Africa: Reviews from our travellers

"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

"We had a very nice holiday in Namibia. Thank you Maruska, Angela and Gwyneth. Actually, two people dealt equaly with the trip, Maruska and Angela Griffin.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

This is not a suggestion, just a comment.

The luxury rooms at Olive Grove are not all of them bigger than the standard rooms. Some are, the ones at the second floor. There are two or three by the pool, and even though they are called "luxury rooms" they are small, very small for a couple with a baby sleeping in a cot. Nantie was absolutely kind and generous offering us the executive suite for our two first nights, as their other luxury rooms were occupied." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"Our trip was exceptional! We have been to Africa three times before but never to the Okovango Delta or Capetown and never with Expert Africa. We wouldn't change one day of it! Every part of it was exceptional from the Falls to the safaris to the wine tasting in Capetown.

We agreed that one of the things that made it truely exceptional was the construction of the trip. What I mean by that, is that we got to do and see exactly what we wanted, so it was a highly individualized tour, but we had Expert Africa there every step of the way to make sure that every detail was taken care of and taken care of professionally.

When we climbed on our flight from the US to fly ten thousand miles to another continent and begin a unique adventure, we did not know if everything would go as smoothly as promised or not. It went better, every step of the way, then we could have imagined. Every flight was on time, every camp was expecting us and treated us like royalty, even our side trips to Gaborone and Capetown went without a hitch. And through it all we were able to travel on our own schedule without being hampered by being part of a larger tour group. We would recommend Expert Africa to anyone!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No suggestions really. While Maruska was away, her sister helped, Saskia, us. She was as professional and helpful as Maruska. They were both great!" Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 5 on a Botswana safari

"The trip was amazing and we are already discussing another one. From the organisation pre-trip to details during the trip, everything went perfectly.

I much appreciated Lucy, she was always quick to respond and answer questions.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Not really, I was extremely satisfied with everything and we wouldn't hesitate to work with you again.

Perhaps one small thing, it would have been more convenient if you offered travel insurance for residents of countries outside of the UK. Since we live in France and the US, it took us alot of time to look at the different providers in each country and eventually purchase the insurance." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari

"We had a wonderful second trip to Namibia. Our first focused on the scenery, and our second focused on Etosha. Our itinerary was: Waterberg-Mushara-Halali-Okaukeujo-Ongava-Etendeka-Grootberg-Okonjima. We loved it!

We've already recommended Expert Africa to our friends, and we'd happily book with Expert Africa for our next trip." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"We shall return to Botswana without any doubt! A wonderful overall experience!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Dissuade people from booking their own flights (which we did!) as this can only cause priblems synchronising dates when flight details change." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari

"The arrangements for our trip went very smoothly. it was great to have all the transfers organised and everything handled for us. The mixture of Zanzibar stone Town and the beach was just right, maybe an extra day at the beach would have been perfect.

Selous was magnificent, Impala really was faultless, the guides very good and the team very friendly and attentive. Lake Manze was an interesting contrsat, liked the sociability and the lack of electricity and the enthusiasm of Sarah the manager.The guides I didnt find quite so good but still fine.

The only thing I would have done differently is maybe go to a different area for the second half of the trip in Selous.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Maybe a little help with the links to possible sources of info re accomodation in Dar would have been helpful to us prior to our main trip with you but realise this may be alot to expect!" Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 5 on a Tanzania safari

"Met all our expectations,and more!" Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 4 on a Zambia safari

"A great trip! We were on 4 rivers: the Kavango, the Okovango, the Kwando and the Zambezi and stayed in a number of island lodges (as well as Okonjima and Windhoek). The variety was remarkable. Some of the road journeys were long but by and large the travel was good and we'd recommend self-drive because you have so much more contact with people. The border posts were a world unto themselves - lovely but leave plenty of time.

Given that we were passing through three countries, and had quite precise pickup times, it would have been helpful to have been told about the time changes. We worked out the ones between countries but were caught out by the fact that the eastern end of the Caprivi Strip is not on Namibian time!

The pick up at Kasane (n Botwswana) was not straightforward. We'd been told we would be picked up by our last lodge, Islands of Siankaba. But they don't pick up outside Zambia. A firm called Bushtracks does all the pick ups (and does not have a board with your name on it). It was quite by chance that we managed to find them. That said, the water crossing (at the crossroads of Zimbabwe/Botwswana/Zambia/Nambiia) was wild!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Another great trip with Expert Africa. So thank you once again!
It would have been good to know about 'Caprivi time' and to have been given the name of the company doing the pick up at Kasane.

Thank you very much!!" Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 6 on a Namibia trip

"Trip as a whole lived up to expectations.

We had been a little worried about potential problems with the political situation.

At no time did we receive any thing but helpfulness and courtsey with our dealings with officials

Go now to Zimbabwe before it gets too busy! You will not regret it

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

I cannot think of anything at the moment" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 13 on a Zimbabwe safari