Namibia: reviews from our travellers

"I thoroughly enjoyed the whole trip but the long drives on poor road surfaces ruined it for my wife.

Although my friends had done the trip they did not seem to experience the poor road surfaces and as one of the lodge manager's said, Namibia was becoming a victim of their own success with the additional road traffic breaking up the road surfaces." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"We thoroughly enjoyed our trip and carry very good memories of Namibia." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"We loved Namibia. The people, animals, landscape etc. After our tour fell through with Jules Verne we were a bit apprehensive but you were so helpful and reassuring and we felt that we could manage the Self Drive. [Ed: these travellers booked a trip to Africa with a tour operator, which fell through. Then they came to us, to help them swiftly create a trip!]

We found some of the gravel roads in the Namib/Naukluft area poor - particularly the D854 where we had a puncture. Hot and heavy work changing the wheel but we managed it. Puncture No 2 outside Walvis Bay was changed rapidly by a farmer and his son. We should have liked longer but our main holiday was in the Cape. We liked the feeling of frienliness and confidence in the people which must come with their independence. Enjoyed doing our own thing particularly in Etosha - 3 nights wqs just right." Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 8 on a Namibia trip

"Our trip was a really great experience and we enjoyed everything we did. A good mix of a holiday. Well planned and it worked well.

All the arrangements worked perfectly some turning out better than expected.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

NO!!!!!!!" Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"After the trip, we think that we spend 1 or 2 days to much in Caprivi strip ( where it is not a lot to see) . These 1 or 2 days would be very useful in Etosha park, I mean in a lodge situated in the park (Halali for instance) in order to see game at dusk (we had to leave the park before 6 pm). Or in the waterberg region. Or in the Namib desert. Or in the south of Namibia (Lüderitz).

Despite of that point it was an extraordinary trip. The advices, the services and and the effectiveness of expert africa were excellent too.

I would like also to say that we appreciate the "Olive grove" in Windhoek : excellent on all points (location, food, room ...)." Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 18 on a Namibia trip

"Wonderful trip. Namibia is a great place for a holiday. It has amazing scenery and wildlife, excellent accomodation and a good road network. We found traveling around by car easy and safe.

There is very little traffic, even on the major roads. Any problems we did have, mainly punctures, were quickly solved. Even though we were there in the main tourist season none of the places we visited seemed crowded.

Suggestions for improvements:

No. Tracey gave us excellent advice when we were planning our trip and very helpfully answered our numerous questions." Read full review: 27 nights in Africa; 25 on a Namibia trip

"This was our third trip to Namibia, and we had a great time. The organisation by Expert Africa was very good, and recommendations, by and large, were very reliable.

Suggestions for improvements:

Could provide advice about reclaiming tax on gifts - we are unable to cash the cheque we received at Windhoek Airport with our UK bank account.

Could remind travellers along the Capriva strip about the time difference - we were an hour late for our Susuwe pickup" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"We have had another wonderful holiday – our third trip to Namibia, and at least 9th with Expert Africa – but things could have been better.

Our feedback reflects what we have come to expect from Expert Africa – a minimum 4-paw grading for everything – therefore 5 paws are very hard to achieve and reflect something exceptional.

We were very annoyed by the cancellation of the direct Air Namibia flights; this caused us significant inconvenience. We met so many people who shared our views – from fellow travellers to lodge owners to guides – everybody was unhappy about it. Having been forced to fly via Frankfurt we thought Frankfurt airport was very poor – lack of signage, few shops, little seating and even a mouse in the Business Class lounge. Toilets were dirty. The process will make us think twice before going back to Namibia.

However........ arriving at Windhoek in the morning we found the drive up to Etosha no problem – there were 2 of us to share the driving and we stopped off for shopping and lunch on the way – we definitely prefer to get straight on the road rather than spending a night in Windhoek and effectively wasting a day. We'd recommend buying a Namibian SIM for your mobile at the airport (took 5 mins and cost around £10) – others tend not to work, even with Global Roaming enabled – and we did use it when we discovered we'd left Ghaub with the room key in a pocket!

We'd always thought the road signs on the B1 warning of warthogs rather amusing but we saw dozens on the side of the road this time! Our trip was mostly on tar roads this time, which is great in some ways but they can be very straight and boring – in particular the roads through the Caprivi. We were glad we had booked a 4X2 vehicle for driving some of the tracks in Etosha and Mahango – no need for 4x4 at this time of year.

We were so pleased we were doing a one-way trip; we met many people who had found the driving tiring and were not looking forward to the drive back to Windhoek from the Caprivi. We had tried to slow things down and space them out so that most of our drives were less than 4 hours and, where possible, we spent at least 2 nights in accommodation. This gave us the chance to take advantage of the activities on offer and relax (eg at Hakusembe).

Many lodges do not provide drinking water (or at cost) so we suggest buying a 5 litre bottle in a supermarket (about N$15) and taking it with you.

We would happily repeat our holiday and revisit any of our accommodation with the exception of Namutoni – no way!

Suggestions for improvements:

We have travelled with EA so many times it must be a recommendation in itself! We did do some market testing on this trip and found competitors more expensive. We're already organised for next summer's trip.

However, on rare occasions accuracy of quotations is somewhat sacrificed in the interests of getting them to clients quickly. This is obviously partly due to the complexity of trips but can be frustrating." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"thoroughly enjoyed ourselves....would do very little different if starting again. it should be said that we had very fixed ideas long before contacting Expert Africa, and it was a bit of a debate whether to book through you or do it ourselves. Because of this my comments below are frugal and at times we might have been a handful for Sabina. I have to say I am very glad we booked with you and that we were assigned one person...Sabina.

Sabina's advice to stay a couple of nights in some places was probably correct and at Sossus Dunes Lodge and Erongo we could have certainly done with the extra night. We booked flights independently and then Air Namibia stopped flying from the UK. We weren't allowed onto the replacement BA flight at Heathrow and if Expert Africa hadn't sorted it at a moments notice we wouldn't have got there!

Sabina had to rebook everything because of the revised flights which would have been difficult for us alone. We had an accident and we were really grateful for the support from you that was always available on the end of the phone. I should also say that if you hadn't made extra insurance readily available, we would now be very out of pocket...naively we would have thought that the car hire would cover it.

Suggestions for improvement:

no since approaching perfection!
I would certainly recommend you...and my photos are already drumming up new business!" Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"As a whole and forgetting Doro Nawas it was superb and one of the best if not the best holiday's I've ever had." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 11 on a Namibia trip