Zanzibar: reviews from our travellers

"LOVED IT!

What a fab itinery! Thank you so much for your time and efforts in securing this for us. I appreciate we looked at many options but can tell you that we would not have changed any of the time or locations we have stayed in.

In fact we met a new rep from Audley Travel whilst in Beho Beho and she was so enthusiastic about our itinery I suspect this may be lifted for others booking Tanzania with Audley!" Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 6 on a Zanzibar holiday

"Safari experience exceeded all our expectations, we had a wonderful time.

We hadn't realised quite how close we would get to the animals - 1 meter away from a lion was an unforgettable experience
The beach part of our holiday was extremely relaxing and enjoyable" Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 8 on a Zanzibar holiday

"We thoroughly enjoyed our holiday which generally met or exceeded our expectations. There were no hitches in any of the arrangements made by Expert Africa." Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 19 on a Tanzania safari

"Everything worked well apart from not being collected by Eco-Tours at Zanzibar airport, as booked. Eventually sorted but had great difficulty in contacting the organisation. Instructions on phone use /current phone numbers to use in such circumstances would have been helpful.

Eco-Tours trips were excellent - Jambiani Village tour and Spice Tour." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 4 on a Zanzibar holiday

"Great varied holiday.

For a month long holiday there was only one minor one hiccup so that's pretty good. The Wild Horizons road transport from Zambezi Sun to Livingstone Airport didn't turn up. They then didn't answer any of the contact numbers incl their emergency mobile so that is probably more of a concern. No problem we just got the hotel to order us a taxi. A Wild Horizons rep finally called the hotel & said their vehichle wouldn't start that morning & they had another vehicle on the way. We said that given the time we were now taking whatever turned up first (which was the taxi). To their credit Wild Horizans must have contacted the taxi driver and told him to return the fare to us.

Proably the only thing we would have changed on the holiday was to sway Tafika camp in Sth Luangwa NP for one that was on a perennial river with watersports such as canoeing (eg Lower Zambezi NP)

Maruska was extremely helpful with planning our trip and very responsive to our questions .. thanks Maruska

PS: We don't normally have our trips organised by a travel agent and only initially contacted Expert Afrika for the Busanga & Tafika bookings .. but then Maruska offered to book most of the other accn & transfers & that's what happened. Very unusual for us to have transfer cars waiting at an airport etc with our name on a card & we don't see much of an advantage over just getting a bus/taxi .. but i can see that some folks would love the certainty of transport waiting for them

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No" Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 12 on a Zambia safari

"An outstanding experience for all of us. Couldn't fault it, really.

Perhaps one less night on safari and one more at the beach would have been a better balance

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No, it all went smoothly.

As advised, we got yellow fever vaccination exemption certificates (plane change in Nairobi) but these weren't asked for so maybe we could have done without them" Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 7 on a Tanzania safari

"It was awesome to be able to arrive in Dar es Salaam after 3 weeks of living and working in Mwanza and have all aspects of the last week of the trip handled... transportation food and lodging at three different locations in Zanzibar." Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 8 on a Zanzibar holiday

"A huge thank you to Liz and Angela for organising our trip. It was very reassuring that when asked by staff at both camps who we had booked our trip with and we mentioned Expert Africa, they would nod and say that you are one of the best!!

This holiday really exceeded all our expectations and I for one would love to repeat it sometime in the future!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

I think the thing I really liked about dealing with Liz in particular was because she has first hand knowledge of the areas we were visiting and I understand that is the case with all the staff at Expert Africa who have their own areas of expertise. I also really liked the gift of the Bradt guide that was sent to us on confirmation of our booking - a nice touch.

I would have no hesitation in using Expert Africa again and in recommending them to anyone wishing to travel to Africa." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 6 on a Tanzania safari

"Ruaha and Kwihala were the stars of this trip, with Ruaha producing some amazing game viewing and Kwihala providing top notch guiding.

Overall an excellent trip though." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 11 on a Tanzania safari

"The whole trip was everything we wished. One item not mentioned is the transfers in Zanzibar - these were excellent and we loved being picked up each time by the same guide who went out of his way to ensure we had a good holiday, with tips of places to go and diversions along the way - he loves his island home and was a pleasure to share it with.

And thanks to Liz for putting the itinerary together with us - we will be back." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 9 on a Zanzibar holiday