Reviews of safaris to Kwando-Linyanti area

"There were a few problems but nothing serious enough to spoil the holiday which was superb.

We keep going back to the Kwando Camps because, whilst they are very comfortable, their emphasis is still on wildlife and they still use both a guide and a tracker, drive off-road and after dark. This makes the holiday much more exciting and much more interesting because it is a fascinating to watch the interaction between the guide and the tracker and see how they work together. As a consequence there are some amazing sightings, although some are as a result of communication between jeeps.

We keep coming back and each time we have a fantastic time with many new experiences and sightings of animals we have not seen before, particularly on night drives. We will be back!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No as I have always found Expert Africa's staff very knowledgeable and helpful but Lucy, who I worked with to sort out this trip, was particularly helpful and a delight to deal with.

I have, and will continue to recommend Expert Africa." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari

"This was our first real experience of a safari and it was outstanding, we both enjoyed it immensely.

The opportunity to see many animals in their natural setting, and having knowledgeable guides and trackers helping us to enjoy the experience, made for a great trip.

The accommodation and food exceeded our expectations. We expected to get great animal sightings, but did not expect such outstanding food and accommodation.

We would have enjoyed some experience of local food, as we were in Botswana." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari

"All the travel worked very smoothly. Thank you.

We were able to book our bags back all the way from Livingstone airport to Heathrow on our return flight even though we had two separate bookings for the two flights. So didn't have to touch them in Johannesburg which made life a lot easier.

We were not able to book through to Maun on our flight out from Heathrow, but maybe we should have pushed harder and we were flying BA. However in Johannesburg airport on the way out we went straight through the international terminal, talked to the ground staff at the international desk and they arranged for our bags to be collected form the baggage carrousel from our BA flight and transferred to our Maun flight so that, again, we did not have to touch them until we got to Maun.

We had had the bags wrapped at Heathrow and that simplified the procedures at Maun and we were not required to open our bags before we got on the MaunAir flight.

I have no idea if we were simply lucky or whether what we did can be repeated." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 12 on a Botswana safari

"Trip was absolutely fabulous. We have spent a lot of time in Southern Africa and the game tracking and viewing on this trip was spectacular.

The evenings and the morning game drives were much colder than we had anticipated, especially in the Kalahari Desert, so go prepared with layers of very warm clothes." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 11 on a Botswana safari

"The camp sequencing worked well, with each one being even better than the previous.

Mack Air were very good in providing the air links.

Botswana has it all - at a price.

Would certainly use Expert Africa again." Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari

"We spent a wonderful week in Botswana. Both camps were really nice.This was the second visit to Botswana for me and the first visit to Africa for my sister. She enjoyed this trip and I believe she will be back to Africa again.

Thank you very much for Meet and Greet service at Johannesburg airport for both of us. It was really helpful." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"Wonderful. No criticisms all superb" Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"The experience was far better than I ever expected.

Most special was the professionalism of guides, trackers and hospitality staff. It is hard to imagine how excellently they provide for an action packed, special individual experience in such a remote area where water, power and stores have to be provided, along with clean sheets, hot showers, three course home cooked meals and an astounding variety of drinks.

The hospitality was warm and genuine, the safaris professionally run with extremely knowledgable guides who were patient with our ignorance and generously shared their love of the bush: THANK YOU POSTER, VINCE, VASCO,KT, BALE AND GOMES.

We cannot wait to get back on another safari

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

The dress code advice was a little deceptive as people dressed as they pleased. Many travellers had small "wheelie bags" which you advised were not permitted. As we travelled from Australia via multiple large airports, the lack of wheelable luggage was a downside so perhaps this needs an update?

HOWEVER, I thought the whole trip was very good value for money despite the high dollar cost, and would recommend it highly to other travellers. I cannot wait to do another trip and would definitely go back to Lagoon and Okavango delta, but would prefer a smaller lodge than Splash.

The organisation at Splash was not as good as the other 2 camps. Staff seemed not yet comfortable with dealing with the larger numbers and the "style" of the lodges with the turnover of guests and numbers of cars going every which way doesn't seem to work as well with the bigger groups, so I would be keen to find out about new Kwara. I would return to Tau Pan in a different season when the waterhole attracted more wildlife.

The food deserves a special compliment: fresh, home made flavours, served imaginatively and I just love the pre-dinner announcement.

FINALLY, I just loved the boat trip at lagoon with the bar service on the bank for sundowners with the hippos. Same as the bar on the floodplain at Splash. Special luxury experiences which I will always remember.

Your staff is amazing. Genuine, friendly, knowledgeable, professional and open to discuss Africa, poachers, politicians, animals and have a joke with the guests. I love them all. Hope to be back soon." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari

"This was our fifteenth safari and every time we go, we wonder whether we can top the previous trip. Once again, the answer was yes, we can.

Expert Africa's organisation is always impeccable. The camps were excellent - fantastic wildlife, great people.

We had some amazing, unique sightings that included a number of "firsts" for us of the rarer animals." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari

"We had a really wonderful holiday which exceeded all expectations. It was the first time we had been on safari and we were looked after the entire time by friendly, helpful and efficient staff, the guides at all three camps were excellent, very knowledgeable and showed us a huge variety of game. The camps were extremely comfortable and the food was great. We hope it will not be too long before we can get away to Botswana again." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari