Reviews of trips to Swakopmund & Walvis Bay
908 holiday reviews from our travellers of holidays which include Swakop' & Walvis Bay.
"Namibia & Botswana - Ian & Lynda Ancell"
Everything worked as clockwork and showed the level of planning and professionalism that went into this trip by Maruska." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip
"Namibia Trip."
"Memorable experiences in Namibia & Botswana"
Our itinerary in Namibia took us to a variety of places and experiences that were all very different from each other, and each worth the visit. In Botswana it was mainly about the wildlife, though we also enjoyed the beautiful setting of the Okavenga Delta and meeting lots of Botswanans, who without exception were friendly and welcoming.
Finally, except for not getting the type of vehicle we were expecting (though Bidvest & Tracy from Expert Africa did contact us to offer to change, which we decided against) every aspect of the organisation of the trip went without a hitch. We were also impressed that the company paid the difference in flight prices between Windhoek & Maun after Air Namibia cancelled all these flights from the beginning of November and we had to be rebooked onto SA Airways." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 11 on a Namibia trip
"First trip to Namibia"
The lodges we stayed at were fantastic. We made a change to our itinerary as we didn't feel that Swakopmund offered us a truly African experience so we swapped 2 nights in Swakopmund for a night in Erongo Wilderness Lodge, which was very special, with beautifully designed up market tented accommodation in the Erongo Mountains. The activities were simple (trekking in the mountains) but very good fun.
Then we went to Okanjima to track leopards and cheetahs. This was an incredible experience. We didn't love the accommodation and the restaurant so much there, but it was well worth the visit because of our close encounters with these beautiful wild cats." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 9 on a Namibia trip
"My Oct 2016 trip"
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
It would be very helpful to have average driving times between lodges or mileage at and early stage - we probably woudn't have gone so far every other day if we had known how long it would take. It might be worth advising people who eat fish but not meat that it's better to stick to vegetarian - when we were given fish it wasn't great." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip
"Our Big Adventure"
1) Bullsport was a good stopover, but not in the style of the other lodges. We knew it was a working farm and perhaps we should have chosen differently.
2) We are not convinced that visiting at the end of the dry season was a good choice. We were aware of the lack of rain, but did not realise that it would be so unusually hot. This was not the fault of Expert Africa.
3) Although happy with the 2 x 4 car, a more powerful diesel model would have been more suitable.
On a positive note, we were delighted with Expert Africa's response to our delayed arrival after we had difficulty contacting Wilderness Safaris. We also feel that the whole process from the initial enquiry to the actual holiday was well managed, with excellent advice and information. We would (and already have) recommend Expert Africa.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
The guidebook does need updating. The wifi in most camps is better than described for example. Conny's restaurant (page 181) was very welcome, but there was only """"chicken"""" or a toasted sandwich. It was very clean and had some very interesting geological specimens.
Solitaire has a memorial to Moose who died in 2014, (page 265). The Kameldorn Garten restaurant in Otjiwarongo (page 405) closed some time ago.
We greatly appreciated camps with good wifi, bean to cup coffee machines and chilled water. Sounds trivial, especially when we have also greatly enjoyed the friendliness of staff and the beauty of the country that is Namibia.
Thank you." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip
"Trip of a lifetime -hopefully to be repeated!"
The itinerary was fantastic and enabled us to fit in everything that we had said we wanted to - the map and route planning incredibly useful and accurate. Plus everywhere we stayed was nigh on perfect - the organisation was faultless and made the whole experience very simple for us!" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip
"Our Namibia trip"
Namibians are very friendly people, always willing to help & waving at the side of the road. The nature is beautiful and watching the wild animals is just amazing. The entire trip was perfectly organised. From the planning of our trip to when we arrived home. When we had questions, Maruska was always very fast in her replies.
We would also like to express special thanks to Wilderness Safaris for their support when our luggage was lost. They really did a great job." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 9 on a Namibia trip
"Everything we hoped for and more in Namibia"
We had a very helpful assist from Wilderness Safaris staff who met us at the airport and helped us get a burner phone and deal with a slightly troublesome initial car rental interaction. We are ow sure that we could not have done the arrangements on our own with out significant hassles and problems and our very happy that we put our trust in Expert Africa.
We saw numerous independent travellers at the national park Lodgings who thought they had successfully made reservations to find that the parks had no record of them or places for them to stay. Not clear how these were ever resolved but it never impacted us! Maruska's printed material that she sent us had incredibly useful advice on everything form what to look for in car rentals to how to greet people in shops and restaurants. We saw many abrupt tourists getting a cold shoulder from staff that turned around and treated us very warmly because we had been told to do a full on relaxed greeting, asking about how they are and wording the questions in a more polite manner then most European and US travellers would normally use.
Namibia itself was a dream come true visit to Africa. We knew we would see all the major animals (rhinos, elephants, giraffes, ostrich, wildebeest,kudu, oryx,lions, eland, hartebeest, springbok) but we had no idea we would see as many as we did in such high concentrations. Unfortunately the drought is probably responsible for this, pushing all the animals to the waterholes just to survive. We saw 33 species of mammals and over 200 species of birds and most of them from the rental car.
Maruska's advice on several places was spot on. She had gently warned of some dropping standards at a couple places which turned out to be true, while encouraging us to do the kayaking with the seals trip and the 4X4 sand dunes drive to Sandwich Harbor. The latter was a true highlight, and it might not be as fabulous with a guide other then Bruno Nebar, but I am sure it still would be enjoyable. We were quite lucky to spend that day with two of Expert Africa's people, a complete coincidence, but they were both very interesting and helped in drawing out so much information form Bruno while having interesting stories of their own. We usually do not like travelling in guided tours but this was a fabulous day with great company.
Namibia is barely dealing with the tourist influx from Germany and the rest of Europe, and are not prepared to deal with the kind of influx Americans will contribute once Americans realize what a fabulous destination Namibia is. i am telling our friends and family to go now and to use Expert Africa to make their arrangements! We met only 2 Americans and had many more meaningful encounters with local Damara people including valiant efforts to teach us some click language words! But this will not last long." Read full review: 31 nights in Africa; 27 on a Namibia trip
"This was a fantastic trip. I'm very pleased"
Everything was flawless and I couldn't be more pleased." Read full review: 31 nights in Africa; 27 on a Namibia trip
Where to stay in Swakop' & Walvis Bay
Our suggestions for places to stay in Swakopmund & Walvis Bay