Namibia Wildlife Trips

We had a wonderful trip. I have wanted to visit Namibia for many years and it lived up to my hopes and expectations. It was made all the more special by our excellent leader, Kastro, who looked after us so well. He was knowledgeable, caring, an excellent driver, great at spotting animals, with a good sense of humour - a true ambassador for his country. The lodges and hotels were great accommodation; all very different in atmosphere but very comfortable, though we found Hammerstein very cold. We would have loved another night at Otijwa to enjoy the calm and elegant surroundings. The itinerary was full and varied and we enjoyed all the different elements - informed all the time by Kastro's commentary and explanations. Explore provided excellent trip notes which helped in the planning and anticipation of the trip. I would recommend that it would be better to suggest taking South African Rand in currency rather than USD to save having to find somewhere to change them. It might be good also to recommend a jacket as well as a fleece for the cold mornings, and I found my collapsible walking poles very useful on a couple of the longer walks.

Your leader was superb- very knowledgeable, patient and interesting with a great sense of humour. He went above and beyond at times. The trip notes were misleading about the White Lady Paintings walk. It is not a flat walk at all. The Makuti lodge was disappointing after the previous one. It was soulless. The Christmas dinner was a bone of contention as it was expensive and there were no other options

I really enjoyed this trip for it's impressive landscapes, big skies, wildlife and food. We covered a lot of ground - just under 3,000km - but saw so much. The accommodation was good and got increasingly better as the trip progressed. The dunes at Sossusvlei are stunning and running down them was great fun. I tried lots of new food including oryx and eland and it was all very tasty. The seal colony was bigger than I realised. There were so many young that were clearly just minutes old and the noise of it all was very unexpected. Our tour leader, Kastro, was exceptional providing us with the right amount of information, keeping us in check and dealing with an unforeseen problem with the truck without any impact on us and all with a fabulous sense of humour. I loved our picnic stops in the middle of nowhere, the incredible night skies, the jackal puppies and the small group size. Definitely a trip that I would recommend.

I loved this trip and I loved Namibia. Our guide Sheona was excellent and made our experience so much better. We got upgraded at a couple of the lodges which was very fun - but all the lodges were excellent. We ate well. It’s a go go go trip. I would recommend doing the Sandwich Harbour tour. I would also recommend finding out all your optional game drive choices before deciding which one(s) you’re going to do. I found the cheetah conservatory a bit off putting although we did learn some good information about conservation there. There were unforgettable moments on this trip and Namibia will always be special to me.

I missed my connecting flight to Windhoek and both local tour company and Explore main office reassured me I’d be looked after which I was. The tour guide and driver was a knowledgeable, capable and really lovely person. She absolutely made this trip unforgettable- her recommendations for our day off in Walvis Bay ( whale watching and 4x4 sand dune trip) were spot on and I’d recommend anyone to do these. The itinerary is full on but you don’t go all that way to sit beside a pool. Everyone who followed my trip were blown away by the diversity and quality of my videos and photos (all of which were taken on an IPhone 16). A small group of 10 was ideal - all like minded people with a sense of adventure.

Brilliant experience led by an excellent driver/guide, who was very pleased to share her information and love of her country. Deadvlei, Sossusvlei, Wolvis Bay Etosha National Park full of surprises. Daily news was posted on WhatsApp site, worked well when internet was available, and very useful for packing and preparing for the day ahead. Some days involved a lot of travelling but I enjoyed the 2 nighters with activities. September was perfect weather wise and no need for malaria tablets. Group of 10 was great, truck was our purpose built vehicle and loved raising the roof when waiting patiently at waterholes. Wonderful trip.