Travel reviews by Mr C & family - Lancashire

Tips, Timings and Temperature!

On this trip, I visited Namibia between 4-Aug-2010 and 20-Aug-2010 and I travelled with 4 other people.

This was our first experience of Africa - and we would definitely like to return. All four of us (including a 15 & 17 yr old) really enjoyed it, and felt we had got a flavour of what Namibia was about - the animals - and the people.

Some handy hints - tips will be expected in various places - from a voluntary 'departiing' tip for the staff box at lodges, to a tip for 'guarding your car' every time you stop at the supermarket or to have a meal, to a tip for washing your car overnight when you didn't expect it! It would be helpful for Expert Africa to tell travellers what is the going rate for tipping - we worked out our own ratio in the end - more for staff at lodges, smaller amount for car guards etc.

It was initially a shock to come across 'car guards', as not used to this concept in UK. We also ended up giving juice and pencils as well as some money to some young boys who helped us unsolicited to change a tyre in the middle of nowhere. Some people in the country areas have very little.

Timings - Think in advance about when you are likely to arrive at lodges - some of the distances you will travel between them are pretty big - and you can't rush on gravel roads. If you are going to arrive just before dusk, you may not be able to do that walk in that lodgeyou had planned - unless you are there for 2 nights - which we found would have been preferable in most lodges.

Temperature - We noticed the drop in night-time/morning temperatures in Western Etosha - may just have been a fluke of the weather at that time - but it can be PRETTY chilly eating your breakfast at 6.00 a.m. in an outside restaurant - if you are planning to go looking for animals early which most people do whilst in Etosha, so you do need a jumper or fleece.

I stayed at and have reviewed:

Place	Overall rating
Elegant Guesthouse, Namibia 5-Aug-2010 review: The Elegant Guesthouse review	Good
Bullsport Guest Farm, Namibia 6-Aug-2010 review: Bullsport Guest Farm review	Excellent
Sossusvlei Lodge, Namibia 7-Aug-2010 review: Sossusvlei Lodge review	Excellent
Sam's Giardino, Namibia 9-Aug-2010 review: Sam's Giardino review	Good
Damaraland Camp, Namibia 11-Aug-2010 review: Damaraland Camp review	Excellent
Doro Nawas, Namibia 12-Aug-2010 review: Doro Nawas review	Good
Taleni Etosha Village, Namibia 13-Aug-2010 review: Taleni Etosha Village review	Good
Mushara Lodge, Namibia 15-Aug-2010 review: Mushara Lodge review	Excellent
Frans Indongo Lodge, Namibia 17-Aug-2010 review: Frans Indongo Lodge review	Good
Erongo Wilderness Lodge, Namibia 18-Aug-2010 review: Erongo Wilderness Lodge review	Excellent