Reviews of safaris to Central Highlands

"Everything we had hoped for!!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

All was perfect." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 10 on a Namibia trip

"The four of us had a really good time. With the benefit of hindsight, we would perhaps have preferred to spend only one night at Doro Nawas as we went on to North Damaraland and an extra night at Erongo and it would have been good to spend an extra night in Swakopmund and do another activity with Turnstone, but this is comment and not complaint. We would also think twice before using a Wilderness Safaris property again after Ongava.

I do think that 4wd, or at least high clearance, is essential in North Damaraland, and generally adds a good deal of flexibility to the trip.

We would love to go back and see some of the more remote areas in the North West. The holiday offered something for all interests and lots of time out of vehicles, walking and so on. as a result, it felt a lot longer than the 15 nights we had. Namibia is very beautiful and we all had a thoroughly enjoyable holiday." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 10 on a Namibia trip

"The accommodation was varied and all of a very good standard. Information received was excellent.

Thoroughly enjoyed our holiday and would definitely recommend Expert Africa to interested friends.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

None whatsoever, was superb." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 7 on a Namibia trip

"We had a great time. We haven't driven ourselves in Africa for a long time and really enjoyed the experience.

Wonderful country; we were never far from beautiful mountains and the roads were excellent. People are friendly and welcoming. We felt safe wherever we went. The suggested itinerary gave a wonderful insight into the country and we intend to return.

Angela was very helpful and responded quickly to all our questions.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No. This is the second time we have booked through Expert Africa, and have been impressed both with the recommendations and the efficiency with which the booking has been handled." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"We had a wonderful trip.

If doing the trip again we might change a few things but overall we were very happy with our experience. The materials provided by Expert Africa prepared us well for the trip. The highlighted map showing our route and lodges was great.

However, more detailed driving directions would have been helpful. (Before we started our trip Steve put together a set of detailed driving directions using Google maps, lodge websites and other online information.)

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

We had an excellent experience with Expert Africa and can highly recommend the company and its services to others. Our only suggestion is the one given above about detailed driving directions." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 20 on a Namibia trip

"Another wonderful holiday arranged by Expert Africa.

We stayed in some amazing places and had great wildlife sightings.

A real adventure." Read full review: 28 nights in Africa; 17 on a Namibia trip

"Having done the trip there is somethings I know I'll do different next time, but it was a great holiday." Read full review: 24 nights in Africa; 20 on a Namibia trip

"Initially even we thought we were slightly bonkers with this ambitious itinerary but after extensive and detailed planning everything went smoothly (with the exception of Elegant Farmstead cancelling our booking at the very last minute in favour of a large group; if this is typical of their attitude maybe they're not suitable for EA's independent travellers).

We had a FANTASTIC time!!!! Whilst some drives were long they were perfectly manageable with two drivers, a flask of coffee and our trusty MP3 player to entertain us. The roadside picnic stations provided good places to stop and eat a bit of lunch – there are plenty of supermarkets in the towns to buy provisions, including a 5 litre bottle of water. Most lodges charge for water (about N$13 for a small bottle) so it makes sense to buy a big one in a supermarket (about N$20) and top up your little bottles from it. There seemed to be far fewer parking guards about than on our previous trips and, we were surprised to see, even petrol station attendants don't seem to expect tips any more.

Garden Lodge provided a gentle start to our marathon trip with good company, tasty food, an excellent boat trip and lots of cats and dogs to play with. Kasane is an interesting little frontier town, buzzing with activity though not the place to stock up for a long trip. Don't be surprised to see a warthog trotting across the road in the middle of town.

The brand new Ngoma lodge is excellent (see review) with loads of animals to see, excellent food and great staff. We highly recommend it. It is one of the few places that provides free water – we promised to take our Ngoma bottles all the way to Cape Town; after many refills they finally met their demise at security in Cape Town airport!

We returned to Garden Lodge to have our car delivered and set off for the border next morning. Crossing the border into Namibia is no problem at all and after stocking up at a supermarket in Katima Mulilo we set off across the Caprivi strip. Roads in the Caprivi are, as Chris's book says, long, straight and can be quite tedious though you need to keep an eye out for wandering cows, goats and dogs (and the occasional human).

Arriving at Ndhovu in the early afternoon, we spent a couple of hours on our deck on the river bird-spotting. Next day we took a trip across to Buffalo (suggest pre-booking if you want to do this) and then drove ourselves to Mahango in the afternoon.

It was a long drive to Ghaub the next day but switching from 'Caprivi time' meant we gained an hour; we had been debating whether the hour was going backwards or forwards and it was only when the guard at the vetinary gate greeted us with a cheery 'Good Morning' that we were certain! After two nights peaceful rest we set off to Okaukeujo. We arrived at Etosha in good time and managed to visit several good waterholes on the drive across the park.

We spent most of the next day in the park and then moved on to the big surprise of the trip; Taleni. We'd wanted to spend two nights at Okaukeujo but had been unable to get a room despite booking very early. Taleni is just outside Etosha and we loved it. It does attract some large groups but the staff use the different dining areas to give couples or family groups privacy and peace.

A comfortable morning's drive brought us to Gocheganas, just south of Windhoek, which proved an unexpected pleasure. We had been booked to stay at Elegant Farmstead but they had cancelled our booking at the very last minute (after we arrived in Namibia). As it turned out Gocheganas fitted in with our itinerary much better and we thought the place was excellent. Thanks to Sabina for organising the change for us; in the days before BlackBerrys and the internet this could have been a major problem but in this case was (almost) painless.

The drive to Bagatelle, for some reason, took longer than anticipated; the roads were good and we'd calculated the distance but it just took longer! However we arrived in comfortable time and enjoyed watching the waterhole, excellent food and company and, of course, the meerkats!

Next, off to Fish River Canyon. Until Keetmanshoop the B1 is a good tar road but you then have to venture onto gravel. The road is bumpy and undulates with the landscape, which is beautiful, and you may even meet a train! The canyon itself is fantastic and there are few people about; such a contrast to its rival in the USA!

We left Canon Lodge in the sunshine and headed for the border with South Africa. The crossing itself was painless though there was a notable diminishment in friendliness of immigration staff on the South African side. Heading down the N7 the weather turned and we found ourselves in rain and/or cloud. As we had plenty of time we went down to Skilpad to see the flowers with which we were disappointed. However, driving back over the mountains they were lovely.

It absolutely tipped it down overnight (not ideal in a room with an iron roof!) and we set off for the marathon drive to Cape Town with some trepidation. Driving over the mountain passes in heavy cloud was 'entertaining' to say the least (particularly when we were held up by major roadworks – waiting time at least 20 minutes). We stopped off in Clanwilliam which we thought a lovely town.

The sun came out as we arrived in Camps Bay. We'd arranged our own accommodation here; there are lots of good guest houses .
The place has clearly been spruced up since the World Cup and there are some excellent new restaurants. We ate at The Codfather – excellent but shellfish is very expensive, Ocean Blue – just as excellent but less pricey, and The Kove – best steak Martin had all trip and great staff. Tuscany Beach was also highly recommended by our guest house.

We did the tourist bit – open top bus tour (don't forget to use the vouchers printed on the back of the ticket!) boat trip and lunch at the V&A – recommend The Greek Fisherman and City Grill Steakhouse – then the bus back to Camps Bay. The following day we drove (yes we hadn't had quite enough!) down to Cape Point where there seemed to be bonteboks around every corner (even on the beach) and few other visitors about.

Finally off to Hermanus and the whales. You really can see them from the coastal path, though the boat trip out to sea is well worthwhile too. The town is lovely and there are some excellent wineries to visit nearby.
Overall, a wonderful trip which we'd wanted to do for years. What's next???????

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

If only travel to Africa was less expensiver!

The name says it all - you are the Africa Experts and although we do shop around we come back time and time again.

Perhaps a minor point is that you should consider regular travellers' previous trips before saying they can't do something" Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 10 on a Namibia trip

"We had a very good time in Namibia!" Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 8 on a Namibia trip

"We had a wonderful, truly memorable trip. All the accommodation was great, food really enjoyable and activities excellent. We saw and did lots of really interesting things eg kayaking to see the seals, climbing a dune, seeing game, walking trips. One fantastic highlight was sitting at a very quiet waterhole in Etosha, deciding we were about to leave, and then seeing 37 elephants, adults and children, coming in one group, with the matriarch at the back checking on them all! Also, wonderful, spectacular scenery and the sense of space and of people having lived here for so many centuries.

For us, the distances were easy to drive but made for quite long days. Also, we would have liked to meet a few more local people to hear about the country and their experience first hand.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

None. thanks very much for organizing a great trip." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip