Namibia: reviews from our travellers

"Already said how impressed and delighted we were that our flight cancellation was dealt with so well and all was rebooked “+2” overnight on the day of our intended departure. Way prior to that the guidance and advice in putting everything together took time and great patience which Maruska coped with admirably. This included rebooking from 2021 when Vicky broke her shoulder compromising our initial plans.

I do have two observations which are offered as a reasonably regular EA client. Using a specialist based in a very different time zone does add complexity at the planning stage. Small details requiring a quick answer can take 48 hours to turn around through no fault of anyones. My second comment is that the relative costs of different options are not visible at the planning stage. I did not ask Maruska to work to a budget nor indeed did I ask for these costs in order to make our choices of destinations and lodges and so it may be my responsibility here. I now understand (but may need to be corrected) that Shipwreck and HVC were more expensive than other choices we made and perhaps having price bands indicated when putting together a tailor made trip might be useful. Useful also to have this information when giving feed back to hold the more expensive options to a higher standard even if tou can not compare apples and oranges of course!" Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"This trip was a legacy of our deferred 2020 trip.

We wish to sincerely thank Kwando Safaris for their understanding, and willingness to reschedule our trip. We also want to commend Lucy Copson for her assistance at the time of deferral (we had arrived in Cape Town just as all the borders closed), and then all her willing and cheerful help subsequently in rescheduling, and replying to many questions about details post-Covid.

We thoroughly enjoyed the trip, and it was well worth the wait...!

Everything went smoothly (better than we could have hoped for, given all that happened since 2020), and we would strongly recommend Expert Africa, Lucy Copson and Kwando!" Read full review: 24 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari

"Our holiday was outstanding.

We weren't sure what to expect travelling to Africa so soon after international borders started to open again, but we were delighted with how quickly tourism has found its feet again in Namibia, Zambia and Rwanda. Our self drive in Namibia felt perfectly safe, and our first time to Zambia now won't be our last.

Claire did a great job with our covid delayed trip. Fantastic support on the trip with CV 19 testing issues for Rwanda as a result of delayed airlines. Accommodation particularly in Zambia was outstanding." Read full review: 29 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"Expert Africa was a great agency with which to plan our vacation.

Sabina was quick to communicate information and make adjustments to our itinerary. Our trip went smoothly and we felt like the information provided about accommodations and activities was representative of our experience." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"I am mindful this tour has been rebooked twice due to Covid - although we usually do our own bookings for other than Namibia, in this instance glad we had Expert Africa who did us proud, minimising hassle.

The trip was a success.

There were a couple of bookings where we took advice and just possibly we would have preferred our slightly less cautious personal choices!" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"The trip was great. I really enjoyed the logistic and how the trip like this is arranged with a sort of self drive but also guided excursions.
Thank you to Tom tips we enjoyed a lot exploring this Country.

The only remark I have it’s maybe preparing people a bit more because the streets are really bad" Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"Another triumph, Maruska!

Justin and I had a fabulous time in Namibia; thank you so much for finally bringing this trip to life!!!" Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"Excellent: it lived up to expectations, after the two year wait caused by Covid, we thoroughly enjoyed the holiday. Everything ran very smoothly, all of the lodges were good and we saw nearly all of what we hoped to see!

The food was generally very good but we did notice that when we went from one Wilderness Safaris Lodge to another the food options were rather similar because they seemed to work off the same menus!

In retrospect, we would have liked three nights somewhere. Perhaps at Ongava? If we were to have cut a destination it would probably have been one of Nxamaseri or Kazile Island Lodge where you are in both cases on the river, although we liked them both in their different ways.

The driving was generally OK but we did have three long days of driving early on almost wholly on untarred roads. Later on in Caprivi the roads were excellent. We got one puncture - caused by a screw and not the roads!

Whilst we were warned it would be cold at night it was more than that. In a lot of places it did not warm up until the afternoon, when it did become hot. We happened to encounter a lot of windy days which made it worse. On game drives you are perched up in an open sided vehicle and so the airspeed makes the cold seem much worse than the temperature would suggest. We took fleeces and gilets but a wind proof coat would have been better than a fleece. That said May still seemed a good time to go, however, because it was before the coldest time, and after the rainy season, and the lodges were not very busy and so there were no big crowds on the game drives.

Star attractions:
- Sesriem and the dunes
- Damaraland and the Daro Nawas lodge
- Ongava
- Muchenje" Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"A very well balanced trip, as it encompassed magnificent landscapes, several excellent wildlife experiences, and provided some insight into both indigenous and colonial cultures." Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 19 on a Namibia trip

"The trip went beyond our expectations for adventure, learning, excitement and fun. I believe Expert Africa made the trip a big success because they are a full service safari planning company. The website and staff provided all that was needed for making decisions and getting the right arrangement. We spent three weeks on the trip that involved 11 accommodations, three airline flights, driving 2800 km on the left side of the road and numerous guides, staff and assistants. That it all went well and left us wishing for more meant they must be doing something right." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 11 on a Namibia trip