Africa: Reviews from our travellers

"another fine trip and Shiwa was an excellent add-on as so different.
Please can we talk about 2014 possibilities especially about some info we have on Zimbabwe and Kafue from other guests we met." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 14 on a Zambia safari

"The trip was wonderful from start to finish and thank you to Maruska for her brilliant organisation and in depth knowledge of the region.

The combination of Zambia with Namibia worked very well, as we were able to spend time in one of the prime game viewing areas of Africa as well as have the freedom to see things for ourselves once we had the use of our vehicle. We will be back as soon as we can!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

The only suggestion we would have for improving our itinerary would be to spend 2 days driving across Etosha national park rather than one, and staying in the intermediate camp. This would allow more time for game viewing while making the transit on what were quite rough roads.

On the other hand, the gravel road to Waterberg plateau was much better than expected and only took about 20 minutes to transit.

Overall, we were very glad that we had upgraded from a standard car to a SUV." Read full review: 23 nights in Africa; 8 on a Namibia trip

"Excellent second trip to Namibia where we explored north of Windhoek, covering Etosha and Damaraland. Our previous visit was south of Windhoek to Kalahari, Fish River Canyon and Sossusvlei. Both were equally fabulous for scenery and animals.

It was brilliant seeing the wildlife at the waterholes in Etosha from our car and also at the waterholes in the various lodges we stayed in. The service everywhere in Namibia was excellent and very friendly.

No wonder Namibia has featured strongly for a number of years in the world's top ten countries to visit by readers of the Wanderlust travel magazine.

The garden route in South Africa, following Namibia, was a little tame and too touristy in comparison although it was great seeing whales in the bay at Hermanus. The food and wine in S.A. is extremely good and cheap in comparison to the UK.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

My husband thinks I should be paid for completing this feedback! It was a bit time consuming due to the number of lodges we stayed in over a three week period - it becomes a job to remember them all clearly.

Having said that the trip was brilliantly organised by Gwynneth and we will be contacting her again for our next trip in a couple of years time." Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"We love Ruaha and will doubtless go back in the future, Having been twice we will probably not return to Zanzibar although it is convenient for the beach following a week in the Tanzanian Parks. The atmosphere in Z is not great and I have a strong suspicion that a lot of people resent tourists.

I would not recommend transit through Nairobi try to fly direct to Dar.

Congratulations to Fox who held the flight (KA were late) so that we could connect to Jongomero.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No. I will use you again." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 6 on a Tanzania safari

"It was a special trip - not the cheapest, but something we'd always wanted to do, and it didn't disappoint." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"Our itinerary was so well thought out. Driving times in the Self -Drive part were manageable. Definitely a key point. The folder with notes for travellers was priceless. It really contributed to the success of our excellent holiday. It was most appreciated to have all the bases covered in such exacting detail.

Maruska really helped walk us through the initial planning stages, pointing out practicalities in her most diplomatic way. Her suggestions always held true, yet she listened to our ideas as well. She showed great patience and carefully dealt with our concerns. Her knowledge and expertise enabled us to experience a great adventure.

It was truly a unique experience. We were so very fortunate to have had Maruska as our contact.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

At this time, I can't think of any way our experience could be improved upon." Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 9 on a Namibia trip

"This was the second time we had visited Zambia. We liked our first trip two years ago so much that we returned to exactly the same camps, changing only the order in which we visited them. In all our travels this is the first time that we have ever done that, and we were not disappointed.

Of course we saw many of the same animals as before, but every encounter is different, and we now have even more precious memories and photographs." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 11 on a Zambia safari

"As you will have gathered we had a fantastic trip thanks to Expert Africa and NCS.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

It's probably worth clarifying to clients about the seating in the jeeps so they know what to expect ie. if someone has to sit in the middle or not. Also we requested that the canopy be removed on one of the jeeps at Mchenja so that we could have a better upward view of birds and leopards in trees! This they did for us quite happily. It is worth people being aware of the option of an 'open' jeep which we managed to have throughout.

Just to mention re your staff - Ellie Dunkels was very helpful when Claire was not available. NCS seemed to think highly of Chris, Claire and Ellie." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 9 on a Zambia safari

"We talked to a number of travel agencies when we decided to go to Namibia and Botswana. Expert Africa was clearly the most knowledgeable and helpful so it was easy for us to choose to use your services. We spoke to Maruska a number of times and she was able to answer all of our questions and help us make informed decisions. The materials she sent and your website resources were extremely informative and helpful.

This was a great trip and exceeded our expectations, especially the wildlife viewing opportunities. All of the lodges were very good and more luxurious than we are used to. We only gave a few "Excellent" ratings on our survey responses so we could single out the truly outstanding lodges and activities.

When we started planning this trip, we realized that it was going to be an expensive holiday: certainly more expensive than any of our other vacations. After returning home from a wonderful 3 weeks in Namibia and Botswana, we feel that it was money well spent.

Thank you for helping us to have the trip of a lifetime.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

There's nothing that you can do about this, but you might want to warn other travellers about the long wait time when arriving at Windhoek airport. It took well over an hour to clear Customs and Immigration. It would have been even longer but they moved a few of the older passengers (including us) to the front of the line. The staff were generally unwelcoming and unhelpful - not sure if this was an isolated incident or general practice. This was such a contrast to everyone else we met during our stay in Namibia." Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"I can't say enough about how well this trip was arranged. Everything came off without a hitch.

No delays, no misunderstandings, no confusion about anything.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

This was a comprehensive, professional job from start to finish. Megan understood exactly what we were looking for in a trip and delivered exactly what we hoped for on all fronts.

I travel for a living and know how things can sometimes go wrong. But everything was simply perfect." Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari