Africa: Reviews from our travellers

"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

"We enjoyed the whole trip, everything went well, food and accommodation were extremely good and everyone we met was very kind and helpful.

Maybe it would have been good to see a cheetah and a lion but you can't have everything!!!!

Suggestions for improvement:

This is our second trip with Expert Africa (we went to Namibia last year), we have been very impressed with your services, we particularly appreciated having someone who took us right the way through from first enquiry to the ticketing and that you have 'experts' on each country who know 'their' countries so well.

Susannah was so helpful and answered my e mails immediately. I am sure that when we return to Africa we will be using you again." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"We had a wonderful trip and hope to repat it again before too long. All was a s expected and even better !

Suggestions for improvements:

Hard to think of improvements." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari

"Ellie was fantastic from beginning to end. I knew from my first conversation with her (having spoken to a number of different agents at other companies) that she had summed up exactly what we wanted from our trip and the type of people we were. There was no other choice than to go with Expert Africa. She hit the nail on the head with both the camps and the beach and it was this expert understanding of our characters, and knowledge of the camps etc themselves that made the trip so perfect for my whole family.

Without Ellie, the trip would not have been the resounding success it was for everyone involved - first time safari goers, previous safari and Africa travellers and a Kenya ex-pat. Fundamentally, this was a trip to celebrate my father's 70th birthday so we did everything with him in mind. Having grown up in Africa himself, it was so important that we get the trip right which we did so perfectly with Ellie's assistance.

Ellie had to deal with my indecision (!) and a variety of questions from a number of my family members. She did so with patience and professionalism at all times which was very much appreciated - a service not replicated by your competitors.

Suggestions for improvements:

I don't think so. We were so lucky to have someone understand what we wanted, deliver it and then it being followed by a very lucky trip seeing everything we could have wanted and more. Truely awesome. Asanti sana." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 6 on a Tanzania safari

"As we said before, perfect!!

All the transports were perfectly organized. The 3 places we stayed at were as we expected them (or better) and the choice was made with the help of Ellie, who spent a long time talking to us, explaining every detail and giving her gentle suggestions. She was always ready to answer anything at any time of the day. Thanks a lot Ellie!!

The best part of our trip was the waling safari at Impala. The days on the beach were really relaxing. We were a bit disappointed by Stone Town, but this is due to our expectations rather than any problem. We were expecting something different. Maybe the problem was that nothing could compare with the safari for us.

We will keep this part short in order to avoid repeating what we said for the prvious parts.

Best holiday we ever had!! The problem is we already want to go back..." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 4 on a Tanzania safari