Reviews of safaris to Kwando-Linyanti area

"This was my first time using Expert Africa and I would highly recommend them.

Anton responded to my enquiries extremely quickly, and provided great advice on which camps he thought I would (and would not) like.

I have already arranged another trip with the company next year, and will doubtless be using them for further safaris." Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari

"All of the arrangements worked well. I'll comment on each lodge later on but would like to say how impressed we were with MackAir, not only from the plane/info side but how helpful there were as well.

As you may have gathered, I managed to fall off my bike just four days before going. Nothing broken but a lot of bruising on my right side which, even with the max paracetamol and ibuprofen made things a bit painful. Ok when walking on the flat but turning / balancing / going upstairs required a lot of thought to be less painful. The MackAir people as well as the lodges were all very helpful and I was able to do everything ....

As you probably know, Botswana had the 'best' rains in Jan/Feb for 19 years. This was good for them but did mean that the migration of the animals from the interior to more permanent sources of water was much delayed. Chobe for instance was far greener than when we went 12 years ago even though we were there three weeks earlier in 2013. At a guess, we thought that the drying out of the waterholes away from the rivers was perhaps 6+ weeks later than on our previous visit. Curiously, the flood into the delta seemed later than before.

As a result of the changes in weather patterns, we saw far far less animals in Chobe than we were expecting and the density of animals everywhere was lower than expected. On our previous visit when we stayed at Muchenje for 3 nights and Camp Okavango for three nights we almost certainly saw a larger total number of animals than we did in 14 nights this time.

We did manage to see the wild dogs briefly in Savuti but nowhere else. At Splash we heard that the pack was in the adjacent concession at the moment. Our other target, which was cheetah we saw in three places, all lounging under trees/ bushes which we'd seen before. We'd have liked to see them walking or better, hunting.

New species that we did see: Aardwolf - very good sightings at Lagoon, Roan Antelope in Savuti (just one), Brown hyena (Savuti) several birds including a great sighting of a Martial Eagle, Barred Owlet, Pel's Fishing Owl and two bee eaters. After several trips to Africa, we have seen a lot, so less scope for a huge number of new sightings.

We saw a number of new behaviours including quite a clashing of tusks as a Matriarch forced an adolescent male elephant out of the troop; two big hippos fighting wildly, all the hippo 'chattering' at Lagoon; a leopard going up a vertical tree with it's kill (baboon) after recovering it from a hyena who had pinched it..and some new grooming behaviour in baboons. One mock charge from elephants ...

Participants in vehicles: It has been 10 years since we shared game vehicles with others. We don't have a problem sharing but none of the lodges made any attempt to match the group with previous experience of safaris or nature watching in general. Vehicles seemed to be mainly filled with people who arrived at a certain time. At two of the camps we were with people who had been to Africa which was great before but two in particular had people who were notionally interested but spent too much time talking amongst themselves and not listening to the guide. Curious given the cost and how far they had travelled but irritating all the same. Appreciate we could have requested private vehicles at a considerable cost though several camps didn't have the capacity for this. We actually like going around with like minded people, so it was a shame that camps couldn't sort that.

Overall, we found all the booking and arrangements that you dealt with to be great. It turned out that we should have gone maybe two months later - as you may remember the timing was for my birthday last year and when 2024 wasn't possible I should have gone for a later date in 2025.

The trip itself we would rate as on the better side of good rather than fantastic for the reason mentioned above." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 14 on a Botswana safari

"The trip worked exactly as we had hoped. In putting together the trip, Anton took into account everything we had discussed such that no detail was overlooked and everything ran smoothly." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"Our trip was top notch! I would not have changed a thing. We could not have asked for more. Lucy at Expert Africa helped set up a trip of a lifetime!!!" Read full review: 7 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"Our Botswana wildlife trip was fantastic. The safaris and sightings were excellent.

The Guides at Lagoon (Ike) and Rra Dinare (Rasta) were great. We did a Walking Safari at Lagoon and a Mokoro ar Rra Dinare. These were also super enjoyable. The night safaris were well arranged with adequate flexibility.

Rra Dinare has a few areas to improve upon, which I have mentioned in the section on Rra Dinare." Read full review: 6 nights in Africa; 5 on a Botswana safari

"My trip was more than I expected and a true "once in a lifetime experience"." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"What a trip! We are so grateful to Sabina and the whole EA team for helping to make this a reality.
We reached out to Sabina a bit last minute, but she was very accommodating. She did a great job understanding our goals for the trip, and suggesting options that aligned with those goals.

Two hiccups in our trip made us especially grateful for the support of Expert Africa. First, our flight from the US was unfortunately cancelled, and the rebooked option got us in one day later. Sabina seamlessly coordinated with our first lodge and flight teams to adjust our schedule.

Secondly, unfortunately due to the heavy rains and flooding in Namibia, Serra Cafema was forced to close temporarily. This happened while we were in country and had limited wifi. Tracy (Sabina was at a site visit) jumped right in, sharing the news and immediately offering alternative options. She negotiated private transport to get to the new camp, all while keeping us informed, but letting us still enjoy the trip. As a result, our trip felt seamless and we didn't have to worry, for which we are so grateful.

The local country knowledge and thorough vetting of hotels (especially the full lodge reports) were incredibly helpful in building our itinerary. The coverage while we were on our trip ensured we were supported when unfortunately some changes were required.

We absolutely recommend Expert Africa, and have in fact already recommended Expert Africa to multiple family and friends.

Thank you Sabina and team!" Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 11 on a Namibia trip

"Having been to the Delta a couple of times in August, our first objective on this trip was to better understand the difference between the seasons. It might have been clearer had we included a stop in the Delta but hindsight is a wonderful thing and the general feeling of green rather than yellow was very clear at Lagoon Camp as was the extra challenge of finding animals in a much lusher habitat.

The Pans were something different again with the feature being the Zebra, Wildebeest and, in Nxai Pan, Giraffe and Elephant rather than predators which were scarce and difficult to find. Our trip was towards the end of the rainy season and at Jack's Camp, in particular, there was a clear sense of the long migration north being not far away.

Although we were still in rainy season we had very little rain on a very enjoyable trip." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 11 on a Botswana safari

"The camps were a mixed bag, with ra dinare by far the best. We were extraordinarily lucky in that on every drive except one we had the vehicle to ourselves. Thank you, Anton, for your efforts on that matter.

The weather was not the best, with two rainstorms, and sundry other rains. Resulting very long grass in places affected viewing. We both had stomach bugs at intervals, which did not help. but was not too serious. The camps dealt with it well.

As regards PomPom, if I were at all involved with Expert Africa, I would consider removing this camp from the website. It is tired, dispirited, and is saved only by the good game viewing in the surrounds

As regards Splash, there was such a dirth of game to watch, that I think this area should be avoided at this time of year

However, the ra dinare experience was wonderful on all fronts. A lovely place, well run, good guiding and nothing to grumble about." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 12 on a Botswana safari

"We loved our holiday.
We’d have appreciated advice on tips at the beginning as at the recommended levels they add significant cost. We only found out by chance just before departure & had to get more $ at the last minute." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari