Reviews of safaris to Damaraland
1066 holiday reviews from our travellers of holidays which include Damaraland.
"Our month in Namibia/Botswana"
"Marg and Phil's Return to Africa"
We were delighted with the personal touch and attention to detail that Maruska provided. We had enough information from telephone calls, emails, books by Bradt and your web site to approach this section of our trip with confidence. We did not have to do the planning and make reservations as Maruska, arranged everything. We made some accommodation changes a few days before we left for our holiday and a last minute reversal on our Car Hire, (which involved a new company and an eventual refund) and were relieved at how efficiently those changes were handled.
Maruska's response of making sure we were first and foremost satisfied with our itinerary and happy with all arrangements was most refreshing and reassuring.
We have spoken very highly about your service with friends and family highlighting the ethos of your company. Thank you for everything. Marg and Phil Crosby-Jones" Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 7 on a Namibia trip
"March 2017 trip"
One of the highlights was that the trip was to celebrate a special birthday and several of the hotels kindly acknowledged this.
There is so much great stuff to see and we didn't feel too rushed spending a couple of nights in each place.
Marked up map was very useful." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip
"Overall trip"
Excellent planning by Claire Scott and other staff. The only problem we experienced was that the air conditioning in our private vehicle didn't work.
Neither we nor our guide realized it until we were already away from Windhoek so there was no opportunity to fix it.
We asked these travellers about their private guide, and they commented:
Johann was outstanding in every way. Knowledgeable, helpful, thoughtful, always pleasant and easy to be with. He has a great sense of humor.
He made sure we made the most of every activity and went out of his way to enhance our experiences.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
No suggestions. We couldn't ask for a better trip." Read full review: 23 nights in Africa; 8 on a Namibia trip
"Our trip to Namibia in March"
The accommodation was all of a very high standard and all the activities were good - though there was some variability which meant we haven't rated all of them as excellent.
We hope that we will have the opportunity to go back to Namibia to revisit most of the locations we covered and to see more of the country." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip
"A lovely introduction to Namibia"
The dreadful car made driving on rough roads no pleasure." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip
"Don't go at the height of the rainy season!"
The over riding thing that went wrong was the weather. I knew it was the rainy season and had hoped that March would see something of a wind down. On the contrary, according to every single local that we met, we were at the very height of it. The outcomes varied from the inconvenient (cold showers and damp towels) to an inability to get off main roads/tracks, getting wet and cold, being sent off to Etosha at the peak of the rainy season so nothing was there, and looking at clouds instead of the sun.
I had expected Kenyan style clouds building in the afternoon, rain and then a clear sky again but everywhere north of Swakop and indeed at Windhoek as we left there was considerable and persistent cloud (but not all the time by any means), together with heavy rain.
I would have liked a MUCH clearer warning of this.
The second problem was the car which was not fit for purpose, in terms of suspension at least. A car is just a car until it doesn't work in which case it drags everything down.
With those two caveats we had a good time. The bookings that (for me) didn't cut the cake were the Strand Hotel (but I don't like hotels), Doro Nawas and Ongava. The other side of the coin was excellent visits to Hoodia, Etendeka, Mundelea and Okonjiwa." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip
"Adventures in Namibia"
We saw so many amazing sights and stayed at some amazing places.The service we received for management and staff alike was wonderful. If it hadn't have been for two things - not being able to see the Fish River Canyon, and the stay at the Ongava Lodge, we would say it was a perfect holiday but unfortunately this spoilt it somewhat.
Thanks to expert Africa for all arrangement which were perfect." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip
"Departure and Namibia overall."
"Namibian Adventure 2017"
Rather disappointing that Hoanib was the only camp that provided any educational/informative element- a very good film on the desert lions and a lecture by a visiting bat researcher!
More of that sort of thing would have much appreciated- especially where we stayed three nights in one place, (Most camps seem to be geared to two-night stays) Would have very much liked to know more about the different tribes etc- which we finally did on our last day at the National Museum in Windoek , which has seen better days, but is still very interesting.
We loved the ability to get away into some unspoilt and spectacular county -and avoid crowds of tourists. The exception to that was Sossusvlie, where there were far too many people and traffic .... a bit of a shock after the tranquility of Etendenka!
We worry that Namibia is about to OD on tourism and lose its unique appeal....." Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 19 on a Namibia trip
Where to stay in Damaraland
Our suggestions for safari camps in Damaraland