Reviews of safaris to Central Highlands

"This was a demanding trip, much delayed by Covid. We wasted not a minute and got a good sense of Namibia in a relatively short period. The journey times, even those on paved roads took 10-20% longer than we had initially planned, but we soon got into the rhythm of very early starts and arriving at our destination by nlt than mid afternoon. The occasional 3 night stops were invaluable in letting us recharge and properly enjoy our location and the lodge facilities.

None of our accommodation was disappointing and to produce such high quality food in some very remote locations was testament to the skill of the staff. The wildlife and geological features are the obvious draw to the country yet our most vivid memories are of the people who we met. Such open friendliness throughout the country vindicated the choice of Namibia as our first holiday in Africa.

Tom and Expert Africa did us proud - thank you." Read full review: 23 nights in Africa; 21 on a Namibia trip

"We have had a wonderful few weeks, discovering new places and enjoying the return to old favourites. Namibia has changed in some ways since we first visited in 2000, but the rugged beauty and the solitude remains.

I’ll get the major disappointment out first, not that you can do anything about it - Simba don’t make tomato sauce flavour crisps any more! Disaster!

In general, we learnt a lot about how we personally need to plan travel in the future, both having gained various back/hip/knee problems since we last travelled any distance and, at times, feeling more than a mere three years older.

I don’t think we will consider ‘one night stands’ again, especially if it means an hour or more down a gravel road basically just to eat and sleep. Namtib and Ai Aibas are both beautiful places and we had no time to do them justice. We’re not early risers and we are slow drivers, who like to stop and look, which all combined to have us on the road 9.30-4.30 for several days, which was exhausting.

We did look at the hotels in several of the towns and wonder whether we won't be better off to stay somewhere like that as a transit stop.

We also need to carefully look at the lodges, to consider whether we can actually cope there. If there is a steep walk to the reception or lots of steps, it's difficult. Also, there's no point in going somewhere and finding that the walks involve hiking up a mountain!

Being experienced travellers to Namibia, we think we won't try one of your set itineraries again. We would prefer to custom-build, knowing that we will have sound advice from you. We have booked all our previous visits through you (or Sunvil, originally) and we wouldn't consider going anywhere else.

There are certain areas which we won't choose to visit again, because of the poor quality of the gravel roads. For instance, the roads around the entrance to Sossussvlei were appalling. The drive to Swakop, once past Solitaire, had nowhere to stop and seems endless. The one picnic area was infested with wasps - what a disappointment! Also, much as we love Etosha, we spent very little time driving to other waterholes because the roads are awful.


We found most other visitors were German, with far fewer from Britain than on our previous trips. Not a problem; just a comment.

We'd like to mention Wilderness Safaris, whose staff were excellent whilst we used their airport lounge and then in guiding us through the airport. Whilst we were there, we had an interesting conversation with a gentleman whose was a senior commercial officer for the airports authority. He was interested in our descriptions of how a trip to Namibia is viewed my many of our friends in the UK; namely, if they actually know where Namibia is, as bonkers and dangerous, particularly as we drive ourselves. He was considering what commercial measures could be taken to dispel any fears and misunderstandings amongst UK people.
However, we're quite happy if tourist numbers don't increase!

Altogether, an outstandingly brilliant time, no less than we expected!

Thank you." Read full review: 24 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"Definitely one of the top holidays of our lifetime (so far!!), expertly put together and managed by Sabina at Expert Africa. We were recommended by friends who have used Expert Africa and would unreservedly recommend them ourselves. Sabina listened to what we wanted from the start and built the itinerary, timings and accommodation around that perfectly.

Overall driving distance was about 4,250km so it was a tough schedule, but everything we expected (and a quite a bit more).

Managed to see and pass through stunning scenery, stop at interesting places and observe a variety of wildlife from Southern Right whales in South Africa to the big cats in Namibia, not to mention the magnificent seasonal flora on display in the Namaqualand.

Everything was in place for us so minimising hassle." Read full review: 25 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"It was an experience to say the least.

Sabina's recommendations of alternative accommodation when original choices were not available were excellent.

We did experience a puncture on our hire car, which fortunately happened not far from Otjiwarongo where we discovered a Dunlop tyre depot. The manager contacted the rental company on our behalf and sorted out the issue for us.

Overall the amount of wildlife seen was extremely numerous and observed throughout the country.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

None.

The service we received from Sabina was excellent. Knowing she was at the end of a phone line or e-mail if we had any queries gave us us reassurance throughout our trip." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"We spend 2 1/2 weeks in Namibia, travelling about 2000 miles by road. We stayed in 9 different locations and experienced multiple different aspects of the country. Throughout the trip, we felt safe, welcomed and that the people we met were happy that tourism was returning post-pandemic.

Our trip had been postponed several times, re-organised and altered. However, everything went 100% according to plan. Tracy at Expert Africa proved to be a knowledgeable and informative guide and travel planner. All the lodges were expecting us as predicted and all lived up to their descriptions. Highlights were Hoodia Desert Lodge and the excursion from there, Doro Nawas and Okonjima (where we were upgraded to the Villa). The driving was straightforward and we did not encounter any problems, all roads were well-signposted and fuel stops were plentiful (all took VISA cards in our experience).

This was truly the trip of a lifetime, expertly coordinated by Expert Africa. Thank you so much for your patience throughout the pandemic, reorganising everything so well and your excellent recommendations. Next time it will be Botswana..... we will be back!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service

A minor issue but initially payment glitched through the website, but that was 2 years ago and we didn't have problems with the final payment.

The service and information we have received has been fantastic. We have recommended you to multiple friends already, as we have been boring them with our photographs! If and when we come back to Africa, we will definitely be contacting you again.

Thank you so much." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"Overall we had a very nice trip. A few notes– we did not know about the birth certificate requirement and did not bring our son's. We had a rather traumatic entry in which they almost would not let us enter the country. I saw afterwards that it was a note in the paperwork packet but I think this is a detail that should be very specifically called out to guests in an email so no one else experiences this.

The eastern side of Etosha was much more abundant with wildlife than the western side this time. I think the first half of our trip was far more satisfactory as photographers than the second. The eastern side we had constant sighting as we did our self-drives and the waterholes were incredible, but the western side was so dry and barren that self-driving felt depressing at times (very different than our previous experiences in Namibia!). Many of the waterholes on the western side were dried up.

Please read my notes about the Safarihoek guiding experience - this was the one glaring negative about our trip and we felt rather disappointed in what felt like losing three days of photography chances.

Otherwise we had a wonderful experience. Maruska was incredible helpful and responsive as always and was able to adjust our dates for us when we wanted to change our flights." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 9 on a Namibia trip

"Already said how impressed and delighted we were that our flight cancellation was dealt with so well and all was rebooked “+2” overnight on the day of our intended departure. Way prior to that the guidance and advice in putting everything together took time and great patience which Maruska coped with admirably. This included rebooking from 2021 when Vicky broke her shoulder compromising our initial plans.

I do have two observations which are offered as a reasonably regular EA client. Using a specialist based in a very different time zone does add complexity at the planning stage. Small details requiring a quick answer can take 48 hours to turn around through no fault of anyones. My second comment is that the relative costs of different options are not visible at the planning stage. I did not ask Maruska to work to a budget nor indeed did I ask for these costs in order to make our choices of destinations and lodges and so it may be my responsibility here. I now understand (but may need to be corrected) that Shipwreck and HVC were more expensive than other choices we made and perhaps having price bands indicated when putting together a tailor made trip might be useful. Useful also to have this information when giving feed back to hold the more expensive options to a higher standard even if tou can not compare apples and oranges of course!" Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"I am mindful this tour has been rebooked twice due to Covid - although we usually do our own bookings for other than Namibia, in this instance glad we had Expert Africa who did us proud, minimising hassle.

The trip was a success.

There were a couple of bookings where we took advice and just possibly we would have preferred our slightly less cautious personal choices!" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"A very well balanced trip, as it encompassed magnificent landscapes, several excellent wildlife experiences, and provided some insight into both indigenous and colonial cultures." Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 19 on a Namibia trip

"The trip went beyond our expectations for adventure, learning, excitement and fun. I believe Expert Africa made the trip a big success because they are a full service safari planning company. The website and staff provided all that was needed for making decisions and getting the right arrangement. We spent three weeks on the trip that involved 11 accommodations, three airline flights, driving 2800 km on the left side of the road and numerous guides, staff and assistants. That it all went well and left us wishing for more meant they must be doing something right." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 11 on a Namibia trip