sharing your experiences in English

Hello!
I just found this terific forum and think that it will help us (my husband nad me) to plan the first visit to Namibia next year (March/April). The only problem is that everybody is speaking German 🤨 what is a bit complicated for us. So, if there is somebody who is willing to share his experinces also in English I'l be glad to hear from him. 😘

Hope to hear from you soon, Bibka

Hi Bibka,
nice to have you here. Just put in your questions, there are for sure some peaple here who will be able to answer your questions in englisch.
Good luck.
Cécile

Hi Bibka,
only a few people in Namibia speak German. So there should be no problems to answer yor questions in English! Afrikaans would be more difficult for me😊
Regards
Jens

Hi Bibka,

Should not be a problem to answer some questions.....just try! There will be for sure some people who will answer!

Looking forward,

Meike

Hi!
First to say I'm glad and happy for all your quick reactions.

Like all "first-time" visitor to Namibia we are dealing with some basical decision problems:
- time of visiting: we are deciding between two possibities March/April or May/June. Both period are off-season but which is according to the weather and other conditions (i.e. rain, lenght of a daylight,night temperature, mosquitos 😕, etc...) better.

- staying at night: sleeping in the tent on the roof of some 4x4 car at camping places or taking the lodge variante. We do camping with a tent a lot but had never done it on this way (on the roof namely)- what should we take into account or care for? In this time of the year is it necessary to make reservation of camping places in advance; are all campings opened the whole year round; is it possible to make reservation during the tour (let's say 1-2 day before arriving)to be more flexible in doing the tour. Are there any problems if instead of 1 pre-reserved night of staying one would like to prolong for another day?

-malaria prevention: on the forum I didn't found your experience with prevention in a case somebody has heart problems

- organization of a tour: does anybody has any experience with namibian agency Sense of Africa (http://www.senseofafrica-namibia.com) or New African Frontiers (www.newafricanfrontiers.com). They have some quite interesting self-drive tour

- learning of driving 4X4 car: On internet I found that some agency recommend the learning of how to drive this sort of car before you start your self-drive tour (a sort of some hours of school). Any experience with that?

That will be all for now. Nice day to all!😁

Bibka

Hello Bibka,

welcome to our "international" forum. Here, you´ll get all the information to make your trip unforgetable.
If I have the choice between the two traveling periods, I´d go in May/June. Its dry season, the day temperature ist around 25°C und there are only few mozzies around, except north of etosha and caprivi.. So you have to decide if it is necessary to take malaria prophylaxis. But it is essential to consult a doctor before when you have heart problems.
If you travel organized or individual depends on your preferences.
Maybe it is helpful for the others to put in here your planned itinerary in Namibia.

May you do wellB) 😎
Regards

Uli

Hallo bibka,
Welcome to the crowd,
in order to answer your questions it would be of interest to know how long you intend your trip to be, which areas do you want to visit and what kind of accommodations you are looking for.
In my opinion April/May is a good time to travel , March might still be a little bit wet, in June it is becoming cold.
Depending as what your routing will be, you don`t need any malaria prevention at all. In the event of a heart disease it will be safest to consult a doctor in means of malaria prevention.
I am very much in favour of camping, you are so much more into nature this way. At some places I even sleep outside under the sparkling stars. You wrote you are experienced campers, so do`t worry about the roof tent, it is easy to built up and close again, there is nothing to take into account, except, don`t fall off the roof. 🙂
I think reservations of campgrounds will not be necessary at this time of the year (yes campgrounds are open around the year), except: Etosha, Sesriem and maybe Fish River Canyon.
Sorry but I do not know the two mentioned tour-operators. If you want a tour specially made up to your wishes, there is www.bwana.de. He has a flyer which is called Reisetraum, just fill it in an send it to him, he will make up the tour of your dreams.
I don´t know what to recomment in means of driving a 4x4 car. I don’t see any difference driving it on roads tarred or gravel, sand is different, but I am not sure whether you will encounter sand pads on your tour.
So I hope that helps a little bit, just keep on asking questions, we will be happy to answer.
By the way, where are you from? GB? Then you at least don’t have the problem of driving on the “wrong” e.g. left side of the road.🤔
Greetings from Lake Chiemsee in Bavaria
Savuti

Hello Bibka

The agent for our travel agencie in Namibia was Sens of Africa and I can highly recommend you Sense of Africa. We only made very good experiences.

I cannot help you with camping as our tour was only in lodges but we very much enjoyed every single lodge during our trip.

Wish you a good planning period and just ask further questions which you may have:-)

Regards
Namibia07

Hello Bibka,
welcome to the Forum 🙂

We've travelled twice in May/June. It was really a lovely time of year but gets very cold in the evenings and early mornings. If you're camping you'll need some warm clothes.

If you have a look at the Sense of Africa Website have a look at their Free and Easy vouchers. It's good way to stay in excellent lodges for a fraction of the normal price, so perhaps you can do it like we did and spend a few nights in a nice lodge in between camping. If you look in the search function of this forum you'll find lots of info on the vouchers.

Have fun with your planning 😄

Sue