Africa: Reviews from our travellers

"Having visited the South Luangwa, and these camps, in the dry season, we wanted to experience them in the Emerald Season. The trip exceeded our expectations. We saw many different birds, and although the animals are, in principle, harder to spot in the lush bush, we were rewarded with some spectacular sightings, due to the skill of our guides: Braston at Nkwali and Daudi at Nsefu.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

I can't think of anything to add!" Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 9 on a Zambia safari

"Our trip was wonderful. We'd never been to Africa and so had no idea what to expect.

Megan was a pleasure to deal with, took time to understand our goals and provided clear and well thought out options for us to chose from. Just how well she'd designed our trip became clearer as it unfolded. Our trip included a diversity of settings (desert, delta, open plains) that meant we saw a lot of different animals but also has different activities available to us. Im also quite happy she recommended the Victoria Falls Hotel.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Not really." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 12 on a Botswana safari

"We had a totally delightful time in Botswana and are very grateful for all the help Maruska gave along the way-could not recommend her services any higher." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"Here are my thoughts I wrote on our beautiful Africa experience. It says it all...

Thank-you...

MEMOIRES OF AFRCIA:

So many stars in the sky each night, it took your breath away.
The horizon that seemed to go on forever...there was no end to it.
The cloud formations everyday painted by God.
The sunsets that gave you a vision of what heaven may be like.
Grasses blowing in the wind that reminded you of a rolling mighty sea.
Birds that were so colorful and different it made you smile at God's creativity.
Rock formations so rich in texture and color that it made you realize how truly old earth really is.
Faces of black Africans who wanted to please you and share the beauty of their land.
The conversations I had with staff members at each lodge about their wants, desires, and dreams for their lives.
The jeering, jolting impact the jeep had connecting with the ground as it bounced and tossed my insides around.
Lloyd Wilmott's facial expressions when he told stories about his past with the animals and his wife. (He never referred to her as his ex-wife...always his wife.)
Janet's kindness extended to us and her servants~ heart as she helped Lloyd make us feel welcome everyday.
Lloyd's face lighting up when he saw Janet all dressed up for dinners in the evenings.
The childlike wonder I saw in Sandra as she was taking pictures with her new camera and lens wanting to capture everything.
Becca's pure joy of experiencing every aspect of the safaris.
The pure, raw fear of not having guns to protect you in dangerous situations and how terrified I felt.
Gratefulness in my heart that Doug gave Becca and I this gift of experiencing Africa together.
Praying everyday that God would take my fears away and turn them into memories to treasure.
Having to be quiet on the jeeps rides when all I wanted to do was express my sheer joy of seeing the most wonderful creations.
Morning teas and enjoying the treats that went along with it out on the morning bush ride.
The feeling of my daughters arms around me telling me I can do this safari, while sobbing, wondering what I got myself into.
The smell of the campfires early in the morning while drinking french pressed coffee.
Lying in bed each afternoon for a siesta with sweat all over me wondering if it could get any hotter than this?!
The feeling of panic~terror as the first small plane left the runway and the relief I felt when it's wheels touched the ground.
Watching my daughter write in her journal and thinking how this experience in Africa has changed her life forever and what this will mean to her.
Michael sitting in the jeep taking notes on the iphone of all the different wildlife we saw and me thinking how cool and clever he was.
Seeing Becca and Michael laugh together and experiencing their pleasure just by watching them interact.
Eating outside for 3 weeks as I looked longingly at the inside of the lodges wanting to be inside away from the bugs.
Realizing how powerful the force of nature is with all the water damage in Kruger National Park in South Africa.
Not wanting to leave the quaint bed and breakfast after the first night because it was such a lovely spot to be in.
Animals... animals and more animals...
How beautiful the eyelashes on an elephant look.
Soft, fuzzy fur on a baby zebras rear end.
The longing look of the male lion as he courted the lioness.
How fast and furious the mating session was between the lion and lioness.
Mud caked on the elephants hide to keep themselves cool and the holes they dig to roll around in the mud.
The snorting sounds hippos make and how close they seemed to be.
Boating on the Delta river and feeling the wind blow across my face and thinking how alive I felt at that moment in time.
Listening to our guide Dutch talk about all he knew about the Delta and thinking how intelligent he was and how very interesting he was to listen to.
Feeling completely confident in Lloyd Wilmott's guiding abilities.
Loving the last safari the most and enjoying the simplicity and warmth of Lloyd and Janet.
The wonderful food all the cooks made and enjoying NOT having to cook it!!!

Thoughts to be continued...." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"A an exceptional wild animal experience, but the accommodation was very basic.

Our luggage guardian at Johannesburg was helpful and efficient and prompt.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

We regret not having considered including the Victoria Falls in our itinerary and it was not logistically possible to amend that once in Botswana. However we would have responded to prompting from Expert Africa for this additional option." Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"Well organised" Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"Very good experience, both at Kilindi and in dealing with Liz Wollen, who was very helpful in the planning and during the trip itself.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No" Read full review: 2 nights in Africa; 2 on a Zanzibar holiday

"We are hard core independent travellers but booking this trip with Expert Africa has made us re-evaluate the possibility of using this sort of service again. Right from the very beginning, our contact Ellie was superb. Knowledgeable, friendly and patient (I asked and she answered a lot of questions!), she made us feel comfortable and reassured about leaving the responsibility of our holiday in someone else's hands.

It was clear from the start that Expert Africa had spent a lot of time researching the quality and service levels of the guides and hotels they recommended. When Ellie recommended a hotel, she was able to talk about it with confidence and in depth knowledge, which saved me hours researching on various websites. She was also scrupulously honest, making sure I understood the pros and cons of each itinerary or proposition.

I liked the fact that she had done the Rwanda trip herself last year as it gave more credence to what she was saying and cost permitting, I think it is a brilliant idea to have your consultants do as many of the trips as possible so they can speak with authority.

We also felt supported throughout the whole experience (and not just dumped after having paid the cash). When we had a small concern about our transfers in Tanzania, we emailed the info@expertafrica.com email address as we could not remember Ellie's address. This was relayed to her immediately and she responded incredibly quickly, allaying our concerns. This really impressed us and will go a long way to ensuring repeat business for Expert Africa as well as recommendations to our friends.

We are well travelled enough to know that no trip is ever without a hassle or two but one of the reasons we stopped travelling with tour operators is that we felt they relinquished responsibility once we had given them a credit card number. It is the complete opposite with Expert Africa and I loved the fact that you care enough about your customers to give out the mobile details of your staff in case of a real emergency or problem. That speaks volumes about the quality of your operation and your values. Well done Expert Africa, you rock.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

I understand why you levy a credit card surcharge in this economic climate - but it is a pain in the posterior to be honest. We had cash in the bank and were able to fund the trip from a standing start so to speak, but if we hadn't been able to do so, paying the surcharge might have been enough to make us consider an alternative travel company. I appreciate that their service might not have been as good but that might have been the trade off......" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 8 on a Zanzibar holiday

"Great short trip at a very different time of the year to the main tourist season. The stark contrast between the brown of the dry season, and the lush greens of this time of year was most striking. It was alike a completely different place. The light was clear - little dust in the air - great for photographs. The weather was a little variable - first few days were overcast with occasional light rain and one very rainy day. The second part of the trip brought bright sunshine every day.

Watching an already high Luangwa River rise by around 2 metres in a day and a half was quite memorable. Plenty to see - lots of the larger animals and birds around, all looking very healthy. The big cats were inevitably more elusive although we had a great leopard sighting on our way in, and a couple of lion sightings while we were there. Best of all, though, it was like having our own private safari - we were the only guests in each camp, and the staff were all very welcoming and accommodating of our requests and interests. It also meant we could spend as little or as much time as we wanted on each sighting without worrying about the needs and interests of other guests.

If you've been on safari a few times in the dry season, we'd most definitely recommend visiting at this time of year.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

None we can think of. We keep recommending you to others, so that's certainly an endorsement!" Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 8 on a Zambia safari

"This trip was a very good experience indeed. Having been relatively undecided about where to go etc we were helped to choose very rewarding destinations and despite the fact that we were in the middle of Africa and could have been quite confused everywhere, and I mean everywhere, we went there was a representative of the Expert Africa team on hand to let us know that they knew where we were going even if we didn't!

We were assisted through visa points, on and off planes of all sizes, met at airports, ferried to our camps and hotels and always by charming, well-informed guides very patient with elderly people!" Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 5 on a Botswana safari