Namibia Tours July 2023

The S Africa trip was just as expected & wonderful. The Namibia part needs full disclosure. The bus ride from Swakopmund to Sesriem was absolutely horrible & Those with back& neck problems should be strongly cautioned. I had spinal fusion surgery in June It's apx 6 hours over a gravel road in a tour bus with firm seats, what felt like no shock absorbers, the noisiest engine ever was not worth what we saw. The hotel was magnificent & that was it. The bus ride from there back to Windhoek was almost as bad. We had a 20 minute tour of Windhoek so never got to enjoy the capital & the hotel was out of town, unclean, hot & not up to Gate1 standards. Swakopmund was amazing.

Laurie C

My husband and I are experienced travelers and have been all over southern and central Africa, except for the desert region of Namibia. The trip was excellent overall. We would like to single out our tour director and driver from Springbok Atlas safaris who went above and beyond the call of duty and showed leadership, maturity, flexibility and great common sense in dealing with issues that arose. Herewith a few examples: 1. Our bus broke down 65 km west of Khorixas on a dirt road en route to Twyfelfontein, in a really barren part of Damaraland, where we had no cell phone reception. While our driver flagged down a car and headed towards Khorixas to get help, our tour director devised ways of keeping us occupied for 3 hours in 90 degree F weather. First she took us to look for welwitschia, and petrified forest. Then she took us into a dirt poor Damara village so we could get some insight into their hand to mouth existence in a barren area. All we had was water and no food on board or any possibility of acquiring any. Keegan finally returned with two combis (vans) to transport us to our lodge. By this time it was well past lunchtime and going to Twyfelfontein would have added a further 3 hours to our already heavy day, without lunch, on our "afternoon off". She wisely decided to forgo Twyflfontein and head for the Damara Mopane lodge. There were zero complaints, particularly as most of the tour members had seen the White Lady painting and desert elephant on the previous very long day. 2. Our itinerary indicated that we were going to visit the White Lady but this was apparently NOT on the schedule for Gate1 that was given to our guide and driver. Since this was a key reason we had joined the tour, and indicated as much, our tour director again flexed to make this happen ... very fortunate in light of what happened en route to Twyfelfontein (above). With regard to accommodation: it was excellent with two excepttions. Atlantic Villa Boutique Guest House was okay. Although the accommodation was fine, we were on the outskirts of Swakopmund and so really had very limited opportunity to see the historic town. The last night at Midgard Country estate should also be changed. It took us way out of Windhoek to a nice place over bad dusty roads that we had already experience aplenty! It would be better to be in or close to Windhoek on the last day and not add hours of travel time to no particular purpose on an already long day. This is a trip that should only be taken by reasonably healthy individuals. Two members were so immobile they needed wheel chairs to board the plane! One man in particular was grossly overweight and looked like a heart attack waiting to happen. Gate1 has a responsibility not only to the tour director but also to other travellers to ensure that people like this do NOT undertake this tour. It adds an unnecessary burden when certain people constantly require extra attention to cover even short distances, and constantly complain to boot. Travelers should be warned that there is a lot of driving over corrugated dirt roads for many hours on end and that some rest stops are primitive -- Purell and your own toilet paper is recommended. Also, light hiking boots are very helpful . The area is EXTREMELY dry and dusty, and will only get more so until/if the rains fall in November. The animal and bird population is low in Etosha as most have migrated north to get to water and grass. Etosha was absolutely desolate and the elephants were covered in white dust. Nevertheless, we had some good animal sightings but as one has been to Etosha before, the sightings were less good than I would have expected. This is likely only to get worse until the rains fall, so be forewarned. Finally, please provide the flight information for the Johannesburg - Windhoek-Johannesburg flights. We made arrangements based on what we were told by Affordabletours.com, after multiple attempts to get an answer from Gate1. The information proved to be completely wrong for both flights. As we were connecting with family and friends in Johannesburg, it made it very difficult to make any arrangements there. Do recommend drawing SA rand in JNB. They can be used freely in Namibia while Namibian dollars cannot be used in SA. Also, US dollars cannot be used for most purchases in Namibia. Finally, recommend getting a SA adaptor in JNB which works in Namibia and SA. It is different form any other one you might have and there is very little opportunity to buy one in Namibia..

Brian F

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