Reviews of safaris to Central Highlands

"Our third trip booked by Expert Africa, and as always it was wonderful!" Read full review: 7 nights in Africa; 7 on a Namibia trip

"Really good." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"Great trip all round" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"A difficult start to the trip due to flight diversion, cancellation and three days stuck in Johannesburg. Airline (travel not booked through Expert Africa) were very poor with little communication and terrible customer service

In contrast, the standard of service from Expert Africa, one-to-one contact, liaison with lodges, and sourcing of alternative tickets to make sure we had a back-up plan to get to Namibia and could commence our holiday as soon as possible was well beyond what is expected. This is found in very few companies, was excellent and should be highly commended. Many thanks to Sabina, Chris and others who got involved over their weekend.

Once we arrived, the trip was excellent.

For travellers going via Frankfurt, it is worth highlighting that it is not an easy airport for short connection times. We had three hours on the way out which was ok but not generous. On the return, flights were changed several times and we were rebooked with 1 hour 40 minutes. Security was a total shambles and despite running or queuing all the way with no stops for anything we were very lucky to make the connection as bags were just about to be taken off. We would think very hard about a connection in Frankfurt in future with less than maybe 3 hours outbound and less than 2 1/2 hours inbound.

We have travelled in southern Africa several times with children since the requirement to carry birth certificates and never had to show them. On this visit, they were required on entry into Namibia. This seemed to be a requirement across all desks as we arrived and several families appeared to be having difficulties. What was actually sought was a document with the parents' name - not shown on a UK birth certificate. This was not a problem for us as the birth certificate was taken by our immigration officer as being what it is, although she clearly was not familiar with it. However, carrying a copy of the certified copy of entry into the register as well might be a good idea for parents.

We were pulled up at a traffic stop and required to show a driving licence. A UK licence in English was not accepted (despite being legal). The officer was determined to issue a ticket. He eventually relented and allowed us to phone his Chief Superintendent - who told us and him that he was wrong. Despite having to let us pass, he remained convinced that he was right and assured us that he would check, stop us again on the return, make us read the Road Traffic Act and issue a ticket then. He happened to be otherwise engaged further down the road later. It might be worth carrying an international licence for such situations and is definitely worth pursuing a resolution with a superior." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"We had a lovely and memorable trip with two teenage boys. The itinerary was realistic for the time we had available and we had a great range of experiences tailored to our requests.

We have given individual feedback on lodges and experiences but overall they were of a very high standard.

Estimated timings of road transfers were reasonable although we appeared to be slow on dirt roads. Overall B and C roads were good and we never felt we needed to rush.

We went “off piste” from Mundulea to Ongava - going north to the east gate to Etosha and driving through the park rather than the suggested route on tarmac. This meant we got to Ongava around 4pm and declined a sun down drive but meant we saw the east of the park.

We visited Namibia 25 years ago with no children, the first edition of Chris’ book and no device that needed to be plugged in to USB. Despite the changes in the world since we had an equally amazing time in 2023.

This was (for us) an expensive holiday but the service we were provided was good and we had confidence we would have a great holiday. That confidence was well founded.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Wilderness Safaris did not meet us at Windhoek - another guide showed us their lounge where we invited ourselves in.

But the lounge was a godsend as Europcar tested our goodwill with unprepared hire cars on a very cold morning and when check in IT failed as we tried to depart - leading to very long queues and our Frankfurt London flight “waiting” for us.

I was a little put off by Maruska living on the other side of the world. If we went again I’d have a 30 minute call before we left the UK to check my thoughts on gas stations (much easier than 1990s) and to get some insider tips - the one disappointing experience for us was a poor sundowner drive at our last stop at Red Dunes which we should have skipped." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"It was a fantastic trip and we have made many great memories.

We hope to do many such trips in the future." Read full review: 24 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"EA and Maruska provided great guidance and support. Very flexible in allowing us to modify the trip to meet our expanded intentions. Great vehicle, excellent itinerary.

We were surprised at the km of unpaved road. 3000km of 4000km. All serviceable, but occasionally very rough. Fuel readily available. 4305km/12.62km/liter/N$6905/$387 We consider this a good value.

We were very fortunate in that we had no tire or vehicle issues. We thought we were well prepared for communications. To our surprise neither of our iphones with T-mobile worked. We did not want to be out on the road without a phone to call for assistance, so we bought a che ap phone and 100 minutes of time. In the end we didn't need it but would not undertake the drive without a phone. Suggest you offer a phone as part of the package.

2nd- offer a basic sat based GPS system. Map is very good and easy to use, but a GPS allows better definition as to location, time and distance. We brought a basic Garmin GPS with southern Africa maps and it was indispensable.

In summation this was an adventure of a lifetime and EA made it possible." Read full review: 26 nights in Africa; 22 on a Namibia trip

"Many thanks to Sabina for her help and patience. Although I've been to Namibia many times and travelled a lot it hasn't previously occurred to me to use a tour operator (I've just booked things on the spot, or just turned up - easy enough in Namibia in February).

This was a good experience, with some definite advantages.

I don't know whether it was less expensive to do it this way than by doing it myself, but valuable the advice and help from Sabina was certainly something I wouldn't have got otherwise." Read full review: 6 nights in Africa; 5 on a Namibia trip

"Wonderful first trip to Namibia.

Exceeded our expectations and we enjoyed all aspects of the trip. Landscapes are stunning, animals are exciting to see and we felt that the lodges and overall trip was making a positive contribution to supporting local people and environment efforts.

Would recommend kayaking with seals at Walvis Bay as a side excursion. Going out of season did mean that a couple of lodges were very quiet but in the positive side we had some personalised excursions, found that the Etosha waterholes were not mobbed by visitors and that the heat was manageable.

We would certainly recommend this trip and ExpertAfrica to others - thank you to Tracy for the fantastic service and also for sending us the Namibia guidebook which we found so useful and used extensively." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"Sabina was endlessly patient in tweaking this trip to get it just right for us, and she succeeded beyond our expectations.

We had a great mix of accommodation styles and Sabina took on board our request for lots of hiking, giving us plenty of opportunities to really explore Namibia.

Overall a great trip." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 20 on a Namibia trip