Reviews of safaris to Etosha National Park

"When we booked out trip to Namabia there was a limited choice of accommodation, which was obviously unfortunate, as we would have appreciated higher quality of accommodation for the additional cost involved.

Windhoek airport were implementing new computer systems when we arrived and left, which lengthened the queues. Hopefully the "teething" issues are now sorted." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 10 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

"As first time visitors to Namibia we enjoyed our trip overall and we would return but only to specific areas, ie the north Etosha, the central Erongo, and Okonjima areas. We would not bother going back to Swakapmond as we found it quite chilly and uninspiring. Although we enjoyed seeing the flocks of flamingos and we took a scenic flight over the namib desert rather than drive all the way down there. Highlights for us were Etosha, Erongo Mountains and Okonjima. We saw pretty much all the types of wildlife we hoped to see, and more. We enjoyed the challenge of driving on the harsh roads once we became accustomed to this - taking it in turns to take the wheel. We plan to return at some stage in the future and maybe next time spend a bit longer in Etosha. We would also recommend Expert Africa as trip planners." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"Other than the reservations noted above regarding 3 of the camps, we were very pleased with the holiday.

We would however warn anyone with similar plans, that the drive through the Caprivi strip is long and rather boring. We would not chose to do that part of the trip again.

Mundulea was a new highlight . We only wish that we had visited there on earlier trips." Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 15 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

"Wonderful trip

No hiccups with bookings thanks very much Maruska" Read full review: 32 nights in Africa; 23 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