Reviews of trips to Windhoek

"A very well organised trip (as always). Accommodation and travel times well thought out, unlike one British couple from another well known travel company (high end) who asked to be moved from where they were staying as they said that Lodge had been misrepresented!

I don't know what Tom said to Europcar but their treatment of us was exceptional.

We also appreciated Grace meeting us at the airport and seeing us through.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

None - all excellent." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"The trip was amazing. Everything went as clockwork.

Would’ve been helpful to have a realistic time of each journey as we found Google underestimated each one by about an hour!

Great choice of lodges - enjoyed them all. Although Ongava Tented by far the favourite." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"A wonderful adventure holiday although it felt very safe because we had confidence in the car hire and all the information we received.

The lodges were all fantastic. The scenery is a landscape photographer’s dream. People we came across were all very friendly, helpful and happy to see us.

The food was much better than we had anticipated. Animals were very plentiful - I even saw a honey badger!

The lodge game drives were all really excellent with good, very knowledgeable guides.

All in all, a terrific experience and we will recommend Expert Africa to all." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"We had a great time.

Partly due to booking late in the day we sorted our own flights from Manchester. The route is to Addis Ababa and then change for Windhoek. There is also an hour downtime at Geneva on the longer leg as some passengers get on/off. Another time I might prefer to change at Frankfurt and then go direct to Windhoek.

The driving is a challenge, especially as it was all down to me. You need the height of a big 4WD to protect you against the worst of the roads and elevate you for spotting wildlife. Make sure you have a coolbox included. This came up almost by accident in discussion but is an essential. Unless you fancy drinking 'bathwater' as you bounce along then you'll need one.

Food, drink, incidentals, fuel and generous tips are not very costly for us. Our main expense was the cost of trips we hadn't pre-booked but it gave us some flexibility. We recommend doing the hot air balloon trip.

The wildlife survey is a little misleading. It omits bird and sea life entirely. Presumably, it lists the animals that people are most interested in but we saw lots of other animals, large and small, that are unlisted. For example, we saw a striped jackel between the road and dunes near Walvis Bay and much more." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"I went to spend time with the Desert Elephants and that exceeded my expectations.

Expert Africa and great with suggestions and organising. I had one hic up when I needed to back track and then come back again so I forfeited that route as the roads in Namibia have deteriorated over the years in my opinion. I think a great deal more lobbying is needed by lodges and tour operators to get those roads sorted out. Certainly back tracking makes no sense.

I love Namibia and this will not be the last time I visit." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"We have had a wonderful trip with Expert Africa.

Sabina was very helpful and enhanced our experience. It was fun to go and meet her in Windhoek." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 17 on a Namibia trip

"Outstanding.

Sabina was remarkably good about tailoring this to our requests and interests.

She always had good suggestions, and arranged a last minute change to our itinerary at our request.

Sabina was clearly knowledgeable and most helpful in every way." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"We really had a great trip. We saw much more wildlife than we had even dreamed might be possible.

We loved having the freedom of driving ourselves around and having our own vehicle. If we had had more time, we should have done a little more research and maybe could also have gone to see the dunes at Sossusvlei, but this trip came up fairly suddenly and it was great to have someone else, someone who knows the area, do the planning for us.

The places we stayed were much fancier than what we are accustomed to, but we sure appreciated that every place we stayed had a pool, and we made use of most of them. Always staying at such fancy places we felt like we didn't really get as much of a sense of what Namibia is like for the people who live there, but I guess that wasn't the purpose of this trip.

As a safari experience, it was top notch. Overall, no complaints, and we'd certainly use this service again in similar circumstances." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"We had a very special time in Namibia.

The guidebook you kindly sent us was excellent and in the locations and lodges you recommended was well chosen and as per the advertised experience.

In hindsight, we could have chosen slightly lower key/cheaper lodges.

Saying that, we really enjoyed excellent food and beautiful rooms and facilities everywhere.

So we got our money's worth." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"Overall we had an excellent trip and experience. The main aim was to see rhino and we certainly managed that. The staff at all the camps and hotels couldn’t have been more friendly and helpful.

Travelling in Namibia was quite easy, even for oldies like us. A combination of the map, directions in the paperwork and Maps.Me worked very well. There are phone charging usb’s in the car and at all the camps. Tarmac roads from Windhoek to Etosha are all good. The only problem we had was in Etosha. The roads are very rutted and uncomfortable to drive on. Those turnoffs to the waterholes are even worse, and although they can be traversed with care, it does take time.

I think that the estimated time to travel from the Namutomi gate to Okaukuejo of 3hrs direct is quite optimistic. We stopped at three waterholes at the start then realised that we were well behind time, so just drove directly to the camp. That took about 6hrs overall. Despite that we did see some wildlife on the way, including two leopards under a tree. It seems that the park fees cover you for 26 rather than 24 hours. Having spent the night in the park we were going to go to the waterholes close to Okaukuejo, so checked with the staff there who wrote our latest departure time on our receipt, which was 26 hours after our entry. Incidentally the park fees were N$350 per day, not the N$170 we were expecting.

Although there was no diesel in Etosha when we were there, there is now a new filling station just a few kilometres from the Andersson gate. On the way back to Windhoek we stop the Village Boutique Coffee shop in Otjiwarongo which was very nice.

It was very slow getting in via Windhoek airport, with long queues to get through passport control (an hour). Fortunately for us a local official took pity on us and allowed us through earlier. You need to fill in a form on the way in, which they take, and fill in the same form on the way out, which you can collect just before passport control.

Lusaka airport was good. We were met on arrival and looked after before our flight to Anabezi and on the way back we were able to sit in Dave’s office with coffee and snacks, and helped with all the boarding requirements. All much appreciated

So, overall we did what we wanted to do and saw pretty well everything we wanted. The accommodation and people were great and despite the tedium of the long haul there and back, we had a fabulous time. Many thanks to Megan for putting it all together for us and always being helpful and available" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 8 on a Namibia trip