Africa: Reviews from our travellers

"Our trip to Namibia was marvellous.

We travelled as a family with two kids (12 and 13 year old).

Self driving was easy enough, although some roads can be bad (Sesriem to Swakopmund f.e) . Take an extra spare tyre! One should never underestimate the distances. With kids you need several stops of more than one night, otherwise driving will be to much for them.

Although July is a busy month, it never felt crowdy. During the day and on the road you're almost always alone!

Accomodations and food are more than excellent, at least you get much more value for money then in Europe.

Namibia is a very varied country with stunning landscape. Getting close to the animals is very impressive and an experience we (and certainly the kids) will always remember.

And finally, the support and advice of Expert Africa (Sabina Hekandjo) is more then perfect. I wished everyone would answer mails that quick and informative!" Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"Everything worked like clockwork ( except the Lusaka hotel). I was amazed at the high standard of every aspect in the bush and the super staff eveywhere.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Perhaps a different hotel in Lusaka ? I met people who said the Sun Rock was very good. Personally I would prefer an overnight flight both ways." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 8 on a Zambia safari

"My sixth trip with Expert Africa, my sixth trip to go perfectly as planned. I would not hesitate to recommend Expert Africa.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No" Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 10 on a Tanzania safari

"Very well organized." Read full review: 3 nights in Africa; 3 on a Namibia trip

"This was our first trip to Africa so we were unsure of what to expect. Liz from Expert Africa gave us ideas and direction when we needed help with planning and sorted our flights out which had to be changed several times due to BA timetable alterations.

We loved Beho Beho which was the highlight of the holiday but the whole holiday was of a very high standard. Tanzanians seem to be very warm and friendly people generally and we really enjoyed our holiday on the mainland and on Zanzibar." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 9 on a Zanzibar holiday

"We had excellent service from the outset. The help and information provided were excellent. Chris McIntyre's book never let us down.

We cannot recommend Expert Africa highly enough.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Afraid not! Everything was so well planned for us
We appreciated the first night visit from local rep who supplied some local advice

Cannot thank you enough" Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 17 on a Namibia trip

"Our first trip to Namibia (2010), covered central, north, northwest and coastal areas.

This trip (2013) was about 98% new locations covering central, north, northeast, Caprivi, Okavango and Vic Falls, Zimbabwe side.
The most noticeable differences in that span of time were the money exchange, electricity adaptor difference, more people riding bicycles, shopping modernization of cities, availability of 3G services (more mobile phones in daily use)

General travel tips
1. Before leaving Namibia, change your Namibian dollars to another currency: South African Rand, Botswana Pula, Euros, Dollars. They are no longer exchangeable at the Jo'berg airport nor in Paris.
2. The children in Namibia were usually asking for pens, whether or not we took photos. The supplement money for educational supplies in 2013 was used for election campaign spending.
3. Clothing is a great donation to leave with the lodges in the northeastern sector of Namibia and in Botswana. They distribute it to the villages or the lodge workers or in one case to the local churches.
4. Adaptors - Throughout Namibia and Botswana, the large 3-rounded prong South African adaptor is used. We purchased a smaller 3-rounded prong which only works in Zimbabwe. Bring your own charging strip/surge protector if you have multiple devices. Zimbabwe uses the small 3-rounded prong and British adaptors.
5. In your checked luggage through Jo'berg, pack nothing of value, other than clothing, ! It will disappear, guaranteed.
6. Reading material:
The Wildlife of Southern Africa is a definite plus to keep track of sightings (birds, mammals, insects, flowers, trees, etc.) (Vincent Carruthers) at the Windhoeker Buchhandlung across from the Hilton Hotel
"Namibian" daily newspaper - fantastic way to learn about modern Namibian culture and opinions of all ages.
"Zambezi Traveller" free newspaper in the Caprivi/Okavango (Lianshulu Lodge) - regional tips, ideas and covers a wide territory.
7. Pic n Pay grocery store (throughout Namibia) was our favorite, Super Spar is also good for finding lunch items (including an ice chest) when driving between destinations
8. Namibia has frequent, fairly well-maintained picnic spots (tree shade, concrete benches and table), which we used for lunches
9. Languages/Dialects: the smartphone "notes" application is a handy recording device to write down the courtesy words: hello, good morning, thank you, how are you, etc. We encountered 10 different languages/dialects or more over three and a half weeks. Asking a lodge staff member "how to say" is an ice breaker and opens a door to their culture.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Fantastic voyage!

The planning, Expert Africa contact, accommodations, expectations suited our needs to a tee. We made our own flight reservations, which worked out smoothly.

The Namibia/Chris McIntyre guide book was our bible. Thank you for supplying it.

On the review feedback, what does "facilities" include/mean?

We would highly recommend Expert Africa for any future voyages.

Obtaining visas before departure between countries was not totally clear.
The basic information about visas in the travel preparations could be much shorter (e.g., Visas are handled at each border control for Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe. Show your international driver license and passport at customs. The rental car agency provides you with all of the car details, including chassis number and motor number to fill in the paperwork.)

We paid for a permit into Botswana, but wonder if we could have given them the permit on the windshield. This was unclear in the instructions from Budget/Expert Africa whether to turn it in or buy a new one. This was the Chobe border. This was a more difficult and time consuming border post (a real hassle).

The Mohembo Border Post at Mahango was a breeze with both Namibia and Botswana." Read full review: 24 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"Excellent from initial contact to the fine tuning of the final details for our holiday.

Really appreciated the knowledgeable and honest advice.

As a result we had an amazing honeymoon, staying at lovely accommodation in stunning settings and experienced wonderful wildlife encounters." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 11 on a Zambia safari

"Arranging this trip on my own was difficult and I am glad that I found Expert Africa online.

I wasn't sure how to even get started but Gwynneth helped me to select the best way to get to the Kalahari while understanding that pre/post Kalahari travel would be arranged on my own. Gwynneth was quick to respond to all questions and made me feel confident that the trip was well-planned and would be a good experience." Read full review: 6 nights in Africa; 5 on a South Africa trip

"This trip exceeded all our expectations. The country was stunning, we saw far more animals than we expected, everyone was very friendly and very happy to answer many questions etc. We had fewer incidental expenses than we expected, fuel, food and drink being relatively cheap. This obviously helped to make the holiday good value.

Travel was easier, health issues were straightforward: everywhere was very clean, we could drink the borehole water, we didn't need antimalarials and sustained no insect bites.

The advice to take warm clothing was appreciated. A fleece and woolly hat are very useful. Breakfast/evening meals are often quite cool as they are in open rooms.

We did not appreciate how very dry it would be: lots of moisturisers and vaseline essential. Chris' guide is invaluable: a mine of useful and interesting information (especially about shops etc).

It might be useful to warn people about the veterinary fence, and the fact that they cannot bring meat products south through the fence (although we were not stopped as we left Etosha at Anderson Gate driving south, but we should have been). We were stopped both ways at Palmwag." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip