Reviews of safaris to Central Highlands

"Brilliant - we will definitely be going back to Namibia at some time in the future!

We are really glad that Chris suggested that we do this as a self drive holiday......we would have hated being on a tour bus!!" Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"We have been wanting to visit Namibia for sometime and we weren't disappointed. Its a beautiful country with friendly people.

Driving was easy even on the dirt roads and despite the fact we had a lot of rain for the time of year.

We witnessed the greening of the desert as we drove around and saw some amazing wildlife in a beautiful setting.

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We recommend the XTrail over the Duster for this type of trip." Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 17 on a Namibia trip

"This is a trip I want to forget. I had inappropriate expectations from other travellers comments, or from advice from Expert Africa. The unsealed roads that are considered "good" turned out to be on average, alot worst than the unsealed roads in Australia. The "best" sections in Namibia were eqivalent to our unsealed roads in National Parks with corrugations. The rest were atrocious, with no warning sign if something major comes up that requires significant slowing down.

I was told that there was cell phone reception almost everywhere, and I wouldn't need a satellite phone. It turned out half of the unsealed roads had no reception. There were some stretches of roads that I did not see another car for an hour at a time. I was driving alone and couldn't deal with any breakdowns myself. I wouldn't have made this trip if I had known the reality.

I was also told that I would see a good amount of game as it is baby season, and there would be an increase in predator activities to feed the babies. When I asked the guides they just laughed. Virtually all the animals gave birth anytime if the year. Also because there was alot of late rain, I really didn't see much game except for elephants.

I really wasn't prepared for how backward Africans were. The lodges in Namibia were nicely built, but you couldn't get even the most basic requests through the staff. They are genuinely nice people, but almost all the lodges never considered purchasing the few items that I requested due to dietery restrictions, eventhough they were common supermarket items. I asked if I should bring some of these items myself and was told the lodges confirmed they would supply them. Should I have been warned they may not mean what they say?

Zimbabwe apart from Victoria Falls was unbearably backward. I am not sure if its to do with their econmic meltdown 20 years ago. Even at departure, I thought I had to spend the night at the airport as they couldn't refuel the plane.

I did manage to get some good photos. I do think Namibia has the best rockscapes in the world and massive potential to develop their tourist industry further, but I wouldn't consider going back.

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I received a very good service from Maruska in planning this trip. But I feel she may need to be updated about a few facts. When I travelled to Egypt several years ago with a tour, we were given in writing tips on cultural expectations I call it. EA could certainly do with something like that, so travellers are better prepared as they interact with Africans.

I have travelled extensively around the world but have never been to Southern Africa. I have found this trip very taxing." Read full review: 24 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"We had yet another wonderful trip to Namibia.

Thank you so much for helping us plan it on short notice and for being so flexible when we needed to make changes.

Your level of service and expertise are so appreciated and we will always use you to book our future travels to Africa." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 9 on a Namibia trip

"It was a brilliant trip. It did all we had hoped for and more. We loved the country; the space; the staggering scenery; the friendliness of the people; the professionalism of the guides. It will be a holiday to remember for a long long time." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 17 on a Namibia trip

"This was a very well planned & well thought out trip, Sarah was so helpful in explaining what would work & what wouldn't, she explained she thought some of the drives would be too long in one day, which were the best places to spend more than one night etc. She certainly knew her stuff!

Our mistake perhaps was trying to do so much in 28 days, we could have done with a couple of 3 day breaks as we got very tired with so much chopping & changing.

Also when trying to stipulate & stick to our budget we ended up with a lot of the venues with only B&B & not half board which meant that overall we ended up spending a lot more than we had planned." Read full review: 28 nights in Africa; 27 on a Namibia trip

"Everything went according to plan. Namibia is an incredible place with so much to see and enjoy.

The planning of our trip worked very well for us although one night less in Swakopmund and one night more somewhere else would have been perfect." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 18 on a Namibia trip

"Well organised self-drive tour. I would definitely recommend a 4WD as the roads on this trip were very rough in parts.

There is a lot of driving, sometime quite slow-going but the scenery is so amazing it's worth it." Read full review: 7 nights in Africa; 7 on a Namibia trip

"Timing: November is on the cusp of rain, pretty hot, but still just about dry. I believe it is a relatively quiet month. Some parts of Etosha had seen rain and game viewing was good. Southern Namibia remained bone dry. It is a lovely time to escape the European drear, if you can.

Itinerary: For the wildlife, we wanted Etosha (1 week) and we wanted the Transfrontier Kgalagadi Park (5 days). Previous experience has shown Sabina to be a star at knocking together a sensible itinerary, and she managed it again. There was some difficulty finding accommodation (even in a quiet month) which meant one or two compromises had to be made. It all worked out well. If you haven't been before, it is worth saying that distances are huge and the dirt roads make them feel huger ....but then that all helps to emphasise the emptiness of Africa. It made sense to link our two parks with a visit to Soussevlei. I'm a bit ambivalent about the place. It was worth seeing the endless dunes, but the whole idea of a desert is to have a wilderness, and with only one road, you are not alone. We actually preferred the getting there and away again, 100s of kilometres with vast landscapes, and little sign of humanity (except for fences). The Transfrontier is off the beaten track and just in South Africa. It was very worthwhile (although I'd choose Etosha ahead of it (for its variety)), but there's no obvious attraction to break up the journey returning to Windhoek. Sabina did well to find a couple of comfortable lodges that had game activities on offer.

Practicalities: The journey had no glitches at all. It was so well organised. Even the 'misplaced' car hire voucher was sorted in a few minutes by Expert Africa (via Wilderness Travel). Instructions had all been clearly expressed (for example, what needed to be done to take a hire car into South Africa). We had no issues with petrol, reported in some reviews" Read full review: 25 nights in Africa; 19 on a Namibia trip

"Thanks to Josh for all his advice and support - especially for persisting in persuading us to hire a vehicle with higher ground clearance. This decision made the travelling more enjoyable. We probably could have managed in a standard car, as on previous trips, but life was a lot easier not having to think about the underside of the car! This was particularly important on some of the tracks leading to the lodges. Thanks also for all the emails keeping us up to date and for all the paperwork.

In previous trips to Namibia we had booked everything ourselves: flights, car hire and accommodation. It was great to be relieved of these tasks and to know that Expert Africa staff had visited and reviewed all the accommodation. The voucher system worked well and there were no unpleasant surprises apart from Bagatelle.

Eningu and Erongo remain our favourite lodges. Bullsport is the best place for varied walking and the Cornerstone Guesthouse gets "the attention to detail" prize. The staff at Cape Cross Lodge deserve special commendation for being so helpful and friendly. Thanks again to Expert Africa for yet another great holiday in Africa.

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Keep up the good work!" Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 19 on a Namibia trip