Botswana: reviews from our travellers

"This trip was a highlight of our travel experiences.

Nick was extremely helpful in pointing us in the right direction for camp selection from a large number of options. The camps were a perfect balance to the remainder of our trip which was a horseback safari in the Delta.

This was our second trip to Africa with Expert Africa and we will not hesitate to refer you to friends (we already have) and contact you when and if we return in the future. I loved not having to worry about anything throughout the entire trip. We were well taken care of from start to finish. Thank you.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Can't think of a thing. Thank you!" Read full review: 7 nights in Africa; 6 on a Botswana safari

"The trip to Zimbabwe and Botswana with a hotel and two game lodges was well-organised with a good range of activities. Megan at Expert Africa gave good advice about the selection of game lodges and after a few iterations of the itinerary a satisfactory plan was produced.

Our first stay was at the Victoria Falls Hotel on the Zimbabwe side of the falls. We were a bit dubious about visiting Zimbabwe following the long political unrest but our fears were unfounded as the people are friendly and the hotel was charming. On arrival at Victoria Falls Airport we were 6th off the 'plane but it still took about 30 minutes to get our visas. There is no particular hassle or unpleasantness at the airport - it is just a bureaucratic (and expensive) process.

Our one negative comment after getting our visas was the long, hot wait in the airport for a shared transfer with two other couples who were not even staying at the same hotel as us. Since the drive to the hotel is fairly short we thought that a private transfer would have been more sensible after a long and tiring journey rather than a wait of almost 1 hour for the slow immigration process.

The rest of the journeys were quite seamless with on-time pick up at the hotel and a drive to the Botswana border where the driver assisted with exit formalities while another vehicle was waiting to take us onwards to Muchenje, with a stop at Kasane Airport en route to change vehicles.

We had a great welcome at Muchenje Game Lodge. Transfer back to Kasane Airport was provided in the lodge's own vehicle where we were met at the door by the Wilderness Air representative who took good care of us and our bags. The flight to Vumbura air strip was a great experience, even if slightly sick-making!

At Vumbura everything was well organised with pick up and return by the guides. The home trip was quite tiring with flights to Maun and Johannesburg before the long-haul back to London.

In all the whole trip was well organised and the choice of lodges was excellent with a good contrast between Chobe National Park and Chobe River game viewing and Okavango Delta experience." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 6 on a Botswana safari

"It was great,we had a fantastic trip, although I think spending 6 nights in the same reserve was too much.

It would have probably wiser to choose another camp than Selinda (Chitabe?,Savuti? Mombo?) even if this one was great." Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 6 on a Botswana safari

"It's a very long way to go, and although enjoyable, Botswana didn't live up to our expectations or justify why it is so expensive.

We didn't see nearly as many animals as we thought we would." Read full review: 6 nights in Africa; 6 on a Botswana safari

"over all one of the best holidays I've been on!" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 6 on a Botswana safari

"We had a wonderful holiday which we enjoyed tremendously - other than the visa concern mentioned at the start the only other thing which It would have been good to know is that tipping is standard and the daily rate per day guide in dollars would have been useful for us to know - also that a general tip to staff is normally given as well - this would give you a chance to have the right amount of cash in hand - as there is nowhere in most of the camps to get any cash - we fortunately had just about enough in various currencies to do this but it was a concern as we had not anticipated this ( probably it being our first time doing this type of trip)" Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"We had a great trip. The only part which was not excellent was our short stay in Linyanti." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"A good combination of a remote wilderness camp and a lodge close to the Chobe River section of the park." Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 6 on a Botswana safari

"It was our second trip to Botswana and it was another unforgettable one!!!!

We visited different landscapes an environments, saw so many and different species including 3 times wild dogs, 11 different(!) leopards, lions, many and even rare antelopes, probably thousand elephants and finally a pangolin (not to forget about 120 different bird species in total !!!)
We met again so many friendly and helpful people and were happy to join celebrations of Day of Independence.

We will come back to Africa! This trip was our third one with Expert Africa and again everything worked perfect!

Many thanks to wonderful Megan who was so helpful in planing this trip with us and never got tired to answer all our (many!) questions.
Her organisation was perfect and we definitely will plan our next trip to Africa with this very special and knowledgeable agency again!

Thanks again and all the very best to all of you!!!" Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 15 on a Botswana safari

"We were very much impressed with every aspect of the organisation of our trip. We expected it to be the trip of a lifetime, and it surpassed our expectations.

We found it reassuring to have the knowledge and expertise of Expert Africa's staff behind us, to guide us through a part of the world of which we had little previous experience. The choice of lodges was perfect, and every arrangement that had been made for us went without a hitch. We were particularly grateful for the huge contributions made by Maruska, in the initial planning of the trip, and Tracy, who took over when we were forced to postpone our trip by 12 months, following a family bereavement.

We would not hesitate to use Expert Africa again in the future, nor to recommend them to friends and family." Read full review: 23 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip