Reviews of trips to Windhoek

"We loved Namibia. The people, animals, landscape etc. After our tour fell through with Jules Verne we were a bit apprehensive but you were so helpful and reassuring and we felt that we could manage the Self Drive. [Ed: these travellers booked a trip to Africa with a tour operator, which fell through. Then they came to us, to help them swiftly create a trip!]

We found some of the gravel roads in the Namib/Naukluft area poor - particularly the D854 where we had a puncture. Hot and heavy work changing the wheel but we managed it. Puncture No 2 outside Walvis Bay was changed rapidly by a farmer and his son. We should have liked longer but our main holiday was in the Cape. We liked the feeling of frienliness and confidence in the people which must come with their independence. Enjoyed doing our own thing particularly in Etosha - 3 nights wqs just right." Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 8 on a Namibia trip

"Our trip was a really great experience and we enjoyed everything we did. A good mix of a holiday. Well planned and it worked well.

All the arrangements worked perfectly some turning out better than expected.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

NO!!!!!!!" Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"Namibia is certainly an interesting and beautiful country to visit. Highlights were driving through the dramatic desert scenery, climbing the dunes, seeing the seals at Cape Cross, watching a rhino family drink at Okaukuejo's waterhole, seeing crocodiles on the Angolan bank of the Okavango river, and the relaxed and friendly atmosphere at Ghaub guest farm. Having travelled fairly widely in Africa, the thing that perhaps surprised us most was how few people there are in Namibia (2.2/km2) - even the towns seemed empty!

It was interesting that none of the lodges (except Ghaub) offered child portions for their meals, even for very young children, which unfortunately resulted in food being wasted.

Cash was easier to find than expected with ATMs in even the smallest towns and at many petrol stations, which was good as food and supplies seemed generally quite expensive.

Expert Africa certainly organised the trip well - Tracy was always happy to answer queries, replied rapidly to my emails, and kept us posted with any changes. We had originally asked for self-catering as much as possible and I realise that in many places this is not possible, but where we were quoted only bed and breakfast we sort of assumed there would be facilities for catering for ourselves which was not always the case - this was perhaps our fault for not clarifying this before leaving. Otherwise, the voucher system worked well and everything was booked as expected (except for the family room at Haus Sonneneck). The route was clearly marked and lodges were easy to find." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 18 on a Namibia trip

"I think the individual feedback says it all - we were enchanted with our accommodation, captivated by the people, intoxicated by the countryside, the flora and the fauna, not to mention the sea life.

The planning was perfect - we had been closely advised by Expert Africa and found the timings to be spot on - no stay in one place was too short, no stay too long. We were priviledged to have 40 days and the luxury of being able to enjoy two countries, we felt, at our leisure." Read full review: 39 nights in Africa; 24 on a Namibia trip

"Our trip to Namibia beat all expectations. We had less than two weeks so we concentrated on the central highlands and game spotting. Namibians were, to a person, friendly and helpful.

Olive Grove is a peaceful place to start and wind down at the finish. The choice of Erongo was a great opener, followed by the countless game of Etosha.

Mundulea was the definite highlight, and Okonjima was a great finale as it made sure we saw the cats.

Suggestions for improveMent:

No suggestions, the service was excellent." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"The very satisfactory above just about says it all." Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 8 on a Namibia trip

"we had a lovely holiday.

Namibia is such a beautiful place

Gwynneth organised everything perfectly. It all ran like clockwork. Thank you

Suggestions for improvements:

It was all good" Read full review: 5 nights in Africa; 5 on a Namibia trip

"We didn't know what to expect on our trip and what a wonderful experience we had. Maruska did a fantasic job creating an itinerary that matched our interests and our budget. We enjoyed all of our accommodations, tours, etc...throughout our trip. We had the added challenge of a nine hour time difference but this was never an issue.

Maruska always answered any questions we had with a very detailed email response and promptly called whenever we'd set up a time/day to talk by phone. We appreciated the detailed information and the inclusion of the Bradt Namibia guide. The Bradt Namibia guide we found to be even more helpful once we were on our trip, reading it regularly as we made our way from place to place. The descriptions and information was very helpful, the "notes for travelers" were extremely helpful as well.

We felt so well prepared for this trip from all the information Expert Africa provided us, there were no surprises and things unfolded seamlessly.

The reviews on your web site were helpful to us as it provided us with information, insight in regards to what we could expect. We like that they are unfiltered and when Expert Africa would comment/respond to a review that was less than favorable. We really hope our reviews will be helpful to other travelers and are sorry it has taken us so long.

The recommended length of stay was helpful and we felt accurate based on our experiences. The length of stay for most of the places we stayed was 2 nights and we wondered if that would feel too quick, however, we felt very satisfied as we went from place to place. We felt like we'd experienced the activities and seen as much as we could within out stay. While we enjoyed all of our accommodations if we were to highlight some it would be Onguma Tented Camp, Etendka Camp, Khwai Tented Camp, and Mapula Lodge. Onguma and Mapula were definitely luxury experiences were are not necessarily accustomed to, however, we enjoyed them completely - we appreciated the simplicity of Etendka and Khwai.

We are already planning on another visit to Southern Africa and we would readily work with Maruska and Expert Africa again!

Suggestions to help improve trips and service:

The only thing we might do different was a 2WD car with more clearance. Many of the roads we traveled on weren't much different than roads we drive in Alaska, however, in Alaska we have a 4WD vehicle with more clearance than what we had. So, driving on some of the roads in a 2WD vehicle was different for us. We understand that because of our trip budget we pretty much had to go with the car we had and things really did work out well. However, if someone can afford it we believe a 2 wheel drive vehicle is sufficient for the self-drive we did in Namibia but having one with more clearance than an economy sedan would be better." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"Our trip to Namibia was enjoyable, although some of the driving distances were long this was more than made up by the fantastic places we visitied.

For the most part the lodges were excellent and all the locals we met really helped to make our holiday special.

The information pack provided by Expert Africa, including leaflets / maps and a guide to the region was really useful and great to have with us." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"Namibia proved to have and be all we could hope for.
Absolutely nothing is small scale, from the dunes, desert, coast and salt-pan to the welcome of its people and animals.

Suggestions to help Expert Africa improve our trips and service

Maruska and Gwynneth were so impressive in every aspect of our arrangements, and Wilderness Safaris also proved to be very competent ground agents, so we're hard pressed to think of any tweaks.
If we're being really nit-picky then our view of Swakopmund means that two nights wasn't really ideal for us, but we do realise that it's a lot to do with personal choice and might be difficult to ask enough questions to deduce this. All we can say is that it is very 'small-town', so people with lots of travel experience might have issues with it (in the winter at least) in comparison to the rest of Namibia." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 11 on a Namibia trip