Reviews of safaris to Damaraland

"Namibia exceeded all expectations. We keep coming back to words like 'spectacular' and 'epic' in an attempt to describe the landscapes and feeling of space.

We always felt comfortable, people are friendly and it must be the safest country in Africa. Driving is an absolute pleasure.

Accommodation and overall general standards are high. When you think how remote many of the locations were, the logistics of the lodge operations in providing those standards is very impressive.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

I can think of nothing I'm afraid. We have been very impressed and will certainly consider you and other companies in your group for future holidays." Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 19 on a Namibia trip

"We travelled a little over 2,600 miles in 3 weeks and could have carried on! We had an excellent holiday and really appreciated the differing styles of accomodation. We learnt a lot and thoroughly enjoyed Namibia. What a range of things to see and do. We would recommend Turnstone Tours who gave us an excellent trip to Sandwhich Harbour.

Chris McIntyre is clearly well regarded in this country as his name was mentioned several times.

This is our second holiday organised by Expert Africa and we would not consider travelling with anyone else to the African countries they deal with.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No - you had this one absolutley spot on. Sabina had taken on board our likes and preferences and had suggested an ideal itinery" Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 17 on a Namibia trip

"A stunning and memorable holiday. We had high expectations from friends who had visited Namibia and we were not disappointed. We have every intention of returning to the country to see new places and revisit others we enjoyed on this trip - notably Mundulea.

A real bonus was the pleasure of Sabina's company during our stay in Mundulea. Great fun and a good ambassador for Namibia and Expert Africa.

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There were a couple of occasions where we would have felt safer in 4wd - for example, we experienced pretty unseasonal rain at Little Kulala and on the journey back to Windhoek.

Most other travellers seemed to be in large, clumsy looking Toyotas, which seemed like overkill. There must be something in between - in fact, we saw a 4wd version of our Nissan X-trail. Could you track down a smallish 4wd?" Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"The whole trip went like clockwork - thanks for your superb organisation. Combining the flights in the south with driving in the north was just the right combination for us (we would always recommend the flight over the Skeleton Coast to people in particular - since it gives such a good perspective of the vastness of the dunes).

This has been such a memorable trip.

Thank you!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

None that come to mind." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"A wonderful trip - we loved Namibia.

Some anxieties about the car hire - our delayed flight to Windhoek put us under pressure and the clerk on the Budget desk when we collected the car was not particularly helpful. The second spare tyre which we had ordered was not in the car and had to be sent for, delaying us further, and at that stage we were worried about getting to our first hotel before nightfall. The various instructions you had given us about car hire were slightly confusing.

However, when we had to purchase a new tyre after a puncture, Budget were helpful on the phone, the staff when we returned the car were excellent and our credit card has now been refunded with the cost of the tyre.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

I would very much have preferred to have had a printed feedback form which we could have filled in during our flight home.

I know that this web version is helpful to you in that it is quicker for you to process, but you would have had more immediate (and possibly therefore more accurate) feedback had you enclosed a printed form with our tickets. On the flight we would have discussed our responses together under circumstances in which there was nothing else of particular importance for us to do." Read full review: 24 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"Overall it far exceeded my expectations. The Namibian people were extremely friendly and we found consistently high standards of rooms, service and food.

If there was a downside it was that perhaps on a few days we ended up having to drive for longer than was comfortable. However, I knew it was an ambitious programme which was necesary in order to see and do everything that we could. If there is any blame attached to this, it rests solely with me.

I would not hesitate in suggesting Namibia as a self drive destination - although a high clearance vehicle is almost compulsory in some parts.

Many thanks to you all for making it happen." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"Had we to do this trip over, there is very little we would change. Our biggest miscalculation was the amount of time spent in Etosha. We thought that Etosha would be similar to the National Parks in the USA, that is bumper to bumper traffic, some folks racing through the park, and sometimes no place to park to see the sights. This, of course, is not true in Etosha and we would have spent much more time there.

We realize that everyone as different tastes and desires. Some prefer "resort" lodges, which are fine in many instances providing there are activities there to justify the cost. However, there are times that a nice B & B like Termite Hills or a hotel like the Makalani in Tusemb are quite satisfactory (if available of course).

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We would not hesitate to have Expert Africa help us plan and arrange our next Africa adventure." Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 17 on a Namibia trip

"Everything worked as planned and all the pre-trip advice was excellent (except Ongava). Very patient staff answering numerous questions. It helps that our adviser was a Namibian.

Thank you.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

We missed out on comments about the Windhoek Country Club which was a great stopover.

Some lodges had poor entry roads (very badly rutted, far worse than the public roads).

The Skeleton coast no longer has any skeletons. We are glad we did it but there isn't much to see except the emptiness. We had difficult finding someone to open the gates to the NP as there were only 3/4 cars each way per day. We only had one shock with petrol in the whole trip. This was along the Skeleton coast where the petrol station at Mile 108 has closed. This meant, even with a full tank that we had to divert to Palmwag for petrol: a 50 km detour. This was exciting for us but not everyone's cup of tea.

We bought a cool box in Windhoek: this is probably a sensible move as ice is available everywhere." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"As a whole we were delighted with our trip. It was well organised and Maruska gave us good advice.

Some of the accommodation was below par but mostly it was of excellent quality. We were so pleased that she advised on a larger car, the X-Trail, and that made the travelling pleasant. We felt that 3 nights at Khowarib was a mistake and you could do the half-day Himba visit on the day you leave so we paid for an extra night at Doro Nowas instead.

This was a special retirement trip and it did not disappoint.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Only to take note of the points we raised regarding some of the lodges." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 18 on a Namibia trip

"Apart from the route between Doro Nawas and Hobatere, and our last full day, the information and advice was thorough and very useful.

I think the instructions need to more consistent i.e. if comments are made about some bad roads, then ALL bad roads in the itinerary should be mentioned. Time or distance from the main road to the actual camps would be very useful.

We are not used to package holidays and it is easy to be complacent and think everything has been arranged in advance, all the maps perfect etc when using someone else.! I would have phoned ahead to all the places first to let them know when to expect us and check on directions. I am not sure what would have happened if we had a problem on route and not arrived which left me somewhat anxious especially as the phone did not always connect.

I bought a Namibian phone card which was good value - nb all internal text messages are free - you just pay for the calls.

The Bradt guide book was excellent - we almost left it behind and would have been stuck without it. We met other people using it.

The guide book had a few corrections to be made :

1) no walking tours included at Doro Nawas
2) Otavi - Rugger club was clearly not serving any meals
3) the Meteor Hotel in Otavi is called the Travel Inn on the main road so easy to miss it. A good recommendation and we had tasty pizzas.
4) In Etosha you talk about parking uder a tree in midday but we saw no trees where this can be done - suggest you delete this in next editions.
5) No garden centre restaurant in Okandja
6) Rhinos in Okandja was a simple restaurant run by a friendly family from Madeira and a good stop for a quick lunch.
7) In Okandja one lot of stalls has been burt down recently - only one lot of stalls now at the far end of the town.
8) Uis - beware of people selling crystals quite aggressively at the petrol station
9) If you want to go to the Tug Restaurant at Swakopmund you need to book it well in advance. In the end we got a late cancellation. Considered a touristy place by the locals but quite fun!
10) No ATMs in the Etosha Park - would have been useful to know this.
11) Petrol pump at Windhoek airport is not for the public. Only certain car hire companies can use it - Budget is one of them. Might be a good idea to fill up in Windhoek first to play safe.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

We felt that driving times as described were not always realistic for a small car. As mentioned before, it would be useful to know in advance how long it takes to drive up the private roads or how long they are. 5 or 7 kms is a long way when you think you have arrived!

We are not convinced that Doro Nawas was the best stop for 2 nights and that we could have spent the time doing something else more interesting such as visiting the cheetah or lion conservancies.

Rating the accommodation is difficult as a tent cannot be called excellent and there fore I have given a consistent good throughout the form. ~They were all spacious and airy with comfortable beds." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip