Africa: Reviews from our travellers

"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!

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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

"Amazing, yet again, and EA made it all very relaxing." Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"The whole trip was awesome! Our agent Ellie did a great job in helping us put together a perfect itinerary, and we were looked after from beginning to end. Both our guides were great, especially Fred George who took care of us so well and helped us have a fantastic experience. The only disappointment was leaving with over $250 of brand new ruined clothes from Sayari Camp.

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service from expert Africa was great!" Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 6 on a Tanzania safari

"this trip was simply unforgettable. The combination of our stay in Capetown where our theme was the ocean , and our safari in Botswana felt like making two trips one after the other.

The choice of the three camps by Megan was and excellent one. they presented three different environments, which made it even more interesting. All of our family enjoyed every aspect of the safari experience, everything was perfect. we were also very impressed by how knowledgeable our guides were. Our one and only disappointment, we did not get to see a lion, we will have to go back!" Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 6 on a Botswana safari

"The only real problem was the COLD. The early mornings and evenings (nights) were perishing. We did not have enough warm clothes, nor were any of the lodges (except Cornerstone) equipped for their quite short winter.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Don't think there's any way round the Okaukuejo catering problem.

The cold (July) needs more emphasis. Double fuel tank well worth specifying. The C14 road to Swakopmund from Sesriem is known as the worst road in Namibia (and that's saying something) - there's no other way to cover that ground but you should maybe warn customers. The country lived up to expectations." Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 17 on a Namibia trip

"A holiday of a lifetime! Could not have been better! We wouldn't change a thing, except to stay longer in each place. We will return to Zambia!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

none" Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 11 on a Zambia safari