Africa: Reviews from our travellers

"The trip was a very good experience." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 4 on a Zambia safari

"The whole trip was excellent in it`s organisation. Every connection was on time with drivers, camp staff etc all waiting for us.
Our highlights were the beautiful location of our tent at Kwara and the off road driving , the boat trip on the Chobe river with Muchenje Lodge and Santantadebi Mobile camp for all sorts of reasons as mentioned previously. [Ed: in the reviews below!]

We did see many wonderful animals but we can`t deny a little disappointment at the minimal sightings of the big cats.

We felt in need of exercise after 2 weeks of doing nothing but sitting in the jeeps and eating!

We had many interesting and fun conversations with the other guests all of which made the holiday memorable.

Suggestions for improvement:

The only negative I have is that the information on prices at Victoria Falls was inaccurate eg we expected the helicopter ride to be $100 but it was $130, similarly the cost of meals had risen sharply." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 6 on a Botswana safari

"Chris & Lisa's comments -

This was our third trip to Africa with Expert Africa and we would not travel with anyone else! We went to Namibia in 2004 (our honeymoon) and to Zambia for the first time in 2007.

Anna had organized our previous trip to Zambia and was so helpful & enthusiastic we felt we had to ask her to help us to arrange a return trip. Her knowledge was invaluable in helping us to decide when we wanted to return and where we were to stay. The fact that Anna returns to Zambia for her own holidays shows just how much she loves the country and this is evident whenever you talk to her. Her passion for Zambia is infectious!

After talking to Anna so many times (I am sure she must be fed up with me by now!) and booking two trips with her I feel as though I am talking to a friend even though we have never met.

We fell in love with Zambia on our first trip & knew we had to return. We chose to go back at a different time of year (our previous trip was in October) to see the Luangwa Valley at the beginning of the dry season rather than at the end, and to see the Victoria falls at high water. It was lovely to experience this beautiful country in another season, the valley was as wonderful as last time and the falls were certainly different - there was water coming over them (a LOT of water!).

We hope to return to Zambia and will certainly be back in touch with Anna. Thank you for helping us to arrange another amazing trip!

John & Uschi's comments -

We are very grateful that Chris and Lisa asked us to come along. We had been to Africa a lot before (more than 10 times), but this was our first time to Zambia. And we were not disappointed. It is a wonderful country full of great wildlife and scenery and extremely friendly people.

We have loved some African countries for a long time and have put Zambia on that list." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 10 on a Zambia safari

"Assessment below sufficient

Suggestions for improvements:

no" Read full review: 12 nights in Africa;

"The whole trip was a great success and this is based on the knowledge of Expert Africa in guiding our selection of camps and final destination.

We were recommended to limit our stay in the camps to 9 days and this proved to be right as the safaris are tiring. Marushka was particularly helpful when we had to cancel our previous booking due to ill health and Lucy was an excellent stand-in when Marushka was not available.

We would recommend Expert Africa to anyone and we will be back again looking at Namibia!

Suggestions for improvements:

As some of our fellow guests lost their luggage en route it would be helpful if your advice to customers suggested that they took a small emergency pack in their hand luggage (toothbrush, toothpaste etc), and you might suggest to the camps that they had a small stock of emergency supplies to help minimise the stress of lost luggage.

Other than this the trip was excellent from first contacting you to completing this form. Thank you." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"This was very much a 'trip of a lifetime' for us and we certainly weren't disappointed. With the benefit of hindsight it might have been better to visit fewer places and have more time at each, but, the downside is that we wouldn't have seen the range of landscapes etc that we did. Nevertheless, the high mileages we necessarily clocked up meant that what appears on the schedule as 2 or 3 nights, in reality, translates into only 1 or 2 days and we hadn't really factored that in.

With a trip such as this there were 'highlights' just about everyday (which itself tells it's own story) but, that said there was, of course, still a personal 'pecking order' which for us would be this: spending 3 nights/2 full days with Bruno Nebe at Mundulea was, quite simply, a dellight and a real priviledge and was, by a long way, the best highlight for us.

Next would be Zebra River Lodge which was so relaxing and where the welcome and hospitality from our (stand-in hosts) Merle and Thom oozed genuinenss and care (something we found rather llacking at most of the 'up-market' lodges where it felt like everything was done to a standard format of 'one size fits all' mentality rather than looking at the requirements of the individual guest.

Joint 3rd would be our day spent with Allie and the trackers at Desert Rhino Camp and with Wayne, Alexandra and Heidi on the Sandwich Harbour trip. Finally our very sincere thanks to Maruska who organised every part of our trip from start to finish with both professionalism and great proficiency and, at at all times a really friendly disposition - even in the face of my multiple e-mail enquiries and on the occasion when I answered her call on my mobille with a greeting of "Hi babes!" (mistakenly thinking it was my wife Joy calling!!). She was even kind enough to say that it made her day!

On that note thanks once again to Maruska, Chris and all the staff at Expert Africa for masterminding such a wonderful holiday. We are now saving our pennies so that hopefully we can undertake another big trip in the not too distant future" Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"A wonderful experience - really lived up to expectations.

Great combination of camps.

Once in Botswana, everything worked perfectly" Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari

"A wonderful & memorable trip.

It's hard to say what's so great about Namibia, for me it was the sheer isolation and desertedness of the place (especially coming from London), driving for hours and maybe seeing 1 or 2 other cars. Lovely, friendly people. Guides who were all really passionate about what they do and their country, and proud of their country and their way of life.

An amazingly clean country, everyone really cared about keeping it clean and tidy, preserving their resources, looking after the wildlife, the environment etc.

Suggestions for improvements:

Your brochure is excellent compared to others I've used.

The only thing missing is an estimated price for the accommodation. This would be really helpful so we know whether we're choosing the most expensive or cheapest accommodation, and therefore, if for example, your quote is a bit high, we could've looked at choosing accommodation that might've brought the price down a little." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"We could not fault a short but very special trip, which was touchingly ackowledged as such at several of the places we stayed.

We had stayed at all 4 places before and it was good to be recognised as returning, rather than new, guests.

Suggestions for improvements:

Keep up the current high standards! Sabina could not do enough to help. Again...................................." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 5 on a South Africa trip

"See Ibo Island Lodge comments - great trip." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 8 on a Mozambique holiday