Reviews of safaris to Damaraland

"We were very pleased indeed with all the arrangement Sabina made for us for this holiday and have since recommended Expert Africa to two couples. Both have already booked with you for visits to Namibia.

We understand that some of the accommodation that Sabina originally wanted to book was not available. Unfortunately we found one of the substitute hotels, Ugab Terrace Lodge, sub standard and not a nice place to stay. We really did not want to be there, the management of the place was very poor.

However we hope to return to Namibia and will certainly use you next time around.

Many thanks for a great holiday and memorable experience." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 20 on a Namibia trip

"Considering this trip we saw a lot but I would do some things differently. I would have flown to Desert Rhino and maybe added one of the Skeleton Coast Camps like Hoanib or Serra Cafema which would also require a fly in. Or maybe I would have omitted Desert Rhino and just done another night at Ongava where we saw lots of Rhinos.

We would have missed the heritage petroglyphs but have already seen San rock art in Zimbabwe so maybe I think this would have been the superior choice. Then we could have driven to Etosha from either Swakopmund or Windhoek (Better option) and saved money on renting a less robust car.

Also Doro Nawas was totally not worth the money or effort.

Favorites were Soussesvlei Desert Lodge, Sandwich Bay Tour, and Ongava Lodge." Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"We had a 30 day trip encompassing Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Capetown A bit of an epic adventure with lots of fantastic memories.

All the organisation worked like clockwork and I was very pleased at the helpfulness that Justin demonstrated in trying to pull this trip together to suit our needs. With such a lengthy itinerary and so many stops on the route, it could have been no easy task to get all the pieces to fit together. The first law of sales is that people buy from people (no matter what Trump says).

Justin made it easy to do business with Expert Africa and though the trip was way over budget, we still went ahead as I has trust that he had pulled an appropriate trip together for us. We weren't disappointed." Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"Namibia is a country of striking beauty. We thoroughly enjoyed our adventure and we only wish that could have stayed longer.

The trip ran very smoothly and we thank Expert Africa, and particularly Tom Morris for his guidance.

A holiday full of memories that will last a lifetime." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"This trip was the most exciting, inspiring, rewarding trip of my life. Namibia is vast and spectacular, desolate and beautiful - and the people are warm and friendly. I'd been dreaming of visiting the Namib desert for some years, and the experience was more stimulating than I imagined - it is a captivatingly beautiful, otherworldly place, and my mind keeps wandering back to those huge, fluid honey-coloured sand dunes... The driving was tough at times, but the thrill of adventure and discovery was worth it. Overall, we found the lodges and camps to be very well-organised, with good food and great service.

I'd go back in a heartbeat (as soon as the bank balance allows).

Expert Africa exceeded my expectations of a travel agent - Tracy and Elizabeth helped create a bespoke trip for us that met our wishlist and our budget. Prior to our departure, Josh happily gave time to us, talking through our self-drive route in detail and advising on how to manage the long drives to help us plan and to allay our nerves (we'd never done anything like this before!).

They also went above and beyond to help resolve a last-minute glitch with the car hire company, which truly saved our trip!

Thank you!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

The only thing I can think of is clarity about the drivers of cost during the quotation process - I ended up going back and forth a bit early onto understand what was driving costs up - but overall, you guys were consistently professional, helpful and truly expert." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"My overall feeling about the trip is very positive, notwithstanding the occasional (probably inevitable) minor niggle, referred to in individual sections.

Everything was organised extremely well, with no problems of logistics, and the experience I obtained of Namibia was varied and consistently interesting. All the lodges were of a very good standard, with comfortable facilities and good quality food - as, indeed, I would have expected, given the overall cost.

The constant moving around was, inevitably, somewhat wearing by the latter stages, but this was an unavoidable element of this type of trip which attempts to cover a significant amount of ground. And, by the end, I felt I had acquired some satisfying insight into the country and its cultures, even if a trip of this nature can never hope to do much more than scratch the surface." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"We first contacted Tom in May to enquire about the possibility of arranging a holiday to Namibia in August/September. From day one he listened to our preferences and requirements and managed to put together an excellent itinerary in very short order. We very much appreciated his suggestions for places to eat, excursions, side trips etc and also his in-depth knowledge of what to expect at the places we stayed.

It was good to be met by the Wilderness rep on arrival in Windhoek who helped us with SIM card purchase and hire car collection.

Namibia surpassed our expectations as a holiday destination. Everyone we met was very friendly and helpful, the scenery was spectacular and we saw much more wildlife than we anticipated.

Despite some initial concerns about self-drive, we thoroughly enjoyed it and are glad we decided to travel this way. (Having a brand new 4x4 pickup certainly helped!)

All in all a wonderful experience and we would recommend it to anyone - along with Expert Africa!" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"We had a truly wonderful 3 weeks in Namibia.

It is a beautiful country, with a stunning variety of landscapes and spectacular wildlife. We had many memorable experiences during our visit.
Guiding throughout was of a very high standard, and the arrangements all went very smoothly.

The mix of flying and self-drive worked well - though our relatively small 4WD car just coped with the extremely rough roads in western Etosha" Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 18 on a Namibia trip

"Namibia exceeded our expectations and that credit can be attributed to Expert Africa and the very attentive and super patient Sabina.

We had corresponded with Sabina for some months before finally and very late confirming an itinerary. This was due to our schedule and various decisions that we were waiting on before being able to commit, therefore our itinerary was amended multiple times due to availability of lodges and car hire.
We have no complaints at all with the service of Sabina and Expert Africa, and have no hesitation in recommending or in using Expert Africa again to book a trip.
We encountered no problems with our reservations, paperwork or logistics and felt the coordination with Wilderness Safari,s was exceptional.

The recommendation of the Sandwich Harbour trip with Turnstone Tours was superb and one of the highlights of our trip. Highly recommended for other travellers.

We live in Nigeria so the ability to drive ourselves in an African Country was fantastic and we throughly enjoyed Namibia, the scenery, the accommodations and warmth of the people.

I have written fairly extensive reviews of our various experiences and sincerely hope that these are taken in the constructive manner that they are intended and not as direct criticisms.
We have lived in numerous Countries, some more challenging than others and are well aware of the often difficult balance of customer expectations, staff training and the logistics of the environment.

On a side note I became unwell towards the last two days of our trip, thankfully when back in Windhoek, and from our point of view when we were still in Namibia and not back in Lagos where we live as this would have necessitated medical evacuation.

On the day of our departure I was admitted to MediClinic in Windhoek and that afternoon underwent emergency surgery for acute appendicitis. After four days in hospital I joined my husband at The Hilton and after a further check the following Saturday with the surgeon (the thoroughly lovely Manoj Kamble) we flew later that day.

I can only add that my medical emergency did nothing to dampen our love of Namibia and its people, and I can assure other travellers who may have a concern about an unexpected medical emergency that I received superb first class care from the Hospital, surgeon, nurses and all the medical and administrative and ancillary personnel, and at no point did we feel that I was receiving anything but exceptional care.

As I was admitted on a Sunday there were some administrative issues with contacting our Insurance Company (International SOS) so we opted to pay and claim which was not a problem for us as we are very familiar with our insurance and know this option to be fine, however it is fair here to note that an unexpected hospital stay can be costly and so therefore some sort of insurance provision is mandatory.

At this point I would like to add that Bidvest car rental were very cooperative with our unexpected circumstances when my husband went to return our rental car on the appropriate day, and with finding us another suitable small vehicle for local use.

We had some issues with changing our flight with SAA but this was more to do with the SAA staff who were uncertain how to manage our changes. This was resolved eventually but had we needed to we would have contacted Expert Africa/Wilderness Safari for assistance.

Whilst you obviously did not request feedback for the Hilton Hotel I will add that my husband stayed there seven nights and me for two as a result of my hospital stay. It was well located with all the standard facilities and amenities that you would expect from The Hilton chain. Room service was good and they had a fantastic roof top bar which I managed to enjoy before we left.

My husband became very familiar with Windhoek during our unexpected extended stay to the point where his beer was poured for him without asking on arrival at the bar at Joe's Beerhouse.

We both sincerely look forward to another visit to Windhoek in the future and hopefully to explore the Caprivi Strip and the Falls,

Many thanks to Sabina and all who helped make our trip very special with wonderful memories.
You are a credit to your organization.

Sincerely,
Anna & Malcolm

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

None at all - Superb service from our very first enquiry to booking and returning home." Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 22 on a Namibia trip

"One of our best trips in Africa, self driving is a must.

We loved every experience, big thanks to our trip organizer Maruska" Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 17 on a Namibia trip