Reviews of safaris to Damaraland

"We had an outstanding trip with so many memories of stunning landscapes and wildlife that we will never forget. Both fully lived up to our hopes and expectations. We did find the driving in Namibia to be gruelling at times due to the condition of the mainly gravel roads and the necessity to drive relatively slowly, making for some long journeys - in particular the journey between Swakopmund and Twylfontein.

Our itinerary in Namibia took us to a variety of places and experiences that were all very different from each other, and each worth the visit. In Botswana it was mainly about the wildlife, though we also enjoyed the beautiful setting of the Okavenga Delta and meeting lots of Botswanans, who without exception were friendly and welcoming.

Finally, except for not getting the type of vehicle we were expecting (though Bidvest & Tracy from Expert Africa did contact us to offer to change, which we decided against) every aspect of the organisation of the trip went without a hitch. We were also impressed that the company paid the difference in flight prices between Windhoek & Maun after Air Namibia cancelled all these flights from the beginning of November and we had to be rebooked onto SA Airways." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 11 on a Namibia trip

"We had a fantastic trip. Our thanks to Maruska and Expert Africa for putting together the itinerary - we felt we saw so many wonderful things and had a real flavour of the different beauty of Namibian scenery.

We were particularly lucky to see so much game. The area around Nautomi in Etosha is world class for game viewing." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 8 on a Namibia trip

"A wonderful visit to a fascinating country. It was good to deal with someone who knew the camps, and I know Tracy made a particular effort to get us into Sossus Dune lodge which was much appreciated. The website is very appealing and I particularly like the use of google maps to show more about the locations. I was surprised by the lack of people everywhere and missed having any real interaction with local people. Overall the trip was excellent.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

It would be very helpful to have average driving times between lodges or mileage at and early stage - we probably woudn't have gone so far every other day if we had known how long it would take. It might be worth advising people who eat fish but not meat that it's better to stick to vegetarian - when we were given fish it wasn't great." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"We enjoyed our trip immensely. This was our first time in Namibia and we were so impressed by the country and its people. The variety of places to visit and things to do was great. The organisation from Expert Africa was second to none and ensured that everything went smoothly.

Overall the standard of accommodation far exceeded our expectations (with the exception of The Beach Hotel Swakopmund which was acceptable and Halali camp as outlined above). I know that because of the unexpectedly busy tourist season in Namibia we were a bit stuck for places to stay and this is understandable.

We took a kayaking trip with Jeanne in Walvis Bay as recommended in the guidebook and this was really excellent - she was a great guide.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

We were completely happy with the service provided and will have no hesitation in recommending Expert Africa to friends and family." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 11 on a Namibia trip

"We debated long and hard about the difference between Very and Fairly satisfactory. We chose the latter for the following reasons:

1) Bullsport was a good stopover, but not in the style of the other lodges. We knew it was a working farm and perhaps we should have chosen differently.

2) We are not convinced that visiting at the end of the dry season was a good choice. We were aware of the lack of rain, but did not realise that it would be so unusually hot. This was not the fault of Expert Africa.

3) Although happy with the 2 x 4 car, a more powerful diesel model would have been more suitable.

On a positive note, we were delighted with Expert Africa's response to our delayed arrival after we had difficulty contacting Wilderness Safaris. We also feel that the whole process from the initial enquiry to the actual holiday was well managed, with excellent advice and information. We would (and already have) recommend Expert Africa.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

The guidebook does need updating. The wifi in most camps is better than described for example. Conny's restaurant (page 181) was very welcome, but there was only """"chicken"""" or a toasted sandwich. It was very clean and had some very interesting geological specimens.

Solitaire has a memorial to Moose who died in 2014, (page 265). The Kameldorn Garten restaurant in Otjiwarongo (page 405) closed some time ago.

We greatly appreciated camps with good wifi, bean to cup coffee machines and chilled water. Sounds trivial, especially when we have also greatly enjoyed the friendliness of staff and the beauty of the country that is Namibia.

Thank you." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"We had an amazing trip, there's no two ways about it - the knowledge of the Expert Africa team (Liz) was invaluable as having never visited there before (and not knowing anyone that had), we'd probably have got stuck on the planning side.

The itinerary was fantastic and enabled us to fit in everything that we had said we wanted to - the map and route planning incredibly useful and accurate. Plus everywhere we stayed was nigh on perfect - the organisation was faultless and made the whole experience very simple for us!" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"We had been planning a comprehensive self drive tour of Namibia for a couple years and were completely frustrated by our own inability to make key reservations with the national parks. We reluctantly called in the help of Expert Africa and were pleasantly surprised at how competley helpful and indispenable Maruska was in making all our arrangements while keeping the costs lower then we had expected. Everything over the course of our month log visit, encompassing over 18 lodgings, worked out smoothly.

We had a very helpful assist from Wilderness Safaris staff who met us at the airport and helped us get a burner phone and deal with a slightly troublesome initial car rental interaction. We are ow sure that we could not have done the arrangements on our own with out significant hassles and problems and our very happy that we put our trust in Expert Africa.

We saw numerous independent travellers at the national park Lodgings who thought they had successfully made reservations to find that the parks had no record of them or places for them to stay. Not clear how these were ever resolved but it never impacted us! Maruska's printed material that she sent us had incredibly useful advice on everything form what to look for in car rentals to how to greet people in shops and restaurants. We saw many abrupt tourists getting a cold shoulder from staff that turned around and treated us very warmly because we had been told to do a full on relaxed greeting, asking about how they are and wording the questions in a more polite manner then most European and US travellers would normally use.

Namibia itself was a dream come true visit to Africa. We knew we would see all the major animals (rhinos, elephants, giraffes, ostrich, wildebeest,kudu, oryx,lions, eland, hartebeest, springbok) but we had no idea we would see as many as we did in such high concentrations. Unfortunately the drought is probably responsible for this, pushing all the animals to the waterholes just to survive. We saw 33 species of mammals and over 200 species of birds and most of them from the rental car.

Maruska's advice on several places was spot on. She had gently warned of some dropping standards at a couple places which turned out to be true, while encouraging us to do the kayaking with the seals trip and the 4X4 sand dunes drive to Sandwich Harbor. The latter was a true highlight, and it might not be as fabulous with a guide other then Bruno Nebar, but I am sure it still would be enjoyable. We were quite lucky to spend that day with two of Expert Africa's people, a complete coincidence, but they were both very interesting and helped in drawing out so much information form Bruno while having interesting stories of their own. We usually do not like travelling in guided tours but this was a fabulous day with great company.

Namibia is barely dealing with the tourist influx from Germany and the rest of Europe, and are not prepared to deal with the kind of influx Americans will contribute once Americans realize what a fabulous destination Namibia is. i am telling our friends and family to go now and to use Expert Africa to make their arrangements! We met only 2 Americans and had many more meaningful encounters with local Damara people including valiant efforts to teach us some click language words! But this will not last long." Read full review: 31 nights in Africa; 27 on a Namibia trip

"Expert Africa did a fantastic job.

Everything was flawless and I couldn't be more pleased." Read full review: 31 nights in Africa; 27 on a Namibia trip

"This was our first trip to Africa. We chose Namibia on the basis of its reputation for wildlife, fantastic terrain and 'emptiness' but also because it gave us the 'self drive experience' in a safe environment. It met or exceeded all our expectations, particularly the wildlife in Etosha.

Truly the trip of a lifetime that we will never forget - it has definitely made us want to visit Afica again in the future. We never felt uncomfortable in any way whist we were travelling and luckily did not experience any problems with the car - I wasn't looking forward to having to change a wheel by the side of the road in those temperatures!

Expert Africa arranged a great itinerary for us which we wouldn't have changed at all in retrospect, Also many thanks for the detailed replies to all our questions and queries before we left." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"Expert Africa and their team made this a hugely successful adventure. Their response when we had a significant problem with our car was timely and effective and they certainly saved our bacon.

Expert Africa pride themselves on knowing their territory and so it would be without hesitation that we would recommend them to anyone as the company to advise you on a similar trip.

Wilderness Safaris were excellent partners in Namibia and the reception team in Windhoek air worthy of special praise. IN this respect Nandula Malango was a star.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Driving in Namibia is not straightforward as we discovered.

Although the metaled roads are excellent, and similarly many of the dirt roads, a high wheel-base, 2WD is adequate,

But where it is known that the dirt roads are very difficult, varying from smooth to lengthy distances where the surfaces are dangerously rugged , a 4WD should be recommended.

This is especially so in some of the central areas (Sesfontein, Dora Nawas to Palmwag, to Swakpmond) where the roads have been graded directly onto the underlying rock and not built up with gravel or limestone.

In these domains a four wheel drive vehicle is really essential and an extra spare necessary too. Punctures are normal experiences here and the thin tyres for urban use are pathetically inadequate." Read full review: 27 nights in Africa; 20 on a Namibia trip