Botswana: reviews from our travellers

"Very satisfactory.

The number of animals and birds we saw was amazing. Guides and trackers very knowledgeable and considerate. My only complaint is that I now have 1,500 photos to sort out!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Megan was extremely helpful with organising our travel arrangements and the camps we stayed - it would have been difficult to choose the camps from your brochure without her help. Nxabega camp had an incorrect date for our departure but this was efficiently corrected" Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari

"Overall the trip was incredible!! We will definitely be back. T

he only thing we will change next time is to do private vehicles. It is more expensive, but it gives you much more freedom to stay and watch more animal behavior. The other thing I noticed, which could just be variation, is that there appeared to be more game in Oct than August. This may be because it was drier and hotter in Oct. However, we actually saw many more cats the August trip, than the previous trip in October.

Maruska with Expert Africa was excellent in communicating with us about a flight cancellation at the end of our trip. She was able to change our reservation and cover the cost until we arrived home." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"Overall it was very good: the variety of locations and wild life mix, top guides, generally very good catering and personal attention. Good advice from Expert Africa. The basic itineray was discussed and fixed with Lucy Copson. Nick Hobbs and Megan Ingoldby helped very active and constructively fixing issues and final arrangements. I cannot select one team member (see below), so I indicated Chris McIntyre. You should change the question to the team members (multiple) who assisted." Read full review: 26 nights in Africa; 11 on a Zambia safari

"xx" Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari

"Top class experience - thank you very much for a great organisation - it worked really well. As with our trip to Namibia two years before the only things that went wrong were entirely our fault!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Can you expand to the rest of the world?

The only serious question is about mobile safaris - both times you have arranged trips for us, the options have been 99% fixed camps (the only exception I can really think of is the Skeleton Coast fly-in safari). Yet on both occasions, when on the ground, I have realised that there are mobile safaris that sound quite interesting (this year we heard about a 3 day mobile safari arranged out of Jack's Camp to Kubu Island in the Makgadikgadi Pan). We would be very interested in top quality mobile safaris but wonder if your lack of coverage indicates that you think there is a lack of quality generally, or that they are too ad hoc for you to cover them (but you would arrange if people were interested)? I know you have a sister organisation that is more mobile oriented, but my impression has been that this is not really targeted at the high-end/time constrained traveller - am I wrong?" Read full review: 6 nights in Africa; 3 on a Botswana safari

"I really enjoyed my safari trip and was very pleased with all the camps.

I was very happy with the help planning that was provided by Expert Africa. I was very pleased with the honest reviews of camps that were given and if I am ever planning another safari, I will definitely make use of Expert Africa's services. Thanks very much to Elie and Nick.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

I was thoroughly impressed by the services provided by Expert Africa and have no suggestions. I began planning my trip very late and was impressed by how helpful everyone was even though I was so late booking." Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"Since many years it was a dream for me to visit Botswana and the Okavango delta.
I've read many travel guides (also the very recommendable one of Chris McIntyre!) and had contact to many travel agencies.
Although living in Germany I've chosen Expert Africa to help me and organize this trip for us.

From the first contacts I knew that it was the right decision - it couldn't have been better somewhere else:
Lucy and Megan were always helpful, patient and with great knowledge about the different locations and accommodations.

The organisation of the trip was excellent - we've had no problems, everything worked perfectly and in conclusion the trip was the one we've hoped to have. All the places we've visited had their own and special atmosphere and showing something different.

Thanks again to the people of Expert Africa who made an excellent job!
I can recommend Expert Africa not highly enough and whenever I/we will return to Africa I will ask them to manage it for me." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 12 on a Botswana safari

"Our first trip to Africa was everything we had hoped and planned for. We had heard a lot about Botswana and its pristine wilderness and wildlife and it certainly lived up to expectations.

At Dinaka in the Central Kalahari we found the landscape, environment and wildlife was quite different to Little Kwara in the Okavango Delta and Lebala further north. This difference is what we had hoped to experience - we didn't want everywhere to be the same and I think we achieved this.

The camps had excellent facilities, the tents were all large and extremely well equipped and the lodges very comfortable. The food was exceptionally good wherever we went and always plentiful. We particularly enjoyed the campfire breakfasts and coffee and sundowners out on the game drives. Good drinking water was always available and we did not encounter one mosquito even in the Delta area!!

We enjoyed the varied activities on offer at each camp as well as the usual day and night game drives. At Dinaka we had the bushwalk and the two visits to the hides overlooking the waterholes - we even enjoyed brunch at the hides. Little Kwara
have the double decker boats and it was a fantastic experience going out into the Delta. Lebala did not offer us any extra activities apart from a bird hide on site, but their unique location and being surrounded by Hippos and Elephants is a bonus!
We would like to return to Botswana after the rainy season to see the tranformation from desert to the lush green landscapes we have heard about. Maybe one day!

We did not have any problems, all flights were on time and we were picked up and taken through the border at Zimbabwe without any hassle. The only thing which annoyed us slightly was that the driver for Wilderness Safaris did not take us straight to Ilala Lodge but made a detour to pick up two staff members who wanted to sell us 'activities' while staying in Vic Falls despite us twice previously saying to the driver we didn't want to arrange anything. It was only after we arrived at the Lodge and explained we were meeting a relative at Vic Falls that they left.

Our two night stay in Zimbabwe was not long enough to do everything we wanted, there seems to be a lot on offer and our impression is that the community there are trying very hard to re-establish the tourism industry. It was certainly busy in Victoria Falls and we saw many different nationalities. We would maybe like to return there one day for a longer holiday if things improve.

The people and all the staff were great wherever we went, always had a smile for us and were helpful friendly and professional.

Overall our trip was an exceptional experience!! Thanks to Expert Africa.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Everything worked out perfectly for our trip so I can't think of any suggestions for improvement- thanks very much to Megan for all her planning, expertise and advice. We would certainly recommend her and Expert Africa to our friends if they are planning a trip to Africa." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 6 on a Botswana safari

"We had a dream to go to Africa and it was all an amazing dream when we were there. Expert Africa had organized every detail extremely well with all our connections and trips. Words cannot describe it all. Nick was patient and kind with all my questions and concerns Thank you.

Hopefully one day we can return to Africa." Read full review: 6 nights in Africa; 4 on a Botswana safari

"magical experience, thanks to Saskia for all of her sound advice and help with planning our trip.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

keep doing what you are doing, great trip. next time we are Africa bound we will definitely be in touch. Thanks a million" Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip