Africa: Reviews from our travellers

"A great trip; truly a holiday of a lifetime!" Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 16 on a Kenya safari

"This whole trip was an amazing adventure. Expert Africa did a phenomenal job making all the arrangements for us. We truly had never imagined the attention to detail throughout the trip.

The combination of Sossusvlei, Damaraland and Ongava gave us three memorable experiences, made possible by well planned connecting flights. With only a week, I can't think of a better way of arranging things.

We were there in January, which is low season. Although it's supposed to be rainy season, we only saw rain one afternoon in Windhoek. Instead, we had bright sunshine, no crowds, and still plenty of animals to watch.

Wouldn't change a thing!" Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 8 on a Namibia trip

"My experience on this trip was very good. I had done a similar safari in 2018 in the same areas and I was a little concerned that this trip may not live up to what I had experienced back then. In the end this Safari exceeded the experience of my first trip.

The Mara area had experience more rainfall than usual in the weeks prior to my arrival and as a result the grass was taller than I had expected in a lot of areas making it difficult to see the smaller animals and difficult to get unobstructed pictures of other animals. This was a bit disappointing as my prime objective on this trip was photography." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 11 on a Kenya safari

"We enjoyed this trip, our thirteenth safari but our first during the green season. We particularly wanted to look for birds in the breeding season and so in breeding plumage and to see the desert 'in bloom'.

We did both, notably seeing weavers, whydahs and widowbirds- little brown jobs for most of the year but now in full plumage. The desert was indeed in flower and we would recommend the experience to all seasoned safari aficionados - not only for the green freshness and the ephemeral flowering plants but the huge range of flowering grasses and the huge numbers of beautiful butterflies, grasshoppers and so on. Sure the game is spread out and not gathered around the waterholes but we saw so many groups of animals fit and well fed and simply enjoying themselves- dogs, lions and elephants playing. A great trip.

The downside was the lack of water in the Delta. The rains failed last year and some areas had consequently been dry for over a year. Vumbura is situated on a permanent river so was less affected and there has been some recent rain this season so water levels there have gone up and we enjoyed good water activities there, however Jacana camp in the Jao concession was completely dried up and has been for over a year. Recent rains have barely touched them and they hope for water again later in the year when the floods from Angola arrive; there have been good rains in Angola apparently.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

We have used Expert Africa on several occasions and returned because you do offer an excellent service." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"We had a wonderful honeymoon in South Africa.

It was a perfect combination of sightseeing in Cape Town, wine drinking in Franschhoek, relaxing in Plettenberg Bay and game viewing at Kwandwe. It was a great experience of a beautiful country and we hope to go back sometime." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 10 on a South Africa trip

"Our overall experience was amazing.
It was special getting to see all the landscapes and the animals. Our guides were knowledgeable and friendly.

We stayed at a variety of accommodations, all of which were great. It ticked all the boxes.
Thank you, Expert Africa.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

We have been trying to think of things but we were really happy with the service and information provided - we have booked with you twice and both times were amazing. We will ponder and let you know.
Thanks again, we had a wonderful time and we have been recommending you!

See you again in a few years :)" Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"The trip was influenced by unseasonable rains throughout the country. Everywhere did the best they could with the conditions and should be praised for their efforts.

Kicheche Valley in Naboisho Conservancy and Il Moran in the Mara Reserve were wonderful places to stay. The welcome, the location, the staff, the food and the guiding were all very professional and we would certainly go back to both of them.

Satao Elerai is in a beautiful location especially if you are lucky enough to see Kilimanjaro. Satao Camp is tired and would benefit from some energy from management.

The guiding problems we had with Southern Cross definitely affected our safari in both Amboseli and Tsavo East. Guides are vital to the enjoyment of these wonderful places and make a huge difference to what you see, learn and enjoy. If they are not of a suitably trained standard, temperament or not enthusiastic about all wildlife, long-anticipated (and expensive) trips will be spoiled. Quick fixes, such as offers of treats or bottles of wines, do not detract from the very bad taste of having to complain and try to get someone to take us seriously.

As travellers are told to do, we complained to the management and sent emails with our concerns and experiences to Expert Africa. Although Richard was liaising with Southern Cross what he was being told was often not what we were experiencing on the ground. In fact, he was being given false information. Six of the last 7 days on safari had problems. Julius at Satao Elerai did discuss things with us and try to sort out a solution. The problem with that is that the low standards should not have been acceptable to the Lodge or Southern Cross in the first place. During the last 4 days with the final guide, neither camp management nor Southern Cross management dealt with us directly. We are left feeling frustrated, angry and disappointed with a reasonable part of our trip." Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 13 on a Kenya safari

"We had a wonderful time at Camp Kwara.

Expert Africa gave us great advice to go there in the first place and all the arrangements and services were exactly as promised.

The animal viewing was superb and the staff worked hard to make sure we had a fantastic experience. The new Camp is beautifully finished.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

none at all. I was very impressed with the service I received." Read full review: 5 nights in Africa; 5 on a Botswana safari

"As I said in my email to Richard, nobody can be blamed for the unprecedented levels of rainfall in Kenya over the past few months and its effect on the ground, the vegetation and the distribution and accessibility of the wildlife - well, nobody at Expert Africa or on the ground in Kenya. The climate change deniers, maybe!!!

We enjoyed our holiday nevertheless but the issues with wildlife mean that, if we're being honest, it wasn't as good as our first trip last year. We're not very experienced Safari goers and haven't got to the stage that more sophisticated guests might be at, of wanting to look very hard for animals; we want to come out of our camp and see herds of animals across the plains for as far as the eye can see and, at times this year, there was nothing very much as far as the eye could see!

We would like to note that none of the guides we had this year were as good as the excellent ones we had last year.

It's also worth mentioning that there was a misunderstanding about our pick-up time from the airport hostel to go to Solio. Some months ago, we changed the time from 7.30 am to 10 am, and this later time was clearly on our itinerary. However, Patrick from Safari Collections turned up at 7.30 when we were still in bed! He was very good-natured about it and waited for us to get ready and to have breakfast. He was pleasant and chatty throughout the drive and when he came back to Solio to collect us and drive us to Elephant Bedroom. We're not in any way complaining about this. These things happen but we thought you'd like to know." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 11 on a Kenya safari

"We have had the most amazing trip of our lives. We have travelled to many places but this holiday, to get a feel for South Africa, was very special.

Our itinerary was followed to the letter as we had expected and the whole trip just flowed so well. Pick-ups and drops offs were exceptionally well organised - Ilios is an excellent company. This was our first experience of South Africa - a BIG birthday present for my husband who has always wanted to visit South Africa based on the tales told to him as a boy by his late father.

The trip certainly exceeded all of our expectations - more in fact. We are already thinking of another trip maybe the same time next year in advance of another BIG birthday perhaps.

A very big thank you to Lucy and the Team in Cape Town for making this such a memorable experience

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

We can't think of anything which could have made this trip more enjoyable other than maybe an extra night in Kwandwe and Grootbos and one less night in Cape Town but nevertheless we enjoyed the whole whole experience.

Thank You" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 13 on a South Africa trip