Africa: Reviews from our travellers

"We had a fabulous time. The camps were both excellent and the safaris were the best part of the trip, but chilling out at Unguja Lodge was also great.

Zanzibar Coffee House was perfectly acceptable, but a bit of a step down in terms of quality/comfort after Unguja Lodge and Selous Impala Camp.

All the internal flights and connections worked out perfectly, making the travelling stress-free.

Suggestions for improvemwents:

Perhaps you should mention in the pre-trip letter that return BA flights can be confirmed , seats booked and boarding passes printed 24 hours in advance at internet cafes in Stone Town, (and presumably at camps with computer access and a printer if they're willing).
Also include water shoes in your list of what to pack, especially for Zanzibar." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 7 on a Tanzania safari

"Would not hestate to recommend the team.

Thank you.

Suggestions for improvements:

Keep doing what you do." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 12 on a Tanzania safari

"A big 'thank you' to Expert Africa and Ellie in particular, for all the help and advice given during the planning stage of our first, but hopefully not our last, trip to Africa. The experience surpassed all our expectations and ticked every box and more!

The choice of camps, Impala, Manze and Mdonya met our criteria exactly and, for us, choosing them in that order was perfect. Impala was a great introduction to the 'safari experience' and by the time we reached Mdonya we felt like seasoned travellers. In our opinion three or four days in each camp is a must if you are to get the most out of the activities and you get the opportunity to develop a relationship with the guides and drivers.

All the travel arrangements went like clockwork, with the only exception being when we returned to Heathrow Terminal 5. Having landed, the planes navigational system failed within sight of the buildings and we sat for 20 mins, forty yards from the stand! Welcome home! We had to smile.

Undeterred by that, I'm already leafing through the new brochure - we are definately hooked and have some amazing photos of lions, leopards, cheetah, elephants, giraffe, cape buffalo, crocs, hippos, wild dogs, dik diks etc, etc but no other tourists! They were rarely sighted and we felt as if we had the Selous and Ruaha to ourselves.

We didn't go with any preconsieved ideas or a check list of 'must sees'. Every sighting was a bonus and special. I was just as excited at seeing my last giraffe as I was seeing my first, and we saw hundreds!

There will always be people like us wanting something that bit different and off the main tourist trail. Your expertise really pays dividends and we will have no hesitation in recommending your services to our friends.

Well done Expert Africa. Asante sana.

Suggestions for improvements:

I'm sure you're always on the look out for another 'special' camp. Keep up the good work." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 12 on a Tanzania safari

"We have had a wonderful holiday" Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"We felt Namibia was a wonderful country with very friendly and pleasant people everywhere we went. We just loved the countryside, the solitude and the wildlife.

Luckily Gwynneth suggested we upgrade from a basic car to a Nissan Xtrail. We would suggest that everyone does this as some of the roads (for example up to Corona Guest Farm) would have been challenging without the extra ground clearance.In addition there is no way that the camping gear we hired would have fitted into a small hatchback! Next time we would consider a full 4x4 as anyone who is in the least adventurous will find that even with the Xtrail there are a few places that are off-limits.

Camping gear was hired from Camping Hire Namibia in Windhoek. This was reasonably priced and included everything we needed but was rather shabby including horrible old plastic mugs.

We would thoroughly recommend our mix of a couple of camping nights followed by a luxury lodge - the best of both worlds!

We loved our first taste of Africa and would thoroughly recommend Expert Africa for their knowledge and experience.

Your information booklet sent to us on our booking was extremely informative and useful especially the tips on driving and car hire." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 7 on a Namibia trip

"We loved our trip! Although I had a pretty good idea of the camps I wanted to stay at, Susannah helped me to select Tau Pan for the desert camp, and I felt that she would have been willing to spend all the time required if I had needed more help with the rest of the trip. All transfers were seamless; we felt that all we had to do was sit back and enjoy, which we did! We can't wait to go back.

I have to put in a plug for the Kwando camps. We did not stay at any Wilderness camps, so we don't have a comparison, but at all three Kwando camps, the guides were enthusiastic, kind and so knowledgeable. They not only knew the mammals, they knew every bird and plant, and would spend as much time as we wanted looking at everything. We also loved having the trackers with us and felt they added a lot to the experience. The trackers and guides work incredibly hard and put in very long hours--they are amazing. We also loved the atmosphere at the Kwando camps--very relaxed, informal, and friendly." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 13 on a Botswana safari

"Our trip to Namibia was enjoyable, although some of the driving distances were long this was more than made up by the fantastic places we visitied.

For the most part the lodges were excellent and all the locals we met really helped to make our holiday special.

The information pack provided by Expert Africa, including leaflets / maps and a guide to the region was really useful and great to have with us." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"We have brought home wonderful memories and had an amazing trip from start to finish. The whole experience was everything we wanted it to be - and more! As we left the Uk , I was concerned that I had seen so many documentaries and David Attenboroughs that I might be disappointed. How wrong could I have been - it was was above my expectation, there was real wildlife as soon as you left camp and often in it.

The staff were overwhelmingly friendly, nothing was too much trouble and we met some interesting staff and visitors alike.

Suggestions for improvements:

Tipping - this was all a bit difficult. Chris Macintyres book mentioned and I'm glad it did. There were guidelines to suitable amounts in each camp , which were different from camp to camp, which seemed odd. Everything was set based on the average wealthy American family, who live with a culture of tipping. The British don't, the Americans we spoke to said if those were the suggested amounts they felt they should pay more and we just felt mean! I was very glad to have thought this through from home. Maybe its something you could emphasise more in your useful information.

I didn't engage enough with the Wilderness safari culture and ethical stance before I went, due to lack of realisation and time but I'm glad we chose the things we did, given the difference it makes to parts of the country and opportunities it presents. It could be somethign you make more reference to or raise the profile within Expert Africa" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"Marvellous experience. The trip exceeded our expectations. We would like to thank Ellie very much for the advice and suggestions she made when putting together the itinery for our safari. She listened to our needs - we are keen bird watchers but we also wished to experience all the diverse aspects of an African safari. She suggested lodges whcih would give us a range of safari experiences and would fit our budget - a tented camp, upmarket lodge and a more basic lodge. We really appreciated this; it worked very well in giving us a broad safari experience for our first time in Africa. We had also specified a guide with a specialist knowledge of birds. Note had been taken of this. Ayoub, our guide, was excellent.

The itinery arrangements (meetings, transfers, accommodation, transport and filights) worked well - without exception.
We would definitely recommend Expert Africa, and Ellie - who always responded very promptly, patiently and knwlegeably to all our queries. We would also recommend our guide, Ayoub. He was very friendly, efficient and looked after us very well in addition to being an excellent wildllife guide.

Suggestions for improvements:

Not really! - outstanding overall trip thanks to Expert Africa and Sokwe/Asilia." Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 7 on a Tanzania safari

"Namibia proved to have and be all we could hope for.
Absolutely nothing is small scale, from the dunes, desert, coast and salt-pan to the welcome of its people and animals.

Suggestions to help Expert Africa improve our trips and service

Maruska and Gwynneth were so impressive in every aspect of our arrangements, and Wilderness Safaris also proved to be very competent ground agents, so we're hard pressed to think of any tweaks.
If we're being really nit-picky then our view of Swakopmund means that two nights wasn't really ideal for us, but we do realise that it's a lot to do with personal choice and might be difficult to ask enough questions to deduce this. All we can say is that it is very 'small-town', so people with lots of travel experience might have issues with it (in the winter at least) in comparison to the rest of Namibia." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 11 on a Namibia trip