Africa: Reviews from our travellers

"We had a really great safari, only let down by the lack of almost promised buffaloes in Duba Plains. Maybe it's time to see how often the buffalo are on the island and not rely on information from 5/6 years ago. For this reason alone, we've given a "not very" to the "knowledgeable" question as the interraction is now rare." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari

"We had never travelled to sub-Saharan Africa before, and found Chris McIntyre's book on Namibia a really useful starting point. Our main aim was to see zebras in Etosha (believe it or not) and the book made planning when to go very easy.

We found Expert Africa through the book. We normally book our travel independently, but decided that we would benefit from others' knowledge about Africa when booking this trip. We were limited in time, and Expert Africa did a good job of tailoring a trip to suit our aims and time constraints.

The pre-travel notes were brilliant to prepare us for what to expect.

We found the landscape in Etendeka and Etosha particularly beautiful, and saw masses of wildlife - much more than we expected. It was an incredible experience, and a huge privilege, to get so close to the wildlife in both those places, and in Okonjima.

We were well looked after everywhere we stayed - but nowhere better than Etendeka, where we found gentle, straightforward hospitality.

The driving was a bit daunting to start with on the gravel roads, but we settled into it, and were rather surprised to see tarmac again when we left Etosha! It suited us really well to be able to drive ourselves around.

Despite the relative ease of driving around, and the very comfortable places to stay, we found a real sense of quiet and wilderness in Namibia which was wonderful.

And we saw plenty of zebras." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 9 on a Namibia trip

"Our ninth safari and a return for a second visit to Ruaha and Selous. The game and sightings were as good as any we have experienced before anywhere.

We saw three different lion hunt and kills, a crocodile/impala kill and an unsuccessful leopard hunt in daylight. We had good wild dog sightings, plenty of various antelope and an excellent range of smaller animals; add a total of 220 species of birds in 12 days, many lizards and even a few snakes this trip- 2 pythons and a green snake (it's a harmless species - I don't mean a mamba or boomslang). Both Ruaha and Selous remain game rich and less tourist full than many other destinations. Selous is a favorite over Ruaha because of the availability of water safaris but to us a mixture of places makes a trip and the paucity of available water in Ruaha just concentrates the game.

Guiding was excellent at all the three camps we went to and the camps themselves reflected the range from bush camp to luxurious with none of them having any shortcomings. As usual the camp staff were unfailingly pleasant and efficient. One does not usually notice the domestic staff side of things but all the camps manage hotel type efficiency of cleaning, clothes washing and ironing and food production and all done out in the bush far from civilization.

We approached Expert Africa with two itineraries; a Zambia trip was not on because places were already booked but it was clear that a Southern Tanzania one was possible and in fact everything we wanted fell into place within a few days. Claire was efficient, friendly and you get the impression with expert Africa that they will keep on trying to get your trip right. On this occasion there was no problem. Our documents arrived in plenty of time as promised.

An excellent and enjoyable trip- Thank you

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Our second trip organised by you and faultless really. We are experienced safari fans so perhaps we know what we want and what to expect more than some (Africa being Africa!), however knowing that your staff will have actually visited and have experience of many of the camps is comforting when planning and discussing places to go.

It would be good to see you cover Kenya and particularly Uganda." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 14 on a Tanzania safari

"If you love Africa and safari but are less keen on the cost of Botswana or crowds in Serengeti or Maasai Mara then try South Luangwa or Lower Zambezi in Zambia. Expert Africa, and Maruska Adye in particular, organised a wonderful and faultless trip.

After several visits to Africa we can confirm that the continent's best accomodation, and best value, is the Albida Suite at Chongwe River Camp!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No - great service, thanks." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 12 on a Zambia safari

"We had five wonderful days in South Luangwa. Everything was very well organized by Expert Africa and their communication with the camps.

Being in one larger camp and one small was a good experience, on Flat Dogs you could pass the time as you pleased, and on Tena Tena you became more of a family eating your meals together at a long table getting to know the people working there.

The experience of the safari as a whole is very guide dependant since that is how you spend most of your day. So all the good things of how the food is and how the camps are, comes second." Read full review: 5 nights in Africa; 5 on a Zambia safari

"We had a wonderful trip and greatly enjoyed Botswana and its people.

Expert Africa organised everything very well. The cancelled canoe trip partly happened and was a real highlight, so we are glad we stayed on at Selinda" Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 5 on a Botswana safari

"We had a fabulous time.

We saw more wildlife than we have seen on previous safaris. We particulary enjoyed our walking and canoeing.
We felt that the standard of the guides and camps was excellent.

We will certainly use Expert Africa when we go to Africa again.

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Prefer to complete a feedback on paper rather than on-line" Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 6 on a Botswana safari

"Superb" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"A lovely trip and very well organised by Expert Africa." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 14 on a Tanzania safari

"Absolutely fantastic and lived up to and in fact exceeded our expectations. We had been wanting to go on a safari for several years and when this year we finally decided that we would go we thought it was going to be Botswana.

However having had many very useful and informative phone calls with the Ellie and other members of the Expert Africa team we ended up going to Tanzania, and were delighted with our choice. Everything that Ellie said was accurate in every respect and we would not hesitate to return to a wonderful country, with fantastic people, scenery and wildlife

Ellie could not have been more helpful and our overall experience with the Expert Africa team was excellent. I would not hesitate to use Expert Africa again or indeed recommend them to other people.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No!" Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 12 on a Tanzania safari