Reviews of safaris to NamibRand Nature Reserve

"We had a wonderful holiday travelling around Southern Namibia. Sabina helped us create a great itinerary so although we did plenty of driving we had plenty of activities planned too.

Although it was the winter, it was a great time of year to go as the daytime temperatures were lovely and warm but not too hot so we were able to do lots. After saying that it was very very cold at night so if you do go in the winter make sure you take plenty of warm clothes.

The highlights for us was the ballooning, the Tok Tokkie Trail and kayaking with seals in Swakopmund.

Suggestions for improvements

No we were very happy with everything." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 11 on a Namibia trip

"We felt Namibia was a wonderful country with very friendly and pleasant people everywhere we went. We just loved the countryside, the solitude and the wildlife.

Luckily Gwynneth suggested we upgrade from a basic car to a Nissan Xtrail. We would suggest that everyone does this as some of the roads (for example up to Corona Guest Farm) would have been challenging without the extra ground clearance.In addition there is no way that the camping gear we hired would have fitted into a small hatchback! Next time we would consider a full 4x4 as anyone who is in the least adventurous will find that even with the Xtrail there are a few places that are off-limits.

Camping gear was hired from Camping Hire Namibia in Windhoek. This was reasonably priced and included everything we needed but was rather shabby including horrible old plastic mugs.

We would thoroughly recommend our mix of a couple of camping nights followed by a luxury lodge - the best of both worlds!

We loved our first taste of Africa and would thoroughly recommend Expert Africa for their knowledge and experience.

Your information booklet sent to us on our booking was extremely informative and useful especially the tips on driving and car hire." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 7 on a Namibia trip

"Namibia proved to have and be all we could hope for.
Absolutely nothing is small scale, from the dunes, desert, coast and salt-pan to the welcome of its people and animals.

Suggestions to help Expert Africa improve our trips and service

Maruska and Gwynneth were so impressive in every aspect of our arrangements, and Wilderness Safaris also proved to be very competent ground agents, so we're hard pressed to think of any tweaks.
If we're being really nit-picky then our view of Swakopmund means that two nights wasn't really ideal for us, but we do realise that it's a lot to do with personal choice and might be difficult to ask enough questions to deduce this. All we can say is that it is very 'small-town', so people with lots of travel experience might have issues with it (in the winter at least) in comparison to the rest of Namibia." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 11 on a Namibia trip

"We thoroughly enjoyed our trip and all of the help and assistance that the team provided - especially Gywneth was more than appreciated!!!

Gwyneth was so helpful before and during our trip!!!! Thank you!! We found all of the information/maps/notes etc provided by the team to be invaluable for our trip and Chris's book was brilliant!!

The highlighted map was a must and we would have been lost (quite literally) without it!!!! We will definitely be recommending expert africa to our friends and family!!!!" Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"The whole Honeymoon trip to Namibia was absolutely fantastic. Working for an airline for many years we have both travelled to many exotic places. We wanted to go somewhere different and do something different for our honeymoon. This was the best trip that we have ever been on.

We would not normally book through an agent but Expert Africa were excellent and veyr attentive to the details. The are extremely knowledgeable about the lodges and the area and this really is an excellent service that they provide. Normally we wouldn't trust someone to guide us so much with an itinerary or accommodation. We had a rough idea of where we wanted to go and what we wanted to do but Sabina was excellent at putting this all together and arranging everything. She was responsive and quick to follow up on any questions that we had. I would highly recommned Expert anytime for a trip to Africa!

One thing that we felt was that the private lodges were much more luxurious and attentive to their guests than the Wilderness camps. we liked the Wilderness camps but you could certainly feel the difference between the privately managed and owned ones compared to the larger Wilderness camps management and company.

As for the trip itself it was truly amazing and we would love to go back at some point as we fell in love with the country. we loved the fact that you have the freedom to drive around yourself through the parks and can stay in such luxurious lodges with a variety of activites.

We were blown away by the whole experience. We would like to thank Sabina for all of her help in making it such a great trip.

Suggestions for improvement:

I would just encourage you to invest in your people and the FAM trips to the various locations, particularly in these harder economic times, as i think this is really what makes your service stand out and go above and beyond. We really trusted your service and advice and this made it so much easier with all of the other wedding preparations and took away a lot of the stress. The whole customer experience was spot on. Well done to you all. This is something that i strive for, as a manager in the travel trade, with my staff .!" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"We had a fantastic time in Namibia and will definitely consider using Expert Africa again as we are already thinking about our next opportunity for Safari/trip to Africa!" Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 9 on a Namibia trip

"Simply wonderful.

It was a great trip, wonderfully organised and we were very well looked after by everyone everywhere we stayed.

Can't imagine how we could have had a better honeymoon!" Read full review: 24 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"This was a first trip to Namibia and it surpassed all expectations.

The dunes are breathtaking and should not be missed by any visitor. The countryside is very diverse, the people are so very friendly, the standard of accommodation is first class, the game viewing is as good as anywhere in Africa.

It is a refreshing experience for anybody who loves Africa.

Suggestions for improvement:

Expert Africa are a pleasure to deal with as they know the country, the lodges and how best to advise travellers. I am very pleased to have become a traveller with the team and hope that Tracy will be around to advise me the next time.

I think that possibly a better vehicle could have been brought to my attention as the dirt roads are very ridged at the moment. We only saw two graders the whole time and travelling nearly 3000 ks is quite a lot in a little car." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"We had the most enjoyable and exciting holiday. We felt well prepared before we left and when we were there we found a very high standard of accommodation, quality of food and service. The scenery is breathtaking and the locals were charming. We are thinking of going back!

Just one thing : we found the saloon car inappropriate for some of the roads we used. Upgrading the car in Swakopmund was the best thing we did." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 10 on a Namibia trip

"We have been thinking about this trip for a while and it just came through as we possibly planned. The service given by the team of Expert Africa was excellent as expected, or otherwise we would not have contacted you again.

Namibia has surpassed our best expectations in many ways. Once again its our trust that smaller camps are always preferable to large scale operations.

Wilderness Safaris have completely disappointed us as we were expecting a higher service level. Guests are treated as numbers and not as individuals. While perusing their operational brochures we became aprehensive of their magnitude and the size they have attained on these last 5 years of operation. I am afraid that they will loose all the African flair we "guests" look when going to Africa.
Their lodges are good but possibly due to immediate success they are relaxing on quality of service.

Thank you for a wonderfull experience/ holiday." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 19 on a Namibia trip