Botswana: reviews from our travellers

"We explored going to Africa with numerous outfitters and specifically selected Expert Africa because of Megan and how she explained the variety of experiences! She was attentive, patient and friendly! She explained each experience in detail and catered to exactly what we wanted for this trip. Her detailing was on point- she was accurate in her depictions of each activity. And, they lived up to her high praises. She held our hand through packing and preparing for the trip as well!

The book provided and pamphlet were all extremely useful in preparing and learning about the trip!" Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari

"This was the most amazing trip. We saw so much wildlife the highlights being the cheetah the sable and the baby elephant giraffe hippo and lion cubs. We experienced being very close to lions and a little too close to elephants. My only disappointment was not seeing the wild dogs but they had moved out of the area and also not seeing a leopard. Our guides did everything they could to find the leopard and we did spend time tracking but if they don’t want to be found then no amount of searching will get that sighting." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"This was a very enjoyable bucket list trip. It was thoughtfully planned, and everything went smoothly.

My special thanks to Maruska for sharing her breadth of detailed knowledge, for considerable patience, good listening, clear communication, good recommendations, and kind encouragement." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"Lucy was a great resource and very helpful in providing detailed information on the different parks and areas. We had a couple of zoom session and we worked together on setting up an itinerary.

Excellent trip from start to finish. Everything went like clockwork with no issues. We had our best sightings on this trip and managed to see wild dogs which was a lot of fun.

Very happy with the experience." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 8 on a Zimbabwe safari

"I am extremely happy with the service Expert Africa have provided for our trip to Shinde. I would gladly book again with them for my next trip. Megan was exceptional with answering all my questions re airport arrivals and transfers." Read full review: 3 nights in Africa; 3 on a Botswana safari

"An amazing trip and we are already trying to book a similar trip again next year.

We also met another couple who also booked with Expert Africa (Lucy) and had nothing but praise.

Overall, everything worked out fantastic.

Only negative is cost of BA airfare buying through Expert Africa, to get the ABTA cover. And then BA wanting quite a bit extra to book seats." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari

"Our trip was excellent! It has soared to number 1 on our list of holidays taken. First safari for us and it exceeded expectations and our expectations were high!

Two different camp experiences but both fantastic and happy we experienced both. We were well cared for the entire trip and really there was nothing for us to do but enjoy ourselves.

Thank you to Tracy for her expertise in planning a fantastic trip of a lifetime!" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 6 on a Botswana safari

"Overall we were very pleased with our trip and had an amazing experience. Maruska was extremely helpful and responsive in both planning the trip and in addressing any questions that came up during our trip. She was very patient and thoughtful in answering every question, no matter how minor, and helped craft an itinerary that ended up being exactly what we were looking for." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 11 on a Botswana safari

"Overall the trip was great and very organized. Maruska was great to deal with, really listened to us and gave good suggestions. I liked the itinerary she sent us shortly before we left that gave lots of details about exactly what was happening. There were a few glitches during the trip (canceled flight, driver showed up late) and we had to reach out to Expert Africa on an emergency basis and they were very responsive.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
I would not return to the lodges that we stayed in in Zimbabwe, we didn't have a great experience there. There was a mix up with Khulu Bush Camp and our departure time was moved back and we were never told, that ended up being a very long day and we would have preferred to fly. Two of our travel days were very long and we never got to eat lunch, it was not clear from the itinerary how long they would be. Our Mack Air flights ended up having multiple stops that we weren't aware of, it would have been nice to have more information about those flights." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 7 on a Zimbabwe safari

"We absolutely loved our Botswana safari. The organization was flawless and everything went smoothly and without a glitch.

The combination of the 4 camps worked to make it possible to see everything we'd hoped to see, with each giving us unique and wonderful moments. We really appreciated the trackers at the Kwando camps.

Our guides at Lagoon (Spencer/Gee) and Camp Kalahari (KG) were great, very dedicated. We could tell that for them, guiding and wildlife sightings were a passion, not just a job. As photographers themselves, both Spencer and KG knew how to position the vehicled perfectly, too.

Our guide/tracker team at Lebala (Thabo/KB) were very good, but needed a bit of prodding before they gave us their best effort - but boy, did they come through with the leopard!

We were least impressed with Rogers/Chris at Kwara. Instead of really tracking predators on their own, they took us on 'scenic' drives, showing us the animals that happend to cross our path. Rogers also managed to get us stuck in sand on our first night drive on the way back to camp. After unsuccessfully trying for at least 30 minutes, he had to call the camp for help and we had to be towed out. However, once sightings were called in by other guides, he turned into a combination race driver/hunter and managed to get us to sightings of lions, a cheetah and best of all, Wild dogs - once tracking a pack of three through dense bush and the same evening, a pack of 3 feeding just before the light went.

The helicopter transfers were comfortable and very enjoyable, done in helicopters that seated just 4 including the pilot. Interesting fact: Since there was no room for our luggage, our bags got their own helicopter flights! As soon as we were dropped of at the camps, the pilots flew back, picked up the bags and brought them to us.

We were also very, very glad we had private vehicles for all our game drives, as it allowed my Mum to sit up front in the passenger seat and my Dad in the 1st row." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari