Namibia: reviews from our travellers

"The trip was as a whole was excellent. The Namibian 2 weeks went much more smoothly than I personally had anticipated for an African self-drive holiday. We booked 18 months in advance, so with Sabina's guidance were able to pick the lodges which seemed to suit us best, and we knew ahead of the trip which were likely to be the best and worst. Sabina put up with a massive number of email questions over the preceding year, and I can only congratulate her on staying cool, calm and collected, and answering my constant questions accurately, in detail, and with good humour!

We relied on Chris McIntyre's Bradt Guide to Namibia as our 'Bible' during our 2 weeks. It is packed with almost all the detailed information that anyone could want to know about everywhere in Namibia, with very few updates needed. We only had to pay National Park fees for Etosha, not for the Namib Naukluft Park nor the Skeleton Coast Park. We also didn't have to pay taxes for entry to & departure from Mozambique! The information given re the left luggage facility at JHB OR airport was incorrect. They charge ZAR70 per case per day, and have apparently never ever accepted credit cards. Fortunately we had ZAR980 in cash that this cost us.

Being in an air-conditioned car in Namibia we didn't need to drink anything like the recommended quantity of water, and found the garages we filled up at usually had enough food/sandwiches to keep us going, so we didn't buy extra food.

We did have a hick-up on flights a week before we left UK, but Chris and Sabina managed to fix this to our advantage!

We were delighted that we had gone clockwise round Namibia, ending up with the highlights of Etosha and the Africat Foundation at the end. We met a number of couples who had gone round anti-clockwise, and were disappointed by the relative lack of game after they left Etosha.

Our week in Bazaruto could have been marred as all the other couples at Bazaruto Lodge on our arrival left after 2 days, and the whole hotel was taken over by 64 S. African marlin fisherman for their 21st annual Marlin Fishing competition! However when we booked they hadn't, but as they have used the same hotel at the same time of year for the last 20 years Expert Africa should have been warned beforehand by the Pestano Group Central Reservations team. The Manager,Tony, was quite embarrassed, but it didn't spoil our stay there. What was disappointing was the cloud cover and rain, which almost ruled out snorkelling - our main reason for going there!" Read full review: 24 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"We had a fantastic time in Namibia and would certainly recommend it as a place to visit for adventure and stunning scenery. The whole experience was made very enjoyable from start to finish by the expert help and advice from Tracy. Tracy was extremely helpful in recommending excellent accommodation which suited our itinerary and budget and giving us very knowledgeable information about the different areas we were wanting to go to.

We hired our car through a different company, but would definitely recommend paying the extra for a 2x4 car as this gives extra comfort and road clearance which gives more confidence when driving in Etosha and on some of the gravel roads.

I would certainly use Expert Africa again and recommend them to friends wanting to organise similar trips." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 11 on a Namibia trip

"A brilliant holiday, Namibia is a really magical place and far exceeded all our expectations.

Everything had been organised really well allowing us to just enjoy ourselves.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Make them cheaper so we can go on more !!" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"We had a great trip. With the one exception we were more than happy with each place we stayed. The guides were all excellent. We were surprised at how good the food was. As non meat eaters, we were ready to make compromises but at every lodge, the cooks prepared us excellent meals.

We were also happy that we did the trip in the order we did the trip, We had just done a game oriented trip to Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe, so it was good to start with the Namib and end with Etosha.

We wound up driving 3000 km. It would have been nice to have picked up the car in Swakomund and then head to Damaraland. But I would not have wanted to miss either Wolvedans or Kulala and we probably could not have afforded all the flight to go from Windhoek to the Namib and Swakomund.

We hope to come back and be able to get further up to the Skeleton Coast and the Kunene River region.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

None. Expert Africa was great to deal with. Very responsive, good advice. We did not have a single problem with any of the arrangements made by Expert Africa." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"Thank you Maruska for organising this trip for us. We had planned to join an organised bus tour but the one we wanted was full. Thank goodness it was. You told us that driving ourselves was ok and you were right. We would have been very frustrated on a bus tour. We like to do our own thing and sit and watch the scenery and chat to the locals.

We did not lose our baggage at Johannesburg airport. We booked it all the way through. Very pleased to see it arrive with us in Windhoek and Newcastle.

We met many people who had not gone to Fish River or Luderitz. We were really glad to have gone there. Not many people at Fish River and we enjoyed Luderitz very much. You warned us in the book about driving to Luderitz- the sand and wind- but we found it much worse appropaching Walvis Bay- I suppose it depends on the weather on the day.

We did not feel we had time to arrange a trip to the ghost town of Kolmanskop so we dropped in there on the way east to have a look from the gates. We had been told we needed to book in advance in Luderitz but the man on the gate sold us a ticket so we went in. So it's worth trying that, or maybe they have changed the rules. We did not join a group but wandered around ourselves.

We were pleased to have a 4WD. We attempted more because of that eg tracks down to the coves on the Luderitz peninsula and certainly we would not have got up back up one of them withpout it! I did worry about having a puncture in the middle of nowhere but we did not have any. But drivers seem very helpful- we stopped when we saw someone else at the side of the road and hopefully we would also have had offers of help.

We went up the Cape Cross to see the seals after leaving Swakopmund. That was certainly worhwhile.

We would thoroughly recommend the trip to see the Desert Elephants in Damaraland. We visited the other places there by ourselves. We also visited Sossusvlei ourselves from Kalala. The drive up the entrance was not too bad and the road was empty. We spent all day out and visited the Sesriem Canyon on the way out.

All the hotels/ guest houses were excellent. We thought the standard of service was superb.

Thank you again for your help and advice. I will certainly recommend Expert Africa to my friends. We would love to go back to Namibia; it is such a big country and we felt we just scratched the surface. We want to go to Botswana too so I suspect we will be back to talk to you!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Can't think of anything.

Being open at 10 pm UK time ( in NZ) was very useful to us!" Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"One of the best holidays of my life. This thanks to three important factors:

1) Namibia. What a beautiful country. Landscape out of this world, close up with wild animals, great food and fantastic activities.

2) The people of Namibia. So friendly, so peaceful, you will not find it hard to make friends there.

3) Expert Africa. WOW, what a service they provide. Overall fabulous. We are so happy with all the planjing and reccomendations that next time we will travel to that area I will put all the planning in their hands. Will not even quiestion the suggestions. Also, we encountered a car break down, and Expert Africa did EVERYTHING they could to help us (even though it happened on a friday evening..). And it all worked out just fine with them helping us!" Read full review: 7 nights in Africa; 7 on a Namibia trip

"We had such a good time, it's difficult to put it into words. Namibia was incredible and the camps were terrific. We had very high hopes for the holiday and they were more than exceeded.

Our highlights were the visit to the desert adapted elephants from Mowani, a day of kayaking with the seal colony and getting driven over the dunes of Sandwich Harbour with a champagne and oyster lunch (which we organised directly with Sandwich Harbour 4 x 4), and the time spent at Okakuejo waterhole.

Our lowpoints - getting enveloped by a dust devil at Okakuejo." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"This was another excellent trip to Southern Africa organised for us by Expert Africa. Thank you Gwynneth. The advice from EA concerning 2WD versus 4WD vehicles for this trip was appropriate. The lodges were of a standard equal to or better than our expectations, especially the Garden Lodge in Kasane where our guides John and Innocent provided expert advice and guidance. The section of the trip after leaving the hire car in Kasane progessed smoothly and the cross border transfer into Zambia was effected efficiently. The transport arrived on time in Kasane as did the transfer from the Zambezi Sun to Livingstone airport., As noted earlier, at no stage were we asked for the Yellow Fever Certificates." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 6 on a Namibia trip

"The overall experience exceeded my expectations. I was unusually critical of each place we stayed but it is only because you asked for feedback. I mentioned that Waterberg plateau camp rooms had cockroaches but is it fair to expect a place in the middle of a desert in Africe to not have bugs? The only things that would prevent me from going back to the Waterberg camp was the baboons, not the bugs.

I dealt primarily with Saskia Adye, but she wasn't on your list of team members so I chose her sister instead.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

The service was excellent! The only thing I would suggest (and Saskia made have mentioned this but I didn't hear her) was to be prepared for cold weather, especially during early morning game drives. I wasn't prepared for such cold weather in the mornings and suffered a bit until the sun came up. A warm coat, gloves, scarf and a hat would have been nice and easy to pack." Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 19 on a Namibia trip

"Hard work. Not as rewarding as our first trip to Namibia but still fun.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Advice on where to buy pulas was not good. Windhoek airport does not stock pulas in any of the three exchanges. Bank in Namibia (4 tried) also don't sell pulas. Finally bought them in Botswana at Barclays. Other point is that Windhoek airport exhanges do not take travellers cheques." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 11 on a Namibia trip