Reviews of safaris to Skeleton Coast & Kaokoland

"Amazing trip and very well organised by Tom Morris of Expert Africa.

Having been to Namibia before, and knowing roughly what we wanted to do, we set out to book the trip directly ourselves, but after discussion with Tom he came up with quite a number of options / lodges that we hadn't considered or been aware of.

After putting together a suggested itinerary it was clear that it was easier, and just as economic, to let Expert Africa organise all the accommodation. With map, guidebook and detailed intinerary and directions everything was made easy for travelling almost 4000km round Namibia over 3 1/2 weeks.

Overall a fantastic trip with great places to stay and visit.

Keep up the good knowledge of the country and its ever changing accommodation." Read full review: 25 nights in Africa; 23 on a Namibia trip

"It has been a stunning trip. Perfect weather ( winter time ). Very few visitors at this time of year and most outings we did, organised by the accommodations with private guides to track the animals, were for the two of us! Brilliant!

Being an independent traveller for many decades, I have always planned and organized myself my trips all over the world. I must say I do not regret a second having asked for Expert Africa's help in finding and booking all the different accommodations for so many nights,i.e. 21 nights, because it would have been very difficult in coordinating the schedule of the trip...I do not want to imagine the implementation of the international transfers after the problem I met with the bank of Expert Africa, located in London!

Tom Morris has been from beginning to end a highly knowledgeable and professional advisor. His choice of accommodation was excellent and in congruence with my budget. The standard of accommodation in Namibia ( even in "modest" places like Okaukuejo ) is excellent, beyond expectation. Of course I would not have minded putting up at luxurious lodges every night !!!
Through Expert Africa, we rented a car for our self drive trip. When we met with a problem with Europcar ( picking up a car with a small damage on a door at the airport ), Tom answered me on the spot and got in touch with the general manager of Europcar in Windhoek to make sure we would not be charged for. I did appreciate his rapidness and help .
Expert Africa website is absolutely excellent. And the information leather pack, along with the guidebook, the map we got before the trip is very good.

Now I have to talk about the BIG problem I met with the transfer of money. from my bank to Expert Africa's bank.
My bank followed all the instructions given by Expert Africa SCRUPULOUSLY.
The two payments prior to the trip should have remained in euros for the whole transaction, between my bank and their bank. For an unknown reason, the payments were AUTOMATICALLY converted into UK currency before being converted into euros, no matter how hard they tried!
It was a real hassle, completely stressful, time consuming AND financially infuriating! I was charged an amount of 194€ for fees!

I have recommended Expert Africa very highly to several French travellers. But I wouldn't like them to experience the same predicament. I would not like them to reproach me with that.

As said before, carry on with transmitting your expertise and passion for Africa ." Read full review: 23 nights in Africa; 21 on a Namibia trip

"We love visiting Namibia - this is our 3rd trip and we are already talking about the next! Cant recommend it more highly." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"we had a great time" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 5 on a Namibia trip

"Our trip involved a lot of travelling with complicated logistics and pick-ups/transfers etc and without exception it was all excellent. Extremely well organised.

All flights in small planes were great and lodges in Botswana and Namibia were small, clean, comfortable with extremely friendly staff.

Great 2-weeks! Thanks Expert Africa for organising!" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 5 on a Namibia trip

"It was a successful and very enjoyable trip. Everything went according to plan, and the only tiny hitch was a delayed pick up at Eros airport on the last day. It was a return visit to the country for me, but Angel loved it as much as I do, especially the spectacular wild desert scenery." Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 17 on a Namibia trip

"This is probably one of our "all time" favourite trips.

Namibia is vast and beautiful and the people so welcoming. For us, everything went smoothly, our drives between destinations were problem free and the variety of activities worked for us. Despite distances travelled, it was very relaxed and arriving at lodges was always a delight with a welcome drink and a song. The small "touches" that the lodges offer really do make a difference.

Thank you Expert Africa for the itinerary recommendation, your expertise and organisation at relatively short notice." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"An amazing trip that we enjoyed from start to finish. It had the perfect balance that enabled us to experience many different aspects of this fascinating and diverse country.

Although driving distances were long, the fabulous scenery with everlasting landscape (and animals) you see along the way certainly make up for this.

Our only regret was we should have stayed longer!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Certainly can't think of anything at this time. Our 2nd trip with Expert Africa and we are sure there will be many more in the near future!" Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 21 on a Namibia trip

"This trip - which had been twice postponed because of the pandemic - in the end turned out one of the best we've ever been on (and we've been to close to a hundred countries!).

The driving was great fun – especially through the vast empty landscapes of southern Namibia. The stunning scenery of the Namib, Namibrand and the Sperrgebiet will stay in our memories forever. This wasn’t so much about wildlife, but we had a few nice add-ons in that department too. Plus the highly atmospheric ghost towns of the Sperrgebiet and the lonely barren Skeleton Coast. And on top of all that we stayed at some outstanding lodges, characterful hotels and guest farms and enjoyed lots of good food (too much so – we both put on a few kilos over the course of this trip!).

Everything worked fine, no major hiccups, and we really found we were leaving our stresses and worries far behind and thoroughly recharged our batteries. Thanks for putting this together for us!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Can't really think of anything. It was all fine. .... maybe add Angola to your portfolio. We'd love to go to that northern neighbour of Namibia too ..." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 21 on a Namibia trip

"Maruska's patience in planning this trip with us was legendary and it worked out to be as perfect as possible. Overall transfers and some of the guiding was done by Ultimate Safaris. We were pleasantly surprised to be picked out of the long immigration queue by them and VIP'd through! Our guide was pleasant, interesting,and excellent. Transfers went well with only 1 hiccup with delivering our excess bags.

By our request this safari concentrated on the area around the Skeleton Coast. The constantly changing rocky, sand-duned and desert environment is fascinating to us. The tempest tossed coastline is so rich in marine life, with shoreline covered in hundreds of cormorants and seals in some areas. Flamingos, giraffe, elephants and ostrich all were spotted from our little Cessna on our Schoeman's Safari which was certainly a life changing highlight. We flew in the late afternoon during "golden hour" making the reds, pinks, ochres, greys of the desert shine. Surprisingly often there were areas of green. We were lucky as there had been abundant rain in March after 6 years of drought and so the normally bare desert was covered in soft golden grass. Also flowers blooming! so many varieties! It crossed my mind that at times it was like flying with Grand Canyons all around.

This is only our second visit to Namibia but we have found the staff members we have met particularly friendly and interesting. They come from a variety of tribes who until very recently would not have been interacting so closely. Many speak 3 or 4 languages or more which is humbling. The "click" language is especially magical to listen to. And remarkably hard to imitate!

The animal life is not so abundant as other parts of Africa but the adaption to the desert environment is special for the ones we did see. (Keep in mind we did not go to Etosha where animal life is more) As to flora the Welwitschia Mirablis , a plant which can grow for 2000 years was a wonder to see. It only has 2 leaves. There are male and female plants. We are told there are botanists who come to this area just to see this plant and now can see why..

We felt this visit to this area of Namibia to be one of our best of our dozen trips to Africa. Well planned, and very very special....

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service: Our third trip planned by Maruska. She is an absolute gem. We feel in good hands with Expert Africa." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 11 on a Namibia trip