Reviews of holidays to Shore of Lake Malawi

"It was the first time with Expert Africa and definitely not the last time. Everything worked perfectly.

Even when we had a serious delay on our own arrival, the pick up from the airport was well organized." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 9 on a Zambia safari

"This was my third African safari adventure and – aside from the fact that I still have not crossed the Aardvark, Pangolin or Pel's Fishing Owl off my "must see" list – the trip exceeded my expectations in many ways. I liked the wide range and variety of camps and the mixture of air and road transfers, even if two of the latter were, to put it mildly, arduous. I don't regret having experienced the long drive from Amalinda to Somalisa or the one from Mkulumadzi to Pumulani, but I wouldn't want to do either of them again.

I'm happy I returned to Zimbabwe and Zambia – two outstanding wildlife countries with exceptionally skilled guides – and I very much enjoyed my introduction to Malawi. The Majete Wildlife Reserve is still in its infancy but holds great promise, and I found Lake Malawi breathtaking to look at and fascinating to explore.

Working with the Expert Africa team – and particularly with Freddie Sutton – to plan my month-long itinerary was great fun and very rewarding. Freddie is experienced, knowledgeable, patient and, above all, flexible. He responded quickly to all of my requests for changes and updates, and he always found an attractive alternative where one was needed. Even when a slight glitch arose during my time away, he immediately resolved it and all went well." Read full review: 38 nights in Africa; 11 on a Zimbabwe safari

"A great trip. Am already planning the next one. Claire have you any ideas?" Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 11 on a Zambia safari

"The camps we visited were great. But you could just as easily book them directly and frankly, I wish I had done.

We needed a transfer from the local airport to Mumbo Camp and for this were presented by EA with an invoice for about £600. I queried this and got a response fro EA that I found both patronising and condescending. It transpires that EA does not supply the transfers and knew very little about them. Apparently, it goes through a whole load of intermediaries who all seem to add a slice. You are much better going direct.

In the end I used a local taxi firm and did the transfers for about £100 from Andrew at Anake Taxi, Excellent firm, use them if you need a taxi in Malawi, we found him safe and so ignore the scare stories.

So the EA website is great but the level of support knowledge and expertise I found to be a long way below "expert" as I think I managed to do a better job myself.

I have been on many safaris over many years and used agencies before but found EA to be the least useful of any to date.

I will book with the camps directly in future or with a different agency." Read full review: 4 nights in Africa; 2 on a Zambia safari

"We loved Botswana and Malawi but our hearts belong in the Valley. We’re already planning the next trip.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Just keep up the good work." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 9 on a Malawi trip

"On this trip I traveled with one other person to Botswana, Livingstone, South Luangwa and Malawi from May 17-June 4,2017.
Everything went smoothly-no delays or cancellations.

Highlights: New sightings that included: meerkats, brown hyena, porcupines, genet cat and wild dogs.

This was our third trip to Africa and first to South Luangwa and Malawi. Loved Malawi. It is a beautiful country with beautiful, happy people altho quite poor. The highlights here were the village walk and beautiful relaxing stay at Pumalani. Also loved the staff and surroundings at Mkulumadzi.

Was somewhat disappointed in the lack of wildlife at South Luangwa since we had read about the abundance of wildlife. Also -didn't realize there were no cheetahs(my favorite). However seeing the pack of wild dogs made up for everything.
Botswana-seems to be getting more and more expensive so will probably be my last trip there." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 6 on a Malawi trip

"The trip was everything we had hoped for! Very hot for much of the time (40-42C) but we coped with that." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 10 on a Malawi trip

"A brilliant holiday.

We wanted a mix of safari and relaxation which was exactly what we got. The choice of Kaingo and Mwawba was perfect given my interest in photography and really is a top quality location. On reflection we should have spent more time there - 4 days at each would have been good but that was our fault as we only wanted 6 days on safari we will know better next time.

Pumulani was lovely but 7 nights was a bit long, 4 would have been ideal.

All the connections and transfers worked well and the level of service in both locations was really good.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Not that I can think of." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 6 on a Zambia safari

"Great holiday in that Pam knew what to expect.

The last two Lodges might have disappointed others who expected more and had researched less.

Malawi was disturbingly poverty stricken and food aid was obvious everywhere.

Lake Malawi is dropping alarmingly and one good rainy season will not be enough to restore the lake. What happens to the tourist business if the lake drops another metre from the September 2016 level does not bear thinking about." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 13 on a Malawi trip

"Expert Africa is truly expert and the organisation was exemplary. Everything ran like clockwork with no glitches and the attention to detail was astounding - at no time were we left unsupported throughout the entire booking process and the trip itself.

We were also very impressed with Robin Pope Safaris - each of their lodges was very different tin feel but shared the same ethos and attention to detail. The guiding was particularly good in all the camps." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 6 on a Zambia safari