Africa: Reviews from our travellers

"We highly recommend a trip with Expert Africa to Botswana.

The whole experience was fantastic and we have no negative comments to make on anything we did. The planning and arrangements for the trip went smoothly and we were very happy with the mix of camps we visited and the varied scenary.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

This was our second trip with Expert Africa and we can't wait to go again. Both the trip organisation/execution and the service was exemplary." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 13 on a Botswana safari

"We really enjoyed our trip and all aspects (except those listed in the box below) went smoothly. The folder that contained all the vouchers and key information together was useful.

With hindsight we should have booked accommodation with AC throughout the trip because if you go out early it is valuable to have somewhere cool enough to rest in the heat of the day before going out again in the afternoon. We probably should have worked this out for ourselves but I hadn't expected to want to be in much at midday and had not appreciated how hot tents can get!

We would definitely recommend Namibia at this time of year to any wildlife enthusiasts and your advice helped us to make the most of it." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"We had a wonderful trip. We got what we came for, a lot of wild animals, great nature and an exciting holiday.

A beautiful country with friendly people. It was very easy driving on good roads and no problems occured.

We are very excited and will certainly make another trip in the future.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

When we entered Etosha, we saw that big areas were burnt down. This probably affected the wildlife, and we would want to have some info about these conditions in forehand, if possible of course." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 10 on a Namibia trip

"When the game is as good as it was in Hwange, the waterhole at Kanga so enthralling, the scenery at Mana Pools so beautiful and the company so much fun it's easy to forget the negatives.

In overall terms we had a really good time." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 9 on a Zimbabwe safari

"The only reason for the rating of Fairly Satisfactory is the flights on SAA and the problem with Mack Air aircraft, otherwise everything was very satisfactory indeed.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Not really; we will be happy to use the Company again when the time comes." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"The poor weather was a problem... rain every day and three days constant rain.

On arrival we were asked to exchange our Expert Africa vouchers for Mason vouchers. Checking these after an overnight flight was difficult but Their vouchers were incorrect. It was a considerable problem to find the first hotel voucher from Mason's was for bed and breakfast and they were not able to sort this out untill after the weekend. it caused considerable problem with the hotel.

Though there was a Masons representative at each point of travel their main interest was to collect vouchers. They came across as complacent and at times rude. Having a voucher for a transfer of two hundred yards from the jetty to hotel in la Digue underlied the farce of it all.

The transfer from Praslin airport to the hotel could have been ten minutes. We were made to wait some forty five minutes and then the bus did a tour of the island dropping off different guests at different hotels.

There was no one to meet us on arrival at mahe. It was in the middle of a storm and the jetty has no shelter. Cases are just stacked up to get soaked in the rain. It was more like local bus travel in Africa.

Overall we felt the Seychelles was an over rated destination.... one or two fabulous beaches but little more. We felt it was inappropriately expensive. Most local people were not friendly. Indeed it was a revelation that workers from Mauritius or Nepal were the most helpful and welcoming.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

I went on the visit Uganda after Mahe. You need to seriously consider expanding their. The people are realy welcoming, facilites well above average. The scenery is stunning and the game has very substantialy recovered." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 3 on a Seychelles holiday

"As covered on previous pages" Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 12 on a Zimbabwe safari

"This was the most expensive holiday that myself and my friends had ever undertaken. Therefore, it was very annoying the the first day (of what was a short holiday) was ruined for all of us by a simple ticketing error.

This got the experience off to a very bad start. Once we were all in Botswana, everthing (apart from Grey Matters) met or exceeded our expectations." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"Brilliant experience well organised throughout and entirely as expected.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

none" Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"Good. The 3 camps were chosen to give us three different environments which worked well.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

It proved almost impossible to re-confirm our return flight with Lufthansa from Frankfurt to Edinburgh. Please bear in mind that not everybody flies through London.

The information we were given about our private charter flights bore little relation to the actuality." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 10 on a Namibia trip