Namibia's Etosha Pan & Skeleton Coast

This was a two week non-stop festival of birds, animals and culture. Dead Valley gave us stunning landscape and scenery, Damaraland to successfully find and photograph rare elephants. Four days of game driving through Etosha National Park hardly scratched the surface but is was still enough time to see, and get very close to, an unbelievable wealth of wildlife, some of which we felt we could almost reach out and touch. Okonjima Game Reserve was icing on the cake with close ups of leopards and cubs together with more birds to the 200 already seen. The knowledge and excellent skills of the two guides added to the experience.

Mind blowing. Beautiful. Incredible. The diversity of landscape and animals has totally captivated me and I hope to return. I enjoyed every minute. Each day seemed to be the peak and the next proved even better! For me, seeing Kudu was a long held childhood dream. An emotional moment! Both the desert areas and Etosha surpassed my expectations and I was in awe. A humpback whale ( I actually saw 3!) on a desert sight seeing flight was a surprising highlight. Other highlights are probably too numerous to describe...colours, desert elephants, amazing dunes, dolphins, myriads of birds, arrays of antelope, Mountain zebra. And the beautiful African skies. An endless delight. But meeting a pangolin...awe-inspiring, unexpected and emotional!

The Tour was fantastic. I so enjoyed seeing the varied scenery, wildlife and birds. Hano and Andrew were really good and they complimented each other with their different areas of expertise. They accommodated the different needs of the group with professionalism, understanding and humour. I loved it all. Etosha was beautiful and seeing the Pangolin was incredible. We also had good guides and the majority of the group were very companionable.

High standard accommodation and food throughout. Could have stayed longer in all of them! Excellent guides in Hano and Neil. They, and the beauty of Namibia, made the holiday one of our best ever. Many highlights. Watching the humpbacked whales at close quarters at Walvis Bay, visiting the extraordinary landscape of Deadvlei, seeing various birds which excited even our guides, taking in the dramatic landscape on every journey, watching a leopard climbing up and down a tree with her prey while being watched by a hyaena, finding the desert adapted elephants after a long search, then watching them eat and scratch themselves on the trees...! Wonderful!

Both Neil and Hano were outstanding guides/leaders. They worked extremely hard and their knowledge and commitment were outstanding - their humour and personalities were central to a great trip. Elephant and rhino sightings at Okaukuejo water hole were a joy because of their numbers and close proximity. Also exceptional close encounters with Brown Hyenas and Leopards.

A wonderful holiday which I thoroughly enjoyed and will always remember. This was my first time in Africa and my first time on a holiday of this type so I wasn't entirely sure whether it would be for me but I absolutely loved it and can't wait to do something else similar. All in all it exceeded my expectations.

A thoroughly memorable trip for my first visit to southern Africa. Two very knowledgeable leaders who have an excellent understanding of Namibia's wildlife, landscape and culture. High quality accommodation throughout, in fantastic locations. The variety and quantity of wildlife in Etosha was spectacular. The desert scenery in the Namib was remarkable.

We have fallen in love with Namibia and couldn't have wished for more on our first safari. Neil and Hano were such good guides, very knowledgeable and helpful so that no one missed anything, however big or small...

We had a wonderful experience of the vast and arid Namib Desert, intense colour of the dunes in Sossusvlei, the awe inspiring Skeleton Coast and Etosha Pan, getting close to the pelagic birds at Walvis Bay, amazing plants, veteran desert trees and desert specialist animals such as desert elephants, zebras, ostriches. There was abundant wildlife living in such a harsh environment. Thanks to our superb guides we saw both black and white rhinos, cheetahs, porcupine, brown hyenas and many other mammals and bird species. Another highlight was watching a mother and young leopard. We learnt much about the many animals living in fragile habitats and ecosystems. There was also impressive geology and rock formations and the awesome lichen fields north of Swakopmund. And many beautiful sunrises and sunsets in the desert. Naturetrek is a tour operator with attention to detail with detailed pre-departure information, Tour Itinerary and Tour reports. Importantly each trip produces a checklist for record keeping. They are very helpful if some unforeseeable difficulties arise during the tour. Their guides and local guides are very knowledgeable and professional, often with humour. This trip was a very well designed route, excellent guides and excellent accommodation and food.

A group of eight friends joined the Naturetrek Etosha and the Skeleton Coast tour in mid-October. The arrangements were faultless throughout and the standard of accommodation exceptional. Our two guides, Neil McLeod and Jakes de Jagar were outstanding naturalists and they ensured that we all saw and photographed the wonderful birds, mammals and reptiles of Namibia. In over twenty years of experience of safari my wife and I consider this to have been one of the very best. We are already considering a return to follow an alternative itinerary very soon. For anyone keen to experience the natural history of Southern Africa, we can recommend this tour without any reservation. It was outstanding from start to finish.

Neil is a superb guide in every respect - fantastic spotting abilities, an amazingly in-depth knowledge of Namibian wildlife (including the smaller things such as Herpetofauna and inverts as well as the birds and mammals), and is also extremely well-organised and looked after us incredibly well. An excellent driver, too. I was also most impressed with his relentless efforts to get the authorities in Etosha to refill an artificial waterhole that had emptied due to a fault with the inflow - shows a real concern for the well-being of the wildlife there. I loved all of it - the reptiles, birds, other mammals (especially so many Black Rhinos) were amazing, and spectacular scenery, too. This was the most enjoyable trip I have done for a long time

This was one of the most interesting trips I have ever done. Neil's knowledge of the birds and wildlife (and where to see them) of the country is outstanding. He was also keen to hear about particular interests of group members and tried (and usually succeeded) to ensure these needs were satisfied (eg to see or photograph a particular bird or animal). He was always warm, friendly and helpful. One of the best trips I have ever done.

Excellent driver/guides (and excellent Naturetrek guide), made for wonderful wildlife sightings.

A trouble free trip to Namibia. Wonderful landscapes and scenery, great variety of wildlife covering birds, mammals and sealife in a safe and friendly country. The weather was great and being driven round by our local guides meant we could enjoy the journeys and our surroundings despite some drives being quite long. Excellent accommodation and food.

John Carruthers is a knowledgeable and very competent guide making the trip very interesting. His patience with novice birdwatchers like ourselves greatly enhanced our enjoyment.