Africa: Reviews from our travellers

"This was our 2nd visit to Zimbabwe. We went to Mana Pools as part of a safari to Zimbabwe in 2011. There we were guided by Mark van Zuydam. We were so impressed by the park and Mark's exceptional guiding that we asked Expert Africa to arrange a private safari to Mana Pools with Mark as our guide. This safari rates as our best anywhere in Africa.

Mark is extremely competent at what he does and was a pleasure to be with for our 11 nights. We had a fantastic time tracking lions at various locations throughout the park and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to be able to spend so much of the time walking instead of being in the vehicle. We will certainly be going back in the future.

All the road transfers from Lusaka and across the border at Chirundu in Zimbabwe went very smoothly. The drivers at both sides helped us with the immigration procedures etc. The drive from Lusaka to Chirundu takes approx 2.5 to 3 hrs as the traffic in Lusaka is so busy, then the drive from Chirundu to Mana takes approx 2-3 hrs depending on where in Mana you are going.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

This is our 3rd trip with Expert Africa and will definately use them again in the future.
I can't think of anything you need to improve on. Keep visiting the camps as your 'on the ground' knowledge is the reason we use you." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 4 on a Zimbabwe safari

"We started with 4 nights at Mdonye Old River Camp in Ruaha, a simple but comfortable and friendly camp, before moving on to the excellent Beho Beho in Selous. Both camps provided excellent game viewing, supported by knowledgeable and enthusiastic guides.

Both camps have significant wildlife in their immediate areas but both are some distance from the permanent wet areas that attract most animals during the dry season. If you accept this (as we did), you will have a excellent holiday at these camps - but if you want to minimise your travelling, other camps might, in our view, be more suitable.

We then had 3 nights on the coast at Ras Kutani - a very comfortable, friendly and laid-back location for a couple of days relaxation.

The internal logistics worked excellently with the Coastal Aviation flights all being more or less on time (or even early).

However our return BA flight was delayed by over 2 days due to mechanical problems which resulted in an unexpected (and unwanted) weekend in Dar es Salaam - a situation compounded by a lack of information from BA on the status of the repairs.

Despite that final hiccup, this was an excellent holiday in a great safari area - and a complete contrast to the more popular and crowded north of Tanzania." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 12 on a Tanzania safari

"The EA aspect of the trip was fine, but there were more disappointments than highs with the trip. A large part of this were down to poor game sightings (out of anyones control), the extensive fires in Etosha and I mean extensive, the road works which made it very dusty and the large lorries did not make sightings great.

My expectations of Dolomite and Mundela were to high and therefore disappointing overall, but to see Wild Dogs make a kill, meet some wonderful people and simply being in the bush can make some of the negatives seem less important.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Nope i think you have this all sorted." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 11 on a Namibia trip

"Namibia is dry!
Namibia is one of the friendliest place you could ask to holiday.
Namibia has some of the best game viewing one could hope for." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 20 on a Namibia trip

"We are hard to satisfy as we have traveled a lot and always have hight expectations. This was a very well organized trip and expertafrica is truly a specialist in its field. They delivered great service with a lot of patience for our various demands.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

It may be a good idea to monitor the professional qualifications of the safari guides as there are clearly differences which the visitor should know about prior to deciding on the camp. At Ruaha the guide had started as a waiter in the camp and then worked his way up and got trained by Fox himself. In SA Sabi Sabi we came across guides with a degree as a safari field guide and he was the third generation and practically started training with his grandfather.

We met a lot of experienced safari tourists who are interested in very knowledgable guides. We also believe it is important to have a driver and a guide rather than a single driver guide who we had in Selous. There needs to be a lot more information avaibable in your brochures and website on the training the guides have received for us to make an informed decision which trip and camp to book.

To manage expectations you should also explain the various areas to go on safari - for example: you get very close to wildlife if you are on a private game park safari (SA) in contrast to a National Park (Ruaha), where there are stricter rules to not follow the animals beyond the tracks. You may also point out that the local game parks provide shooting licenses for parts of the park (to make more money) which is affecting the behaviour of wildlife and visibility when you are on a safari close to such an area. (Selous)" Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 7 on a Tanzania safari

"The holiday matched and superceded our expectations. Thank you" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 14 on a Tanzania safari

"we really appreciate the approach of expert africa in allowing us the freedom to outline our wishes and make individual arrangements as needed but can rely 100% on your expertise in arranging venues and other aspects so efficiently. We like the personal touch and feel we know you well!

Gwyneth was able to help us when we had a problem with vehicle hire (see below) this was timely and efficient!

We have often recommended your services and have no hesitation whatsoever in planning to 'use'you for our next trip which is already formulating in our minds!

We also appreciate the extra information and notes, additional items you supply

The comprehensive feedback is appreciated as we know you continually monitor and check on venues and arrangements

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Please don't relax your careful 'quality control' which makes you such a reliable company and such good value for money!

Our only suggestion is that for (the presumably small number) guests who wish as we did to make driving part of our holiday and who want 4x4 vehicles you consider linking to one of the specialist 4x4 suppliers. Budget SA really did not come 'up to the mark ' in this respect.

They advertise 4x4 vehicles but then do not supply as expected...in our case we effectively were provided with a 'bakkie' from the truck hire division The trouble with this is they are not on site at the airport and when we had a problem with the vehicle allocated we had to await the truck hire manager to arrive and as you know he then was not very helpful in allowing an alternative vehicle!

Also the idea that vehicles for use in Namibia should have a double fuel tank was completely denied by both the car hire staff and the truck division manager (despite what I think is a statement on their website)" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 5 on a Namibia trip

"We had the most wonderful trip - all the camps far exceeded our expectations - the staff were lovely, and couldn't be more helpful - the guides were knowledgeible, expecially at Kwara - and we enjoyed every minure of the trip, even being chased by an elephant which was a bit scary!!!

Thank you for being able to assess the sort of thing we wanted, making a trip which suited us and giving us a trip of a lifetime. All three of us had the best holiday we have ever had.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Just need to add that the booklet you sent us with tips for the trips was extremely helpful, but we took your advice about only taking low denominations in dollars literally, and then had to spend ages dolling out one dollars for our visas. Maybe a slightly wider mix of bills might have been helpful. However, that is the only suggestion - everything else were great, even though I couldn't believe that we might need gloves - next time I'll take them!!" Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari

"I had a fantastic time saw so much learnt so much and met some wonderful people

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

I only want to say a huge thank you the holiday was all that you advertised but in fact it turn out better than I hoped so yes keep up the good work and thanks once again from a very happy client" Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 15 on a Zambia safari

"Our best ever trip to Namibia and we were very impressed with what we saw and did in Botswana, especially the school trip from Muchenje.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

The Red Zone is what the people at Muchenje Lodge call the very deep sandy part of their approach road where, almost certainly, a 2-wheel drive car will get stuck! JJ tells us that he is having this bit 'fixed' even as I write, but it might be worth checking. The local workmen who dragged us out in their Landrover said it was always happening with 2-wheel drive cars. Great fun all the same!!" Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip