Reviews of safaris to Southern Namibia

"A memorable trip to a new country. Any negatives about one or two places we stayed are more than outweighed by the excellent other ones. It was much hotter than expected (8-10 C above seasonal norms) and this, a bit of tummy trouble and the gravel roads made it tiring at times (and these are all hazards that are part and parcel of a trip and nothing that yourselves could / should expect to deal with).

The characteristics of travelling on gravel or tarmac are so different that we could have done with being better informed about specific routes when planning. Also the passage of time renders some of the guidebook information out of date and this is a problem on the map also. For example the map incorrectly shows a petrol station at Seeheim - this meant retracing our steps for 60 km (so an extra 120km which then meant missing an activity at our destination) to ensure we had enough petrol.

We lost count of the number of coffee shops / bakeries in the guidebook that had closed / disappeared. Having sussed the driving out we went "off-piste" and cancelled one overnight stay and cut-short our stay at Sesriem so we could fit in a stay at Walvis Bay. We let the cancelled place know but our email to Expect Africa to tell of the same went unacknowledged apart from an "o-o-o but someone is covering for me" reply.

Namibia is a spectacular country with friendly people and provided us with some great memories." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"Absolutely loved it.

It was always a bit of a risk going back to a country that we had previously visited and loved, but this trip was even better." Read full review: 23 nights in Africa; 21 on a Namibia trip

"It was a successful and very enjoyable trip. Everything went according to plan, and the only tiny hitch was a delayed pick up at Eros airport on the last day. It was a return visit to the country for me, but Angel loved it as much as I do, especially the spectacular wild desert scenery." Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 17 on a Namibia trip

"This was our 5th trip to Namibia, which we know very well. That is why we are probably also slightly more demanding customers, as we know what the options are and what we want.

For now four of the trips, we have used Expert Afrika, which we have great confidence in. This time was no exception, we had a wonderful trip to Namibia.

However, there was one - not insignificant - moment of irritation this time. We ended up with a hopeless 2WD Kia for the round trip in the beginning. This was very far from our request of a solid 4WD car (as also important during previous trips). When booking, we had an OK 4WD car on hand and then accepted the trip. Later however, we got ""upgraded"" to a larger 2WD car. This was not OK. Fortunately, we got the right category of car (Toyota Forester) after approx. 10 days - otherwise it would have been a disaster.

We look forward to use Expert Africa again for the fifth time, but next time, at first, we will make sure we have the right category of car before proceeding with the planning." Read full review: 36 nights in Africa; 35 on a Namibia trip

"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

"Overall, an absolutely awesome trip to an incredible country.

Everything went very smoothly and we had the most incredible time." Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 13 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

"This was a demanding trip, much delayed by Covid. We wasted not a minute and got a good sense of Namibia in a relatively short period. The journey times, even those on paved roads took 10-20% longer than we had initially planned, but we soon got into the rhythm of very early starts and arriving at our destination by nlt than mid afternoon. The occasional 3 night stops were invaluable in letting us recharge and properly enjoy our location and the lodge facilities.

None of our accommodation was disappointing and to produce such high quality food in some very remote locations was testament to the skill of the staff. The wildlife and geological features are the obvious draw to the country yet our most vivid memories are of the people who we met. Such open friendliness throughout the country vindicated the choice of Namibia as our first holiday in Africa.

Tom and Expert Africa did us proud - thank you." Read full review: 23 nights in Africa; 21 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

"An excellent trip apart from the car issues we had.

The gravel roads aren’t for the faint hearted but the country as a whole makes up for it!

Stunning scenery, a great variety of experiences and many very happy memories.

The tok tokkie trail and Ongava were our highlights" Read full review: 33 nights in Africa; 22 on a Namibia trip