Africa: Reviews from our travellers

"We have been wanting to visit Namibia for sometime and we weren't disappointed. Its a beautiful country with friendly people.

Driving was easy even on the dirt roads and despite the fact we had a lot of rain for the time of year.

We witnessed the greening of the desert as we drove around and saw some amazing wildlife in a beautiful setting.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

We recommend the XTrail over the Duster for this type of trip." Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 17 on a Namibia trip

"This trip has been incredible - one of the highlights of my life.

It was by the most expensive holiday we ever had, but in view of the experiences we had and the quality of the service provided, we would say that it was excellent value for money." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"The portion of our trip booked through Expert Africa was great. Our contact person was knowledgeable and provided helpful recommendations and timely responses." Read full review: 4 nights in Africa; 4 on a Zimbabwe safari

"We enjoyed the holiday but were expecting more for the money that we paid." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 13 on a South Africa trip

"Very enjoyable we would like to return to Botswana." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari

"We had a fanstastic two weeks in South Africa, with about the right amount of time in each place apart from Swelledam. We enjoyed various activities in Cape Town including the botanical gardens, cape point, kayaking at simons town, visiting Stellenbosch, table mountain etc. We had a lovely meal at the Hussar Grill near the hotel aswell. We would have preferred less time in Swellendam but this may not have been helped by the rainy weather we had while there. We really enjoyed Plett which has lots of different activities to do from walking on Robberg Peninsula, visiting various animal parks and Knysna. Despite the great fire less than a year ago everything was up and running, and the views were fantastic. The safari was a great way to end the holiday and the lodge was a lovely bit of luxury to finish the trip." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 13 on a South Africa trip

"This was my first visit to South Luangwa in the green season after many visits in the dry, and I didn't quite know what to expect from the game viewing. The cats were thin on the ground compared to dry season, but the superb wild dog sightings more than compensated for this. There was plenty of other game to be seen too, with just as many elephants, puku and impala as usual. Giraffe and kudu were far fewer than usual as apparently they don't like the boggy conditions so head for drier ground, although we were seeing more giraffe towards the end of the trip as conditions got drier.

The birding too was excellent, and interesting to see all the migrants and birds in their breeding plumage.

It was amazing to see the change in the landscape and this was most apparent from the trip up to Nsefu and travelling along the river by boat.

Robin Pope Safaris continue to impress with their levels of service with a very flexible approach to make sure every guest is happy. I was given a vehicle to myself most of the time and my guide was more than happy to be flexible about game drive timings." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 13 on a Zambia safari

"This is a trip I want to forget. I had inappropriate expectations from other travellers comments, or from advice from Expert Africa. The unsealed roads that are considered "good" turned out to be on average, alot worst than the unsealed roads in Australia. The "best" sections in Namibia were eqivalent to our unsealed roads in National Parks with corrugations. The rest were atrocious, with no warning sign if something major comes up that requires significant slowing down.

I was told that there was cell phone reception almost everywhere, and I wouldn't need a satellite phone. It turned out half of the unsealed roads had no reception. There were some stretches of roads that I did not see another car for an hour at a time. I was driving alone and couldn't deal with any breakdowns myself. I wouldn't have made this trip if I had known the reality.

I was also told that I would see a good amount of game as it is baby season, and there would be an increase in predator activities to feed the babies. When I asked the guides they just laughed. Virtually all the animals gave birth anytime if the year. Also because there was alot of late rain, I really didn't see much game except for elephants.

I really wasn't prepared for how backward Africans were. The lodges in Namibia were nicely built, but you couldn't get even the most basic requests through the staff. They are genuinely nice people, but almost all the lodges never considered purchasing the few items that I requested due to dietery restrictions, eventhough they were common supermarket items. I asked if I should bring some of these items myself and was told the lodges confirmed they would supply them. Should I have been warned they may not mean what they say?

Zimbabwe apart from Victoria Falls was unbearably backward. I am not sure if its to do with their econmic meltdown 20 years ago. Even at departure, I thought I had to spend the night at the airport as they couldn't refuel the plane.

I did manage to get some good photos. I do think Namibia has the best rockscapes in the world and massive potential to develop their tourist industry further, but I wouldn't consider going back.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

I received a very good service from Maruska in planning this trip. But I feel she may need to be updated about a few facts. When I travelled to Egypt several years ago with a tour, we were given in writing tips on cultural expectations I call it. EA could certainly do with something like that, so travellers are better prepared as they interact with Africans.

I have travelled extensively around the world but have never been to Southern Africa. I have found this trip very taxing." Read full review: 24 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"Four years age we went to similar camps (also at the end of March) and the wildlife was extraodinary. This year the wildlife was more touch-and-go. At all camps we could drive for several hours and see few animals, and then we would encounter many animals, similar to our 2014 experience. What we were did not realize was that the 2014 trip coincided with exceptional early water, and our 2018 trip was the normal dry period. Kanana was so dry that we could not use the boat, and were able to mokoro only in a single channel. Our 'satisfactory' ranking simply reflects picking the wrong time to visit. If this was our first visit we would have ranked the trip much higher.

Thank you for ensuring that all camps were aware of our food preferences. All camps worked to accomodate them. With the exception of Little Tubu, all camps served vegetarian rather than vegan meals. The meals at Little Tubu were incredibly delicious, and the chef is fantastic.

With the exception of Savute Safari Lodge, we enjoyed the diversity of lodges and experiences. Savute was a poor choice for us for five reasons: disregard for acceptable viewing of wildlife; excessive crowding of vehicles (we knew this was a national park, and anticipated seeing other cars, but not so many and so constantly); so-so guide (our guide sometimes made comments that indicated he was a knowledgeable guide, but he generally said little and rarely shared this knowledge); rodents in our rooms (which were otherwise very nice, and had wonderful porches); and overall a lower quality in food, service, and facilities, compared to our other camps." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 14 on a Botswana safari

"A life changing experience." Read full review: 7 nights in Africa; 5 on a Namibia trip