Africa: Reviews from our travellers

"Overall, our trip was fantastic. I'd definitely recommend a traveller do the following:
1. Go out into the sea - either on an organised snorkel or dive trip. We had a great time diving out there! It was our first time, and we saw beautiful things - like turtles!
2. Go on a spice tour - even if you're not interested in food or spices.
3. Walk around Stonetown, get lost & try haggling!
4. Have sunset drinks at either Africa House Hotel or the Serena Inn - although get there in time to get a good seat!
5. Go to the night market at Fordhani Gardens - even if you don't want to eat, just breathe in the atmosphere.

Things we'd wished we had known:
1. Taken smaller $ notes with us - everybody expected a tip! We don't mind tipping, but when you've only got £20 notes with you, it can become quite annoying/expensive!
2. One night in Stonetown is sufficient, just get there early and you'll be surprised how much you can pack in. We did two nights there, but we did our spice tour from Stonetown rather than from the NE coast, so in the end it was OK.
3. Going for drinks/dinner at 235 Hurumzi was a waste of time/money - there are much better places for food/drink/atmosphere!
4. Make sure you have enough space in your luggage for all the lovely stuff you will want to buy in Stonetown!" Read full review: 8 nights in Africa;

"We thoroughly enjoyed our holiday and both feel that it is one of the best holidays that we have taken in years.

The trip was very well organised and Sabina and Gwynneth were both helpful in providing information and responding to my questions.

The written information that we received prior to departure seemed a little over the top. However, we read through it diligently and followed Expert Africa's advice on most things. We felt well prepared and our trip was trouble free.

We'd been planning to go to Namibia for many years, after a previous trip was cancelled at the last minute. We thought that this trip would cross Namibia off our "list". The trip was so fantastic that Namibia remains firmly on the "list" and we are keen to return to explore other parts of the country.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

I feel that it would be useful if Expert Africa could give some more guidance as to the petrol costs (or number of litres) associated with each trip. We knew that we would have to pay for petrol in cash and may not have access to ATMs for much of the trip. I made my own estimate that our petrol costs should be somewhere betwen NAD 1,100-1,400. We came in at just under NAD 1,000, so I wasn't too far off.

I realise that this may difficult as it will depend upon the type of car hired and to what extend people extend their mileage by deviating from the primary route." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 8 on a Namibia trip

"We had no previous experience of Botswana and Expert Africa spent considerable time advising us on a suitable selection and variety of camps. We were delighted with the variation of experience in the dry area around Chitabe, the delta at Kwetsani and the Linyanti swamps at Dumatau.

Before our trip we poorly understood that rains in Botswana were out of sync with the floods coming from Angola several months later.

The dry season was a great time to see the game, concentrated around the remaining floods in the delta and in Linyanti swamps.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Everything was superb and we will recommend Botswana and Expert Africa to all or friends. We plan to return next year." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"Overall, our expectations were exceeded on most fronts. There are 2 minor issues, which bothered us:

1. Tipping. It seemed odd to us to pay between 400-700 dollars pp and day and then be expected to pay another 5-15$ pp and day for the guide and something for the staff.

Of course, everybody emphasizes one does not HAVE to tip, but that does not really make all that much sense. Either tipping is common and therefore expected, i.e. part of a guide's salary - in which case those 5-15$ should simply be added to the bill as a matter of course, and from the outset - or it is not, in which case the practice should be rather discouraged.

2. The song & dance routine upon arrival at the Ker & Downey camps. This is obviously not a serious issue, but rather by the by.

We cringed a little each time we were welcomed by the camp's staff with a welcoming sond and dance routine . Not because the singing and dancing was bad (it wasn't bad at all), but it was a bit too much for us. And we were far from the only one guests who felt that way.
Something for the camps to think about maybe." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari

"As usual, the whole process, from deliberating on which trip to take, to arriving home, was stress free. Ellie Dunkels was extremely helpful in organizing the trip, contacting Tafifka etc. Personally, one of the reasons I am a repeat customer is due to the extremely professional, knowledgeable, yet very approachable staff, would love to come to staff Xmas party!

Tafika, as before was great. Many thanks to Heather, Bryan, John, Carol. Rhona, Stephen, Alex, Clever, Special, Laurence's, Godfrey, and all the other staff, who work so hard, and make it all seem so effortless.

Fantastic trip, cheers!!" Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 9 on a Zambia safari

"The trip was a dream come true. Everything met or exceeded our expectations. The recommendations [with one minor exception] were spot on and made this one of the best holidays that we have taken.

If I am nit-picking I would say that the hotel in Dar was the wrong choice for what we needed i.e. an evening in Dar before an early flight to the UK. Somewhere in the city centre would have saved us nearly 2 hours of rush hour traffic for a hotel that we barely saw in daylight. Even so it was an experience seeing what was beeing sold as we sat in the traffic so it wasn't all bad.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Just think about hotels nearer the airport!" Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 6 on a Tanzania safari

"Much more than "very satisfactory". Every aspect of the holiday exceeded our high expectations." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 5 on a Tanzania safari

"I have nothing but wonderful memories and a couple of thousands photos to keep about my time in Botswana.

There is still so much I want to see and I am already planning the next trip. Yes, it is more expensive than other countries but it is worth it. I have fallen in love with the country and I cannot wait to return.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Flights directly into Botswana." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 3 on a Botswana safari

"The trip as a whole was satisfactory.

The beginning didn't start off well. In our packet of papers sent by Expert Africa, they didn't give us a local phone number to reach the tour company. They gave us one that didn't work and it was an office number even though the tour company has an emergency cell phone. Thus when we missed our connecting flight, we weren't able to get in touch with the tour company.

Then the hotel on the packet was the wrong hotel so when we took a taxi to the hotel listed on the packet, it was not the right one. We ended up getting to our right hotel at midnight. Also on the packet it didn't tell us what the tour company's name was so nobody knew what tour group we were with.

The first guide was more of a driver and a person that could identify things. But didn't give us much more. Overall, if I had more time, I would have preferred to book things myself instead of going through Expert Africa. I don't think we needed to go to any of the smaller parks except for Ngorongoro and then on to the Serengeti. The way it was arranged, we were getting to the smaller parks in the middle of the afternoon when all the animals were asleep and hidden." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 6 on a Tanzania safari

"Everything went like clockwork. Places were as described or better It really was a perfect holiday.

Impressed how the staff Liz and Claire put up with all the initial date changes and put together aholiday that suited us perfectly Ruaha gave us a wave of wildlife and an authentic experience which was wonderful, Sand Rivers was luxury but stunning experiences and lovely company.

I don't understand why there aren't more people at Kwihala as it was so great I can only encourage you to talk about it more to clients because if we could like it as much only differently as Sand Rivers then I think others would too and there is so much wildlife there and no other jeeps, its a special place, abit more company in the evening would have nade it perfect.

Thank you we will be back to talk about Namibia next year

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Not really it worked for us as it is" Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 7 on a Tanzania safari