Africa: Reviews from our travellers

"We had a wonderful time, Asilia provided us with an excellent guide for Manyara and Ngorongoro. The camps were good and some brilliant. The beach extension to relax was just right. We can't wait to do our next safari." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 4 on a Tanzania safari

"We had a wonderful holiday. Having lived in Zambia and travelled to South Luangwa many times, I was hoping that my 12-year-old would enjoy his first trip there. It surpassed my expectations - and his.

Everything ran incredibly smoothly, from the very friendly Tours Africa crew greeting us after landing, to all the transfers and the camps themselves, we were in extremely good hands. My son was blown away by the wildlife (our first drive, only a couple of hours after landing at Mfuwe including a wonderful leopard sighting), and also by the friendliness of all the staff and the warm welcome.

Chris's latest Bradt Guide was a great update on recent developments in the country as well as a reminder of the diversity of Zambia and the spectacular wildlife you can see. And we were well-advised to start our holiday in a more flexible camp before moving to a more remote section of the park." Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 6 on a Zambia safari

"Fantastic holiday" Read full review: 32 nights in Africa; 11 on a Namibia trip

"Saskia was amazing. She catered to our every need. I would not hesitate to recommend this company. I am delighted, my boyfriend is delighted and our pictures will be amazing. We couldn't be happier. Saskia never mentioned the waterfalls at Epupa falls so that was a delight. Make sure people know to cherish their time at the water hole at Okaukeujo and that morning drives are no big deal. We enjoyed our extras we threw in...the petrified forest, the dinosaur tracks,and the water fall we saw on the way to Epupa falls, Ongongo falls. IT was one of our favorite parts of the trip. Many of our suggestions were listed in the hotel section, so read them carefully.

THere was not a place to review N'aankuse. It had tighter fenced in animals but it allowed us to get some excellent head shots of leopard, lion, cheetah. We had never seen wild dog before so that was a treat. Sounds like they run a huge volunteer oriented facility. The drive in and out was longer than expected. I wish we could have gotten a room here. They seemed a little uppity to me ...but were flexible with us when we decided not to drive back in the dark and cancelled dinner and the bush men story time. Arno thinks having Bush men flown in to their camp is absurd. I am sorry we missed them though.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
This feedback form was aggravating. It doesn't save each page as you go along so 2x I had to start totally over. I am writing a lot so that was aggravating. If I had to return to it, I had to scroll thru all the pages to get to where I was going. A tab system or a drop down box would have been better. Each page needs to be saved when you continue to the next page." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 18 on a Namibia trip

"Everyone enjoyed the trip enormously. We are able to compare with both South Africa (the Kruger National Park) and Tanzania (Serengeti, Ngorongoro and Lake Manyara). The wildlife viewing experiences were hugely more pleasant [Ed: Here in Botswana!] because of the fewer numbers viewing the game. This meant that it was easy to get up close and your enjoyment wasn't impacted by crowding out by others. The standard of accommodation was massively better than we had in Tanzania, but that was down to the budget allocated to the trip.

The organisation of the day (which was the same in each of the camps) seemed good and designed to make the most of potential wildlife sightings.

The density of wildlife is probably not greater [Ed: in Botswana] than Tanzania (especially Ngorngoro) but the viewing much more enjoyable.

Perhaps one small criticism would be a lack of variety between the three different camps, although they were selected to give us a variation, in reality the differences between them were really fairly insignificant. If we were doing something similar in the future we would certainly ensure the different locations all offered something quite different.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Not really, the organisation and logistics were all excellent.

We met people who had booked with other agencies and then found your website afterwards and said that it was much more informative than what they had seen previously.

A small point, we visited Zambia and i changed some money which i probably didn't really need to do, and now I can't get anyone to change it back. It might be worth drawing this to the attention of customers. Small local tips can all be paid in dollars." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari

"I wish I can describe to someone how Namibia makes you feel. I can't. All I know is that this place will steal your heart.

I was sceptical about the trip, being from South Africa and not imagining a neighbouring country (and such a brown one) could be better than where I grew up. Maybe its all the lovely places we stayed at and all the wonderful people, but this trip managed to turn into one of the best experiences of my life. I want to go back and be under the endless sky." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 11 on a Namibia trip

"Dear Maruska,

This is for you. You are sure an expert in what you do. I can't say enough as far as your wonderful, well planned itinerary for us.
The whole trip was beyond our expectations. South Africa and Namibia were terrific.

Perhaps the only thing I would have changed was the City Lodge at Johannesburg. The Intercontinental Hotel was closer, bigger rooms and have a better restaurant. On the other hand, we only stayed at the City Lodge for less than a day and it was easy enough for us to walk and have dinner at The Intercontinental Hotel.

Thanks a lot, Maruska! Let us know if you handle other trips aside from Africa.

It was surely a very memorable, fun trip for us." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 11 on a Namibia trip

"An excellent itinerary (with the exception of 3 nights at Mazambala being too long).

We loved Namibia and would highly recommend a self drive of this type in this country for a family with similar aged children ( 10 and 14)

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Everything went completely smoothly throughout. There are only a couple of minor constructive suggestions:

Charges at border into Botswana are higher than we were advised ( 140bwp rather than 70, comprised of 40 for road permit, 50 for MV Insurance, 50 Road Fund)

Make people aware of limitations of barbecue facilities at Okaukuejo and that meat cannot be taken into park

Some hesitation with Nkwazi lodge as detailed on our feedback- also note your website is incorrect - no air con, mini bar fridges and no electricity for us after 9.20pm.

Other friends who have done similar trips have had a little itinierary brochure with details of how long it takes to drive to the next lodge and some general infomation about the lodge. This is by no means an essential but would be an extra nicety perhaps.

Overall a really excellent trip. We would thoroughly recommend EA to others" Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 7 on a Namibia trip

"Excellent trip. We adored Zambia. We particularly loved the extremely friendly and relaxed Flatdogs camp. Tongabezi beautiful but felt less relaxed." Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 7 on a Zambia safari

"A marvellous trip with Priceless memories.." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 13 on a Zambia safari