Reviews of safaris to Central Highlands

"The whole trip went like clockwork - thanks for your superb organisation. Combining the flights in the south with driving in the north was just the right combination for us (we would always recommend the flight over the Skeleton Coast to people in particular - since it gives such a good perspective of the vastness of the dunes).

This has been such a memorable trip.

Thank you!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

None that come to mind." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"A wonderful trip - we loved Namibia.

Some anxieties about the car hire - our delayed flight to Windhoek put us under pressure and the clerk on the Budget desk when we collected the car was not particularly helpful. The second spare tyre which we had ordered was not in the car and had to be sent for, delaying us further, and at that stage we were worried about getting to our first hotel before nightfall. The various instructions you had given us about car hire were slightly confusing.

However, when we had to purchase a new tyre after a puncture, Budget were helpful on the phone, the staff when we returned the car were excellent and our credit card has now been refunded with the cost of the tyre.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

I would very much have preferred to have had a printed feedback form which we could have filled in during our flight home.

I know that this web version is helpful to you in that it is quicker for you to process, but you would have had more immediate (and possibly therefore more accurate) feedback had you enclosed a printed form with our tickets. On the flight we would have discussed our responses together under circumstances in which there was nothing else of particular importance for us to do." Read full review: 24 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"Had we to do this trip over, there is very little we would change. Our biggest miscalculation was the amount of time spent in Etosha. We thought that Etosha would be similar to the National Parks in the USA, that is bumper to bumper traffic, some folks racing through the park, and sometimes no place to park to see the sights. This, of course, is not true in Etosha and we would have spent much more time there.

We realize that everyone as different tastes and desires. Some prefer "resort" lodges, which are fine in many instances providing there are activities there to justify the cost. However, there are times that a nice B & B like Termite Hills or a hotel like the Makalani in Tusemb are quite satisfactory (if available of course).

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We would not hesitate to have Expert Africa help us plan and arrange our next Africa adventure." Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 17 on a Namibia trip

"The main purpose of our trip was to help PAWS with the cheetah and leopard rehabilitation project at Okonjima. We feel privileged to have been part of the team and would certainly consider repeating it at some stage in the future.

As for our 3rd week, I have mixed feelings. I would certainly not advise anyone to travel to Caprivi unless they had more time than we allowed.
I greatly underestimated the time needed to get there and we spent the best part of 5 days in the car for just 2 days in Caprivi. No night game drives were on offer at any of the lodges and we were not allowed out of the vehicle in the Bush. So after the excitement of the first 2 weeks, it was rather tame and somewhat of an anticlimax.

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Although my comments relating to our 3rd week are clearly rather negative, they are brought about by our own bad planning and in no way do they reflect on Expert Africa. Tracy was very helpful from the outset and we cannot fault her organizational skills.....we would not hesitate to ask her to help with our next wildlife trip." Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 6 on a Namibia trip

"With hindsight, we should have allowed more time for our trip to Caprivi as it was a lot of driving.

We stayed in some very good lodges - for one or two nights - we should have stayed two instead of one. However, this was our choice, taking into account our budget and the time available.

Overall our trip was very good and we enjoyed a bit of luxury after our two weeks in the bush at Okonjima.
I think we were spoiled on the first two weeks for the amount of game we saw and exciting activities as our final weeks journey to Caprivi did not match that. It was however an interesting contrast to see a different part of the country and game sightings are largely a matter of luck!

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We have travelled with Expert Africa before and were happy to do so again.
Tracy was always very helpful and did her best to fit in with our wishes." Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 6 on a Namibia trip

"EA as ever had organised everything to perfection, bar the info on how to get to Sususwe, but I forgive them this as everything else was perfect." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 11 on a Namibia trip

"Overall, we had a wonderful time and plan on returning to Namibia.

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I would have liked to have received some of the travel information that you sent earlier. The materials on checking luggage, rental cars, etc would be useful, I would probably add some comments about paying people to watch your cars, street vendors, etc. But, I also recognize that our trip was put together at the last minute and that may be why we didn't get those materials until right before we left.

Maruska was very helpful and gave great advice. Thanks for a wonderful trip." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 10 on a Namibia trip

"Apart from the route between Doro Nawas and Hobatere, and our last full day, the information and advice was thorough and very useful.

I think the instructions need to more consistent i.e. if comments are made about some bad roads, then ALL bad roads in the itinerary should be mentioned. Time or distance from the main road to the actual camps would be very useful.

We are not used to package holidays and it is easy to be complacent and think everything has been arranged in advance, all the maps perfect etc when using someone else.! I would have phoned ahead to all the places first to let them know when to expect us and check on directions. I am not sure what would have happened if we had a problem on route and not arrived which left me somewhat anxious especially as the phone did not always connect.

I bought a Namibian phone card which was good value - nb all internal text messages are free - you just pay for the calls.

The Bradt guide book was excellent - we almost left it behind and would have been stuck without it. We met other people using it.

The guide book had a few corrections to be made :

1) no walking tours included at Doro Nawas
2) Otavi - Rugger club was clearly not serving any meals
3) the Meteor Hotel in Otavi is called the Travel Inn on the main road so easy to miss it. A good recommendation and we had tasty pizzas.
4) In Etosha you talk about parking uder a tree in midday but we saw no trees where this can be done - suggest you delete this in next editions.
5) No garden centre restaurant in Okandja
6) Rhinos in Okandja was a simple restaurant run by a friendly family from Madeira and a good stop for a quick lunch.
7) In Okandja one lot of stalls has been burt down recently - only one lot of stalls now at the far end of the town.
8) Uis - beware of people selling crystals quite aggressively at the petrol station
9) If you want to go to the Tug Restaurant at Swakopmund you need to book it well in advance. In the end we got a late cancellation. Considered a touristy place by the locals but quite fun!
10) No ATMs in the Etosha Park - would have been useful to know this.
11) Petrol pump at Windhoek airport is not for the public. Only certain car hire companies can use it - Budget is one of them. Might be a good idea to fill up in Windhoek first to play safe.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

We felt that driving times as described were not always realistic for a small car. As mentioned before, it would be useful to know in advance how long it takes to drive up the private roads or how long they are. 5 or 7 kms is a long way when you think you have arrived!

We are not convinced that Doro Nawas was the best stop for 2 nights and that we could have spent the time doing something else more interesting such as visiting the cheetah or lion conservancies.

Rating the accommodation is difficult as a tent cannot be called excellent and there fore I have given a consistent good throughout the form. ~They were all spacious and airy with comfortable beds." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"Overall, we had a wonderful holiday, so thank you all very much. We will return and will recommend Namibia and you guys to others without hesitation.

One more note for your book, Chris: the R200 note is now in common use in Namibia!

One final thought: We do think things are getting rather expensive in Southern Africa. I spent about £2000 while in Namibia in addition to the base cost of the trip (more than I had anticipated) - and I could have spent much more. Apparently there are people willing to pay £600 for a bottle of wine (see the Mushara wine list.) If people are not careful, they will price themselves out of the market!

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Just do what you can to impress on the operators out there that they have a wonderful product, and it would be a real mistake to get greedy. Geese and golden eggs come to mind!!!" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"For me this was a long held dream which exceeded my expectations. We had been impressed by the knowledge and experience of your staff - Tracy initially and then Angela - and their willingness truly to create what we wanted raher than (as with another company we approached) tinkering slightly with a standard package.

It was only once we got there that we realised the extent to which that knowledge and experience had been used to shape our trip into something that worked well for us and gave us a much better experience than we could have put together for ourselves. The advice and guidance, with some small exceptions, covered everything we needed to know to make life easy.

The exceptions - for me they were the lack of any obvious guidance on driving on sand roads (it's in the guidebook but I didn't see that until we were stuck), the detailed instructions for finding the wrong Erongo Lodge and something on the ubiquitous car guards would have been useful. My husband would have liked advice on going faster on the gravel roads when they're in poor condition - that was the local advice we were given and it certainly made the bumpier stretches less painful.

I can see however that there are inherent dangers in that and that it is important that less skillful drivers recognise that anything over 60-80kph could have unfortunate effects.

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Any omissions were very minor. I'd be happy yo use you again and have certainly been recommending you to friends." Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 17 on a Namibia trip