Namibia Travel Agents & Reviews

Our trip, planned by Zicasso’s tour company, was so much more than expected. Our agent provided a detailed itinerary and communicated what we could expect when we reached each new destination. We had trouble getting to our initial destination because of flight delays caused by remnants of Hurricane Debby. Our agent was accessible and worked hard to get our situation resolved.

Once we arrived, we were blown away by the outstanding camps she arranged for us. Our itinerary was amazing and we had a fabulous time at each of the three destinations she booked for us.

Getting home was also filled with airline problems. Again, our agent was there to assist with genuine concern and helped us get safely home. We would've been lost without her. Our agent and her company were a happy find when I went looking for an African safari travel agent.

Our trip to Southern Africa (Botswana and Zimbabwe) was nothing short of amazing! Our travel consultant created a great itinerary and took care of every detail associated with small-craft flights, greetings at airports, etc. The coordination was seamless!

We highly recommend staying at the camps within the reserves as this provides a different experience to the national parks. We felt like we were the only ones there. We were deeply touched by the love and warmth of the resort staff, who go out of their way to welcome you and assist with any needs you may have. Our guide was brilliant, his knowledge, experience, and patience incredible!

This was our second trip through Zicasso and we highly recommend the company for its interest in helping to make our trip a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Zicasso’s travel agent set up an absolutely fabulous South African trip, encompassing Cape Town sites, history, and winelands, then safari nature reserves!

Everything was perfect, with timing, coordination, and details, etc, as described. The drivers/guides were always prompt, extremely knowledgeable, and entertaining.

From the initial email contact and telephone conversation with the Zicasso travel agent, we could sense we were in good hands. He was very responsive to our ideas about a trip to Africa and his vast knowledge of the continent was immediately evident. Based on the information provided he quickly turned around a proposed itinerary for a trip to Kenya. Ultimately, we decided on safaris in Amboseli, Lewa, and Maasai Mara. Each location was beautiful in its own unique way. The accommodations were more than comfortable and the food was excellent. The Kenyan people were beyond friendly and the wildlife viewing was amazing.

In addition, we got some sense of the local cultures and were very pleased to learn that a portion of the revenue generated by our stays in each location went to the local conservation efforts.

The logistics of the trip were seamless, starting with our arrival in Nairobi very late on a Monday night, through to our return to the Nairobi airport on the evening of our departure.

The team at the travel agency handled all of the details and enabled our family to truly experience the trip of a lifetime. We would recommend this travel agency without reservation.

Our Zicasso tour planner listened to everything I wanted and definitely exceeded my expectations. The planning process went very well. Once booked, the follow-on responses to my questions were so very helpful. I thoroughly enjoyed working with everyone.

All of the accommodations were excellent and exceeded our expectations, The facilities and personnel were extraordinary. I cannot imagine a better-planned or better-executed trip. Everything was well planned and all travel connections went very smoothly.

Thank you to our travel company for listening to our wants and providing exactly what we hoped for. This was a dream trip!!

I was very impressed with my Zicasso travel agent. The travel company itself was impressive as well. They gave me a choice of who I wanted to be my agent. I was able to talk to two people and choose who I thought worked better with my goals and personality. I highly recommend this company. The trip was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. My husband and I were so happy with the way our agent even set up the order of where we would visit. We went to Uganda first, then to Kenya. I think our experience wouldn’t have been as good if we had done Kenya first, then Uganda, so we were so happy with this!

We worked with Zicasso's travel partner to plan a trip around a seven-night sail in the Seychelles. After sailing, we followed the itinerary we put together with our agent to Namibia and Botswana. We had a glitch in Namibia with a scenic flight of the Skeleton Coast that did not go as planned. I made contact with our agent and over a couple of days, he forged a solution that fixed the oversight by one of his vendors.

We enjoyed the desert lodge very much. It was a first-class and beyond operation. We also really enjoyed Sossusvlei. We were not happy with our shared guided rides as we were with parents and their 11-year-old only child who ran their lives. It affected us on our tour of Sossusvlei in that we were left alone without a guide for three hours to hike Deadvlei while they unsuccessfully attempted to hike Big Daddy. The longest anyone takes to do that hike is an hour and three quarters. They only made it halfway and were gone for three hours.

We were not thrilled with the two-hour, very rugged ride from and back to the airstrip to the camp, but we did enjoy the camp very much. In hindsight, if we had known the ride would be dissatisfying, we would have likely opted for a different accommodation. This said, the private rides in the Hoanib Valley were unique and very satisfying.

We loved that as much as both of our camps in Botswana, which were in the Okavango Delta and in quite different environments. The camp was wonderful. The highlight of our trip came at our last camp in Botswana. We really enjoyed this area of the Delta in that it had a lot of water. This created a very unique guided driving experience. The safari rides were arguably the best we’ve ever done as we witnessed three warthog kills by lions. We almost witnessed a fourth, of a lechwe by a hyena.

What made this camp a cut above the rest was the food and overall culinary approach of the executive chef. He was at the top of his game. This camp also offered surprise after surprise to make us feel special – lunch in the field, a private dinner in our room, bubble bath, etc.

