Reviews of safaris to NamibRand Nature Reserve

"The holiday of a lifetime, incredible places to stay, unbelievable scenery, exciting experiences, delicious food and lovely people, how do you improve on that, a very big thank you to Angela at Expert Africa for arranging it all.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Can't think of anything" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"This was a great trip and Tracy helped us a lot with fixing it up and working out where to go. Thank you so much. I was slightly worried about not staying any longer than 2 nights in any place but this turned out to be right for the majority our trip. On reflection the only thing we found that we would have changed was in Etosha. The trip from Okaukuejo to Mushara was a long one considering that we had already done the main waterholes immediately east of Okaukuejo the day before and we basically bypassed them. By the end of the day we were very tired. It probably wasn't helped by the flat tyre we had. I would suggest thinking about stopping for 1 night in Halali camp. We didn't have time to do any waterholes north or west of Okaukuejo.

Sandstone trip from Swakopmund was a good trip. The driver had not long started working for the company. He was a good driver and was cautious driving along the beach. However he was a bit less good at the birds and all 4 of us knew more than him.

Swakopmund. We had two great evening meals. The first in the Jetty restaurant was superb and then at the Tug which wasn't quite as good but was enjoyable too. Great fish well presented, good service and a lively atmosphere. Highly recommend both. Neither very expensive by UK standards.

Driving. We had three long drives but set off early on all three and had arrived in time to do afternoon activities or just rest for a while. The drive from Swakopmund to Doro Nawas took about 6 hours. The coast salt road is a s good a tarmac with little traffic. The first 50-80 kms going in land on C35 were easy but the further we went the less good it became. There had been some recent grading work on some sections. We stopped in Uis. Petrol easy although one of the petrol stations was closed. Had coffee in the restaurant in town sorry forgotten its name. This was ok.

We didn't stop at Brandberg because of time really. The road was less good after Uis but ok. The D2612 was less good quality than before and needed a number of times to slow down. However it was in the process of being graded and the sections already done are in good condition. We got to Doro Nawas in time for the evening activity and this meant we had seen desert elephant really well that evening.

From Doro Nawas to Okaukuejo was a good trip. The gravel road was ok to Khorixas and then is tarmaced all the way. We stopped at the petrified forest which was good and worth seeing. We also stopped at the bakery in Outjo which was excellent as recommended.

The drive from Mushara to Windhoek was easy on the tarmac road with little traffic. We stopped at Otjiwarongo. The Kameldorn Garten had closed and we ended up in fast food restaurant.

Internal flights were excellent. All the pilots were helpful and friendly. The best flight was from Sossusvlei to Swakopmund. This went up the valley across Deadvlei and Sossusvlei, across the desert and then low up the coast past a couple of wrecks and many fur seals on the beach. Brilliant.

The internal flights in Botswana were all very good as well. All on time except when we had to wait for the other passengers to sort their luggage. We managed to find a bag which fitted the dimensions for the little planes. However it didn't seem to matter too much in Namibia but did in Botswana. We found a bag from Eagle Creek(American company on website but bought in Hathersage Derbyshire) a duffel bag which was the right size but quite expensive at £80. We also used some packing cubes for shirts, toiletries etc which made life very easy. the other passengers had a framed bag which was twice the recommended size and spent 40 mins arguing with the local airline and then having to put half their stuff in another bag provided by the airline.

We took a suitcase with us and it was easy to leave both at Windhoek and Maun airports with Wilderness. The only problem was we couldn't open it when we got back to Windhoek! Eventually opened at home.

Etosha. We really enjoyed Etosha. We could have done with more time. We in the end did not visit any waterholes to the west of Okaukuejo as we decided to do those east of there on our first day and then travel halfway on the second day before visiting waterholes. In the end we were very tired by the time we arrived at Mushara. The NWR map is useful. Waterholes:
Ombika Brilliant start. Many elephant, Oryx, Zebra, Springbok, Impala
Okaukuejo as stated elsewhere some great sightings. Worth visiting even if not staying. 8 rhino the highlight.
Aus Kudu, springbok, oryx, hartebeeste,
Nebrowni spotted hyena
Salvadora 3Lion with zebra kill, Jackal, lots of Wildebeest crossing Pan
Halali middle of day Giraffe, impala
Goas 53 elephant including many young in the middle of day. Really playing in water
Nuames more elephant
Near Springbokfontein Black rhino trying to mate
Dik dik drive many dik dik. Leopard seen by others
Klein Namutoni Elephant zebra giraffe kudu impala springbok
Most of the others were dry or had little game." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"We had a fabulous time! Unfortunately, this once-in-a-lifetime trip makes us want to go again, and again, and again!

I do hope the concessionaire's are careful not to over build. They are able to charge top dollar because of their high concentration of animals to a low density of visitors. But when vehicles are stacking up, waiting for a 10 to 15-minute turn to see the animals, the concentration is already too high for my tastes. There is something to be said for having more eyes in the field, because you then have more opportunity to make a good sighting. But there needs to be a balance, and we saw many new camps being added, and many camps are increasing the number of guests they can accommodate. As someone going to visit, note not only the number of tents in your camp, but of all the camps within the concession.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
With your booking, Expert Africa has a general interest, basic requests, etc box; it would be nice to be able to customize that for each activity and/or camp to accommodate interests and expectations for different locations.

You guys and gals at Expert Africa are great! Everyone I've dealt with, though primarily Maruska and her sister Saskia when she was still with you, has been most helpful, honest, and pretty-darn-accurate, which I appreciate more than I can express!

Filling out this review has been a nightmare for me. Next time I will type things out elsewhere, and then cut and paste them in, which should work. When I tried to go back to previous page, whatever I'd typed was swallowed. If I hit save, it kicked me out, and I had to start again at the very beginning. I hated having to scroll forward through every page from the beginning, so I tried cheating and leaving the form open, but it would time out, again swallowing whatever I'd typed. It would be nice to be able to open on any page, so I could complete as time and mood allowed. Oh, well.

Sorry it's taken me so long to complete. I know I really appreciated other people's reviews and used the reviews heavily in making my choices--I would also like to see a scale of 1 - 10, because I would've liked to differentiate between good and excellent with a very good. The overall quality of all these camps is at least good, but some were far more excellent than others." Read full review: 34 nights in Africa; 17 on a Namibia trip

"One of our best family holidays - loved Namibia! Amazing landscape, lovely people, animals, food and more. An adventure every day. Thank you for organising it for us!" Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 10 on a Namibia trip

"Brilliant trip, our third visit to Namibia, but not our last.

Special thanks to Sabina for organising our trip so well and with such patience." Read full review: 23 nights in Africa; 21 on a Namibia trip

"The advice and choices given by Angela gave us a comprehensive overview of Namibia and we feel we saw most of the outstanding things that you would expect on a first trip" Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"I had a great time, thanks largely to Maruska's excellent planning :-). The combination of the fly-in safari and the self-drive trip in central Namibia allowed me to experience a fairly wide swathe of the country, including some amazing animals and birds and countryside, and to try out various hostelries.

I met some very interesting people and also thoroughly enjoyed the road trip on my own. The car went very well and I had no trouble finding my way around. Thank you for providing the map with all my stop-overs marked on it; that was very helpful.

The next trip I plan in Africa, you will be the first people I call. Thanks again!" Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Namibia - what an amazing country and what friendly people we met almost everywhere." Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 18 on a Namibia trip

"Trip as a whole was memorable. We took a few cd's as suggested for the car but didn't open them as the changing landscapes were fantastic and we didn't want to miss anything. It all made for a very exciting and relaxing time and everything 'fitted'.

We've already recommended it (and EA) to others.

We would love the opportunity to return

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Perhaps an improved route map." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 8 on a Namibia trip

"fantastic" Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip