Africa: Reviews from our travellers

"The whole Honeymoon trip to Namibia was absolutely fantastic. Working for an airline for many years we have both travelled to many exotic places. We wanted to go somewhere different and do something different for our honeymoon. This was the best trip that we have ever been on.

We would not normally book through an agent but Expert Africa were excellent and veyr attentive to the details. The are extremely knowledgeable about the lodges and the area and this really is an excellent service that they provide. Normally we wouldn't trust someone to guide us so much with an itinerary or accommodation. We had a rough idea of where we wanted to go and what we wanted to do but Sabina was excellent at putting this all together and arranging everything. She was responsive and quick to follow up on any questions that we had. I would highly recommned Expert anytime for a trip to Africa!

One thing that we felt was that the private lodges were much more luxurious and attentive to their guests than the Wilderness camps. we liked the Wilderness camps but you could certainly feel the difference between the privately managed and owned ones compared to the larger Wilderness camps management and company.

As for the trip itself it was truly amazing and we would love to go back at some point as we fell in love with the country. we loved the fact that you have the freedom to drive around yourself through the parks and can stay in such luxurious lodges with a variety of activites.

We were blown away by the whole experience. We would like to thank Sabina for all of her help in making it such a great trip.

Suggestions for improvement:

I would just encourage you to invest in your people and the FAM trips to the various locations, particularly in these harder economic times, as i think this is really what makes your service stand out and go above and beyond. We really trusted your service and advice and this made it so much easier with all of the other wedding preparations and took away a lot of the stress. The whole customer experience was spot on. Well done to you all. This is something that i strive for, as a manager in the travel trade, with my staff .!" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"We thoroughly enjoyed our trip and all of the help and assistance that the team provided - especially Gywneth was more than appreciated!!!

Gwyneth was so helpful before and during our trip!!!! Thank you!! We found all of the information/maps/notes etc provided by the team to be invaluable for our trip and Chris's book was brilliant!!

The highlighted map was a must and we would have been lost (quite literally) without it!!!! We will definitely be recommending expert africa to our friends and family!!!!" Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"Fantastic!

Namibia is so varied and we did so many different things that it felt like we'd been away for a lot longer than we had.
Thank you for helping make our honeymoon extra special!

Suggestions for improvements:
Both the trip and service were excellent.

The only thing I would have changed is to take more warm clothes for the evening - it got really quite cold which we expected in some places but not everywhere. One fleece wasn't enough.

A tip for contact lens wearers - get prescription sunglassers! it's obvious when you think about it but the dust means that lens really aren't good during the day. (Thankfully I bought some the day before our trip)" Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 19 on a Namibia trip

"Unforgettable. Exceeded my expectations.It was easy to get around - very little traffic, and only a few roads so hard to get lost! The directions to all our stopping ponts were clear.

The customer service was excellent everywhere, everyone was unfailingly polite, helpful and friendly.

The highlights of the trip for us were Ongava Tree Top camp - loved the camp and the game drives were really good, and Kulala Desert Lodge - the dunes were stunning, just as I'd imagined them." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"I can truly recommend Expert Africa!" Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 9 on a Namibia trip

"A fantastic experience. We had a great trip that we will remember forever.

The worst bit was the famous gravel roads of Namibia - I don't understand why they call them gravel - almost all of the non-tarred roads we drove on were more rock or sand or corrugated roads! However, despite my trepidation the Volkswagen Polo did us proud - not even one puncture!

Keep up the good work!" Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 8 on a Namibia trip

"Our Expert Africa leg was part of a longer trip and the above comment related to the whole hoiday." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 3 on a Zambia safari

"It was our 3rd safari experience and it was everything we hoped it would be

Suggestions for improvement:

Although your pre trip information was excellent I wish someone had reinforced how little we needed in the way of clothes. Because there was no need or time to change for dinner we could have left a lot of our clothes at home. We really didn't need our 20 kg" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"This is our 4 trip to Africa having previously been to S.Africa, Kenya and Namibia and this was the best. We were guided by Lucy at Expert Africa as to which camps to stay at and she did a great job.

The quality of service was incredible, everyone made you feel special. All the camps were different and had something special to offer. Food was great. As far as we are concerned this was one of our best holidays." Read full review: 7 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"Our 3 week trip took in Zimbabwe, Botswana & Namibia. Maruska and the rest of the EA team were invaluable in the planning phase.

We completed 3850km (mostly on good tar roads at 120kph) in my brother's 8 year/150,000km-old Toyota Corrolla, without a hitch. Only disappointment: we didn't get a chance to sample the rescue & recovery services. Reports from fellow travellers were however encouraging and there was enough traffic on all roads to give us confidence. Border crossings were troulble free and relatively quick. We used Tom-Tom SatNav with the Southern Africa maps from UK, it was a good supplement to the paper maps and Brandt guidebooks, giving us accurate road mileages and ETAs.

In Bulawayo we stayed at the Banff Lodge: highly recommended. Travel in Zimbabwe was a pleasent surprise: recent changes to make USD & ZAR official have made it much easier for foreigners. There is an air of quiet optimism about, but filling stations, electricity and phone connections are not constantly available, and the neglect of infrastucture & public facility maintenance is quite evident. No problems with immigration/emigration (we did both twice), and people generally very friendly, welcomong and helpful.

The lodges we chose were most satisfactory and exceeded our expectations in many cases, particularly Chitabe Lebida, Etosha Aoba & Camp Kwando. Due to the distances travelled, we did not spend long enough at some ot the locations, but I don't see any way around this as we wanted to drive to get a good feel of the countries visited, maybe next time we'll stay an extra week or two! We would spend more time in the Delta: Chitabe is largely dry and we would liked to have sampled a wetter location too. Similarly, Etosha merits more than just 3 days in the Eastern sector." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 7 on a Namibia trip