Our travel agent put together an incredible itinerary and trip. He too was at the top of his game!

I just got back from a wonderful two-week trip to Southern Africa and want to thank Zicasso for putting me in touch with the travel agency and Shannon, who did a wonderful job of constructing my dream trip. Everything was top-notch and well-executed, and Shannon was friendly, responsive (I'm very picky and made many revisions), and a great communicator. 

When there was a wrinkle (which fortunately was very rare), she was right on top of it (in one case a lodge had booked us into their other property and tried to move us there, but Shannon showed them proof that we had booked over a year in advance and insisted we stay in the original property. They honored that).

Here is my review of specific aspects of the trip:

Cape Town. I can't say enough about the hotel, which was one of the best we'd ever stayed in. The property itself (it's a very modern and beautiful boutique hotel steps from the beach) and the customer service were wonderful. We stayed for four nights and I can't imagine a better place to stay in Cape Town. We spent one night in the wharf area before coming to the hotel and I'm so glad we opted to stay near the beach instead. Having a beautiful ocean view and being able to walk to the beach to watch the sunset every night was incredible. 

Also, the staff were over-the-top amazing; they were so flexible and accommodating (if you wanted breakfast early or after the regular serving period, they would happily oblige; if you walked in with take-out, they would plate it for you and bring it to your room. They would also pick up take-out and deliver it to you). 

There were also many special touches - free wine, free, stocked mini-bar, free hot cocoa, and popcorn that they would deliver to your room any time - we felt very cared for. One of the managers led us on a guided hike up Lion's Head mountain, which was super-fun (he not only brought tea and snacks, but is an excellent photographer and took beautiful photos of us that he shared). I highly recommend the activity to anyone who is reasonably fit (the views at the top are outstanding). We also did a peninsula tour and an all-day food and culture walking tour the next, and highly recommend our guide - she was delightful and fun.

The lodge. Wow, I had read all the five-star reviews of this lodge on a private reserve near Kruger before we left and wondered how it could ever meet such high expectations, but it exceeded them. This was more like 10-star than 5-star. The staff (much like the staff at our hotel in Cape Town) were so friendly, professional and responsive. They would do anything to make you happy. And like them, all of the warmth and special treatment felt genuine rather than fake or forced. 

The food was amazing (and plentiful - all meals, alcohol and high tea were included), but what set this lodge apart was the amazing rangers (we were lucky to have the head ranger and his tracker). I learned so much from them about animal behavior as they were incredibly knowledgeable (and extremely respectful) of the animals. As a result, we saw all of the big five multiple times (my favorites were seeing three leopards and seven lions, including both male lions sleeping after a kill and female lions slowly hunting Cape buffalo in the early evening). We met people at this lodge who had stayed at multiple other five-star lodges and all said this one was the best, which I can believe.

Victoria Falls. The lodge was the number one rated lodge in Victoria Falls and though it was very nice, it did honestly pale by comparison to our lodge near Kruger (the outdoor bathtub and pool were both dirty and not usable. I'm not sure how one would remedy this, other than to re-order the trip so one ends in Sabi Sands). 

The staff were nice and the food was wonderful, and like our other lodge, activities were included (the guided trip to Victoria Falls was very informative as was the private "sundowner" river cruise we had on our arrival night. We saw male elephants engaging in "horseplay" in the water, a trip highlight. However, the game drive (no tracker and a much smaller park) paled in comparison to those we did in Sabi Sands). 

The optional (extra charge) elephant interaction at their sanctuary was really amazing and we highly recommend it to anyone staying in Victoria Falls. The falls were about a third dry because we went after the winter dry season. Shannon had warned us about this in advance, so they were a little underwhelming, but I'm still glad we went because we wanted to see them and weren't sure if we'd get back to this part of the continent on another trip. If you want to visit the falls, be sure to look at photos of how they look during certain months so your expectations are met. 

Chobe River Cruise (Namibia).  I'm so glad we did this cruise because it was a great way to end our trip on a really high note. We originally wanted to book the Zambezi Queen (which is bigger, more modern, and more luxurious), but only the Chobe Princess was available for our dates and we ended up getting the smallest (four rooms) of the three CPs. I thought it might be underwhelming, but I was wrong. We had a great time on our small ship with six members of a German family. 

The staff were wonderful (amazing food from Chef Edgar!) and "game drives" on the river turned out to be a game-changer. Although we saw many animals during our land-based safaris, we did see different behavior from the water (elephant herds crossing the river; baboons at play for 30 minutes at a time, whereas on land, the baboons would run away; huge groups of giraffe in an open field). 

Unlike on land, where you would sometimes drive 30 minutes or an hour in search of a sighting, we saw animals the entire time we were on small boat excursions from the larger boat. Essentially, we'd spend 30 minutes watching elephants and then move to crocodiles, baboons, and giraffes, etc.). Of my top recommendations for people going to Africa, it's to do this river cruise in addition to land-based safaris.

Thanks again to Shannon (and Zicasso) for making our dream trip come true. Although we've been to many wonderful places (including Patagonia, Bora Bora, Australia/New Zealand, etc), my wife and I agree that this was the best trip we've ever taken. And we will be back!