Africa: Reviews from our travellers

"We had a wonderful time. Our Expert Africa consultant, Maruska Adye, was excellent!!! Her initial response to our queries was the reason we choose this company to help plan our safari. Her advice was invaluable. I would highly recommend her, and Expert Africa, to anyone planning a safari.

Although there are several places that we would not return to, we had a great time experiencing them on this trip. Once you have visited some places, there is no reason to return. If we were fortunate enough to plan another safari I would certainly ask Maruska and Expert Africa for their help and guidance.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

[Ed: Referring to our electronic feedback form]

Like to be able to save the file to our PC or at least print it out as one document, including the full comments...not just the part visible on the form." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 13 on a Botswana safari

"North East Zanzibar good location for Matemwe but nothing else.

Onec you leave the main the road is terrible, so it it quite a process to get to the snorkelling.
Would stay in the South next time." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 4 on a Tanzania safari

"We had a great time and it was everything we expected that it would be. Ellie was so helpful in the booking process and answering my questions.

We loved Tanzania and we agreed that the safari here was better than other countries we had visited. Our driver from Asilia (Albert) was very friendly and knowledgeable. He was always prompt and the vehicle was always spotless.

We undertook a couple of trips with Wayo at the Serena Hotel at Lake Manyara:

1. The night drive into the park made us feel very special as we were the only people in the park on that night. I love the expectation of what you might see and this is what anyone who does this trip needs to bear in mind. It is highly unlikely that you will see Lions and whatever you do see unless you have a very good camera and are very quick at taking the picture you won't be able to do this. So it's best to just sit back and enjoy the trip. We saw different notcturnal animals - porcupine, genet, hippos feeding, bush babies etc.

2. Whilst we enjoyed the bike ride, there are a few factors that anyone doing this needs to think about. It was about 30km and whilst a lot of it is down hill the hot wetaher can take it out of you so take come water (we weren't offered any by Wayo, although our Driver gave us some) and plenty of sunscreen, a hat etc. The bikes are ok, but the seats are a bit worn and uncomfortable (we were talking to the guy who took us and he told us that they wanted to order the gel seats but had to get these form Europe). I had thought that the visit to the village was going to be about meeting people who lived and worked there - we actually visited a curio shop. We then biked into the park and down to the lake and then back up to the village where our driver met us. So overall we enjoyed it but a few things to consider for anyone else.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

I really can't think of any." Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 18 on a Tanzania safari

"I suspect our main problem is having been spoiled by too many Botswana holidays. Tanzania was quite beautiful; 2 of the camps were pretty well spot on as advertised but choosing Manze was our mistake and made against Liz's advice. Overall, the bird and game sightings were excellent, bearing in mind it should have been wet with lush vegetation. In effect the Selous and Ruaha were having a mini dry season and we benefitted greatly from it, albeit with some pretty savage humidity at times.

We were privileged in having Kwihala and Beho Beho totally to ourselves and were looked after royally in both camps. Both delivered top notch guiding and everything that there was to see, we saw. We were a little disappointed in the park rules for Ruaha and the impact that nearby shooting in Selous and poaching in both reserves is having on game and bird behaviour. Unusually I collected a small portfolio of photos of damaged animals. Coastal is a bit chaotic and BA really needs to review the standard and scheduling of catering on the return flight from Dar.

On balance we had yet another great holiday thanks to Liz and Expert Africa.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

In respect of this holiday, the information on Kwihala will need a major update after the move and improvements this spring and I suggest potential clients should be told of the off road and driving in the dark restrictions that are imposed in Ruaha.

Coastal's 'flexible' scheduling may also need to be considered for clients with tight schedules." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 12 on a Tanzania safari

"It was a great trip that I enjoyed completly. Nothing to complain about

All was good" Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari

"We booked this trip (unusually for us) at very short notice but EA was able to come up with an itinerary which totally matched our parameters and which worked out extremely well (including the potentially tricky issue of crossing the Zam/Zim border twi ce with different carriers on each side). We were very happy with the whole experience

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

As mentioned in feedback from previous trips we do think the website could be usefully updated more frequently. But we would congratulate you on the 2011 brochure which is a step up from the still very good 20010 version." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 10 on a Zimbabwe safari

"Excellent and I have already recommended Expert Africa to a number of friends planning similar trips.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

None" Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 6 on a Tanzania safari

"We both had a wonderful honeymoon - it surpassed expectations and every place we stayed was different but equally fantastic. It was an expensive trip but I felt it was worth every penny.

Liz in particular was amazing - right from advising and helping us put together an itinerary, to sorting our flights out in the Heathrow chaos and helping us when needed during our trip. Liz's achievement in swapping us from BA to Kenya Airways on 20 December (at virtually no extra cost), without any exaggeration, saved the whole trip.

I would whole-heartedly recommend Expert Africa to friends and family, and I'll be in touch when we visit Africa again!

Thanks again for all your hard work,

Neil and Jo

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Keep up the good work, everyone in Africa we met spoke very highly of Expert Africa." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 6 on a Tanzania safari

"As seasoned Africa travellers our remit was "to have christmas where it didn't feel like Christmas". On that score the trip was first class. We enjoyed a mix of game watching and education and were fortunate that the rains only arrived 1 or 2 days before we came back.

On the negative side, it would have been useful to have a rough idea of the time journeys migt take rather than the distance - which means very little in Africa. We did find the trip and Namibia quite expensive, perhaps a reflection both on the weak pound but also how Africa is increasing in popularity." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"great time had by all. would recommend.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
no" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 14 on a Tanzania safari