Botswana: reviews from our travellers

"Good trip overall, a lot of variety and different environments/wildlife to see.

Flying made it a lot faster to get around, which made it easier to see more things (worth the cost)." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"We travelled as a family with our two teenage boys from Vic Falls to Maun in 20 days, self-driving & camping through the parks from Kasane to Maun with a 4x4 and we spent the final 5 nights at Splash. So to say taking things crescendo and leaving the best for the end. We got to know about Splash Camp from friends who stayed there and Expert Africa confirmed that the Camp would be exactly what we were looking for.

We originally planned to travel in March-April 2020 and postponed several times through the pandemic to July-August 2022 eventually.

Megan Green from Expert Africa was extremely helpful and accommodating to reschedule Splash several times. The most difficult part of the trip was actually getting to Zimbabwe and getting back from Botswana to Europe. The recipe for success with air travel in summer 2022 is to plan enough buffer between legs to accommodate for the unavoidable flight cancellations & rescheduling. The transfer with Moremi Air from Maun to Kwara Air Strip worked well. As soon as we arrived at Maun Airport and on the way back, Kwando Safari coached us through.

We arranged the air travel and the self-driving ourselves and just booked Splash through Expert Africa. In retrospect this was a mistake, we should have entrusted Expert Africa with the whole trip." Read full review: 5 nights in Africa; 5 on a Botswana safari

"A fantastic holiday experience only marred slightly by abysmal international flights with British Airways which is not Expert Africa's fault in any way.

Very, very pleased with Tracy Lederer (and Lucy Copson who stood in for her when Tracy was away).

Lodges well chosen with wonderful accommodation, guides, variety of landscape, wildlife and activities." Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 15 on a Botswana safari

"We have already recommended expert Africa and Maruska many times during and after out trip. We had already done one trip through expert Africa 6 years ago and so we knew we were going to get a great service and Maruska had such a great handle on our needs and what would suit us we trusted her recommendations and knew it would work for us.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service: There was only one area where I think it could have been helpful to understand a little more which was crossing the border from Botswana back into Namibia. This seemed to be far more officious and complex than going from Namibia to Botswana. For example - we ended up at the board queued behind a long line of lorries ( about 20) - but we luckily decided to chance it and drive past them to the front and it turned out that was the right thing to do but had we not taken the risk we probably would have been in the queue for 2 hours. Also we did take a bit of time to work out the tipping position as we were reading the book the information on our documents and then the local information. We worked it out in the end but real clarity on tipping guides directly and specifically and then tip box with an average daily tip probably would be helpful ( but maybe we were being to sensitive about this)." Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"Overall, a very interesting and enjoyable trip." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari

"Maruska was excellent to work with!

The four camps we visited were all very good.

Although our wildlife viewing at Splash was excellent, we would probably not return due to the very rough roads in deep sand.

We developed a preference for small camps (e.g., not more than six tents or units).

We love Botswana and we are grateful for Expert Africa's excellent help in organizing the trip. This was our fourth trip to southern Africa with Expert Africa." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari

"We were very happy with our trip as a whole. All activities were happened as planned.

Expert Africa listened to what we wanted, but provided appropriate advice to ensure that we achieved a balanced holiday" Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"The trip was focused on trying to see and photograph Wild Dogs with a Kalahari extension for Meerkats bolted on. Despite a hiccup with our luggage thanks to BA and some issues with dog dens sadly being in conflict with lions, the trip delivered all that we had hoped for and a few surprises. We added 7 lifer sightings to our list which is always great!
The Kalahari was the real surprise in terms of experience and sightings, and certainly encourages us to go back again in green season.
We chose the Kwando camps in and around the Delta based on reputation with Wild Dogs and the ability to off road in private concessions, and two out of the three camps were excellent. It is always high risk to have a pretty single minded goal on a trip but it finally paid off and we got some great other sightings / encounters along the way. Having the trackers on the vehicles was essential as good old fashioned detective work is critical to sightings - the landscape can be pretty challenging at this time of year between green and dry. Our stay at Kwara Camp has set a standard for safari accommodation that will never be beaten!
Overall the trip delivered what we were hoping plus a very special dog encounter." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 14 on a Botswana safari

"Wonderful as ever. It was our 8th trip to Botswana and 5th to Namibia but we still saw lots of things we hadn't seen before, had great experiences and made lots of great memories.

Expert Africa / Megan, as efficient and helpful as ever in ensuring it all went smoothly and that we had a great time.

Our special requests, eg, for vehicles with canopies wherever possible, were passed on and acted on.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

How can you improve on perfection!

Perhaps the 'sighting list' could be a bit more broadly based to cover the ever present animals (for those new to Africa) and some of the rarer sightings for those with more experience." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 11 on a Botswana safari

"This trip exceeded expectations. The wildlife was fantastic and the lodging was comfortable and luxurious. Everything ran so smoothly. Maruska did a wonderful job picking a variety of camps for us where we had different experienced and saw the animals we were interested in. We had incredible sightings and a great time. I don't know what could have made it better." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari