Last week we launched the latest version of our website. A few bigger changes, and quite a lot of smaller ones. Here’s what’s new.
Booking, from start to finish
The main job was the booking system. We rebuilt it so the whole thing runs on our site, instead of sending you off somewhere else halfway through.
You pick a safari and a date, then stay with us for travellers, extras, payment, and the details we actually need to run the trip — names, nationality, diet, medical notes, emergency contact, pickup, flight times if they matter. Some of that is at checkout. Whatever’s still missing afterwards lives in your booking portal, so we’re not chasing it by email the week you fly.
Payment is by card, through a Namibian provider, in Namibian dollars. Deposit or the full amount — up to you.
Once you’ve booked, that portal is where the booking lives. Pickup, outstanding balance, vouchers once you’re paid in full, and a short list of anything still outstanding. There’s a longer write-up of the after-booking bits in What happens after you book a safari.
If you start a booking and don’t finish
We keep what you entered. You’ll get an email with a link back to the same checkout — a first reminder, then another if the saved booking is about to expire.
The emails from the site (those reminders, enquiry confirmations, booking mail) now come from our own templates, and they reply to the office.
Day trips on the same booking
When you book a safari you can add day trips before or after it in the same checkout. They’re discounted, and they go through on the same payment as the safari. You can add them later from the portal as well, if you decide after the main booking is done.
Hotels before and after
This bit isn’t live yet. The plan is nights in Windhoek or Swakopmund before and after the safari, chosen in checkout and paid with the safari as one booking. Until that’s ready, we still arrange those nights the usual way if you need them.
Safari Finder
Still choosing? The Safari Finder is the place to start. Set your dates, how long you want to be away, camping or lodge, and the list updates as you go. There’s a compare view if you want two or three itineraries next to each other — duration, price from, style, pace, and where each trip actually goes — instead of opening a handful of tabs.
There’s also a small search tab on the homepage, so you can start filtering without leaving the first page.
Tour pages
Each safari page has been put back together so the useful stuff sits near the top: route, duration, pace, departures. Then a short summary, photos, a route map, and the itinerary — short day cards first, with the full write-up if you want it. Includes, excludes and pickup notes are in one set of tabs rather than scattered down the page.
If a trip is close to what you want but not quite, there’s an “also consider” list of similar safaris. Booking stays on the page — sidebar on a computer, a bar at the bottom on a phone — so you’re not scrolling back to the top to check a date. Browse the full list on our tours page.
Destinations
The destination pages — Etosha, Sossusvlei, the coast, and the rest — now follow the same layout: a short intro, a few facts, what the place is good for, a map, and the safaris and day trips that actually go there. Handy if you know the place you want to see and haven’t picked a tour yet.
Blog, FAQ and the other pages
The blog has a cleaner layout and clearer categories, so planning posts, destination pieces and practical advice are easier to find. FAQ and terms are accordions rather than one long scroll. TripAdvisor reviews sit on the site. The contact form’s been tidied up so the office gets what they need from the first message.
After you book
That portal again, because it’s easy to miss. Booking reference and email — or the link in your confirmation — gets you in. Traveller details, pickup, pay the balance, add a day trip, download vouchers when the booking is paid. If something’s still outstanding there’s a short to-do list. When it’s done, the list goes away.
If you already know the safari, open the tour page and check dates. If you’re still deciding, start with the Safari Finder. Anything unclear: contact us, or reply to one of the booking emails.