Africa: Reviews from our travellers

"a lot of fun

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

none but many thanks for all the help." Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 4 on a Tanzania safari

"I had such high hopes of this trip, I've spent all my life wanting to go on safari. In every measure it lived up to my hopes - and exceeded them.

I cannot wait to visit Africa again, and will certainly do so with Expert Africa.

You were super helpful in helping with planning and guidance and it all worked so well.

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We only had one glitch, and it was very small. When we arrived back at Dar airport from Selous Impala, our driver was not there to meet us. It turned out that he was waiting at Terminal 2 and we were at Terminal 1. We managed to find out the phone number and borrow a phone and all was sorted out.
If the telephone number of the transfer company, Kearsley, had been on the form somewhere, this would have helped. But this is only the smallest quibble in what was a most wonderful holiday.

I'm running out of superlatives!

Thank you Eleanor and your team" Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 12 on a Tanzania safari

"An absolutely amazing experience throughout, the memories of which will last us a lifetime.

Expert Africa were very patient and helpful in working with us to arrange our perfect honeymoon!

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We were more than happy with the service Expert Africa provided" Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 7 on a Zanzibar holiday

"It has been really a wonderful experience, in terms of places visited, people met and service received, so I want to thank you for the assistance received during this holiday, and also all the staff of Norman Carr Safaris, especially to the ones not mentioned in my feedback that did a great job behind the scenes!

For sure I will suggest Expert Africa as tour operator to everyone who will ask me about Zambia!" Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 11 on a Zambia safari

"This was an adventure, not a holiday. 3000km of amazement.

The distances and the challenges of the roads were greater than I expected. The sheer scale of the country amazed us. The contrast between so many different areas meant that it was like having several different holidays in one. We have travelled in Kenya and South Africa in the past and apart from Windhoek, felt completely safe.

Kayaking with Cape fur seals, the balloon flight and tracking leopards were really top ten experiences. Tracking the desert adapted elephants was also very special.

Etosha was difficult to get a handle on because it is so vast. We had a fabulous leopard sighting where a big male leopard had taken to some shade under the solar panel that was powering the water pump for the waterhole. It eventually rolled off the platform and started stalking an impala but did not complete the attack and then we had to leave.

Lodge staff were very helpful especially at Doro Nawas and Okonjima. I cannot recommend Okonjima enough. It was fabulous.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

You could be a little more honest about the distances involved. If I had been fully aware of the 300km I was going to do I might I have tweaked it a bit. In truth, I cannot complain and will be happy to use you again for our next trip to Tanzania in 2012........!" Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"This is the first time I have ever arranged a trip using an agency. Although I have worked regularly in Tanzania over the last decade, I was not confident I knew enough about the holiday side and would be able to arrange the necessary transfers.

I was recommended the Bradt guide to Tanzania and noted that Chris acknowldeged his involvement with Expert Africa and sort of liked that. So got in touch and was very ably advised by Liz Wollen. I was late in doing the bookings but she guided me very competently through the available choices and I cannot fault her recommendations. I

n the event, on several of the bookings, she was able to get us better deals than we thought was possible at the outset. When she left on an assignment to Africa, Ellie seamlessly took over the arrangements. It was a pleasure working with the team and everything, without exception, went as planned.

Not a whinge but a suggestion. The pickup times on the transfers by road were not specified and it wasn't always easy to find a contact at the transfer company who was fully up to speed. Everyone now has mobiles in Africa - when I visit farmers in remote parts, I make the arrangements by mobile - so why not recommend that your clients buy a local sim card and send the details to you. You can then advise hotels, transfer companies etc so they can text collection times and other last minute info as needed.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

It may be me being thick but I lost a couple of versions of this form as I was completing it. You guys are doing a great job." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 6 on a Zanzibar holiday

"A very good trip with first class lodges selected by Expert Africa spaced at "do-able" distances. Local knowledge in choosing the overnight stops was much appreciated. The vouchers worked well. All the staff at the lodges were very welcoming, "old fashioned service" perhaps resulting from a slower pace of life.

I prepared a set of detailed route instructions and took a basic handheld GPS that does not have maps. Before leaving UK I matched the paper map with Google Earth for latitude and longitude at road junctions. Preparation was time consuming but worth the effort for peace of mind to ensure we were at the correct junctions and going in the right direction to the next. This was important when road signs only show the road number.

We detoured off the route to Henties Bay for lunch from Uis Mine instead of going directly to Omaruru and Erongo Lodge, and to the dinosaur footprints near Kalkfeld. The road from the dinosaur footprints, D2414, goes through Erindi game reserve - sign in and out at gates, but no charge.

Total distance was planned at 2200 km but we drove a little over 2600 km. Definitely a "must do again" adventure.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

I can't think of anything at the moment" Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 8 on a Namibia trip

"we were very pleased with how smoothly the entire trip went, especially as this was Africa and we were prepared for the unexpected.


We were surprised at the quality of the service with SA airlines and the only small criticism was that we were not met very efficiently at Lilongwe airport on our arrival from Mfui. I went chasing around the airport asking for Robin Popes representatives to be told by actual driver that someone should have told us where he was. But after this hiccough, he was very amenable and indeed drove us perfectly to Pumulani. So, perhaps, this was just a misunderstanding at the airport.

Overall, we had a wonderful time, thank you" Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 5 on a Zambia safari

"This was our first experience of Africa - and we would definitely like to return. All four of us (including a 15 & 17 yr old) really enjoyed it, and felt we had got a flavour of what Namibia was about - the animals - and the people.

Some handy hints - tips will be expected in various places - from a voluntary 'departiing' tip for the staff box at lodges, to a tip for 'guarding your car' every time you stop at the supermarket or to have a meal, to a tip for washing your car overnight when you didn't expect it! It would be helpful for Expert Africa to tell travellers what is the going rate for tipping - we worked out our own ratio in the end - more for staff at lodges, smaller amount for car guards etc.

It was initially a shock to come across 'car guards', as not used to this concept in UK. We also ended up giving juice and pencils as well as some money to some young boys who helped us unsolicited to change a tyre in the middle of nowhere. Some people in the country areas have very little.

Timings - Think in advance about when you are likely to arrive at lodges - some of the distances you will travel between them are pretty big - and you can't rush on gravel roads. If you are going to arrive just before dusk, you may not be able to do that walk in that lodgeyou had planned - unless you are there for 2 nights - which we found would have been preferable in most lodges.

Temperature - We noticed the drop in night-time/morning temperatures in Western Etosha - may just have been a fluke of the weather at that time - but it can be PRETTY chilly eating your breakfast at 6.00 a.m. in an outside restaurant - if you are planning to go looking for animals early which most people do whilst in Etosha, so you do need a jumper or fleece." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"we have just returned from our trip to Africa and wanted to say a huge THANK YOU to Expert Africa for the brilliant advice and organisation that went into the trip. We had the most amazing time." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 10 on a Namibia trip