Namibia: reviews from our travellers

"We had long wanted to visit Namibia, and it exceeded all our expectations. The tourism offer is really strong and the people we met at all our destinations were friendly and charming, as well as the people we encountered in the wider community. It rivals Costa Rica as one of the friendliest countries we have ever visited. The wildlife (we are close to safari novices) was all that we hoped for, and our three children (aged 13, 9 and 3) really enjoyed their encounters too, and exploring the camps we stayed at. Our children are well travelled and survived the long drives largely - but not always - in good humour. We met other families with younger children who also seemed to be coping, and frankly Namibia is only going to attract those families who have already travelled fairly widely anyway.
Expert Africa organised a great itinerary for us in the time available (we booked with only 2 months to go and should have booked earlier), and we met a safari travel industry consultant whilst in Namibia who only had words of praise for the company, and in particular its commercial independence compared with many operators, who are often incentivised to recommend some destinations over others. This was very good to hear, as the travel industry is opaque and it is often impossible for clients to tell which agency has incentives with which locations, and therefore may be making recommendations more in their own interest than in those of the client. The level of detailed information provided on the Expert Africa website is also extremely helpful in terms of making choices.
We would recommend Namibia to anyone who will listen. For those who are widely travelled, this is a destination that will surprise and delight, especially if you love wide open, remote and stunning deserts and mountains, and don't mind driving 4-6 hours each time you relocate. (If you don't have time for such journeys you better fly but you will miss out on the sense of vastness that driving provides.)
Next time we would want to explore up into the far north west to see the Skeleton Coast sand dunes in all their glory.
Finally, we mislaid a couple of items during the trip and the London team were helpful in contacting camps to see if our possessions could be relocated. In the end the camps themselves located them and we hope our missing items will arrive shortly!" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"We have travelled a lot but this trip is one of our most memorable.

Not only is Namibia a fascinating place but Expert Africa made the trip easy.

We enjoyed the Self Drive and the itinerary which was planned.

The standard of accommodation and level of service and food were beyond our expectations." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"This was the first of this type of trip we have been on. We usually either do it all ourselves (hire a car and take pot luck) or else just fly to one destination and stop there (with or without a car).

The joy of climbing into a hired car and driving off to a destination where everything is booked for us could be habit-forming. It all worked perfectly except for the last night and that only went wrong because we hadn't realised that the clocks were due to change. We were afraid of the dark!

The one place that could do better was the Twyfelfontein Sauna and Spa: we only got to sleep there by wetting towels, ringing them out, and laying them on the bed. In the morning they were bone dry.

Namibia is a country with a wealth of "things to do" so it was a win-win deal. We couldn't fail to have a good time.

One extra note; we flew to Windhoek from Durban via Gaberone in a 40-seater jet with Air Namibia. A really great start to the trip. Unfortunately it only flies on alternate days so we had to use SAA Boeing 777 via Joburg for the return." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 11 on a Namibia trip

"We had a wonderful month and intend to return to Namibia with a longer trip into Botswana." Read full review: 28 nights in Africa; 26 on a Namibia trip

"Just a GPS was missing in car" Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 5 on a Namibia trip

"This trip was the middle portion of a longer African holiday which we planned ourselves.

We were delighted with the personal touch and attention to detail that Maruska provided. We had enough information from telephone calls, emails, books by Bradt and your web site to approach this section of our trip with confidence. We did not have to do the planning and make reservations as Maruska, arranged everything. We made some accommodation changes a few days before we left for our holiday and a last minute reversal on our Car Hire, (which involved a new company and an eventual refund) and were relieved at how efficiently those changes were handled.

Maruska's response of making sure we were first and foremost satisfied with our itinerary and happy with all arrangements was most refreshing and reassuring.

We have spoken very highly about your service with friends and family highlighting the ethos of your company. Thank you for everything. Marg and Phil Crosby-Jones" Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 7 on a Namibia trip

"Our trip was fabulous. Only one of us can drive but we still enjoyed ourselves and didn't find the distances too far.

One of the highlights was that the trip was to celebrate a special birthday and several of the hotels kindly acknowledged this.

There is so much great stuff to see and we didn't feel too rushed spending a couple of nights in each place.

Marked up map was very useful." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"Outstanding trip, fabulous experiences. Everything went smoothly with our reservations and activities.

Excellent planning by Claire Scott and other staff. The only problem we experienced was that the air conditioning in our private vehicle didn't work.

Neither we nor our guide realized it until we were already away from Windhoek so there was no opportunity to fix it.


We asked these travellers about their private guide, and they commented:

Johann was outstanding in every way. Knowledgeable, helpful, thoughtful, always pleasant and easy to be with. He has a great sense of humor.

He made sure we made the most of every activity and went out of his way to enhance our experiences.


Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No suggestions. We couldn't ask for a better trip." Read full review: 23 nights in Africa; 8 on a Namibia trip

"We were very taken with Namibia even though going in the wet season meant it wasn't the best time for wildlife viewing and there were some challenges in terms of driving through mud and crossing flowing water. The birdlife (122 species identified) and animal life (34 species) were excellent and we enjoyed the different landscapes - desert, mountains, coast and semi arid areas.

The accommodation was all of a very high standard and all the activities were good - though there was some variability which meant we haven't rated all of them as excellent.

We hope that we will have the opportunity to go back to Namibia to revisit most of the locations we covered and to see more of the country." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"This was by far the most amazing, awe-inspiring trip of our lives.

Expert Africa & Maruska did SUCH a wonderful job helping us arrange this journey and answer questions along the way. Namibia is a beautiful, diverse, visually spectacular place that will stay with us forever.

We really wouldn't change a thing about this trip except we wish we had a 4-4 vehicle due to some roads we would have loved to explore in Etosha but had to go around. Thank you for recommending Turnstone Tours for the Sandwich Harbor tour- this was a highlight of our trip because of how interesting & knowledgable our guides were.

Self driving through Etosha was an incredible experience and we saw so much wildlife everywhere.

Our trip went by without any hiccups thanks to your excellent planning and we will definitely use Expert Africa again for our next booking.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Strongly recommend 4-4 vehicles in Namibia during the rainy season. Keep recommending Turnstone Tours - they were wonderful. We loved Naankuse Lodge as a special way to start our trip with the cheetah walk." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 11 on a Namibia trip