Reviews of trips to Cape Town

"Our whole trip was magnificent. Cape Town was busy with so much to see and do; we visited District Six Museum, the Planetarium, Slave Lodge, Heart of Cape Town museum [home to Dr Christian Barnard's first heart transplant]; the Cape Peninsula -Cape Point, Boulders Beach, did the Chapmans Peak Drive, V and A Waterfront and of course Robben Island, Table Mountain, Signal Hill and the stunning Kirstenbosch Gardens. We also spent a day driving to the West Coast National Park to see the wild spring flowers- truly incredible scenery.

At our time in Franschoek we visited Paarl, the motor museum and the very pretty town of Stellenbosch visiting the village museum. En route to Hermanus, we stopped at the beautiful Vergelden Winery with lovely grounds and buildings and enjoyed an incredible lunch in the sunshine. We saw whales on our walking tour in Hermanus and visited three lovely wineries each with a different character.

We saw an incredible array of wildlife in Bostwana and our stay at Muchenje was truly a dream come true.

At Victoria Falls, we did a falls tour, had a helicopter flight over the area and did a bridge history tour. On our last afternoon we took 'high tea' at the Victoria Falls Hotel and admired the stunning view and interiors of the hotel. This was coupled with bonus wildlife sightings at our hotel the Victoria Fallls Safari Lodge.

Thank you to Tracy Lederer who worked so hard to tailor the holiday to our requirements - it was truly a trip of a lifetime and one we shall always remember - along with our month long trip to Namibia [also organised by Tracy] back in 2010!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
None; everything was wonderful - thank you." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 10 on a South Africa trip

"We had a great time. We had some really good experiences, had some great views and met some lovely people. Everyone was really helpful and pleased that we were visiting their country, both in South Africa and Namibia.

We had hoped to see the spring flowers in Namaqualand, but realised before we arrived that the drought would mean it unlikely. We saw a few, which was lovely but also did more walking than we might have done and found other things to do which we really enjoyed.

Highlights of the trip were Twee Rivieren at Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, Fish River Canyon, Kolmanskop (outside Luderitz), Augrabies Falls and the Eagle's Nest at Aus.

Thanks to Tracy for the original inspiration and Claire for making it happen." Read full review: 23 nights in Africa; 13 on a South Africa trip

"EA had organised the majority of our trip and we were very happy with our choice of accommodation and the arrangements made." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 7 on a South Africa trip

"We had a lovely trip, with special fondness for the Kwando Camps.

Oh my goodness, they go out of the way to make the guest experience special. The best guides and staff we've had.

Not crazy about Wilderness Safaris and will try to avoid them the future.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

You are wonderful and I'm looking at a 2020 trip to Kenya and Rwanda.

I'll be in touch!" Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 14 on a Botswana safari

"I feel so lucky and grateful to have made acquaintance with Justin Huff from Expert Africa. His knowledge was so thorough and immediate that I knew I had to take advantage of his service to plan our African adventure-- even to the extent that I risked a relationship with a very important friend who is a travel agent. I just didn't want to make any mistakes, traveling so far and at such expense!

We met someone on our trip who had spent the equivalent of four months at a full time job researching his trip to Africa, rejecting agency after agency when they didn't include or provide the amenities that this man deemed essential to a perfect safari. I was BEYOND DELIGHTED to learn that every single thing this man had learned was the best way to go, Justin at Expert Africa had included in our trip to the extent that it was literally perfect. I don't think I can put it any more succinctly than that.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Only one. I felt that canvas wallet you provided was a tad excessive, as I have no future use for it, and didn't really need it during the trip. Maybe others feel differently, but I do plan to send ours back.

Thank you so much for running a fantastic operation!" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 11 on a Kenya safari

"I have tried hard to frame my comments from a specific point of view of an ex tour operator. The majority of our party was overwhelmingly satisfied. My dissatisfaction with Kwando comes from (perhaps unrealistic) previous expectations. The animals, the service, the camps, and the people were all 5 stars. I purposely put off giving this feedback to gain some perspective on the events of the trip, and I feel like what I have said is justified and fair.

I would like to offer some feedback to ExpertAfrica specifically - we were very frustrated with the lack of a final reconciliation 2 months before we left. We were trying to make our individual final payments and there seemed to be no way for us to get a list that said, PAX #1 owes THIS, PAX #2 owes THIS, etc. We ended up having to sit down with literally pages of payment records, separate out our own credit card surcharges, subtract our own payments made to come up with final payment amounts. It was EXCEEDINGLY frustrating. I can't believe that we are the first group travel you've ever dealt with - so it baffles me that a clear and final reconciliation was not provided. I went round and round via email, and requested this several times in several ways, but got the impression that I was asking the impossible.

In addition, I asked about tour arrangements in Cape Town, and was quoted USD75 per person to join a scheduled bus tour. When I asked about a private mini-van, the price doubled. I did a little research and booked privately with a well-known, well regarded tour company who gave us private tours for USD60 per person inclusive of wine tastings and park fees. My issue was that I had no means of contacting them once we were on holiday - although they were great and checked in with Acorn House, and it all went off just perfectly. it would have been much simpler to do this through Expert Africa and I cannot believe that with an office there you can't do better than what was quoted. The LEAST you could do is offer a recommendation of a company you like to save your clients the trouble of finding out. This booking was over USD40,000 and I had to do a lot of the legwork myself - don't get me started on international air because thats a different can of worms. I understand if you can't offer consolidator fares from the US, but arrangements need to be made if you're serving the American market." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"We had a lot of things we knew we really wanted to do but the additions recommended by Expert Africa really added to the holiday.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service
Proper maps for Capetown area. Update restaurant info etc and make this more personal rather than general travel agent type reviews.
Wilderness safaris in Namibia were fantastic. So helpful at the airport including dealing with all the car hire for us. Really excellent ground agents.

We have been using Expert Africa since 2002 on and off and we keep on coming back even though we know pretty much what we want to do on our trips. We use you because you add to our holiday and make good suggestions and you are good value for money and give us the back up it's comforting to have whilst we are away." Read full review: 30 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"Very good." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 4 on a Botswana safari

"We were looking for a change from bashing around in off road vehicles while laced with Malarone. In Galenia we found exactly what we wanted and will return. Samara will need a replacement but we are sure that can be done. If not, we would be happy to spend the whole holiday in Galenia.

As ever, Expert Africa and Lucy provided the friendly, slick, efficient and professional help we have come to expect. It all worked wonderfully well and a real bonus was to be able to meet Lucy for a drink in Cape Town. We probably have a few more African holidays in the bag and this one set a great pattern." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 11 on a South Africa trip

"Enjoyable" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 14 on a South Africa trip