Sossusvlei Tour & Travel Companies

It was so so fun trip. Johnny is a excellent tour guide and driver. He is good at cooking and we can eat great BBQ and stew or something like that. He knows about this trip very well. So he gives us a lot of explanation about each place and take us the best place to take pictures. I wanna go again with him. He is so reliable.

Amazing company and amazing guide

Please improve your business practices. I had doubts from the start because I was told that I could not talk to the tour operator until after I had paid the $1600 nonrefundable payment. With no knowledge about the validity of the company this was quite a risk. The tour operator should communicate more prior to the experience about what to expect. I was expecting a group of people, and an English speaking tour guide. What it ended up being was me by myself with a driver who could not converse well in English, and was also supposedly the "tour guide." The tour guide tried his best and took me to the sites, so nothing against him. The tour company skimped a great deal on basic needs such as water and provision of lunch along the way. I was promised water to be included throughout the journey, and yet found myself paying for that. Also I only received $5 for lunch, and had to pay any more on top of that. Therefore I went hungry. Paying $1600 for a tour, and seeing how they skimped on basics, and were not up front about what to expect, made this a stressful experience. Accommodations were nice. Dunes were amazing. However you can get this experience through another tour group or do it on your own for much less money.

The campsite was pretty nice, but it’s quite a bit outside of Sossusvlei, so you won’t get to see sunrise or sunset at the park. The guide complained the whole time about dealing with tourists and about pretty much everything to do with his job! I’ve done many tours in my lifetime and I’ve never had a tour guide who was so unhappy and unenthusiastic.. He appeared to just want to do the minimum required. He’s a good guy, just ill-suited for the job.

Short story: Sossusvlei is an absolutely incredible experience. Visiting the dunes are well worth the relatively extended drive times. It’s recommended to visit the park early to catch the sunrise. One earlier review refers to Swakoplund but as of July 2022 Swakoplund is not part of the trip - perhaps the itinerary has changed. I am rating my experience on this specific tour as ‘okay’ (3 stars out of 5) primarily due to gaps in communication and with the advertised itinerary in the listed tour. A formal itinerary outside of what is listed on TourRadar with contact information, travel times, and different lodging was not provided. The tour operator is absorbing this feedback and I am hopeful the tour experience will improve in the future. Longer story: The itinerary on TourRadar listed two specific lodges, one in Windhoek and one near Sossusvlei, however we were actually placed at different lodges from what was advertised. There was no indication we would be placed in different lodges (for the last night of the tour the operator listed we would be placed in certain lodge or “similar” accommodations but this listing was not listed for other nights of the tour). For the Windhoek lodge, the driver was not at the terminal to pick us up when we arrived. We were about to order a taxi to the advertised lodge on the itinerary, but fortunately we did not because the advertised lodge differed from where we actually were staying (the driver eventually showed after 30 minutes right before we were going to leave the airport. We were not able to reach the tour operator since the customer support center was not open at the time. Given lack in communication we were somewhat left scrambling). For the Sossusvlei lodge, the alternate option was very comfortable and the staff there did a phenomenal job. The one nuance is that the advertised lodge is located inside the park and staying there enables earlier access to the dunes (saving 1.5 hours of travel compared to where we stayed). Per the tour operator, the advertised lodge is almost always fully booked so I am not sure why the lodge is listed in the first place. The advertised lodge comes at a much higher price point from where we were ultimately placed which inflates the value of the tour (though the tour operator may be able to negotiate lower rates from what is publicly available). I’ve provided feedback to the tour operator to improve the listing so hopefully the communication improves. Some other (mostly positive) notes related to the tour: -My group happened to be the only people on the trip and received somewhat of a personalized experience. -The tour guide was incredibly personable and relatable. I would go on another tour with them. -We had some downtime on the first day in Windhoek and used that time to explore a local mall. Travelers may potentially be able to condense a visit to Sossusvlei by one day by heading directly to the lodge

Tour was good - distances are significant though .. would eliminate Walvisbay to spend a bit more time in Swakopmund. Some discussions with the guide about what expenses were included or not (eg lunches) - this should be made clear upfront, but all in all a good time!

Good experience, good flexibility and good guide.

Short - Efficient - FUN Highlight of Namibia