Fantastic trip to Namibia
Thank you Ines for organising a fantastic trip to Namibia. After working as a tour guide in Africa for Guerba 19 ago years for 5 years I wanted to take my family back to see what I had experienced. To organise a trip to Namibia at fairly sort notice at peak season you did wonders, your speed at replying to any requests, questions and keeping us informed was great. The trip itself was wonderful the ... Read more only thing we had an issue with and could have been highlighted was when we got to the airport at Heathrow we were informed by Virgin that we needed birth certificates for our children to enter Namibia otherwise we couldn’t board the plane. A hour of frantically making phone calls and getting them scanned and sent to us got it sorted. So just a caution to any one else taking kids under 18 to Namibia. Apart from that everything ran smoothly and was a wonderful experience. The only place we were disappointed with was AfriCat due to our expectations from their website and all the signs as we entered the game park, that we would be seeing a range of African carnivores from Lions, Leopards and Cheetahs to Wild Dogs. In actual fact we were only taken to see 7 captive cheetahs, and their stated aim of the rehabilitation of these animals and was no longer happening. We were charged a lot and felt disappointed with the tour we had.
I would recommend Indigo to all my friends and colleagues so thank you again Ines for all your hard work in organising our trip, you gave us a truly wonderful and fantastic trip our family will never forget. We will be booking again with you THANK YOU
Reply from Indigo Safaris:
Hi David, thank you for your feedback, we love making people's travel dreams come true, and Ines and Corinne are specialists in the art.
I'm sorry you didn't enjoy Okonjima and the Africat Foundation. Okonjima is a lion-free reserve, it is never promoted as a lion area, neither by the reserve or us. The Africat Foundation's lion project is in northern Namibia, and this is explained on their webs... Read moreite and in situ.
Okonjima has different optional activities. One is a visit to the foundation, where they explain the conservation challenges facing African felines and other carnivores, and show the facilities they have for hosting injured and orphaned animals. The number and type of animals in house changes constantly and there is no guarantee that their will be any Wild Dogs in for care.
The orphaned cheetah that the clients are guaranteed to see are habituated to humans due to the necessity of being hand-reared and thus cannot be returned to the wild. In fact, the foundation stopped releasing rehabilitated cheetah onto the reserve at the beginning of 2019 due to increased post-release mortality from inter-species competition with the healthy leopard and brown hyena populatons. A link to a report explaining why in more detail can be found here.
https://africat.org/cheetah-research/
Given the conservation challenges facing the declining cheetah population, particularly in Namibia, I'm glad they do what they do, and seeing seven cheetah at once could be considered an excellent opportunity to observe and photograph these beautiful felines, of which there are barely 7000 left, up close.
The 550 Namibian dollar (approximately 37 USD) fee charged per adult (half-price for kids) goes to the running costs of the foundation and the excellent work they do at Okonjima and their northern reserve.
To see leopard, one needs to sign up for the optional leopard tracking game drive. They take place twice daily and involve a 3-hour game drive in an open-sided 4x4, looking for some of the wild leopards that have been collared for research purposes. For some, this is one of the highlights of their Namibian experience, and rounds off a trip nicely as leopard are notoriously hard to see normally, and this activity presents the best chance of seeing them in the wild in the country.
There are also guided and unguided Bush walks in the predator-free area close to the lodge, the unguided walks are free. I believe it's a good place to stop off between Etosha and Windhoek. I will make sure we point out that it is understood that there are no lions there, that Wild Dogs are not always being treated.
Best regards,
Christopher Bartlett
Managing Director
GB
| Age: 65+ | Experience:
first safari Email Debbie and Derek Payne
Dream come True - 19 day Namibian/Victoria Falls/Botswana Adventure
We would happily recommend indigo safaris to organise your holiday. We had a few ideas on what we would like to do, the accommodation type and travelling we were happy with, but were struggling to put it all together. Ines responded quickly to our request, and sent us ideas on how to collate our trip to Namibia, Victoria falls and Botswanna. We exchanged a few e mails, and, everything fell into ... Read more place very easily. Payment was simple through a gb account.
Our trip turned out to be be far better than we imagined. Everything went smoothly apart from a delayed flight with Namibian Airways. Our guide Rudi was a star throughout our tour of Namibia. He had a passion for his country and its peoples and wild life which he shared with us throughout our trip. We always felt safe in his care, and he went out of his way to help us enjoy our first visit to Africa. His knowledge of his country was extensive and we were sad to see our trip come to an end. Expect very bumpy roads and long days, with early starts but it was worth every bump to experience such diversity. The landscape is stunning.
After leaving Namibia, we flew to Victoria Falls, which is needless to say a must see. The sunset cruise on the Zambezi is lovely, but our early morning experience of a lion encounter was incredible. It's a must do.
We flew into the Okovango delta in a light aircraft and stayed two nights at Odd balls camp. If you want to have time out this is the place to go! The delta was very low on water but we enjoyed the trekking walks with our guide who again was a fountain of knowledge. We were lucky enough to come across lions on our very last morning.
Thank you Ines, it's been an amazing Trip. Your help and guidance made it happen.
Debbie and Derek Payne
Good experience! recommended!
In general I am very happy satisfied with the "fish eagle" 10 nights trip, whole new experience,safari itself exceeded my expectation, the guide and chef are very professional,which made the trip unforgettable, I recommend! .... only very small remark, it could be better to tell the participants there is no need to buy drinking water since there is a filter system in the car, as well as the rent o ... Read moref sleeping bag could be charged at the beginning together with the Safari fee
Indigo isn't making trips to Namibia by themselves
I've found the nice reviews of Indigo Safaris looking for a trip to Namibia. To my enquiry about the price for "6-DAY SAFARI & DESERT EXPERIENCE - GROUP ACCOMMODATED" with additional 2 nights pre- and post tour and airport transfer I got 21900 NAD. Only after asking isn't it the tour that costs "from 15720 NAD" (according to indigosafaris.com) we ended with 17800 NAD with additional percentage fo ... Read morer paying by card and for conversion to EUR. We corresponded quite long and a had a feeling that something not said. Only after asking direct about the group size, Corinne Bly whom I communicated with, wrote it was not a trip of Indigo Safaris. The tour was good, the guide - perfect, but decide yourself if there's sense to pay commissions for a dealer, - or just look for Chameleon Safaris (or anybody else) when going to Namibia... And it's recommended to ask about the max group size and max places in the vehicle (we were 8 what was optimum, - for the maximal group of 12 the vehicle wouldn't be convenient)
Reply from Indigo Safaris:
Hi Zivile, thank you for booking with us and leaving a review. Let me deal with your points.
We never claim to operate the tours we sell in Namibia, as a travel agent we sell tours that we have tried and tested, and we NEVER add anything on to the tour price. If the local operator sells at 17800 Namibian dollars, we sell at 17800 Namibian dollars. We make our margin by buying it at a discounted ... Read morerate, just like any retailer.
The 15720 price was the rate that ended 31 March 2019, and was still current when you made your enquiry, but you booked a tour departing after that date, hence the difference in price. Most tours have seasonal rates. Hence the 17800 rate for the standard tour after 1 April 2019 is the correct price, and understandably adding extra nights and services increases the cost.
By booking through us, you get a range of different locally operated tours to choose from, all trusted partners, with the safety of booking through an international travel specialist. On top of that we can offer a range of extensions and combinations that local partners do not, with completely impartial advice, all combined into one invoice, saving our clients the trouble and cost of making multiple international payments as we can take payment in a range of currencies (USD, GBP, AUD, EUR, ZAR) all at no cost if you pay by bank transfer to one of the currency accounts above. If you choose to pay by card though the secure third party portal we use, the cost varies from 1.4 to 2.9% depending on the currency chosen and the domicile of your card.
Unlike banks and credit card companies, we do not charge a conversion fee or a foreign transaction fee (typically 3%). The rate we use is the rate we buy the foriegn currency at, which is about 1.5% off the mid-market or interbank exchange rate on xe.com, that no bank actually gives, and is generally better by 1.5 to 2% than most high street banks. So our clients get the best exchange rate possible, and if they bank in one of the currencies above, typically they have no bank transfer fee to pay.
Nothing is ever "not said". If you ask about group size for example, we tell you. It is even stated quite clearly in the itinerary on this website. As you wrote here, you asked about the group size she told you. When clients book they all recieve the name and contact details of our partner in-country, as you did. I'm sorry you feel that somehow being given all the information you asked fo
and being given a choice of cost-effective payment methods downgraded the experience you describe as having a perfect guide and an optimum sized group to. 3 out of 5.
Christopher Bartlett, Managing Director, Indigo Safaris.
100% Perfect!
Right from the first email Ines from Indigo Safaris was amazing. I left things a bit late to organise so availability was the main issue. Ines found lots of options for our trip and worked within our requests. Everything went smoothly,not a single hitch. We did a fly in lodge safari in Botswana before spending a few days in Victoria Falls. All our accommodation was perfectly suited to our small ... Read more family.
So happy I stumbled across Indigo Safaris and would 100% recommend them
Thank you Ines :-)
Perfect Botswana tour:)
Everything was really perfectly arranged, all transfers were on time and we were welcomed at the reception desks.
We liked chosen accommodation very much and order of our route was also well thought out.
We appreciate all efforts and the result:)!
Contact was easy, fast, nice and productive:)
Very happy with trip to Tanzania - Dar, Selous, Stone Town and Zanzibar Beach
We were originally apprehensive as all our trips we arrange direct with each hotel/airline/guide etc
Ones did a great job listening to what we wanted and communicating along the way
The trip went to plan and we were very happy
Great tour! Very pleased
We booked a 3 day camping safari in Chobe with indigo safaris. The communication leading up to the trip was very good, clear and no questions left unanswered. Very prompt replies and good follow up. Kalahari tours is who actually serviced the trip and the logistics were perfect. I have absolutely no complaints about our tour and would do it again in a heartbeat. Highly recommended.
A brilliant tour for Africa virgins!
We'd been invited to visit old friends who'd emigrated to KwaZulu Natal and were looking to see more of SA whilst there - in particular, we wanted to see a game park and the Garden Route. Our choice of agent was going to be important as we were to be very dependant on their advice, so I researched the field, came down to a shortlist and finally decided on Indigo Safaris, though it was a fairly ar ... Read morebitrary choice.
Ines Moosmann proved to be brilliant! I only had a vague notion of what we wanted to do/see and her choice of Kariega Game Reserve was inspired - it's a wonderful place! From there, we agreed to go via Tsitsikamma, Knysna, Oudsthoorne, Hermanus, Stellenbosch and then spend 4 nights in Cape Town. Ines advised as to how long to stay in each place and booked all the accommodation which turned out to be, without exception, excellent, with a huge variety of different hotels and guest houses.
Throughout the process, Ines was responsive and helpful, answering my many questions with a positive attitude. In the event, the entire trip was a memorable experience and I'd recommend Indigo Safaris without hesitation to anyone planning such a trip.
Thanks Ines!
A wonderful adventure excellently arranged by Ines
We just returned from our adventure in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana . The hotels and guesthouses were wonderful. The safari in Botswana was better than we imagined with unbelievable service at every establishment. Everything Ines helped us plan went like clockwork. We have already given her name to two of our friends and we are looking forward to working with her on our next adventure. ... Read moreThanks for the great job.