Reviews of safaris to Southern Namibia

"Wonderful trip

No hiccups with bookings thanks very much Maruska" Read full review: 32 nights in Africa; 23 on a Namibia trip

"Namibia exceeded our expectations and that credit can be attributed to Expert Africa and the very attentive and super patient Sabina.

We had corresponded with Sabina for some months before finally and very late confirming an itinerary. This was due to our schedule and various decisions that we were waiting on before being able to commit, therefore our itinerary was amended multiple times due to availability of lodges and car hire.
We have no complaints at all with the service of Sabina and Expert Africa, and have no hesitation in recommending or in using Expert Africa again to book a trip.
We encountered no problems with our reservations, paperwork or logistics and felt the coordination with Wilderness Safari,s was exceptional.

The recommendation of the Sandwich Harbour trip with Turnstone Tours was superb and one of the highlights of our trip. Highly recommended for other travellers.

We live in Nigeria so the ability to drive ourselves in an African Country was fantastic and we throughly enjoyed Namibia, the scenery, the accommodations and warmth of the people.

I have written fairly extensive reviews of our various experiences and sincerely hope that these are taken in the constructive manner that they are intended and not as direct criticisms.
We have lived in numerous Countries, some more challenging than others and are well aware of the often difficult balance of customer expectations, staff training and the logistics of the environment.

On a side note I became unwell towards the last two days of our trip, thankfully when back in Windhoek, and from our point of view when we were still in Namibia and not back in Lagos where we live as this would have necessitated medical evacuation.

On the day of our departure I was admitted to MediClinic in Windhoek and that afternoon underwent emergency surgery for acute appendicitis. After four days in hospital I joined my husband at The Hilton and after a further check the following Saturday with the surgeon (the thoroughly lovely Manoj Kamble) we flew later that day.

I can only add that my medical emergency did nothing to dampen our love of Namibia and its people, and I can assure other travellers who may have a concern about an unexpected medical emergency that I received superb first class care from the Hospital, surgeon, nurses and all the medical and administrative and ancillary personnel, and at no point did we feel that I was receiving anything but exceptional care.

As I was admitted on a Sunday there were some administrative issues with contacting our Insurance Company (International SOS) so we opted to pay and claim which was not a problem for us as we are very familiar with our insurance and know this option to be fine, however it is fair here to note that an unexpected hospital stay can be costly and so therefore some sort of insurance provision is mandatory.

At this point I would like to add that Bidvest car rental were very cooperative with our unexpected circumstances when my husband went to return our rental car on the appropriate day, and with finding us another suitable small vehicle for local use.

We had some issues with changing our flight with SAA but this was more to do with the SAA staff who were uncertain how to manage our changes. This was resolved eventually but had we needed to we would have contacted Expert Africa/Wilderness Safari for assistance.

Whilst you obviously did not request feedback for the Hilton Hotel I will add that my husband stayed there seven nights and me for two as a result of my hospital stay. It was well located with all the standard facilities and amenities that you would expect from The Hilton chain. Room service was good and they had a fantastic roof top bar which I managed to enjoy before we left.

My husband became very familiar with Windhoek during our unexpected extended stay to the point where his beer was poured for him without asking on arrival at the bar at Joe's Beerhouse.

We both sincerely look forward to another visit to Windhoek in the future and hopefully to explore the Caprivi Strip and the Falls,

Many thanks to Sabina and all who helped make our trip very special with wonderful memories.
You are a credit to your organization.

Sincerely,
Anna & Malcolm

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

None at all - Superb service from our very first enquiry to booking and returning home." Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 22 on a Namibia trip

"Namibia is a fantastic country and one that is relatively easy to allow children to experience a range of what Africa has to offer. There is a difficult balance between time available, distance travelled, quality of roads, type of accommodation, variety of experience etc but we got it about right for our three, but what works best will vary for everyone. We met some who travelled far more than we did and survived!

Even in early spring, our kids found the temperaturte difficult in the middle of the day, but the mornings and evenings were fine - so think carefully about when to go and when to travel. Five is a difficult number to travel with - but everywhere we stayed, the accommodation worked well. We could have travelled less, avoided Damaraland, or stuck more to the tar - but that would have detracted from the overall experience.

Overall, excellent.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Couldn't really fault it.

Thank you." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"Thank you , Maruska, and Expert Africa. We have just returned from one of our best holidays ever!

All of Maruska's suggestions were brilliant.

