Travel reviews by Family P from Belgium

Self-drive Namibia

On this trip, I visited Namibia between 6-Aug-2009 and 27-Aug-2009 and I travelled with 4 other people.

Namibia is certainly an interesting and beautiful country to visit. Highlights were driving through the dramatic desert scenery, climbing the dunes, seeing the seals at Cape Cross, watching a rhino family drink at Okaukuejo's waterhole, seeing crocodiles on the Angolan bank of the Okavango river, and the relaxed and friendly atmosphere at Ghaub guest farm. Having travelled fairly widely in Africa, the thing that perhaps surprised us most was how few people there are in Namibia (2.2/km2) - even the towns seemed empty!

It was interesting that none of the lodges (except Ghaub) offered child portions for their meals, even for very young children, which unfortunately resulted in food being wasted.

Cash was easier to find than expected with ATMs in even the smallest towns and at many petrol stations, which was good as food and supplies seemed generally quite expensive.

Expert Africa certainly organised the trip well - Tracy was always happy to answer queries, replied rapidly to my emails, and kept us posted with any changes. We had originally asked for self-catering as much as possible and I realise that in many places this is not possible, but where we were quoted only bed and breakfast we sort of assumed there would be facilities for catering for ourselves which was not always the case - this was perhaps our fault for not clarifying this before leaving. Otherwise, the voucher system worked well and everything was booked as expected (except for the family room at Haus Sonneneck). The route was clearly marked and lodges were easy to find.

I stayed at and have reviewed:

Place	Overall rating
Kalahari Anib Lodge, Namibia 7-Aug-2009 review: Kalahari Anib Lodge review	Good
Kulala Desert Lodge, Namibia 8-Aug-2009 review: Kulala Desert Lodge review	Good
Brigadoon, Namibia 10-Aug-2009 review: Brigadoon review	Excellent
Brandberg Restcamp, Namibia 13-Aug-2009 review: Brandberg Restcamp review	Good
Doro Nawas, Namibia 14-Aug-2009 review: Doro Nawas review	Good
Okaukuejo Camp, Namibia 15-Aug-2009 review: Okaukuejo Camp review	Excellent
Mushara Lodge, Namibia 17-Aug-2009 review: Mushara Lodge review	Excellent
Hakusembe Lodge, Namibia 18-Aug-2009 review: Hakusembe Lodge review	Excellent
Ndhovu Safari Lodge, Namibia 20-Aug-2009 review: Ndhovu Safari Lodge review	Good
Ghaub Guest Farm, Namibia 23-Aug-2009 review: What a wonderful place!	Excellent
Waterberg Camp, Namibia 24-Aug-2009 review: Waterberg Camp review	Excellent
Haus Sonneneck, Namibia 25-Aug-2009 review: Haus Sonneneck review	Good