Travel reviews by Miss. T & Mr B - London

My Oct 2010 trip

On this trip, I visited Namibia between 1-Oct-2010 and 24-Oct-2010 and I travelled with 1 other person.

Overall our trip was marred by the fact that we had an ordinary car. This was totally unsuitable. You have already received comments on the especially bad roads. This made travelling stressful, uncomfortable and tiring. We would often only reach our destination at dusk as we had to travel so slowly.We could not enjoy the journey or stop because of the stress of the hours of daylight left to get to our destination. Once at our destinations we were exhausted and shaken which marred our enjoyment of the lodge, location, wildlife.
Etosha, one of our planned highlights was especially disappoiting due to the fact we only had a car (see earlier comments).

We saw almost no other 2WD vehicles throughout the trip and everyone we spoke to, either locals or in the tourism business could not believe we had been advised that a car would be ok for the journey we were undertaking.

We advise that under no circumstances future guests are infomred that a 2WD vechilce is acceptable.

One final recommnendation....provide some advice on tipping and especailly advise on the car park security attendants. The first time we parked the car and saw someone coming towards us with a cosh we thought we were going to be attacked and not that he was coming to offer to look after the car.!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

see comments throughout questionnaire.

I reiterate again DO NOT recommend 2WD vehicles... the stress, discomfort, seeemingly endless punctures/tyre problems overroad any real enjoyment of the holiday.

Feedback response

We’re sorry that these travellers were disappointed to have a 2WD. From our own experience, we know that the vast majority of Namibia’s gravel roads can be driven in a 2WD vehicle. Having said that, some visitors, especially this year, have returned from their trips wishing that they had taken a high-clearance vehicle or a 4WD.

We always offer the upgrade to our travellers when we send them a quote, but the cost upgrade to these vehicles is substantial. We’ve never pushed our travellers to pay extra for these larger cars. However, perhaps we should have been clearer about these options – and listening to these comments, we’ve resolved to be clearer for future travellers.

I stayed at and have reviewed:

Place	Overall rating
Haus Sonneneck, Namibia 2-Oct-2010 review: very pleasant	Good
Kalahari Anib Lodge, Namibia 3-Oct-2010 review: lovely area	Excellent
Canyon Lodge, Namibia 4-Oct-2010 review: perfect customer service	Excellent
Eagle's Nest, Namibia 6-Oct-2010 review: fabulous sunset views	Good
Sinclair Guest Farm, Namibia 8-Oct-2010 review: very pleasant	Good
Sossusvlei Lodge, Namibia 9-Oct-2010 review: Hotel style	Good
Central Guest House, Namibia 11-Oct-2010 review: excellent serivce and location	Excellent
Terrace Bay, Namibia 14-Oct-2010 review: lovely place, terrible journey	Good
Doro Nawas, Namibia 15-Oct-2010 review: Vastly overpriced	Average
Hobatere Lodge, Namibia 17-Oct-2010 review: excelllent in all areas	Excellent
Halali Camp, Namibia 19-Oct-2010 review: Haphazard	Average
Waterberg Camp, Namibia 21-Oct-2010 review: very pretty and worht a visit.	Good
The Elegant Farmstead 22-Oct-2010 review: Olive Grove guest house	Excellent