Africa: Reviews from our travellers

"The trip was spectacular and worked out very well, perfect mix of places, good amount of time spent everywhere. Desert and rivers provided a good mix of wildlife and scenery, we were never bored looking for animals, always discovering new ones. We also enjoyed seeing the villages and a living museum. A bit more contact with locals would have been nice.

We loved the self drive and the ability to explore things on our own. While expecting a bit more adventure, it was surprisingly comfortable and easy, which was fine.

Maruska was wonderful in putting this together for us, she knew the places well, was very helpful and patient.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Looking up locations on a google map was important to me (especially off the path campgrounds), would be nice to have a google map that showed all places of interest (with lat/longs that one can use to enter in one's own google map search)

As much as we wished to get away, Wifi is becoming important for many travelers, and it would be good to collect that info (uptime and speed) and pass it on to the lodges. Elegant guest house and Mushara had good wifi. Ngepi was slow, Muchenje pretty spotty with several outages. Victoria Safari camp had expensive one, Victoria Falls Hotel had good ones for guests.

For guest support on the road, calling is often hard, it might be useful to have email addresses to contact local agents." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 6 on a Namibia trip

"The whole experience was very enjoyable.

On reflection we wouldn't have done as much driving, some of it was tedious and although there isn't much traffic driving on the gravel roads was quite tiring. Having said this it was our choice and we wouldn't have seen as much as we did without the driving" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 10 on a Namibia trip

"What an amazing trip!

From the moment we first contacted Expert Africa, when Chris personally responded to an inquiry about when to travel, we knew we were in good hands. Maruska planned our journey and was thorough, accesible, and accomodating, working with us to ensure that our itinerary was exactly what we wanted. As a result, the trip not only met, but far exceeded our expectations. We kept commenting that this was "the trip of a lifetime," and it was. Stunning scenery, luxurious accomodations, and excellent service all combined to make this an incredible journey.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
We have just a few suggestions as you plan trips for future travelers:

(1) It might be useful to provide slightly more extensive driving notes. For example, instead of simply saying, "approximately 4 hours, mostly on gravel roads" you could add a few details, for example "you will pass through the charming town of Solitaire" or "you will cross the Tropic of Capricorn before hitting the tricky but beautiful Kuiseb Pass."

(2) The drive from Mowani Mountain Camp to Etosha is much longer than the estimated 3.5 hours; it actually takes about 5 hours given the poor road conditions of the gravel roads near Mowani. We still made it to Etosha before sundown, but it's worth advising future travelers of this.

(3) Although we enjoyed staying in Swakopmund, both of our excursions were in or south of Walvis Bay. It struck us that future travelers doing the same thing could stay in Walvis Bay and therefore cut out the drive time back and forth from Swakopmund." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 9 on a Namibia trip

"We had a fantastic trip to Namibia. We were very pleased with the help we received from Expert Africa in booking our car hire and accommodation (we booked our flights separately ourselves). Sabine was excellent in helping to advise us about our itinerary, with a detailed understanding of travel times etc.

Our favourite places to stay (in order) were Erongo Wilderness Lodge, Camp Kipwe and Hoodia Desert Lodge. We would also very much recommend visiting the western part of Etosha for some great safari in an area almost empty of tourists." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"We spent one week in Zambia (last week of June) & one week in Botswana (the first week of July). The trip was good.

All transfers and reservations organized by Expert Africa went smoothly without any delays or issues. Thank you Maruska for arranging the logistacs of that trip!" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 8 on a Zambia safari

"I felt very satisfied with the overall trip. I had an adventure and saw a lot of animals. My only comments is this was a very physical trip. Anyone going needs to be in good health with no physical problems. The weather at night and early in the morning can be very cold so coat, hat and gloves are a must. The camps are tents so there is no heating at night and can be cold, along with open screens the air can blow through. Africa is famous for their beautiful sunsets of red an orange skies, that's from all the dust in the air. So one needs to be aware there is a lot of dirt and dust in the air. Anyone suffering for respiratory problems or asthma might have a real problem. Also camps like Kaingo run on burning wood which is another respiratory problem.

I will always remember my trip to Africa, the kind people, the abundance of animals, and the striking evening sunsets. Thank you for the adventure.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

My only suggestions is to make clients aware of the physical demands and aware of cold and dust problems. For most healthy people this would not be a problem, but anyone with a respiratory condition this might not be the right trip for them." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 15 on a Zambia safari

"A great holiday from Expert Africa. We received wise advice, prompt and efficient service and a good price.

Liz quickly picked up what type of holiday we wanted and identified an itinerary that was right for us. Thank you." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 8 on a Zanzibar holiday

"Everything Expert Africa arranged worked like clockwork with one exception when a camp messed up the schedule but Proflight sorted it out.

Our only confusion is where your letter to us said that all Zambian departure taxes had been paid by you but this was not accepted ny the airport or your representative at the airport when we flew to Malawi. Consequently after some hassle we paid the equivalent og USD78 in local currency as they only accepy Visa credit cards and I have Master Card. This was an unnecessary trauma that should have been avoided.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Not really." Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 15 on a Zambia safari

"A great trip, my son and I enjoyed it very much. Many thanks Richard for your excellent organising.

I will stay with the memories till the next adventure, hopefully in the Zambezi and/or Mana pools, certainly with Expert Africa" Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 8 on a Kenya safari

"Extremely enjoyable experience, made memories of a lifetime!" Read full review: 6 nights in Africa; 5 on a Kenya safari