Africa: Reviews from our travellers

"Our first safari in Africa and we definitely hope it will not be our last. We were fascinated by all we saw, heard, felt, experienced and learnt. We loved it. Seeing so many animals up-close-and-personal is such an experience and privilege. We had to keep pinching ourselves that we were actually there in the places we had only read about or seen on our TV screens.

We appreciated Liz listening to our 'wants' and coming up with the solution that to get the experiences we wanted we should combine the North and the South of Tanzania - excellent.

We are glad we did not spend more time in the more crowded areas of the Serengeti, and so glad we went up to the border near the Mara River, before flying down South to Ruaha (Mwagusi) and Selous (Beho Beho). Each camp so different - each with their own special feeling - but each providing wonderfully efficient service, given with warmth and friendliness.

We just have to save now for another safari......

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Only a minor point which relates to us as one passenger is a bad traveller - if a trip required flying over the Serengeti - try to arrange morning flights which apparently are not as bumpy!!!" Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 11 on a Tanzania safari

"We enjoyed our stay in Zimbabwe and found a very warm welcome from everyone we met. There is obviously a strong desire to promote tourism and in Victoria we were thanked for going there.

Many friends questioned the safety of our choice of destination before we went and so we ended up saying safari in Africa after a while! We encountered no problems nor any hostility towards us at all. We will now be able to tell people so.

Cash purchasing is all important so take plenty of it - 4 of the places we stayed had safe facilities. No one wanted travellers cheques, and credit machines seldom worked.

In Victoria, vendors are persistent but not aggressive - just keep in mind they just want to make a $. There are plenty of tourist police on hand if need be.

The Falls are stunning and well worth the visit. We had 3 nights in Victoria. Two is more than enough if it is only the Falls that you wish to see and in fact we did that on arrival so 1 night would have been sufficient for us with more time on safari.


Importantly the game viewing is excellent and the regions offer a great deal of contrast so it is worth doing as much as you can afford! I would not recommend less than 3 nights in any camp/area if travelling between regions as the travelling is long and tiring. Travel arrangements need improving overall including communication about them.

The guiding was all of a very good standard with obvious enthusiasm.
We had hoped to do more walking, but were constrained by our travel arrangements. This is a great pity. For the nervous, think carefully before choosing Goliath as the proximity to wildlife is challenging and could be very uncomfortable for some. For those who would like the experience, it is awesome.

We would recommend Zimbabwe from the experience we had. Just plan your route carefully" Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 10 on a Zimbabwe safari

"The trip was amazing, Rwanda exceed our expectations and I wished we'd stayed longer. Selous is a worthy extension and I couldn't have been happier with all the guides, transfers, flights and all but one of the hotels!

I would like to put in a plea that EA consider booking Rwandair air connections between Kigali-DAR/Kili. They are by far the most efficient and organised airline I've used in Africa and for clients looking to do a similar trip I would opt to book your own internal flights, than go back to Nairobi using EA partner airlines.

Thanks to Ellie and all at EA for organising a fabulous trip for us." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 5 on a Tanzania safari

"Well done expert Africa. You made life very easy.

So much to tell, not enough room." Read full review: 31 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"Overall th etrip was excellent. A good balance of location, activties and time.

The one thing I would consider doing differently is to fly to Kigali via Amsterdam and miss out Nairobi. Costs more but less hassle." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 10 on a Tanzania safari

"Gwynneth was very helpful arranging this trip. We had been to Namibia on a number of occasions so we knew what we wanted to do and what we liked. Our only problem was the car" Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 7 on a Namibia trip

"Great trip with lots of good memories." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"Efficient and knowledgeable." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 3 on a Namibia trip

"A most enjoyable trip." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 11 on a Namibia trip

"Overall, we had an extremely enjoyable holiday. The variety of wildlife experiences exceeded our expectations. Accommodation was all very good or excellent. All the arrangements within the control of Expert Africa, whether for accommodation or transfers, worked out fine, without any problems.

The holiday wasn't one of Expert Africa's standard holidays. We spent some time working out the itinerary with them. That was time well spent and their expert advice was invaluable. Thanks very much to Gwynneth and also Nick for his advice on Botswana early on.


A couple of specific comments which don't fit in elsewhere:

1. We had two flights with Mack Air and had a good experience with them both times: friendly pilots and good flights. In addition, we had arranged for suitcases to be flown on separately from Maun to Kasane. This was handled efficiently and there was no difficulty retreiving the suitcases at Kasane airport.

2. We had a transfer with Wilderness Safaris from Kasane airport to Victorial Falls. This was handled efficiently so that we were able to complete the border formalities on entering Zimbabwe without a hitch.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No - well organised holiday, plenty of helpful information." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 7 on a Namibia trip