Africa: Reviews from our travellers

"The joy of being in the wilderness is superb in the South Luwangwa Valley - empty of people and full of animals and atmosphere.

The river brings a powerful sense of life to the surroundings, as well, of course, as bringing all the life of animals in and around it. The regular night drives are spectacular with the variety and number of animals we saw - leopards every night, prides of lions, porcupines, grazing hippos.

The hides at Nsefu and especially at Mwamba gave an unsurpassed experience of closeness and connection with the animals. And the Zambian guides who know every inch of the terrain and every creature were wonderful - so relaxed and friendly and generous of themselves and their expertise.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No suggestions for improvement because everything was as great as it could possibly have been.

Chris was, of course, exceptionally knowledgeable and helpful and generous with his time in the original planning of the trip.

Megan Ingoldby was very efficient and following up with the detailed planning and bookings etc. And when Megan left Claire picked it up and helped us beautifully - and spectacularly in the instance of our missed flight - so full accolades to her for instantaneous responsiveness and effectiveness! And I think we have several other members of staff whose names we don't know to profusely thank for that too. And thanks to Claire and all of you for not once letting out the slightest suggestion that we were the complete idiots that we were!" Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 7 on a Zambia safari

"A terrific trip in all respects. Wonderful camps. Terrific game drives, hikes, canoeing and fishing.

We would highly recommend our itinerary to anyone thinking about a trip to Zambia.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

We worked with Lucy at Expert Africa to plan our 14 day trip through Zambia. Lucy was terrific to work with. She knows Zambia and the various camps. She is super responsive. I really can not say enough good things about working with Lucy and the itinerary we put together with her assistance.

We loved each and every camp. The connections were perfect. Not a single issue or complaint over the 2 week trip. We look forward to working with her in the near future to plan a trip to Botswana.

Once again, I would highly recommend Lucy and Expert Africa. I will be a repeat customer." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 13 on a Zambia safari

"I've been, as always, been very pleased with the service of Expert Africa. This has been the fifth time I booked or partially booked my trips to Africa with help of Claire or Nick.

I travelled together with friends to two lodges in Hwange. No complaints at all, but for a solo traveller things tend to be a little bit unsatisfactory. The seat next to the driver, that is my opinion, should not be considered as equivalent to the others. You don`t see much, especially when you are small. The photographic opportunities are limited, too. So, as it seems to be no question that couples should be separated during a game drive, it`s the fate of the solo guest to be confined to this place.

I was lucky, however, that other guests arrived late, and I had an entire vehicle and driver for myself one day." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 6 on a Zimbabwe safari

"It was a delightful safari.

Mention should be made of Wilderness Safaris in Maun, who on learning of our loss of luggage immediately took over the task of locating it and produced within a matter of minutes two emergency bags for us. After nearly 24 hours of travel their "don't worry we will sort it" approach was most welcome.

Our road transport from Kasane to the border was in a safari vehicle - driving at 40/50 mph in an open vehicle, being blasted by the wind, was extremely uncomfortable. Fortunately the second vehicle over the border was a normal minibus." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 14 on a Botswana safari

"My spouse and I are dedicated supporters of International wildlife conservation.

Frankly there are many tragic stories in well known countries in Africa that have experienced catastrophic losses in population of major species like Rhino, Elephant, Lions, Cheetahs, Painted Dogs and on and on due to poaching and loss of habitat.

We wanted to experience first hand what was different about Botswana.

The good news is Botswana is the "crown jewel" of African wildlife. In a little over two weeks we experienced:
* A healthy pride of 21 lions
* A pack of Painted dogs with 12 adults and 15 puppies!
* Superb bird life
* Multiple Leopards
* Huge, unstressed herds of elephant
* Honey badgers, Bat-eared fox, genets, hyenas and pups...
All that and people who were kind and gracious to us at every turn.

It was so great we are already scheduling our next safari to Botswana." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 13 on a Botswana safari

"We had a wonderful time on our eight day trip to Victoria Falls and Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe.

We have only good things to say about the help and guidance we received from Nick at expert Africa. He understood perfectly the kind of trip we were trying to make, made valuable suggestions that improved our itinerary, and he chose fantastic lodges for us to stay in Hwange.

After Nick left the company, Freddie took over for a smooth transition." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 8 on a Zimbabwe safari

"A 50th birthday spent on holiday in the wonderful country of Botswana. The whole experience was fantastic.

Thanks to all at Savute, Kwara, Machaba and Linyanti. The service teams and guides went above and beyond to showcase the beauty of their country.

Thank you." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari

"Cannot say the word amazing enough.

Loved every minute, Excellently organised by Expert Africa, all ran very, very smoothly. Just wish it hadn't come to an end.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Don't change a thing" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 5 on a Tanzania safari

"Expert Africa did a wonderful job in putting this all together.

Many thanks to them. I definitely wish to use them for my next trip to Africa." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"This was the first time EVER that we engaged a travel agent to arrange a trip... after visiting 54 countries doing our own organising.

On the downside, the intimate knowledge that I usually have of every trip was gone. For me, this is part of the fun of a trip, so I missed it... having to check the itinerary every time I wanted to know something, rather than simply recalling it.

On the upside, the reason we had decided to use an agent was the difficulties of organising smooth transfers and bookings in a relatively unique environment... and almost everything went like clockwork. Where there was a hitch (the hotel 'upgrade' in Livingstone; pick-up going to the wrong end of the trip in Kasane) it was nothing to do with the booking or agent.

Taken as a whole we enjoyed the holiday very much indeed. Naturally there were highlights - Doro Nawas, Chongwe River Camp and Chobe Under Canvas would be our top three - but small things, like the fascination of the Zambia / Namibia border crossing at Kazangula or the starkness of the road from Henties Bay to Uis, also stood out as hugely interesting." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 7 on a Namibia trip