Reviews of trips to Windhoek

"We thought this an incredible holiday.

The accommodation you booked for us was all good and the advice you gave was excellent. If we were doing it again, we might not visit Luderitz and probably would not visit Erongo. That apart it met or exceeded our expectations. We saw incredible scenery, lots of wildlife and interesting geology.

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We thought your service was pretty exceptional. We met one of your staff in Luderitz and again at Sinclair - she was seeing some of the hotels and lodges and had clearly seen quite a bit of Namibia. We thought it excellent that you were really keeping in touch with the locations you recommended." Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 19 on a Namibia trip

"We had a very nice holiday in Namibia. Thank you Maruska, Angela and Gwyneth. Actually, two people dealt equaly with the trip, Maruska and Angela Griffin.

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This is not a suggestion, just a comment.

The luxury rooms at Olive Grove are not all of them bigger than the standard rooms. Some are, the ones at the second floor. There are two or three by the pool, and even though they are called "luxury rooms" they are small, very small for a couple with a baby sleeping in a cot. Nantie was absolutely kind and generous offering us the executive suite for our two first nights, as their other luxury rooms were occupied." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"Over all this holiday was a brilliant trip. The journeys between locations especially in the early part of the holiday were long hard and dusty. However, this was was more than compensated by the beautiful and varied landscapes we passed through and the wildlife we eccountered on the way. Without dout every destination made every bumpy mile well worth it. We would reccommend this itinerary in every respect. The locations, the accommodation and partiularly the direction in which the trip was planned. The harder drives were better handled early on in the holiday and of course the climax being Etosha. The other observation bourn out in my comments regarding the service is the friendliness of all the people we met, so many nice people where ever we went.

If you enjoy astounding landscapes
If you enjoy peace and tranquillity
If you enjoy wildlife (and sometime sharing it)
Namibia is for you.

What you won't get is anything contrived, everything so natural and so sympathetic to the surrounings. Nor will get is a chance to see the full Luna eclipse in the magnificent African sky from the veranda at Frans Indongo Lodge as we were so lucky enough to experience. (not unless you live another hundred years)

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You recommended bags to put around the cases to help avoid the dust. (this is not a criticism) We duly did this. This pesented a problem of its own in that the dust was still there and we still got dusty reaching in the back of the car. The tip is, as were learnt from the manager at Desert Homestead, is to leave the back side windows of the pod open just a little. This creates a through draught taking a lot of the dust back out. This did not solve the problem but cut the dust down by say 70%.

We dispensed with the bags which were by now all split and inside out anyway and patted down the cases to rid the last of the dust at each accommodation stop. As the holiday went on the problem lessened as we encountered more and more tarred roads anyway. Just a thought." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"A great trip! We were on 4 rivers: the Kavango, the Okovango, the Kwando and the Zambezi and stayed in a number of island lodges (as well as Okonjima and Windhoek). The variety was remarkable. Some of the road journeys were long but by and large the travel was good and we'd recommend self-drive because you have so much more contact with people. The border posts were a world unto themselves - lovely but leave plenty of time.

Given that we were passing through three countries, and had quite precise pickup times, it would have been helpful to have been told about the time changes. We worked out the ones between countries but were caught out by the fact that the eastern end of the Caprivi Strip is not on Namibian time!

The pick up at Kasane (n Botwswana) was not straightforward. We'd been told we would be picked up by our last lodge, Islands of Siankaba. But they don't pick up outside Zambia. A firm called Bushtracks does all the pick ups (and does not have a board with your name on it). It was quite by chance that we managed to find them. That said, the water crossing (at the crossroads of Zimbabwe/Botwswana/Zambia/Nambiia) was wild!

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Another great trip with Expert Africa. So thank you once again!
It would have been good to know about 'Caprivi time' and to have been given the name of the company doing the pick up at Kasane.

Thank you very much!!" Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 6 on a Namibia trip

"Amazing! We were lucky to have a month here but would have liked longer. There is so much to see and do.

A lovely country with great lodges and fabulous wildlife. I think we saw the best of everything thanks to the excellent advice from Sabina for whom nothing was too much trouble.

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It was really really cold, not just on game drives but also in tented camps. Windproof jackets need to be recommended at this time of year. Temperatures fell to at least -2 deg. C. We didn't feel prepared for it being quite so cold at nights. We were glad we had our thermal underwear with us! It even snowed at Solitaire two days after we left the area.

I was really glad that you recommended a 4x4 to us and think you should have pushed us in that direction earlier as it really enhanced the trip, e.g. we could fully explore Fish Canyon and the Luderitz Peninsula. Having no experience of 4x4 driving, a short course at the beginning of the holiday would have been useful and we met a woman (Rome, who is Willems neice) at the Barchan Dune Resort who was talking about doing just that in Windhoek where she lives." Read full review: 28 nights in Africa; 25 on a Namibia trip

"Our trip was wonderful - we enjoyed it very much. The information Maruska provided when we were initially planning the trip helped to arrange a trip that suited our interests and desires. We believe the initial phone conversation was essential to the process, as Maruska was able to find out what we were hoping to do, and she knew the right questions to ask in order to better understand what we were looking for (both in terms of what we wanted to see and do, and what was most important to us.) Once she understood that seeing different habitats and wildlife, with good guides, were our priorities, she was able to suggest camps to fulfill these priorities.

Maruska also understood that luxury accommodation and gourmet food were not important to us; we just wanted comfortable, safe accommodation (though we found all our accommodations and food great). Our discussions with Maruska helped tremendouly, since we were not familiar with the camps in Botswana and how it all works (camps, activities, transport).

Also, her extensive knowledge of Namibia assisted us in deciding exactly what we wanted to do there and how we could do it. We really appreciated her knowlegde of both the regions and activities, and the practical knowledge of what was possible (e.g., roads, distances, driving times, etc.). Everything worked out extremely well.

I have one additional comment regarding the camps in Botswana. We really enjoyed Mapula Lodge, which was very relaxed and did not have so many guests. Our stay at Mapula was very special, even though we saw more game at the other two lodges. Although we enjoyed all three camps, the atmosphere at Mapula was most appealing to us, as we really like to take our time watching the wildlife, not rushing from one animal to another.

We realize every visit is probably different, and we were lucky to be at Mapula with only two other guests. But one thing we would definitely look for in the future (after having experienced the camps), is camps that have no more than four guests in a vehicle. It is just a much better experience to drive through the habitats and see the animals with only two or four guests in the vehicle. Luckily, we only had two game drives with six guests - but those two drives were not nearly as enjoyable as the others. With six guests, there was a lot more talking, and it was hard to appreciate the sounds of the animals and the land, sounds that enhanced the amazing things we saw.

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I only have one suggestion. We never received our final documents (including map and luggage tags) by mail. Although this did not affect our trip, since Maruska e-mailed all the necessary documents, it might help to send the final document package by special post (with some sort of tracking) rather that just by regular mail. One other idea is that the final document package could have been sent again by fast post when we still had not received the package 10 days before departure. As I mentioned, it did not affect our satisfaction with the trip, and Wilderness Safaris at Windhoek airport had a map of Namibia ready for us when we arrived.

Thank you for a great trip!" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"Our 2 week tour of Namibia was the best holiday ever. After fears that our plans would be scuppered by the exceptional rains in April / early May, we were blessed with no rains during our visit, and completed our planned route despite the many appalling potholes and water-filled 'dips' in both the gravel roads and also within Windhoek itself. Sabina was diligent in juggling lodge reservations to fit in with the dates we could make, and was happy to discuss and provide advice whenever necessary - many thanks. We were struck by the variety of the places we saw - Klein Windhoek & Katatura township; delightful walks amongst wild flowers and along gorges in the Naukluft mountains; the sweltering desert heat in the dunes at Deadvlei; indulgent seafood and historic architecture in sunny Swakopmund; more walking in the rocky Erongo mountains; and a wealth of animals at Etosha and Okonjima." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"We went for the animals and the scenery which were wonderful and totally lived up to expectations but I hadnt expected to be so entranced by the people who looked after us. They were just amazing, genuine, dignified, informed, funny,. It was such a priviledge to have that experience and i will never forget ithem.

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Just keep doing what you are doing so well. Maruska was great, listened to us and was very knowledgeable which helped enormously.She was very good, answered our questions very promptly. We also met some other people whose trip she planned and they were also extremely happy with her." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 8 on a Namibia trip

"We had a fantastic time in Namibia and would reccommend it to anyone.

One reason for visiting in May was that after the wet season there would be a greener landscape and less dust in the air ... well that was certainly true! The rains had delivered 2-3 times the average amount and everywhere was very lush, making the scenery spectacular.

With so much water around there were no concentrations of game at the waterholes but we still saw plenty of wildlife in most places.

The rains meant that some smaller roads were washed away or in poor condition so some journeys took longer than expected.
A SUV class vehicle was absolutely vital - a normal saloon car would not have made it on some of the gravel roads. Anyone going at this time of year should book a SUV or 4x4. Having said that, the main tarred roads were actually in much better condition than expected.

Thanks to Angela for all the work and advice on our itinerary, everything went very smoothly. The only hint of regret is that after all the rain we didn't see the "real" Namibia ... ah well, maybe next time!" Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"One of the best holidays we have ever had. What an adventure. The organisation was second to none. We could do it all over again. Indeed we didn't want to come home!!

Recommend you change the Mazambala though - unless there is a change of management!

You will undoubtedly be hearing from us again" Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip