Namibia: reviews from our travellers

"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; 17 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

"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

"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

"Namibia is certainly an interesting and beautiful country to visit. Highlights were driving through the dramatic desert scenery, climbing the dunes, seeing the seals at Cape Cross, watching a rhino family drink at Okaukuejo's waterhole, seeing crocodiles on the Angolan bank of the Okavango river, and the relaxed and friendly atmosphere at Ghaub guest farm. Having travelled fairly widely in Africa, the thing that perhaps surprised us most was how few people there are in Namibia (2.2/km2) - even the towns seemed empty!

It was interesting that none of the lodges (except Ghaub) offered child portions for their meals, even for very young children, which unfortunately resulted in food being wasted.

Cash was easier to find than expected with ATMs in even the smallest towns and at many petrol stations, which was good as food and supplies seemed generally quite expensive.

Expert Africa certainly organised the trip well - Tracy was always happy to answer queries, replied rapidly to my emails, and kept us posted with any changes. We had originally asked for self-catering as much as possible and I realise that in many places this is not possible, but where we were quoted only bed and breakfast we sort of assumed there would be facilities for catering for ourselves which was not always the case - this was perhaps our fault for not clarifying this before leaving. Otherwise, the voucher system worked well and everything was booked as expected (except for the family room at Haus Sonneneck). The route was clearly marked and lodges were easy to find." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 18 on a Namibia trip

"One could write so much that it is not worth starting to... Just a brilliant and inimitable place to go." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 11 on a Namibia trip

"Another fabulous trip to Africa, we can't wait to go back

One thing we did notice however, was that, while the standard of guiding remains generally very good, there seem now to be some guides who are doing the job just to make enough money to be able to fund other business/life plans. As a result we encountered one or two without the old passion/feel for the job. While their knowledge was probably very good, it was in a bit of a textbook style and seemed to lack an empathy with the animals/environment.

Possibly because the good rains had meant animals were more dispersed and therefore a bit more difficult to find, there seemed to be a lot of racing around trying to find things without stopping to evaluate the surroundings and potential. I also felt that there was a bit more harrassing animals by changing position to let people get a different shot rather than just sitting quietly to observe, again perhaps because of the perceived need to move on to try to find something else. Also because there were possibly fewer 'opportunities to view' there tended to be several vehicles at each sighting.

Suggestions for improvements:

Difficult to think of anything Expert Africa could do better. We are always delighted with the service and have recommended you to lots of friends.

It would have been helpful to have seen the questionnaire before we went so that we could make notes on relevant points as we went along. After three weeks and lots of locations it is a bit difficult to remember precise details for" Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"Excellent, very glad we didnt camp! so every room was a luxury in comparison. The food was cheaper than expected.
This was one of the best holidays I have had and would definately reccomend it to others and certainly with Expert Africa

I would like to have known that when in towns it is usual to pay a guard $10 to look after the car.

There was a little confusion as Brandberg white lady were expecting us for 2 nights, which is what we wanted, so there was some mis communication here. we had to pack up and leave for Omoruru." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 8 on a Namibia trip