Africa: Reviews from our travellers

"The holiday of a life time. the trip was wonderful and even though our itinary was quite complex it all went like clockwork. No hitches . Lucy put together a great programme abd gave us some very valuable advice ." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari

"It was amazing !!! 6 weeks travelling through Africa with a 6 year old child is not everyone's ideal holiday but due to the perfect recommendations given by Maruska and the closeness with which she worked with my husband ensured we had a relatively hassle free, stress free, safe journey.

The travel book was also a great guide as it was up to date and relevant

We would (and have ) fully recommended your company and specifically Maruska to everyone we met !

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
None that we can think of" Read full review: 46 nights in Africa; 20 on a Namibia trip

"You listened carefully to what we wanted and did your best to help find it. Very well organised - we would certainly recommend Expert Africa to others. We wouldn't have changed anything fundamental about the trip.

The marked up map and advice book was helpful.

Not sure about the advice to collect our luggage and then check it in again at Jo'Burg Airport when changing planes, however. We didn't do this, and had no problems. It could take ages if you had to go through immigration and then back again.

One word of warning - we started on the Waterkloof Trail in the Namib- Naukluft Park and had to turn back afternoon as it was obvious we were not going to complete it safely before dark. We should have started earlier, but hadn't allowed for the fact that the trail is very poorly marked (and the mapthey give you is lousy) and we took wrong turns several times. I guess the rains have washed markers off. It also slowed us down crossing and recrossing the river - I reckon over 50 times there and back - slow, even when each individual crossing is easy. We met another pair of hikers who had had similar problems. Very frustrating - it's a beautiful hike.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No" Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 21 on a Namibia trip

"We thought this an incredible holiday.

The accommodation you booked for us was all good and the advice you gave was excellent. If we were doing it again, we might not visit Luderitz and probably would not visit Erongo. That apart it met or exceeded our expectations. We saw incredible scenery, lots of wildlife and interesting geology.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

We thought your service was pretty exceptional. We met one of your staff in Luderitz and again at Sinclair - she was seeing some of the hotels and lodges and had clearly seen quite a bit of Namibia. We thought it excellent that you were really keeping in touch with the locations you recommended." Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 19 on a Namibia trip

"This was a trip of a lifetime, and it was even better than I imagined it would be. The arrangements worked perfectly and we can't wait to go back!!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
The advice was very helpful and the trip was fabulous. It would have helped to be reminded that it gets cold throughout the evening and night, so we could have used more warm clothing not just in the AM but for the evening and sleeping!" Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"Trip was great. I'm still trying to reduce my 2,500 images to something more manageable!

Game viewing was great and the cold mornings and evenings meant that mossies were less of a problem than we expected. The two Wilderness camps (Duma Tau and Litlle Vumburu) were far better than Chobe Safari Lodge for atmosphere and the 'safari experience' as well as the food and the atention to detail." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"A fantastic experience with excellent service and hospitality everywhere we went. We couldn't really hope to have had a better trip.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Very comprehensive feedback which was good.

An easy company to book with, everything was delivered as advertised or better than expected" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"Exceeded expectations

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

The trip was coordinated well and all went smooth" Read full review: 4 nights in Africa; 4 on a Botswana safari

"We enjoyed visiting two new locations and thought both the camps were excellent. We were treated to (too much) delicious food and excellent guiding. The landscape at both locations was very beautiful. If we had any disappointment it was that the animal action was a bit predictable, in as much as we didn't have too much of the excitement of predator-prey interations we have experienced on some previous trips.

In Selous at least this was probably partly due to the still abundant water supply and lush vegetation, making some of the game a bit elusive. We also noticed that quite a few of the animals in both locations were still very wary of any vehicles. We were really pleased that we chose Oyster Bay for our last night - it was a delightful and gourmet end to the trip.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Not really - you already do a pretty good job and we recommend you to anyone who want a good introduction to or advice on travelling in sub-Saharan Africa." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 9 on a Tanzania safari

"Over all this holiday was a brilliant trip. The journeys between locations especially in the early part of the holiday were long hard and dusty. However, this was was more than compensated by the beautiful and varied landscapes we passed through and the wildlife we eccountered on the way. Without dout every destination made every bumpy mile well worth it. We would reccommend this itinerary in every respect. The locations, the accommodation and partiularly the direction in which the trip was planned. The harder drives were better handled early on in the holiday and of course the climax being Etosha. The other observation bourn out in my comments regarding the service is the friendliness of all the people we met, so many nice people where ever we went.

If you enjoy astounding landscapes
If you enjoy peace and tranquillity
If you enjoy wildlife (and sometime sharing it)
Namibia is for you.

What you won't get is anything contrived, everything so natural and so sympathetic to the surrounings. Nor will get is a chance to see the full Luna eclipse in the magnificent African sky from the veranda at Frans Indongo Lodge as we were so lucky enough to experience. (not unless you live another hundred years)

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

You recommended bags to put around the cases to help avoid the dust. (this is not a criticism) We duly did this. This pesented a problem of its own in that the dust was still there and we still got dusty reaching in the back of the car. The tip is, as were learnt from the manager at Desert Homestead, is to leave the back side windows of the pod open just a little. This creates a through draught taking a lot of the dust back out. This did not solve the problem but cut the dust down by say 70%.

We dispensed with the bags which were by now all split and inside out anyway and patted down the cases to rid the last of the dust at each accommodation stop. As the holiday went on the problem lessened as we encountered more and more tarred roads anyway. Just a thought." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip