Africa: Reviews from our travellers

"A most wonderful trip but slightly tainted by a very dissapointing visit to Kings Pool Premier Camp. The pure extravagance and oppulance does not compensate for poor game viewing.

If Wilderness Safaris are moving to towards more and bigger Premier camps I trust they retain some of the Clasics." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"In fact I would go higher than this if the choices allowed and say that it was truely memorable. The key factors were:

1. The initial conversation with Chris and and Anna to help make our choices.
2. The Expert Africa web site is just brilliant at providing information for making informed choices.
3. The way that Anna coomunicated with us and when necessary made changes to accommodate our preferences.
4. The Lodges did just what it says on the tin.
5. The wildlife was beyond our expectations
6. The Delta and Chobe are a good combination

If I could improve on this the only thing I would need is a trip that geared to the needs of a video enthusiast. Guides that don't talk too much and fellow tourists that can avoide asking questions or chating when I am filming. Not many tourists take video so don't understand how much a microphone can pick up. The only answer is to have a truck to yourslef but at $500 a day at Duba is a bit too much on top of the trip cost.

This was our second trip organised with Expert Africa. My comments above reflect the high satisfaction we have with both the individuals and the company. This was also reflected by others whom we met on this trip who had booked with Expert Africa. We particualrly appreciate the care in making selections geared to what we like doing. The two way communication feels more like a partnership than a traditional customer relationship. You have proved that this standard can be maintained so we would have no hesitation in both coming to you again and recommending others to save themselves a lot of trouble and use Expert Africa." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari

"A well planned itinerary ensured that we had an extremely enjoyable trip with many memorable experiences.

Fifteen days was not long enough to take it all in.

Suggestions for improvement:

We can't think of anything." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 10 on a Namibia trip

"In a word - excellent.

We were also most impressed to receive a signed copy of Chris's book and about him giving up a hour or two after hours one friday evening to talk everything through and answer all our initial questions. We also found Lucy a fountain of useful information and suggestions, who also gave prompt answers to any queries I had." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 13 on a Zambia safari

"We really feel we had the best honeymoon we could have done, and are so glad we chose Tanzania, and Expert Africa to help us achieve this. Ellie really listened to what kind of an experience we wanted, all her recommendations were true to what she'd said, and suited us in terms of what we'd asked for, and our budget.

Going on safari is expensive, and we were initially quite taken aback at how much it does cost - however we could both see where our money had gone in terms of accomodation, food, guiding and ambience of the places we stayed. I don't think you would get that at bigger camps or on a more budget trip, so we were glad we balanced the safari part with the beach part - it's good you can do this.

It was a great choice to visit both Selous and Ruaha as the terrain is very different, and so was the difference in how close you could get to the animals - the ones at Selous, especially zebra, were more skittish than at Ruaha due to it being a game reserve as opposed to a national park.

We would definitely use Expert Africa again - we're already dreaming about coming back during migration to the Lamai wedge! and have already recommended you to some of our friends wanting to go on safari.

Thanks for getting things right for us, we had a great time in a beautiful and friendly country.

Suggestions for improvements:

Nothing we can think of!" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 6 on a Tanzania safari

"The mark of a top operator is fitting the right trip to the client. This was achieved perfectly. A difficult spec - a mixed party of 8, including youngsters ages 8, 11, 15 and 17 - most of whom had not been to Africa before. We were tight on high season dates too.

Maruska came up with a trip which really fitted the brief, and scored at least 9 out of 10 from the participants.

Particularly excellent was Santantadibe Mobile Camp in the Okavango Delta - all ages (8-51) loved the genuinely African experience, the fact we had it all to ourselves, and the super hosting/guiding of Grant and Daphe. Well done!" Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 4 on a Botswana safari

"We had a great trip. Good transport, great game viewing, excellent food and accomodation, very helpful, friendly and knowledgeable guides/lodge staff." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 10 on a Zambia safari

"We had a fantastic trip. All the logistics worked out perfectly, our flights from camp to camp were all in the middle of the day so we didn't miss any activities and all the flights except the last one were without any stops and we were the only passengers. The only incident came on the trip back home, when our BA flight from joburg to heathrow had a 4 hour delay, so we missed our connection to Madrid and had to take a later flight. At least they didn't lose our bags!

We really liked the lodges & camps, most of them met or exceeded our expectations, and we will recommend them to friends, except perhaps Jack's Camp, which we didn't like that much: it's too stuffy and snobbish for our taste, the people there need to loosen up a bit. Also, we didn't like that they plan all the activities for you and don't tell you what the plan is when you arrive, it's like they want everything to be a big secret surprise, a bit childish and condescending.

All the rest were fine, our favorite was Duma Tau. I also loved Mapula because of its very relaxed and laid-back atmosphere and its focus on game viewing; my wife also liked it though she found it too rustic and less tidy than the others.

Expert Africa did an excellent job in organizing this trip, keeping us informed of changes (e.g., when NationWide Air went bankrupt and the flight was changed to BA), submitting all the info, etc. I especially liked the "camp availability chart" they sent us so we could figure out how to fit our preferred camps in the itinerary, that was a most useful tool for urs." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari

"Expert Africa really live up to their name as the holiday was expertly organised by Gwynneth. We has a fantastic time, went to some beautiful places, stopped in luxurious lodges and met some friendly and interesting people. Considering that our itinary was quite complex it ran like a dream. We will definetly use Expert Africa again and we will definetly visit Namibia again, probably next year when we hope to explore the Caprivi strip and maybe Botswana." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"it more than met our expectations; it exceeded it and we are not necessarily easily pleased. we would highly recommend this trip to anyone.

maruska has listened well, understood what we wanted and delivered the goods. this is why we will go back to her like we have done in the past." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 9 on a Namibia trip