The Wild Dog Safaris team
Wild Dog Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 20-50 employees (Founded in 1997)
- Member Of:
- ATTA, NTB & TASA
- Tour Types:
- Customizable private tours and fixed group tours
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $109 to $1,091 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
Email Dalia | Experience level: first safari
Experienced, knowledgeable guides, great food, interesting and varied agendas.
The guides were friendly and helpful, knew the facts about the different areas we visited, spoke good English, always courteous and often had a good sense of humor. The assistants/cooks also participated in putting up tents, made good tasting and varied food and lent a helping hand whenever needed.
I would only recommend changing one or two camp sites, especially Dqae Qare San Lodge. It had no water & no electricity. We heard there usually is some problem while in that camp.
Email Natasha | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An experience of a lifetime!
I went on Wild Dog Safaris 23 day tour (a combination of the 7 day north, 7 day south and 9 day delta and falls) and I had the most amazing time from start to finish! It was my first time visiting Namibia (and Botswana and Zimbabwe) and first time properly camping. Namibia is such a beautiful country and their tours really do cover all of the highlights. All of the staff were so friendly and helpful, nothing was too much to ask. I really would recommend them to anyone and have been raving about them to all of my family and friends since I have been home!
The camping was so much better than I thought it would be. The tents are really big and all of the campsites are great! Most of them have brick built bathrooms and even the few that don’t it’s actually a really nice experience to shower under the stars (those turned out to be my favourite campsites). They are all so different and in such lovely places, most of them have swimming pools which are a god send at the end of the day! I was really pleasantly surprised with the food. I didn’t think it would be nearly as good as what it was and it’s amazing what the assistants can produce just on a campfire. I’m gluten free and all of the assistants I had always made a conscious effort to make sure there was food that I could eat.
Despite the long drives some days, the views are amazing and you get to see so much whilst you’re driving and it is essential to fit in all that you do in such a short space of time. All of the guides are great at making sure you stop off to stretch your legs, take pictures and buy cold drinks, etc.
There were so many highlights that I will never forget; the waterhole at Okaukuejo waterhole, Victoria Falls, bungee jumping!, Etosha, sunsets/sunrises (everywhere!), Fish River Canyon, Kolmanskop, Sossusvlei .. so many wow moments, the list is endless.
The whole experience really is what you make it. Go in with an open mind and you’re bound to have the best time! Thank you Wild Dog for giving me an experience I will never forget!
Email Ryan | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Incredible from start to finish! 10/10
I have just returned from what can only be described as a trip of a lifetime on the 7 Day North with Wild Dog Safaris.
Having been apprehensive initially about camping my fears quickly disappeared. The camps that we stayed at throughout the trip were all clean, spacious and had fantastic views. The tents were spacious and easy to both put up and take down. Our guide George and the Assistant Joseph were both incredible. Georges knowledge and passion for Namibia and animals was infectious and Josephs culinary skills left absolutely nobody hungry including both vegetarians and gluten-free clients on my trip, a real credit to the organisation!
The game drives through Etosha National Park are most definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity. I was lucky enough to see four of the big five (no buffalo in Etosha) along with giraffes, zebra, rhino and many more. The floodlight waterhole at the second night in Etosha was most definitely one of those experiences I shall never forget.
Both the Himba tribe experience as well as the Twyfelfontein trail walk were real eye openers and broke up the time spent in the truck nicely. The trucks have huge windows as well as a roof that you are able to open up to get a view from high on the game trails and considering the amount of miles they do and different terrains were much cleaner and more comfortable than I had expected.
Namibia is a fantastic country and using Wild Dog Safaris was most definitely the right decision. I would 100% recommend Wild Dog and I have already started looking at other tours with the tour group. 10/10
Email Bruno | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Fantastic holidays in an incredibly beautiful country
I am a solo traveler and I have just returned from a 3-week holiday in Namibia, including a few days in Botswana, finishing at the Victoria falls. The trip was organised by wild dog-safaris based in Windhoek and I must say it was my best holiday ever. Namibia is a stunningly beautiful country, so beautiful it is almost impossible to describe.
The first part of my trip consisted of the 7-day Southern swing group tour which was nice and relaxed. Our guide Marcus was very knowledgeable about his country, very friendly, always ready to answer questions and an excellent safe driver. Alfeus his assistant was a great cook and the food was excellent and plentiful. My fellow travellers and I were given ample time to enjoy the scenery, taking photos and at no time did we feel rushed to move along. It was my first ever group tour and I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
The second part of my trip was a 2 week self-driving tailored tour. At the planning stage, all my emails to wild dog safaris were answered within 24 hours. The tour was perfectly organised; I was met by Lucinda who gave me all the appropriate documentation, detailed map and accommodation vouchers. All I had to do was to follow the itinerary and enjoy myself.
I will definitely be returning to Namibia; it is such a beautiful and vast country that it is worth a few visits
Wild dog safari stop at nothing to ensure you have the time of your life, big thumb up
CA
Email Alain | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing ans unforgettable trip !
My wife and me, we did the 10 day Namibian explorer. Without doubt, we really recommend Wild Dogs for safari ! Our tour guides, Marcus and Ruben were funny, polite,organised and always at our service. They did everything they could to make each day, an interesting day. We learned many things from our guide about Namibia and all the sites we're gone, they really know them. Anytime we wanted, they stopped for photos, made regular stops to stretch our legs and for small shopping. The meal was excellent, only few minutes to put the tents up (fully large for two with luggage), it's easy and the guides helped us. The campsites are incredible ! Too nice ! Beautiful rocks. Etosha for elephants, rhino, giraffe and.... and climb on the Dune 45, they're a must to do ! We also really appreciated the desert tour at Swakopmund.
If you want to make an amazing, friendly, and well organise safari ? Go with Wild Dogs !
US
Email lisa curran | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
amazing, great value
An incredible 3 weeks that I will never forget: 19 day combination tour. This is a budget safari offer...no champagne or fluffy bathrobes -- exactly what I was looking for. Three weeks on the road, mostly one-night stays in each place, seeing incredible sights, incredible wild life. We opted for the accommodated version (most meals with the group on the road and at the campsites) -- accommodations were mostly awesome (one dud, but let's face it... options are limited in some areas). Food was good and tasty... but again, I'm here for safari, not 5-star meals.
We camped two nights. Equipment was perfectly fine... easy to set up, take down, comfortable.
Best: itinerary, wild life, fellow travelers
Least: We were the only ones who were accommodated/in lodges, so there were some disconnnects. But they are fixing that -- 2017 tours will be either all campers or all accommodated.
Visited August 2016
JP
Email christy | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
well priced with fulfilled tour content
we joint 3 days tour to Etosha national park and 3 days to Sossuvlei. both are completely camping tour. both tours had a long distance driving but the guide had stopped in several check-points on the way to give us toilet break, food shopping, lunch break, and quick area guide. with this reasonable quoted price the tour was very fulfilled with excellent service from the knowledgable tour guide.
Email Traveller | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Only go with Elias if you can!
I found from the tours I did it was very guide dependent.
If you got a good guide it was a great tour.
I think the problem I saw with the tours were :
Time management, I think some of these trips need to leave earlier and have their supermarket shopping already organized on the first day so you don't spend most of the day shopping and then when you make it to the attraction then it is rushed, especially end of day game drives.
I think in the Northern the craft market and supermarket should disappear, and the bus should go straight to Africat, and then a proper game drive through its premises should occur, before a trip to the Leopard. People fly from across the world and the 1st day experience isn't good and compares badly to the Southern tour. Otherwise drive straight to Etosha and spend more time there instead. Its way too slow and boring compared to say the Southern tour.
For eg Africat, we arrived way too late at this attraction, then we had a rushed game drive where the local guide spend 15min talking about the game park we were not going to (why not arrive earlier at this place and go on a proper game drive through the premises as it has heaps of cool animals), then spend 30min talking about 2 termite mounds while the sun keeps setting. On the way to the Leopard, there were heaps of amazing animals and they refused to stop for pics!! The leopard was a bit of a zoo attraction which was rushed and the Cheetahs were old and in bad condition. Then my top went "missing" from the game car when in the visitor centre. The camp site was way too far from where all the animals were as well.
The next day to Etosha we also arrived late and had a rushed game drive. Its was more about scoring points on animals sighting then enjoying the park.
The next thing which I thought was unprofessional, was the tour guide slept with one of the clients on the 2nd day in the tents near us!!! It was then I couldn't really take the tour seriously anymore.
Optionals were pumped hard, as they receive commission for it and 2 out of the 3 tours were really focused on it too much to the point of obsessiveness. Especially pushing high price ones, which I was not interested, in the end I just booked it myself as the guide wasn't interested in booking the one I wanted.
On 2 occasions, when lunch was in the itinerary I received no lunch at all. So I had to go buy my own lunch.
The Botswana Delta visit is a nice place, but there are not actually many animals there, its a fishing lodge. I think a better location should be selected.
I think the tour company should focus more on delivering animal and national park experiences, if it calls itself a "Safari" company, it is more of the tour company.
The HQ are very polite but I think some of the guides are bit out of control and need some management. Apparently a lot of the younger ones just pick and choose which tour they want in which would give them the most tips and optional bonuses and use excuses to cancel tours they don't like.
I think they should be doing it because that's what they love to do, and you can see that come across in certain guides clearly.
I think the best tour they offer is the Southern tour. The Northern ones need some work. I would select another route for Botswana from what I experienced sticking to the National Parks. We added a bit more of the national parks and it made that tour a bit better because we were a smaller group.
I think if some of the things didn't happen on some of these tours which I mentioned I wouldn't be as critical...
DE
Email Brigitte Ritz | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Etosha and Southern Swing as Camping Safaris were really great and unforgettable!
We made the three day Etosha Tour in February and the 7 Day Southern Swing Tour in March as Camping Safaris. Our guides were very well informed, cared for us and were excellent drivers and cooks. The equipment was fine, all our camping sites all right and nice, the service always really good. We enjoyed all the places we visited very much and had nice people travelling with us.
So we were lucky travelling with "Wild Dog Safaris" and can recommend it to everybody.
Maybe we visit Namibia again some time. If so we would love to make our bookings with your Company again.
CA
Email Joel | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Stunning Sossusvlei experience!
It was an amazing experience. The 3 day Sossusvlei tour with Wild Dog Safaris was an unforgettable and amazing experience. It started with a great service, a very friendly, knowledgeable guide Marcus who is also very good at spotting game and other interesting animals and things on the road and a very safe and a very good driver. He is very flexible and accommodating.. the Sossus dune lodge they booked us with is inside the park and great service and food.
And to top it all, the itinerary was just perfect. We were on top of the Dunes at sunrise and able to sea the beauty of the deadvlei with and without the sun.. simply stunning!