Namibia: reviews from our travellers

"We loved our holiday and honestly wouldn’t change a thing.

The amount of time spent at each camp was perfect and ensured not only did we see everything we wanted to, but it also didn’t feel rushed or stressed." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"This trip was three years in the planning and two years of patiently waiting for our borders to reopen. Expert Africa's team member Maruska AdyeRowe was amazing and very reassuring when we were hesitant to travel during COVID. All her planning and booking was flawless and we very much appreciate that she could make all our African dreams come true.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service: Everything was perfectly planned. Thank you." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari

"Little more to add to what I have said about each lodge/element individually. The whole trip was wonderful and exceeded expectations.

The booking process was really efficient, informative and painless thanks to Tracy's help and availability throughout. I had a particular itinerary in mind but was not sure whether it would work in practice. With Tracy's help it became a reality and the girls and I had a very memorable trip of a lifetime with lots of photographs to enjoy for years afterwards.

I couldn't fault any of it - all the connections worked well and no complaints about any aspect.

Thank you so much for all the help and making it a reality. I really hope it will have given my girls a taste for travel in the future." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 9 on a Namibia trip

"This trip - which had been twice postponed because of the pandemic - in the end turned out one of the best we've ever been on (and we've been to close to a hundred countries!).

The driving was great fun – especially through the vast empty landscapes of southern Namibia. The stunning scenery of the Namib, Namibrand and the Sperrgebiet will stay in our memories forever. This wasn’t so much about wildlife, but we had a few nice add-ons in that department too. Plus the highly atmospheric ghost towns of the Sperrgebiet and the lonely barren Skeleton Coast. And on top of all that we stayed at some outstanding lodges, characterful hotels and guest farms and enjoyed lots of good food (too much so – we both put on a few kilos over the course of this trip!).

Everything worked fine, no major hiccups, and we really found we were leaving our stresses and worries far behind and thoroughly recharged our batteries. Thanks for putting this together for us!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Can't really think of anything. It was all fine. .... maybe add Angola to your portfolio. We'd love to go to that northern neighbour of Namibia too ..." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 21 on a Namibia trip

"Good trip overall, a lot of variety and different environments/wildlife to see.

Flying made it a lot faster to get around, which made it easier to see more things (worth the cost)." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"Thank you Sabina for organizing an amazing trip to Namibia for us. It was definitely worth the wait!

The scenery was spectacular, the people were very friendly and welcoming and the accomodation and food was great.

We thoroughly enjoyed seeing a great variety of wild life particularly in Etosha.

Everywhere was well organised and our whole trip ran smoothly." Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 17 on a Namibia trip

"It was an experience to say the least.

Sabina's recommendations of alternative accommodation when original choices were not available were excellent.

We did experience a puncture on our hire car, which fortunately happened not far from Otjiwarongo where we discovered a Dunlop tyre depot. The manager contacted the rental company on our behalf and sorted out the issue for us.

Overall the amount of wildlife seen was extremely numerous and observed throughout the country.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

None.

The service we received from Sabina was excellent. Knowing she was at the end of a phone line or e-mail if we had any queries gave us us reassurance throughout our trip." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"We have already recommended expert Africa and Maruska many times during and after out trip. We had already done one trip through expert Africa 6 years ago and so we knew we were going to get a great service and Maruska had such a great handle on our needs and what would suit us we trusted her recommendations and knew it would work for us.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service: There was only one area where I think it could have been helpful to understand a little more which was crossing the border from Botswana back into Namibia. This seemed to be far more officious and complex than going from Namibia to Botswana. For example - we ended up at the board queued behind a long line of lorries ( about 20) - but we luckily decided to chance it and drive past them to the front and it turned out that was the right thing to do but had we not taken the risk we probably would have been in the queue for 2 hours. Also we did take a bit of time to work out the tipping position as we were reading the book the information on our documents and then the local information. We worked it out in the end but real clarity on tipping guides directly and specifically and then tip box with an average daily tip probably would be helpful ( but maybe we were being to sensitive about this)." Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"The trip had to be postponed three times due to personal circumstances and covid so it wasn't the easiest to arrange. However, when it finally happened it was superb. We were originally looking to organise it ourselves but so glad we used Expert Africa for a number of reasons:

1. Their recommendations on hotels and advice on an itinerary. All the hotels were fantastic and without the advice, we'd have ended up driving in the dark which is not recommended

2. The price they charged for the hotels was no more expensive than booking direct and occasionally cheaper

3. When one of the hotels on the trip closed for refurbishment, they recommended and booked a replacement for us immediately, in line with the itenary.

4. For the first two trips we booked the Fish River Canyon ourselves which was a real hassle, sometime there were spaces available on a certain date, sometime not. Once we realised Expert Africa could do it for us, it was so much easier. They booked and changed it in-line with the itinarey.

5. The small things - being met at Windhoek airport by a representative who took us to the office in the airport so we could get organised, help us with car pick-up. The map we were given with our route marked on it along with the location of the hotels and time to drive between them (not obvious) plus the Namibia book, nice wallet to store all our paper work made it all feel very professional

6. Flexibility in changing our trip each year, rebooking the hotels plus advice given when we asked" Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 9 on a Namibia trip

"Maruska's patience in planning this trip with us was legendary and it worked out to be as perfect as possible. Overall transfers and some of the guiding was done by Ultimate Safaris. We were pleasantly surprised to be picked out of the long immigration queue by them and VIP'd through! Our guide was pleasant, interesting,and excellent. Transfers went well with only 1 hiccup with delivering our excess bags.

By our request this safari concentrated on the area around the Skeleton Coast. The constantly changing rocky, sand-duned and desert environment is fascinating to us. The tempest tossed coastline is so rich in marine life, with shoreline covered in hundreds of cormorants and seals in some areas. Flamingos, giraffe, elephants and ostrich all were spotted from our little Cessna on our Schoeman's Safari which was certainly a life changing highlight. We flew in the late afternoon during "golden hour" making the reds, pinks, ochres, greys of the desert shine. Surprisingly often there were areas of green. We were lucky as there had been abundant rain in March after 6 years of drought and so the normally bare desert was covered in soft golden grass. Also flowers blooming! so many varieties! It crossed my mind that at times it was like flying with Grand Canyons all around.

This is only our second visit to Namibia but we have found the staff members we have met particularly friendly and interesting. They come from a variety of tribes who until very recently would not have been interacting so closely. Many speak 3 or 4 languages or more which is humbling. The "click" language is especially magical to listen to. And remarkably hard to imitate!

The animal life is not so abundant as other parts of Africa but the adaption to the desert environment is special for the ones we did see. (Keep in mind we did not go to Etosha where animal life is more) As to flora the Welwitschia Mirablis , a plant which can grow for 2000 years was a wonder to see. It only has 2 leaves. There are male and female plants. We are told there are botanists who come to this area just to see this plant and now can see why..

We felt this visit to this area of Namibia to be one of our best of our dozen trips to Africa. Well planned, and very very special....

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service: Our third trip planned by Maruska. She is an absolute gem. We feel in good hands with Expert Africa." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 11 on a Namibia trip