Africa: Reviews from our travellers

"Great holiday overall and we were awe struck by the landscape. There are a few things we would do differently such as:

Skip Windhoek
Stay closer to Etosha
Do Twyfelfontein from a different lodge
Do half day tour at Swakopmund

But these are details; it was a great great holiday and we hope to do Fish River Canyon and The Caprivi Strip on our next visit." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"Having been born in Africa and not visited it for over 14 years this trip has been a truly wonderful opportunity to rekindle my passion for this continent and has left me very homesick for the place where my heart with forever truly lie.

One Africa is in your blood or gets under your skin you will never cease to hanker for the open space, simplicity and true honest friendly welcome of the local people. The terrain and landscape is breathtaking, so variable and truely magical.

Suggestions for improvement:

Keep up the amazing work- it has been terrific to deal with a company that truely understands and is willing to advise and put together an itinerary hat is so perfectly suited to a clients requirements and desires. Thanks so much for making this trip everything | had hoped for and more!" Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 4 on a Namibia trip

"A great trip which exceeded our expectations.

We loved Malawi and the friendliness of the people. Also it was very interesting to see more of everyday life and the country on the transfers between lodges. Also the small numbers of tourists enhanced the experience.

Suggestions for improvements:

I think you deliver what you set out to; real expertise on Africa. Wilderness are very efficient and have excellent people, which makes the experience really special.

We will be travelling with you again; the question is where next?!." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 8 on a Malawi trip

"The animals at Etosha were inevitably he highlight of our trip but this doe not take away anything from the rst of our holiday. We stayed at some exceptional places and had some wonderful experiences. Namibia is a stunning country and we enjoyed every aspect to it.

This is the second time we have used Expert Africa and the Bradt guide and are sure to use them both again. Sabina was always helpful and responded well to all my quirky requests.

Suggestions for improvement:

This not an improvement but is something I would like EXpert to consider taking up.

This is that I think that the quality of the experience offered by NWR at, especially, Etosha is deteriorating. Although the individual staff are generally courteous and helpful I think they need to improve their service as they no longer offer a value for money experience compared with that offered by the lodges with which they are in competition. This is an issue for them but my main concern lies with their management of the Park.

Firstly, I was extrememly concerned by their seeming lack of an effective response to a fire in the Park when I was there at the beginning of October. I first noticed the fire in the morning as a very small column of smoke which by the end of the day had extended on at least a 5km front from the western edge of the park right up to the Pan. I was told this was not the first big fire recently and would like to be assured that the NWR was learning from its recent experiences in this regard.

Secondly, the absence of rangers on patrol within the Park meant that there was little policing going on. It suggested to me that the aminals of secondary importance and this might be symptomatic of a neglect of the environmental conservation aspect of managing the park and that sadly it is increasingly looked upon by government as solely a cash cow." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"Officialdom
With one exception, officialdom was always courteous and polite, if often annoyingly slow.

At the vet fence north of Sehitwa in Botswana, we pulled slowly up to the white stop line on the road in front of the barrier as there were no vehicles in front. A policeman appeared and without explanation demanded a "fine" of 200 pula. He said we should have stopped at a stop sign which was propped up on bricks just a few feet earlier. After a polite stand-off, we left without paying. On discussing this incident at our next lodge, we were told that whilst on the spot fines are legal in Botswana, the amount demanded had been irregular. The consensus of opinion was that this had been a try on.

Suggestions for improvements:

We have been very satisfied, hence our repeat business. Off the cuff, we haven't any suggestions.

Overall
There were occasions when a 4WD vehicle could have been useful (but we don't know the cost).
This was our annual treatment for the 'Africa virus' and it worked very well (actually our eleventh trip to sub-Sahara Africa). Where next?" Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"One of the best holiday we ever had!

Suggestions for improvements:

Can't really think of anything to be honest...." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"The trip was very successful." Read full review: 2 nights in Africa; 2 on a Malawi trip

"There were two things that I wanted to do in this holiday: walk and see as many leopards as possible. Well, I have done excellent walking safaris and I had some of the most beautiful sighting of leopards ever had.

Apart from this, the whole trip has been really great. I have loved all places, the staff has been everywhere so kind and the contact with nature and wild animals was just unbelievable. I couldn't imagine a better holiday!

Suggestions for improvements:

I have contacted Expert Africa twice: the first time for a fly and drive in Namibia and for this trip to Zambia. Both time I had a very good service and at the moment I can't think of any further suggestion." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 12 on a Zambia safari

"We had a fantastic honeymoon.

Very well organised trip and good advice about where to stay and length of time etc.

Would like to note that our transfer from zanzibar airport to shooting star never arrived, so we waited a while, and then had to take a taxi to the eco and culture tours office in stonetown, they check and stated they has us down to be picked up a month later, and didnt really appear very apologetic. We also then had to continue in the taxi ( with no air conditioning) - wasnt sure why they could not have taken us from there. Howevere they did turn up promptly for our other transfers. This was the only thing that went wromg, and meant we arrived at the back about 2 hours after we would have got there." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 7 on a Tanzania safari

"This was a fantastic holiday.

Botswana is expensive but it really has been worth the extra pennies. Being able to drive off road makes a huge difference over other destinations in Africa. Our wild dog encounters were outstanding - we fell in love with this country & cant wait to return.

The only negative comment was our fellow guests. we have never been anywhere where 95% of our fellow guests showed so little interest or knowledge of what they were viewing e.g no-one knew what a pangolin/aardvark was and showed no interest or excitement in the exceptionally lucky sightings and seemed more interested in the table decorations and the Wine.

Suggestions for improvement:

We cannot think of anything apart from the price!" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 13 on a Botswana safari