Reviews of trips to Windhoek
1110 holiday reviews from our travellers of holidays which include Windhoek.
"Namibia holiday"
The distances and the challenges of the roads were greater than I expected. The sheer scale of the country amazed us. The contrast between so many different areas meant that it was like having several different holidays in one. We have travelled in Kenya and South Africa in the past and apart from Windhoek, felt completely safe.
Kayaking with Cape fur seals, the balloon flight and tracking leopards were really top ten experiences. Tracking the desert adapted elephants was also very special.
Etosha was difficult to get a handle on because it is so vast. We had a fabulous leopard sighting where a big male leopard had taken to some shade under the solar panel that was powering the water pump for the waterhole. It eventually rolled off the platform and started stalking an impala but did not complete the attack and then we had to leave.
Lodge staff were very helpful especially at Doro Nawas and Okonjima. I cannot recommend Okonjima enough. It was fabulous.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
You could be a little more honest about the distances involved. If I had been fully aware of the 300km I was going to do I might I have tweaked it a bit. In truth, I cannot complain and will be happy to use you again for our next trip to Tanzania in 2012........!" Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip
"Northern Namibia inc lunch at the seaside"
I prepared a set of detailed route instructions and took a basic handheld GPS that does not have maps. Before leaving UK I matched the paper map with Google Earth for latitude and longitude at road junctions. Preparation was time consuming but worth the effort for peace of mind to ensure we were at the correct junctions and going in the right direction to the next. This was important when road signs only show the road number.
We detoured off the route to Henties Bay for lunch from Uis Mine instead of going directly to Omaruru and Erongo Lodge, and to the dinosaur footprints near Kalkfeld. The road from the dinosaur footprints, D2414, goes through Erindi game reserve - sign in and out at gates, but no charge.
Total distance was planned at 2200 km but we drove a little over 2600 km. Definitely a "must do again" adventure.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
I can't think of anything at the moment" Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 8 on a Namibia trip
"Tips, Timings and Temperature!"
Some handy hints - tips will be expected in various places - from a voluntary 'departiing' tip for the staff box at lodges, to a tip for 'guarding your car' every time you stop at the supermarket or to have a meal, to a tip for washing your car overnight when you didn't expect it! It would be helpful for Expert Africa to tell travellers what is the going rate for tipping - we worked out our own ratio in the end - more for staff at lodges, smaller amount for car guards etc.
It was initially a shock to come across 'car guards', as not used to this concept in UK. We also ended up giving juice and pencils as well as some money to some young boys who helped us unsolicited to change a tyre in the middle of nowhere. Some people in the country areas have very little.
Timings - Think in advance about when you are likely to arrive at lodges - some of the distances you will travel between them are pretty big - and you can't rush on gravel roads. If you are going to arrive just before dusk, you may not be able to do that walk in that lodgeyou had planned - unless you are there for 2 nights - which we found would have been preferable in most lodges.
Temperature - We noticed the drop in night-time/morning temperatures in Western Etosha - may just have been a fluke of the weather at that time - but it can be PRETTY chilly eating your breakfast at 6.00 a.m. in an outside restaurant - if you are planning to go looking for animals early which most people do whilst in Etosha, so you do need a jumper or fleece." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip
"One of our best ever holiday experiences"
Thank you so much Sabina for all your help in helping us arrange a lovely holiday.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Please believe me, your trips and service do not need to be improved" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 8 on a Namibia trip
"Northern Namibia safari"
We are saving for our next trip already and we will come back to EA, what better compliment can we give? EA came recommended to us by a good friend and we will now recommend EA to others too.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Expand your offering while maintaining the high level of service. I will need you guys in the future to take me places again. Northern Mozambique for example." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 10 on a Namibia trip
"What a wonderful country"
The scenary is just vast, diverse, unspoilt and stunning. Wildlife abounds and offers exceptional viewing. We saw many animals that we hoped to see as well as an amazing variety of birds.
The accomodation was generally of an excellent standard which considering the remoteness of some lodges was a credit to all concerned.
The staff on the whole were friendly and helpful .
The locals were friendly and didn't hassle us - do wave at them as you go by! We did give some people lifts but there is conflicting advice about this. The Bradt guide suggests that it is normal and very much appreciated but written advice from the car hire company suggests that this is a dangerous practice and should not happen.
Don't underestimate distances nor the quality of some of the roads which both can make journeys very tiring.
Internet and mobile phone access was patchy to say the least so don't expect to be able to communicate home etc. We also posted letters etc most of which have yet to arrive home after well over a month!
Our actual itinerary seemed to work well with 2/3 nights at each place, as you need to have some "down" time from driving and to enjoy relaxing at the lodges etc. If we had to do the same again we would have three nights at Canyon Lodge, only two nights in Swakopmund and three nights at Okonjima. We may also have decided to drive from Okonjima to the airport for an afternoon flight - thus missing out Windhoek altogether.
We hope to return.....the Caprivi Strip beckons plus a return visit to Okonjima!
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
We have found Expert Africa very professional and very helpful. The website is simply excellent and even this feedback form impressive.
We strongly recommend that Tracey or someone visits Camp Kipwe and Mushara Bush Camp (we don't believe you have been to these places) to see for yourselves how lovely these places are.
Keep up the excellent work and we will highly recommend you to anyone we know wishing to visit Africa. We know who to turn to for our next African trip!
Thanks." Read full review: 27 nights in Africa; 25 on a Namibia trip
"Expert Africa review"
Our trip on the whole couldn't have gone better, all our border crossings were easy and everywhere we thought could have had issues went very smoothly.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Just keep it going." Read full review: 24 nights in Africa; 9 on a Namibia trip
"Namibia - my best holiday ever!"
The accommodation was so much more than I had expected. We stayed in some great places and seemed to have the best of the rooms everywhere we stayed!
The distances were manageable to drive and I was very glad we did a self-drive holiday as it gave us the opportunity to do things in our own time. It was great to also have the opportunity to go on guided walks and drives at Okinjima and Waterberg so that we could learn about the wildlife from people who lived there.
Everyone we met was very friendly.
The highlights of our holiday were Kayaking in Walvis Bay (except for Luke, who at 6'4" found the kayak a bit uncomfortable) our whole stay at Okinjima, seeing Lions and elephants at Etosha and the climb up to Waterburg plateau.
Thank you so much Angela and Tracy!
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
no. it was all good!" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip
"trip as whole"
"A fantastic family adventure"
This was a well planned itinerary and everthing went according to plan. We stayed in many stunning locations, the quality of the food exceeded our expectaions, and everybody we met clearly wanted us to have a good experience of their country.
The only downside is that we can't afford a holiday like this every year!
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Just let customers know that places with pools all provide swimming towels- this would have saved us a little luggaage space!" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

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