Africa: Reviews from our travellers

"Fantastic trip that gave us something new to experience every day. The highlights were the amazing free-roaming wildlife, the stunning savanna and desert landscapes and welcoming people. We were also forced out of our comfort zone: we had 4 tyre punctures (!) and we both had very unpleasant food poisoning thankfully on different days.

We were in a hot air balloon 1000 meters above the desert at the crack of dawn and regularly sand-blasted on gravel and sandy roads. In hindsight we should have elected to stay outside of Etosha and we should have tried to arrange it so that we had smaller meals with less red meat. We worked out that we had 9 red meat meals during the period of 16 days! The food was mostly excellent, but was just too hearty a diet at 35-40 degrees.

Also thanks to Tracy's advice we managed to experience the hot air balloon ride over the desert and to discover such gems as Bullsport and Eningu lodge. Our favourite lodge was Doro Nawas for its stunning location and atmosphere, and lovely staff, closely followed by Hoodia, where we had the best food and a most relaxing stay. Okonjima was also a very special place where we saw leopards on our very first ride!

We will be revisiting our memories of this trip for a long time to come." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"Thanks for all help, suggestions and fast follow up, even when we had some challenges the night before we left Amsterdam due to flight changes the next day from Johannesburg to Windhoek.

Great you were thinking along how to beat that challenge and giving alternatives for accommodation if we could not make it to our first stop. Thanks Tracy!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Inform your guests esp if they are used to safaris in other countries than Botswana, eg South Africa that the experience can be different. Im not talking about the game viewing which is obvious off course but the experience in the lodges. In South Africa you often for the same amount of money get more value (luxury, guest experience)" Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 14 on a Botswana safari

"Exceptional family celebration with everything perfect although the time to connect from BA to S.A. airlines too tight to be comfortable. Although landing on time and luggage quickly through unless we had not contacted a Cape Town airport official there was no way we would have made the S.A. flight. We were last on the flight. I think assistance should be offered to others in the future !" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 8 on a South Africa trip

"The trip was excellent, we covered 3000 + km's in 20+ days, driving was fun, less going from Windhoek to Walvis Bay via dirt roads.

Saw all the critter's we came to see multiple times. Next time less camping and more lodging." Read full review: 23 nights in Africa; 9 on a Namibia trip

"Our trip was a visit to Lake Turkana, Marsabit and then to Samburu National Reserve. We were pleased that we did the circuit in that order as it gave us a luxurious end to the journey.

I had some difficulty to find an operator that was willing to cover Northern Kenya, but Expert Africa had the knowledge to create a suitable itinerary for us and find a company experienced in touring the region." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 7 on a Kenya safari

"Good animal sightings. Good guides working hard to keep us happy.

Rwanda was a nice surprise. Kenya was wonderful.

Saw little of Uganda but we liked what we saw.

Made new friends and enjoyed the contacts with the local people. Most of them were welcoming, happy and very friendly. Then again we found this in most African countries we visited." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 8 on a Kenya safari

"It was just what I wanted. Excellent.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No I don't think so." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 12 on a Zambia safari

"The trip was just as fantastic as we had hoped. Clearly one cannot control animal sightings or the weather and that is the charm, but at times the curse, of such holidays - seeing dolphins or a whale would have been the icing on an already sumptuous cake but other sightings and events more than compensated - not least of which was the magic of Fanjove." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 14 on a Tanzania safari

"overall it was fantastic, thank you Maruska for designing the perfect trip. We loved every day!

All was fantastic. No significant problems or issues, loved the country, would love to return. Mostly met Germans & Dutch; only met two American couples, Americans are really missing out!

Roads were not too bad and very little traffic.
I was surprised and saddened (or probably just ignorant) to see the racism and poverty that still exists in our world." Read full review: 23 nights in Africa; 21 on a Namibia trip

"My wife and I were very happy with our choice of Fanjove as the end point of a three week Tanzania vacation.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Everything more than satisfactory" Read full review: 3 nights in Africa; 3 on a Tanzania safari