Africa: Reviews from our travellers

"This trip was a fantastic experience and everything we hoped it would be. Aside from all the normal sights you would go to Namibia for, this was a very easy, convenient and hassle free holiday.

Everywhere we went we almost unfailingly experienced friendly, smiling people happy to help us (staff or others). The advice and assistance in planning the trip from Expert Africa was very good." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"The above rating would have been Very Satisfactory had it not been for the poor performance of Air Seychelles. Expert Africa (Lucy) was very helpful and efficient and the organisation of our trip was excellent.

I would not, however, recommend the Hotel l'Ocean. For your information, one of the other tour operators from whom we also secured a quote and with whom we had some discussion, did not recommend this hotel and suggested as alternatives Patatran Village and Le Domaine which were only marginally more expensive.

The advice on the choice of Islands and the duration of stay on each one was excellent." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 3 on a Seychelles holiday

"Your organisation was excellent. The academic part exceeded expectation, allowing us to make some very useful contacts .

The lack of variety of wildlife in Etosha was disappointing but expected ,The exposure to the cats at other camps was compensation

The stay at Huab was a welcome rest.

in these weather conditions a low wheel based 2 wheeled drive car was not adequate and we were very lucky not to have caused major uninsured damage to the car.

We cant thank your people in Windhoek enough for helping us to find accommodation when we had to leave Erindi early before our flight home.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

It would be useful to have advance info: about the weather and suitability of the car booked for the camps to be visited

Advise clients to have local sim cards for their phones if necessary, available at the Airport." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 7 on a Namibia trip

"Namibia was without doubt one of the best trips we've ever been on!

It's a beautiful country filled with friendly helpful people, great accomodation, good food, and incredible wildlife. Even better it's not rampacked with tourists so it feels like you have it to yourself.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Halili was a very good camp in Etosha - it might be worth highlighting this to people who want somewhere a bit quieter than Okaukeujo which was a bit Overland Tour-tastic (understandably)" Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"As mentioned previously, some requests to Mason's Travel didn't get implimented - their internal communication leaves a lot to be desired.

The Seychelles are a dream destination, although the romantic this or the romantic that does get a wee bit overpowering at times.

There are some visitors who go for the exceptional birds and other wildlife, as well as the snorkelling etc. and the Seychelles fully lived up to those expectations.

The suggestions made by Lucy Copson on choice of island to visit and where to stay were spot on." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 10 on a Seychelles holiday

"As first-time safari travellers with 2 young kids, there were a few nerves as we stepped off the plane in Johannesburg, but all the detailed planning worked beautifully and the whole trip was executed incredibly well." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari

"We had an amazing adventure through SA, Namibia and Botswana. Being independent Kiwis, we were keen on arranging our own itinerary and travelling under our own steam, preferably off the beaten tourist track. Namibia appealed, and once I found your amazing website I was hooked. In a former life I was a travel agent here in NZ, but most trips were packaged and rigid, and that was not what we wanted. Having worked out roughly where we wanted to go, I emailed your office, who then referred me to your Namibian expert who (unbelievably!) actually lived in NZ.

Maruska's in depth knowledge of Namibia and her recommendations really made the trip work. Travelling distances were good, and although we travelled over 7,500 km in 5 weeks, it was very do-able. Maruska listened to our preferences and we were delighted with her choice of accom. We enjoyed having the freedom of travelling in the 4WDs to suit ourselves. I fully expected the odd hiccup when we finished with the vehicles and then were reliant on a complicated series of transfers, boats, small planes with no set schedule, more transfers etc, but it all went according to plan and worked like clockwork.

Full marks to Maruska and your agents in Namibia and Botswana for attention to detail and for putting it all together.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Just keep doing what you do so well. Your website is just fantastic, great to read other peoples reviews, which is why I've spent all day putting up all this feedback (Sorry it took so long!).

The Brandt guides to Namibia and Botswana are actually in our local library, and it was from there I picked up the website in the first place. Our copies are well worn from the trip, and there was a bit of a bun fight over who kept them. Maybe one per couple would be good, or at least one per vehicle? The Namibia maps were great and Maruska had highlighted each of our stops which was also great attention to detail. We were very happy with the service we received from Maruska - she's a gem - look after her!" Read full review: 33 nights in Africa; 19 on a Namibia trip

"In retrospect, it probably was a mistake to go at this time of year. Our timing was dictated by the fact that we were already in Africa.

However, the rainy season meant that the animals were widely dispersed, requiring long rides in the vehicles to see handfuls of animals. And areas of the concessions were inaccessible owing to high water. Also the tall grass meant that animals were hard to see. There were magic moments during our week, but not enough of them to justify the considerable expense.

Our dissatisfactions with the safari have nothing to do with Expert Africa itself." Read full review: 7 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"We enjoyed this trip thoroughly, Namibia is an amazing country.

Overall, we were also very happy with the itinerary, which was largely advised by Tracy: it gave us a good view of the diversity but kept distances reasonable so that it would suit a 2-year old.

We were unlucky that our flight out was cancelled so we arrived late and exhausted at Intu Afrika, meaning we missed out on the game drive where we would have seen lions.
Highlights of the trip:
- the overall experience at Wolwedans
- climbing Dune 45 and Dead Vlei, and climbing Dune 45 again the following day, with no one else around
- Sandfields and generally our time in Swakopmund, relaxing and eating at the Jetty" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 9 on a Namibia trip

"Excellent" Read full review: 7 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari