Reviews of safaris to Okonjima Nature Reserve

"We really enjoyed our trip to Namibia getting to see more of the country and its fantastic and varied scenery.

We are glad we followed the route we did, getting the bad roads out of the way first and finishing with the better tarmac roads and animal spotting.

We will definitely be seeking your advice and guidance for our next trip to Africa." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"Namibia was definitely one of the most memorable from all the trips I have done in the last three decades covering all the continents.

It was a long trip, with a busy schedule almost everyday, and some long drives (to me, as I don’t really enjoy sitting in a vehicle for long). I would do it differently next time, as I would have liked to have more time to spend relaxing in some of the lovely camps. There were many highlights from the trip, but the best one was seeing the spotted hyaena in Etosha, he was very close to our vehicle, as we took pictures of him, he turned around and stared at us, it was a very special moment.

We did and saw so much in three weeks with lots of different activities including sand boarding which was great fun. The people in Namibia were very special, and I felt fortunate to have met some of them and to experience this incredible country. I wanted to come to Namibia over ten years ago after my photographer friend mentioned about the special landscape. After seeing the pictures of Sossusvlei on the internet, I was hooked and determined to visit one day. The planning of this trip during the Covid lockdown gave me hope and kept my sanity, and I enjoyed the researching and planning of the entire trip, and discovering all the amazing things that this country had to offer.

I was very glad and felt fortunate too to have come across Expert Africa to organise the trip for us. Everything went extremely smoothly, I could not have wished for a better tour operator to make the arrangements for us. I also enjoyed very much working with Maruska on this trip. She’s extremely professional, knowledgeable and patient with the requests and changes that I had.

Due to Covid, the trip had to be postponed for one year. During that time, Maruska and I got to speak to each other many times to arrange the trip, and she felt more like a friend. I hope our friends will consider going to Namibia after seeing the hundreds of pictures that we have taken. It is such a special place. I’m looking forward to returning, and hopefully, my family from Asia will join me next time.

Thank you, Expert Africa and Maruska, for this successful, fun and memorable experience!" Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"As always a very good trip in Namibia it's an easy country to travel around in" Read full review: 23 nights in Africa; 21 on a Namibia trip

"This was our third trip to Namibia. It had been put off twice because of the pandemic and we had feared it would never happen. We are delighted that it did.

Camp Kipwe and Onguma were new to us and really excellent, especially Onguma. Having a guide in Etosha with a radio and some mates with radios makes a big difference, as compared to just driving yourself around. Having said that, the drives within the Onguma reserve itself were good. We had a great sundowner by a waterhole with a pride of 9 lions and a big old pride male.

This is, I think, our 4th trip with Expert Africa. We are thinking now of a return trip to the Mara/Serengiti in 2-3 years time. We will be in touch.

Tracy, thank you for your hard work.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Not really. It works." Read full review: 23 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"Overall we had a really memorable holiday and thoroughly enjoyed it!

Three things could have been improved on; the first two I have mentioned - the cold nights on the Endeka Walking trail, and the rather expensive misinformation at Okonjima. The third is the fact that nobody from Wilderness Travel met us at the airport in Windhoek. This need not have been a problem, had we known that they had an office at the airport. As it was we hung around hopefully , and finally found someone to ask, and they pointed us the way to the office. Nobody seemed to be expecting us!" Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"We had an absolutely amazing time in Namibia, and it was well worth the wait after two years of COVID cancellations.

Sabina was excellent in rearranging our accommodation three times and it was lovely to actually meet her in Windhoek.

We are already thinking about a return journey where we'd like to take in Caprivi & Victoria Falls..." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 18 on a Namibia trip

"We have had a wonderful few weeks, discovering new places and enjoying the return to old favourites. Namibia has changed in some ways since we first visited in 2000, but the rugged beauty and the solitude remains.

I’ll get the major disappointment out first, not that you can do anything about it - Simba don’t make tomato sauce flavour crisps any more! Disaster!

In general, we learnt a lot about how we personally need to plan travel in the future, both having gained various back/hip/knee problems since we last travelled any distance and, at times, feeling more than a mere three years older.

I don’t think we will consider ‘one night stands’ again, especially if it means an hour or more down a gravel road basically just to eat and sleep. Namtib and Ai Aibas are both beautiful places and we had no time to do them justice. We’re not early risers and we are slow drivers, who like to stop and look, which all combined to have us on the road 9.30-4.30 for several days, which was exhausting.

We did look at the hotels in several of the towns and wonder whether we won't be better off to stay somewhere like that as a transit stop.

We also need to carefully look at the lodges, to consider whether we can actually cope there. If there is a steep walk to the reception or lots of steps, it's difficult. Also, there's no point in going somewhere and finding that the walks involve hiking up a mountain!

Being experienced travellers to Namibia, we think we won't try one of your set itineraries again. We would prefer to custom-build, knowing that we will have sound advice from you. We have booked all our previous visits through you (or Sunvil, originally) and we wouldn't consider going anywhere else.

There are certain areas which we won't choose to visit again, because of the poor quality of the gravel roads. For instance, the roads around the entrance to Sossussvlei were appalling. The drive to Swakop, once past Solitaire, had nowhere to stop and seems endless. The one picnic area was infested with wasps - what a disappointment! Also, much as we love Etosha, we spent very little time driving to other waterholes because the roads are awful.


We found most other visitors were German, with far fewer from Britain than on our previous trips. Not a problem; just a comment.

We'd like to mention Wilderness Safaris, whose staff were excellent whilst we used their airport lounge and then in guiding us through the airport. Whilst we were there, we had an interesting conversation with a gentleman whose was a senior commercial officer for the airports authority. He was interested in our descriptions of how a trip to Namibia is viewed my many of our friends in the UK; namely, if they actually know where Namibia is, as bonkers and dangerous, particularly as we drive ourselves. He was considering what commercial measures could be taken to dispel any fears and misunderstandings amongst UK people.
However, we're quite happy if tourist numbers don't increase!

Altogether, an outstandingly brilliant time, no less than we expected!

Thank you." Read full review: 24 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"The trip was excellent - great wildlife, great landscapes, and great places to stay.

May be worth Expert Africa warning people just how bad some of the roads can be (the Welwitschia Drive in places was a trial, and going the optimum speed on the endless ridged sections doesn't always help, especially if you want to stop the vehicle and look at something with the binoculars). However, that's all part of the fun.

Everything worked out as planned, and it was so good I didn't even mind changing a flat tyre on my birthday before we walked out to the other-worldly experience of Dead Vlei. Most of the people we dealt with at the various camps, restaurants etc were native Namibians, and almost to a woman (and some men) they were friendly and helpful and welcoming.

The navigation was also very easy and its nice to have roads with such little traffic. This will stand out as one of our favourite trips of all time. We hope to return.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Not really. This trip was the upper end of our affordability, but there's not much one can do about that unless we camped and cooked our own food, and then we would have had less time for the wildlife and would not have experienced some of the excellent chalets etc.

Namibia does seem to offer something special in sub-Saharan Africa in terms of the ease of a self-drive experience and quality of places to stay - and you undoubtedly know the country well enough to pick some of the most characterful places. Maybe make sure Europcar don't give out duff contact numbers to clients!

Other than that, thanks Tracy for all the ground organisation, and also thanks Mr McIntyre for the excellent Bradt guide, which was a constant companion." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"Definitely one of the top holidays of our lifetime (so far!!), expertly put together and managed by Sabina at Expert Africa. We were recommended by friends who have used Expert Africa and would unreservedly recommend them ourselves. Sabina listened to what we wanted from the start and built the itinerary, timings and accommodation around that perfectly.

Overall driving distance was about 4,250km so it was a tough schedule, but everything we expected (and a quite a bit more).

Managed to see and pass through stunning scenery, stop at interesting places and observe a variety of wildlife from Southern Right whales in South Africa to the big cats in Namibia, not to mention the magnificent seasonal flora on display in the Namaqualand.

Everything was in place for us so minimising hassle." Read full review: 25 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"An amazing trip that we enjoyed from start to finish. It had the perfect balance that enabled us to experience many different aspects of this fascinating and diverse country.

Although driving distances were long, the fabulous scenery with everlasting landscape (and animals) you see along the way certainly make up for this.

Our only regret was we should have stayed longer!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Certainly can't think of anything at this time. Our 2nd trip with Expert Africa and we are sure there will be many more in the near future!" Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 21 on a Namibia trip