Thanks, Maruska, for making our special requests regarding location of rooms close to reception a success. We got all the best rooms." Read full review: 27 nights in Africa; 24 on a Namibia trip

"Unbelievable! Great trip - and good to go way we did - ie start with Bagatelle heading south and then west. In this way we appreciated what each place had to offer - in terms of location, animals, etc. If we had started at Okonjima - well - all others would not compare well.

The animals at Etosha would also overshadow the animals at the other lodges - eg tracking desert elephants at Doro Nawas was great - but if we had already seen the herd of 20 at the waterhole each night in Etosha - it would have lost some of the attraction and adventure. Each place was unique - so thank you - it was not like we were comparing one 5* place to another one...
Animals were sort of unque at each to a point eg loads of deer types at Bagatelle, Ostriches at Hoodia & the desert, desert elephants and Doro, all various things at Etendeka, everything at Etosha, chill out - dik diks, warhogs and snakes( !!) at Mushara and the cats at Okonjima.

Suggestions:
*Car - ours was not happy on the gravel roads and did not cope with the D road - better to have a larger, more suitable car. warn all re the dust - you could not see what colour the car was when we returned it.......or our clothes!!!
*Laundry : good to have every 5 days included in package. So dusty there - we collected loads and ended up hand washing through some things by day 11. But we were also in Jo'berg for 4 days before Namibia and cape Town 4 days after Namibia.
*If in one place for the night - maybe let us know their activity list so we can get to the place in time and not miss activities?

But - cannot fault you - truly brilliant holiday which we all loved!!

Marusha - hope you have a healthy baby girl now and many thanks for pulling this together for us,

thanks,

Lynne, Rob, Sam & Matt" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"Namibia. 14 days was the absolute minimum time for the trip- would have really liked a couple of extra days to reduce a bit of driving. (Our choice I know). We found all the places in Namibia delightful/interesting to stay in- all different but great fun with their own charms. THe roads overall are not bad- many are sealed with long, straight stretches. Many of the unsealed ones were fine too but there were three really bad ones-luckily not too long.Certainly wouldn't put us off returning for another visit.

The meet and greet Wilderness Safari team at Windhoek airport were very helpful, efficient and patient, and we appreciated their little lounge to use while waiting.

We did have a truly great memorable trip with too many highlights to single any out. Felt totally safe. The people are charming and the ethos about tourism is impressive.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Cant comment on the brochure as dont think I ever saw one. Found the feedback form a bit tedious to fill in so hope it is helpful.

But we did have a really great trip and have been recommending Expert Africa to anyone interested in travel to Africa from New Zealand" Read full review: 24 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"Totally loved the whole experience and can't wait to go back. For my taste I would say that there was a huge amount of time spent in the vehicle, and even with two drivers I would have ideally liked larger gaps between days of driving (though of course the whole country is magical to look at). Having suggested the itinerary myself its not really a comment on Expert Africa's advice, but maybe that could have been stressed even more than it was?" Read full review: 23 nights in Africa; 18 on a Namibia trip

"We have done a fair bit of travelling and do not often return to the same place as there is still so much more to see. However, Namibia is an exception, this being our third trip.
It has everything, beautiful scenery, wildlife, friendly people. The roads are quiet and tourism is still relatively low key. It also feels so much safer than some other African countries.
With Expert Africa our trip was well organised and everything went seamlessly. We would use this company again." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 10 on a Namibia trip

"This was a memorable trip. We highly enjoyed the contrast between the dry areas of the Kalahari and the lush waterways of the Caprivi. We thought the trip was very well paced by Maruska.

All arrangements went smoothly and we appreciated the advice on how to deal with roadblocks and the crossing into Botswana and back,

One of our objectives was to hike as much as possible. As it turned out, only Waterberg Wilderness Lodge and Erongo Wilderness Lodge offered enough opportunities for a day or two of walking but we realize that was the maximum feasible within the parameters we set ourselves.." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"We had a wonderful trip, we really enjoyed our slow drive around Namibia. Claire fulfilled all our requests for specific rooms (i.e. far from main areas, with good views) as well as booking us a balloon trip in Sossussvlei and the best table at The Jetty in Swakopmund. All our expectations were met.

2 points which will be useful: 1) There are no longer ATM's in Etosha, and petrol stations do not take cards. You have to arrive in Etosha with enough cash.

2) Nam $ 3000 in cash was stolen from a hotel safe - luckily our passports and credit cards were not taken. Best to keep cash and cards with you at all times. Of course this could happen anywhere in the world, it's just in Namibia we were carrying more cash than usual." Read full review: 29 nights in Africa; 27 on a Namibia trip