Reviews of safaris to Southern Namibia

"All the arrangements made by Expert Africa went very smoothly and without a single hitch. Most of the accommodation and the friendliness of the service proved to be of a very high standard indeed (most notably Bagatelle Kalahari, Nest Hotel, Wolwedans, Ongava and Mushara lodges). The only locations where the standard was less than satisfactory were Central Lodge and particularly Olive Grove in Klein Windhoek.

The maps and guide books provided prior to the trip were invaluable and very comprehensive.

Although not organised through you, the flights with South African Airlines proved to be very comfortable indeed with plenty of leg room." Read full review: 29 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"It was special from the moment we crossed the border from South Africa, where we saw a total of seven people at the border crossing each with a form or a clip board, but they were all lovely.

With hindsight we are very pleased that we started in the south and not in Windhoek because we think it gave us a better perspective of the country. Once we had crossed the border and were driving north the traffic was almost non existent and the scenery beautiful. You need to blank out worrying about being nowhere near a doctor and how long it would take to get to hospital if you had to.

The variety in Namibia is staggering. Fish River Canyon - the second largest in the world, and we had it pretty much to ourselves. The bizarre Helmeringhausen Hotel. Sossusvlei and its 3-400 metre sand dunes. Mile after mile of desert. The Germanic Swakopmund and Walvis Bay in the middle of nowhere. The spooky skeleton coast, and a long drive through the desert up to mountainous Damaraland and the lovey camps. Then on to Etosha where we saw everything except leopard, and after that driving south to Windhoek through the much more heavily populated and industrialised side of the country.

We would love to go back before it becomes too popular." Read full review: 33 nights in Africa; 18 on a Namibia trip

"It was a brilliant trip. It did all we had hoped for and more. We loved the country; the space; the staggering scenery; the friendliness of the people; the professionalism of the guides. It will be a holiday to remember for a long long time." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 17 on a Namibia trip

"Incredible, we would certainly come back to Namibia and would be very happy to recommend expert africa to arrange any kind of trip through this part of the world.

Thankyou very much, we are very grateful for the best holiday!" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"Exploring Namibia provided an opportunity for a wide range of experiences rarely available in one holiday and Expert Africa provided the perfect mix of extremely comfortable, yet very different, places to stay." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 20 on a Namibia trip

"This was a very well planned & well thought out trip, Sarah was so helpful in explaining what would work & what wouldn't, she explained she thought some of the drives would be too long in one day, which were the best places to spend more than one night etc. She certainly knew her stuff!

Our mistake perhaps was trying to do so much in 28 days, we could have done with a couple of 3 day breaks as we got very tired with so much chopping & changing.

Also when trying to stipulate & stick to our budget we ended up with a lot of the venues with only B&B & not half board which meant that overall we ended up spending a lot more than we had planned." Read full review: 28 nights in Africa; 27 on a Namibia trip

"Well organised self-drive tour. I would definitely recommend a 4WD as the roads on this trip were very rough in parts.

There is a lot of driving, sometime quite slow-going but the scenery is so amazing it's worth it." Read full review: 7 nights in Africa; 7 on a Namibia trip

"Timing: November is on the cusp of rain, pretty hot, but still just about dry. I believe it is a relatively quiet month. Some parts of Etosha had seen rain and game viewing was good. Southern Namibia remained bone dry. It is a lovely time to escape the European drear, if you can.

Itinerary: For the wildlife, we wanted Etosha (1 week) and we wanted the Transfrontier Kgalagadi Park (5 days). Previous experience has shown Sabina to be a star at knocking together a sensible itinerary, and she managed it again. There was some difficulty finding accommodation (even in a quiet month) which meant one or two compromises had to be made. It all worked out well. If you haven't been before, it is worth saying that distances are huge and the dirt roads make them feel huger ....but then that all helps to emphasise the emptiness of Africa. It made sense to link our two parks with a visit to Soussevlei. I'm a bit ambivalent about the place. It was worth seeing the endless dunes, but the whole idea of a desert is to have a wilderness, and with only one road, you are not alone. We actually preferred the getting there and away again, 100s of kilometres with vast landscapes, and little sign of humanity (except for fences). The Transfrontier is off the beaten track and just in South Africa. It was very worthwhile (although I'd choose Etosha ahead of it (for its variety)), but there's no obvious attraction to break up the journey returning to Windhoek. Sabina did well to find a couple of comfortable lodges that had game activities on offer.

Practicalities: The journey had no glitches at all. It was so well organised. Even the 'misplaced' car hire voucher was sorted in a few minutes by Expert Africa (via Wilderness Travel). Instructions had all been clearly expressed (for example, what needed to be done to take a hire car into South Africa). We had no issues with petrol, reported in some reviews" Read full review: 25 nights in Africa; 19 on a Namibia trip

"Thanks to Josh for all his advice and support - especially for persisting in persuading us to hire a vehicle with higher ground clearance. This decision made the travelling more enjoyable. We probably could have managed in a standard car, as on previous trips, but life was a lot easier not having to think about the underside of the car! This was particularly important on some of the tracks leading to the lodges. Thanks also for all the emails keeping us up to date and for all the paperwork.

In previous trips to Namibia we had booked everything ourselves: flights, car hire and accommodation. It was great to be relieved of these tasks and to know that Expert Africa staff had visited and reviewed all the accommodation. The voucher system worked well and there were no unpleasant surprises apart from Bagatelle.

Eningu and Erongo remain our favourite lodges. Bullsport is the best place for varied walking and the Cornerstone Guesthouse gets "the attention to detail" prize. The staff at Cape Cross Lodge deserve special commendation for being so helpful and friendly. Thanks again to Expert Africa for yet another great holiday in Africa.

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Keep up the good work!" Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 19 on a Namibia trip

"We loved the trip as a whole and most lodges we stayed at were great - Ongava and Okonjima especially. Everything fitted together well.

The short welcome at Quivertree was a surprise as everyone elsewhere was so welcoming and friendly, but as it was just 1 night it didn't matter.

By the time lunch, drinks and game drives are added to the HB cost I suspect it's not much cheaper than Ongava which had a lot more to offer." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 21 on a Namibia trip