Reviews of trips to Maun

"The trip overall was a fantastic experience of pure escapism into a luxurious safari world, free from mobile phones and the internet.

Every request was granted: if we wanted a boat trip, we had a boat trip; a walk in the bush, and one was arranged. We had some excellent sightings of lions and leopard, although the wild dogs and cheetah were hiding on this occasion. Two big thunderstorms added to the excitement of the trip!

We greatly appreciate the expertise of Expert Africa in advising and organising the details of the trip which we enjoyed without any hassle whatsoever! Definitely an experience for the discerning tourist." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari

"This was the most expensive holiday we have ever taken - but it was truly worth it. Botswana seems to have got it just right. There was no commercial feel to it, just observing the natural world, and being guided by locals who you felt genuinely care about the environment, love their jobs, are well trained and justly proud of their country.

Suggestions for improvements:

You are right - it really is COLD in the mornings! Lots of layers are the best things to take - and I was very pleased I had my gloves.

We took your advice on the order we did our trip, and for safari novices it was really good - the night in Motsentsela to acclimatise, then starting the trip at Muchenje - luxurious and a good overview - then Lagoon where we got a bit more involved by following the wild dogs, and some hunting lions, and then finishing with Grant at Santantadibe where we really felt a part of the African bush.

I cannot think of anything that could have improved our trip (oh, perhaps if we could have stayed longer..)" Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"Several times on the trip staff at our various locations commented positively on how well organized this trip was, how every detail of our ongoing trip was confirmed and that people all along the way were expecting us. We were also impressed that several folks knew Chris McIntire and spoke so highly of him. Well done!

We have already recommended Expert Africa to several of our friends who are looking to travel to southern Africa and we will always use yoru services in future trips there. Thank you so much for all your work setting this up, knowing the best places to go, it was really the trip of a lifetime!

Two suggestions: we traveled by car from Gaboronne to Kasane (which we suggested and wanted to do) but wouldn't again because the road from Francistown to Kasane is the most horrendous road we have ever been on...I can't believe they even let cars attempt it...huge craters in the road big enough to swallow a VW mini-bus, we ended up driving way over on the shoulder to avoid wrecking the car. It doesn't look like this road is going to get fixed any time soon, either so please insist that people need to hire a 4x4 vehicle if they are going to drive on it.

Likewise with the road to the Rhino Camp (it wasn't as bad as the road in Botswana). It would have been wiser for us to hire a 4x4. While we managed to travel fine on these roads, the stress of not wanting to damage the undercarriage (which was not covered in the insurance) and the rush to get to the Rhino camp pick up location on time--made us with we had a vehicle with more clearance.

Overall it was a wonderful trip. Again thank you Maruska for all your hard work getting this together. We will look forward to using Expert Africa again on our next visit to southern Africa.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service

I think I've put these into the regular comments. Hard to say how it could have been improved at all. Expert Africa ROCKS!" Read full review: 28 nights in Africa; 8 on a Namibia trip

"Our 3 week trip took in Zimbabwe, Botswana & Namibia. Maruska and the rest of the EA team were invaluable in the planning phase.

We completed 3850km (mostly on good tar roads at 120kph) in my brother's 8 year/150,000km-old Toyota Corrolla, without a hitch. Only disappointment: we didn't get a chance to sample the rescue & recovery services. Reports from fellow travellers were however encouraging and there was enough traffic on all roads to give us confidence. Border crossings were troulble free and relatively quick. We used Tom-Tom SatNav with the Southern Africa maps from UK, it was a good supplement to the paper maps and Brandt guidebooks, giving us accurate road mileages and ETAs.

In Bulawayo we stayed at the Banff Lodge: highly recommended. Travel in Zimbabwe was a pleasent surprise: recent changes to make USD & ZAR official have made it much easier for foreigners. There is an air of quiet optimism about, but filling stations, electricity and phone connections are not constantly available, and the neglect of infrastucture & public facility maintenance is quite evident. No problems with immigration/emigration (we did both twice), and people generally very friendly, welcomong and helpful.

The lodges we chose were most satisfactory and exceeded our expectations in many cases, particularly Chitabe Lebida, Etosha Aoba & Camp Kwando. Due to the distances travelled, we did not spend long enough at some ot the locations, but I don't see any way around this as we wanted to drive to get a good feel of the countries visited, maybe next time we'll stay an extra week or two! We would spend more time in the Delta: Chitabe is largely dry and we would liked to have sampled a wetter location too. Similarly, Etosha merits more than just 3 days in the Eastern sector." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 7 on a Namibia trip

"We were delighted with our trip.

All went smoothly - Botswana exceeded our expectations and everywhere we felt looked after and taken care of.

Having spent a considerable sum of money, we hoped that we'd feel it was worth it, and it certainly was in terms of uniqueness of experience and sheer enjoyment.

We felt well prepared for our trip and all went to plan - I like the fact you send a complimentary copy of Chris's book and also the Notes to Travellers are really good.

Thank you for a great holiday." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"Excellent but too short because it was excellent!

Suggestions for improvements:

Free trips for everybody!!" Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari

"We are very pleased that we chose to travel with Expert Africa .....

From the outset Maruska Adye was very positive, helpful and patient in responding to our thoughts and needs. In the course of our pre-trip planning we changed our ideas from making a longish trip round Namibia, possibly taking in Botswana and/or the Cape Region of South Africa, to making a focussed trip to the Okavango Delta.

We appreciated very much the comments and suggestions made by Maruska which enabled us to rationalise our ideas. Her listening to our inclinations, particularly that we didnʼt wish to do a fly-in safari but to go overland, was as much as anything the reason why we chose to travel with Expert Africa. Face-to-face meetings at her office also gave us confidence in our decisions.

The cost of our trip was relatively high but taking into account that there was only two of us, supported by a safari crew of 4 plus the skill and experience of Grant, and that we really had a very good memorable experience, we think it was good value.

We would like to revisit Botswana and, if this is possible, we would certainly consider travelling with Expert Africa and Okavango Voyagers again." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 2 on a Botswana 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 time despite the lack of game - we know it can't be guaranteed and if it was easy we wouldn't do it - but we were disappointed by the lack of game at Linyanti - the last time we were in that area it was wonderful. Robin felt that we were in a 'pub with no beer' !

The disappointment however was totally negated by the great time we had with Grant.

Bearing in mind that this whole trip was put together about five weeks before we went - everything ran like clockwork - how unusual for Africa !" Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 5 on a Botswana safari

"Whilst we had some wonderful game sightings and stayed in a couple of great camps, I felt that this was the most disappointing trip to Southern Africa (out of 5) that I have had" Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 13 on a Botswana safari