Travel reviews by Mrs & Mr P - Essex

Another wonderful trip

On this trip, I visited Botswana, Namibia & South Africa between 3-Aug-2009 and 23-Aug-2009 and I travelled with 1 other person.

Another fabulous trip to Africa, we can't wait to go back

One thing we did notice however, was that, while the standard of guiding remains generally very good, there seem now to be some guides who are doing the job just to make enough money to be able to fund other business/life plans. As a result we encountered one or two without the old passion/feel for the job. While their knowledge was probably very good, it was in a bit of a textbook style and seemed to lack an empathy with the animals/environment.

Possibly because the good rains had meant animals were more dispersed and therefore a bit more difficult to find, there seemed to be a lot of racing around trying to find things without stopping to evaluate the surroundings and potential. I also felt that there was a bit more harrassing animals by changing position to let people get a different shot rather than just sitting quietly to observe, again perhaps because of the perceived need to move on to try to find something else. Also because there were possibly fewer 'opportunities to view' there tended to be several vehicles at each sighting.

Suggestions for improvements:

Difficult to think of anything Expert Africa could do better. We are always delighted with the service and have recommended you to lots of friends.

It would have been helpful to have seen the questionnaire before we went so that we could make notes on relevant points as we went along. After three weeks and lots of locations it is a bit difficult to remember precise details for

I stayed at and have reviewed:

Place	Overall rating
Bishops' Court, South Africa 4-Aug-2009 review: Great fun at Bishops'Court	Excellent
Grootbos Private Nature Reserve, South Africa 6-Aug-2009 review: Stunning location	Excellent
Serra Cafema, Namibia 9-Aug-2009 review: Serra Cafema review	Excellent
Desert Rhino Camp, Namibia 12-Aug-2009 review: Desert Rhino Camp review	Good
Terra Africa, Namibia 14-Aug-2009 review: Ok for a one night stop over	Good
Jacana Camp, Botswana 15-Aug-2009 review: our favourite wet camp	Excellent
Little Vumbura, Botswana 17-Aug-2009 review: Lovely setting	Good
Savuti Camp, Botswana 19-Aug-2009 review: An amazing transformation	Excellent