good value.

Travel was easier, health issues were straightforward: everywhere was very clean, we could drink the borehole water, we didn't need antimalarials and sustained no insect bites.

The advice to take warm clothing was appreciated. A fleece and woolly hat are very useful. Breakfast/evening meals are often quite cool as they are in open rooms.

We did not appreciate how very dry it would be: lots of moisturisers and vaseline essential. Chris' guide is invaluable: a mine of useful and interesting information (especially about shops etc).

It might be useful to warn people about the veterinary fence, and the fact that they cannot bring meat products south through the fence (although we were not stopped as we left Etosha at Anderson Gate driving south, but we should have been). We were stopped both ways at Palmwag." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip