Africa: Reviews from our travellers

"We absolutely loved our time in Zambia. It wasn't just the poor room which disappointed at Kaya Mawa; it just did not live up to what we thought we had booked.

For the future we would take all email correspondence between our agent and us with us - by the time we arrived at the final leg of our holiday we ended up thinking we were wrong. We weren't." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 11 on a Zambia safari

"Interesting - African Parks are doing a fantastic job given the previous situation in the Reserve. I guess the trip is for people who want something different from their safari experience. In my view the Reseve will progress in the years to come, because African Parks do have a clearly laid out plan of development. In terms of game, they need some more cats in the Reserve, because the antelope population could support this.

The natural beauty of the Reserve is again fantastic, and a rather different experience from other places in Africa." Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 7 on a Malawi trip

"We were thrilled with our trip. Namibia was an excellent choice for so many reasons. Such a beautiful and unspoilt country - with incredibly well-designed and high-end tourist facilities. First class hotels and delicious food. Good roads and safe to drive. Incredibly varied experiences, amazing animals, wonderful people, fascinating and troubled history.

The whole family (two adults and two teenage boys) loved this truly memorable trip. An amazing adventure which we would highly recommend.

We were also blown away by the superb advice and service we received from Sabina at Expert Africa. She worked so hard to plan our trip and take our preferences into account. Once we were in Namibia, she was also extraordinarily helpful, even phoning our emergency contact in London to track us down when we left a coat behind in a hotel - and then phoning us directly in Namibia - and all this within half an hour of us checking out. We were also very impressed and grateful that Wilderness Safaris organized an upgrade for us at Okaukuejo once they realized they'd made a mistake with our booking. And we were thrilled that Sabina recommended that we stay at Erongo despite the fire - excellent advice on her part that resulted in one of the most memorable 24 hours of our entire trip.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

We found Expert Africa to be a remarkable company and cannot thank you enough for an amazing experience.

(We had no idea that such superb travel agents even existed!!)" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"The trip, like its two predecessors, was absolutely brilliant. I just revel in the whole safari experience: the getting there, the camps, their locations, the inspirational people you meet, the excursions, the myriad wildlife encounters, quenching your thirst, filling your belly and the siestas afterwards. Then getting up in the afternoon and doing it all over again: two days in one!

When asked to score the holiday out of ten, our teenage daughter (whose commitment and subsequent enjoyment I was a bit trepidatious about before our arrival) gave it a firm nine and a half. When pressed about the missing half, she explained this was docked because of all the stops on safari at my insistence to look at 'stupid birds'. So you're pretty near perfect.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

On our way to Kilimanjaro airport, we stopped off at the very green and plush Arusha Coffee House (?).

I presumed we were going to have a very pleasant buffet lunch there as we had been travelling non-stop for at least 24 hours and a sit down in very relaxing surroundings would have been most welcome.

Instead we were whisked off again with a school kid's packed lunch (complete with bag of crisps, Mars bar and a wedge of very 1970s Dairy Lea!).

This is the only change I would make to the itinerary." Read full review: 7 nights in Africa; 6 on a Tanzania safari

"Trip was nice but I became tired of the long car journeys torwards the end. Also, on balance, while we enjoyed our trip a lot, it was very very expensive we felt. Comparing our trip with holidays we've done down through recent years, Malaysia, Cuba, Mauritius, Egypt, Central America, we felt that our money for accommodation didn't really go very far! What I'm trying to say I guess, is that I feel you need to spend an excessive amount of money to stay somewhere nice in Namibia.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Not really. Angela was superb in helping us put our trip together. Expert Africa website is also superb." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"We greatly enjoyed our holidays...Mara Camp was superb and our stay at Royal Livingstone was also excellent. Maybe Rovos Rail was not the best choice for a trip with our sons." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 5 on a Kenya safari

"After looking forwards to a trip for a trip to Namibia for many years my hopes were high. Both my wife's and my hopes were more than met. We saw everything we hoped to see and had a great adventure., Everything went according to plan a (except the Erongo lodge) with flights, car hire and accommodation all first rate. We really couldn't have wished for more.

Namibia is a fantastic place to go on a do it yourself safari trip as it feels very safe, the roads are quiet and the locals were all very friendly, helpful and knowlegdable. We didn't encounter any negative attitudes or pressure to buy in markets or shops and the Namibians are clearly proud of their country and keen to impress travellers.

We saw a huge amount of animals in Etosha and elsewhere brought back some fantastic photographs and memories. If only we could start it all over again!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Just to reinforce the care needed when driving on the gravel roads. We had a bit of a hairy moment and saw one car overturn on the costal road north of Swakopmund." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"One of our best holidays." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"This was one of the best holidays we have ever had. We do not spend a huge amount of money (at least compared to what you could spend in Botswana), but nonetheless had a great time, saw and experienced lots!.

We had highlights (Nxamaseri, Chobe, Vic Falls,) and lowlights (bald tyres, Camp Kalahari), but overall enjoyed the trip

The wildlife, birds and animals, is great. The landscape outside the delta a little dull (say compared to the desert in Namibia), but OK. The delta is really interesting as are the salt pans.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

a difficult one. we had several phone calls and lots of emails, and a few iterations of the itinerary before agreeing everything. my main concerns were about driving

on the driving, i think a 4wd is essential even if using camp drives in the parks. there are too many places where one can get stuck in sand. also, there are roadworks in Namibia and Botswana that caused some delay. i realise this is difficult to factor in when booking a year in advance - we did not think to check.

one other point - when discussing where we could drive and how to get into Zimbabwe I was told that Budget would not let us take the car across the border. instead we paid for a driver and van to take us to and from Vic Falls. however, when picking up the car Budget asked us if we wanted the paperwork to cater for crossing into Z. I don't know how much money we spent on the two taxis, but it would appear that this was an unnecessary expense" Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari

"We have had a wonderful holiday and are already looking forward to another visit to Namibia in the future.

We appreciated Angela's detailed knowledge and expertise. She provided us with good advice and helped with the booking of every aspect of the holiday to ensure it was a success. Many thanks." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip