Africa: Reviews from our travellers

"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

"Exceptional. Truly a holiday of a lifetime made extra special, sharing the experiences as a family.

Ellie was fantastically helpful, even going to the trouble of rearranging our itinerary when she realised that our original booking at Shiwa would have been shared with hunters. Undoubtedly this would have marred our experience there and as it was, we were the only guests, so enjoyed the undivided attention of our delightful host and hostess.

Ellie's suggestions made for a very balanced trip and while the emphasis was on safari, both Shiwa and Livingstone provided contrast, interest and excitement!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No. It was perfection." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 14 on a Zambia safari

"It has been 15 years since Chris McIntyre planned our first trip to Zambia, and I'm so pleased to have finally returned. Claire gave me excellent advice in planning our trip, and Eleanor was very helpful when Claire was not available. I felt great confidence in your team of experts and appreciated that everything worked smoothly.

Thanks as well for the copy of Zambia, which I devoured.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

If I think of anything, I'll let you know." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 10 on a Zambia safari

"Quite blown away by the beauty of the terrain that we visited, left us curious about other parts.

Felt very well advised by Expert Africa staff. Despiite a brilliantly well laid out website, it was the little comments and recommendations made on the telephone that had directed our choices and as stated in our intital email, we felt we couldn't fail to have the best of times by simplly following your tracks. For us, Kenya has been a very different place in which to travel for, despite a fair amount of experience of living and travelling in Africa.

The one thing that would have been helpful would have been more transparency in the pricing of 'packages'. It all costs a great deal and in deciding how to distribute the budget, it would be useful to know more and make it stretch as far as possible on the more expensive bits. Will affect us considering any future visits - now that we've seen the reality of those roads, we can see the value of flying.

Jessica entered a trip advisor comment on return to discover that the US guests we met at Naibosho, first time in Africa, had gone out with Roelof and seen a leopard with its kill..! She has been on a quest to see a leopard for some tme now, plenty of evidence of their whereabouts but never seen one so she has some unfinished business." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 12 on a Kenya safari

"A trip of a life time and it certainly measured up the everything we had hoped and more. Firstly please pass on our huge thanks to both guides. Martin of Asilia was amazing and so professional .We'll for ever be grateful for his patience for our bird watching interests and his expert knowledge. He was so good at finding the quieter places and picking up the signs before others got there!! Please note our grateful thanks to him personally through Asilia.

Also we would like special recommendation for Paulo Siololo of Nomad Tanzania...Arusha. as he was fantastic too. Think he has telescopes for eyes as he picked signs of animals at tremendous distances and had the patience to pursue and wait. We had numerous wonderful experiences just watching cheetahs and Leopards all on our own as well as so much more. He really put himself out to please us and make our experience memorable.

Fishermans tours on Zanzibar not quite so efficient as 3/4 hour late one trip and didn't turn up on last return drive to airport. Neither actually caused us problems as door man at Serens Inn got us a taxi and arranged for paymenbt between driver and F. tours.but thought you may like to know for future.

Well done Expert Africa and especially Ellie ,you judge it perfectly for us....right locations and timings ." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 8 on a Tanzania safari