Reviews of safaris to Kwando-Linyanti area

"Out trip was great and met all our overall expectations. The wildlife everywhere was abundant.

The only thing I would ahve changed was not to stay at Muchenji. It was my preference that we stay away from Kasane in a more remote environment but I hadn't fully appreciated the distances and the amount of travel time involved to visit the NP and river.

It was fortunate that we had fleeces with us and I would certainly recommend that all visitors take warm clothing with them for the morning and evening game drives. In my view this should be emphasised more strongly.

Please warn guests that the G&T's served are really, really strong" Read full review: 30 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari

"Altogether we had a wonderful trip and generally loved every moment of it (some minor exceptions, will be forgotten).

In spite of (in our opinion) generally less animals and smaller herds, we had many good sightings, very good photography.

Many thanks for organising it and the camps we asked for in spite of rather short notice.

Thank you again for a great safari vacation!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Your trips, service and help are excellent (we got used to that).

One minor thing - maybe update your Botswana brochure re.: tips. We took US cash as per recommendation, found that the local (camp) brochures raised tips to $15/day. Your brochure is the same as 6 years ago." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari

"It was a special trip - not the cheapest, but something we'd always wanted to do, and it didn't disappoint." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"Our itinerary was so well thought out. Driving times in the Self -Drive part were manageable. Definitely a key point. The folder with notes for travellers was priceless. It really contributed to the success of our excellent holiday. It was most appreciated to have all the bases covered in such exacting detail.

Maruska really helped walk us through the initial planning stages, pointing out practicalities in her most diplomatic way. Her suggestions always held true, yet she listened to our ideas as well. She showed great patience and carefully dealt with our concerns. Her knowledge and expertise enabled us to experience a great adventure.

It was truly a unique experience. We were so very fortunate to have had Maruska as our contact.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

At this time, I can't think of any way our experience could be improved upon." Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 7 on a Namibia trip

"We talked to a number of travel agencies when we decided to go to Namibia and Botswana. Expert Africa was clearly the most knowledgeable and helpful so it was easy for us to choose to use your services. We spoke to Maruska a number of times and she was able to answer all of our questions and help us make informed decisions. The materials she sent and your website resources were extremely informative and helpful.

This was a great trip and exceeded our expectations, especially the wildlife viewing opportunities. All of the lodges were very good and more luxurious than we are used to. We only gave a few "Excellent" ratings on our survey responses so we could single out the truly outstanding lodges and activities.

When we started planning this trip, we realized that it was going to be an expensive holiday: certainly more expensive than any of our other vacations. After returning home from a wonderful 3 weeks in Namibia and Botswana, we feel that it was money well spent.

Thank you for helping us to have the trip of a lifetime.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

There's nothing that you can do about this, but you might want to warn other travellers about the long wait time when arriving at Windhoek airport. It took well over an hour to clear Customs and Immigration. It would have been even longer but they moved a few of the older passengers (including us) to the front of the line. The staff were generally unwelcoming and unhelpful - not sure if this was an isolated incident or general practice. This was such a contrast to everyone else we met during our stay in Namibia." Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"Maruska, thank you so much for all your work and patience too!!! Everything went perfectly. There were no hiccups or problems of any kind.

The game viewing was better than I had hoped as we were lucky enough to see lion, leopard and cheetah at all three camps! Though observing the dogs was not a high priority for us, it turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip. Eleven nights at three camps was perfect as we departed content but fatigued too!!!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Just keep doing what you are doing and give Maruska a raise!!!" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 11 on a Botswana safari

"Absolutely wonderful, a real once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 14 on a Botswana safari

"Overall our trip was amazing. We'd chosen five different camps to give us variety and I think we achieved this.

We hadn't realised that it would be quite so hot in September despite studying temperature charts and if we were to return we would probably choose a cooler month.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

I think the only change I would have made to the holiday was to use South African Airways rather than Botswana Air.

Our flight from Dum Tau to Little Kwara was rather long despite the small distance involved. We made two stops on the way to take on and let off passengers and the journey took over an hour and a half. Due to the heat it was very uncomfortable. I imagine this though is outside your control." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 14 on a Botswana safari

"The whole trip was excellent. All arrangements worked like clockwork.

The camps, game vewing, quaility of guides met our expectations.

We met lots of interesting people along the way which enriched the experience and encouraged us to do even more safari travelling in the future!" Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"First we thought Nick advised us well to start at Victoria Falls then move on to the camps. The pre-holiday information sent by Expert Africa was extremely informative and useful and Nick was always prompt in answering our queries.

The three Kwando camps were uniformly excellent but different in their own ways. The common denominator was the positive and welcoming attitude of all the staff. No exceptions. We can't praise them too highly. All were extremely helpful, worked hard and really seemed to want to contribute to the enjoyment of your holiday.

We were apprehensive when setting out as to how we would cope as vegetarians but we enjoyed every meal. We have seen negative reviews about the food but literally everything is cooked or prepared from scratch and we found it extraordinary how such delicious things are prepared in the middle of nowhere.

A small point but we think Kwando are missing an opportunity in the camp shops where there is little choice of local crafts as mementoes. Indeed no-one seemed to know what if anything had been made in Botswana.

This was our first visit to Africa and would probably be difficult to beat. Everything went smoothly from the moment we landed at Victoria Falls to our return flight to Maun. We saw everything that we wanted to see and more and returned home with more than 1600 photographs and memories that will be with us for a long time. Kwando's policy of a maximum six people per jeep makes for memorable and intimate sightings. On a couple of occasions we were the only ones in the jeep. Being so close to the wildlife with no-one else about was magical." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari