Africa: Reviews from our travellers

"The service from Claire at Expert Africa from start to finish was exemplary.

So knowledgeable, extremely responsive and took into account our few comments on the itinerary. This was another fantastic trip.

It is a real priviledge to be able to do walks each morning in such beautiful scenery, seeing wildlife including some of the Big 5 on foot, at a safe distance, and then having the contrast of game drives in the afternoon and early evening.

All meals were superb and the hospitality was excellent." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 12 on a Zambia safari

"Before visiting Kenya, we have been to four countries in Southern Africa (Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe) five times, and each one of those trips were highly enjoyable.

Nonetheless, we figured it was time to check out East Africa for a change. To be honest, we were a little apprehensive about this trip, because many guidebooks or websites tell you that in both Kenya and Tanzania visitor numbers are much higher than in the South of Africa. As the New York Times wrote earlier this year, they witnessed a cheetah hunting and making a kill in the Maasai Mara, and in no time, the poor animal was surrounded by 50 vehicles. Well, even though the number of cars per sighting was, on average, higher than in Southern Africa, we experienced none of such extremes. I guess, we were lucky with the choice of camps and/or locations.

For instance, we took great care in picking camps that are using open vehicles with a maximum of six passengers and not vehicles with pop-up roofs, let alone minibuses. For a serious photographer, such conditions would seriously limit your freedom to move, and in the case of pop-up roofs you would have to stand up and, often, you would look down on animals. In other words, it would be a nightmare ruining my trip. I realize that the camps we picked are significantly more expensive, but this goes hand in hand with providing better guides, better amenities and facilities, and better service. The good news is that in our experience, the camps in Kenya are not quite as pricey as Botswana accommodations.

One more comment about the number of cars per sighting: The official rules in the Maasai Mara clearly state that the maximum number of vehicles per scene is limited to five (per animal, not animals!). Taken literally, a pride of 8 lions could be visited by 40 cars, and we have witnessed scenes with up to 20 cars. On other occasions, for instance when observing cheetahs or leopards, we have noticed that local wildlife rangers do in fact make sure that there are no more than 5 cars on the scene. Throughout the entire trip, we were blessed with guides that showed great patience and perseverance to stay at a scene for longer. Quite often we were also lucky enough to be the only two guests in the vehicle. The only camp where there were six passengers in a car was Lewa Safari Camp.

As in previous years, I enjoyed recording our wildlife sightings. Overall, we saw more animals here than in any other place in Africa. And our encounters with the big cats were especially noteworthy, because often they were full of drama. I should point out though that we did not see any wild dogs anywhere. Of the four areas visited, the Maasai Mara was, thanks to our guides, and despite the higher number of vehicles, a photographer’s paradise.

What we also appreciated in all five camps was that they allowed each party to have their own tables at mealtimes.

To summarize, this trip was so good that we are almost certain to return to Kenya in the near future." Read full review: 30 nights in Africa; 20 on a Kenya safari

"Fabulous trip. Learnt a lot even though we have been on many safaris.

Great range of experiences between the 2 camps - loved both of them - and wonderful relaxation at the beach.

I should like to discuss the Wildlife Survey form and the animal sightings you put on your website. I thought looking at your website that these were the animals with some chance% of what we might see. But of course there are lots and lots of others. Also find the more detail bit on this questionairre a bit confusing." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 12 on a Kenya safari

"I was completely impressed with how well all the details of our travels were handled. Everything worked like clockwork. All the moving parts fit together and timing was superb.

Maruska set up and helped us with our trip at every turn, great advice, great execution, couldn’t be more pleased.

Wilderness Camps deserves high praise, well run company, efficient, on time, dependable.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
No suggestions for improvement, none needed" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 11 on a Namibia trip

"This was truly amazing and a holiday of a lifetime.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No, but thank you for answering all of my questions. Your advice was sensible and enormously helpful as we hadn’t been on Safari before." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 11 on a Tanzania safari

"Amazing country.
Great landscape & wildlife.
Very good itinerary.
Service hit and miss - suggests that some places are struggling with quality of management." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"Had an amazing time, thank you!" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"Our 2023 trip brought us from Windhoek via Khaudum, Caprivi, Mongu, Kafue to our main destination, the South Luangwa National Park.

We stayed 13 nights in the area.

The 3 nights at the Island Bush Camp were definitely the very best of our trip." Read full review: 3 nights in Africa; 3 on a Zambia safari

"We found Expert Africa very willing to listen to our wishes for our trip and advise and help get it all sorted to best suit us.

Having been to the safari camps before we wanted to organise it based on particular camps and EA were good at getting that done with suitable flights to give us the most of our time out in Zambia.

As for South Luangwa, it is a wonderful place to visit with very good camps (choose carefully with advice and help from EA to suit your wishes and budget).

The wildlife viewing is excellent without the pressure on the animals that can happen in other countries and still with the natural look and feel to the area without some of the unnatural presentation that some countries give.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Not that we can think of right now. Just a big thank you." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 8 on a Zambia safari

"Everything was very well organised by Expert Africa and Robin Pope.

We were looked after from the start of the process of booking until we flew home" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 13 on a Zambia safari