South Africa: reviews from our travellers

"The whole trip went very well. We enjoyed the hotels, camps and the game drives. The animals were varied and plentiful. The gudiling to a very high standard. Loved it.

Before the trip when BA changed our flights, Ellie was extremely helpful and diligent in ensuring that the itinerary (that had to be completely revamped) was fine tuned to meet our expectations despite us changing our minds a few times on the routings and camps!. Definitely an 'exceeded expectations' experience." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 10 on a Zambia safari

"A few hitches but overall an excellent trip much enjoyed" Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"This was a "special" holiday and it certainly lived up to expectations. Zimbabwe was absolutely wonderful, both camps were different but excellent and we saw more wildlife than I had expected. It was a real privilege to view it so closely and to be accompanied by guides who had expert knowledge and genuine enthusiasm for their subject.

Zimbabwe is a wonderful place and never have we felt safer anywhere. Everyone should go there - whatever you think of the regime, it is the people who need tourists and go out of their way to make them have such a good time.

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We hardly needed any money on our trip as so much was included, but in Bulawayo we could only use Visa cards, which I suspect was the case for other places.

We had intended to get our visa prior to travel, but when I 'phoned the Embassy, they assured me that it was easy to get one on arrival in Zimbabwe. A second call revealed that you needed to apply for a form which would take a week to arrive and then collect the visa from London. It was easy enough to get one at Vic Falls airport, but the queue was very lengthy and it took a long time to get through. It would seem that the Embassy make it difficult to get one in advance." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 9 on a Zimbabwe safari

"I was thoroughly enjoying the trip until I became sick at Macatoo when I never got over the dysentery even with cipro, which had always worked the the past.

I loved the safari camps prior to Macatoo and had my expectations dashed there.

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Wish I hadn't had such high expectations for Macatoo and Bazaruto (hard in Bazaruto as Portuguese was main language). My experience at the safari camps at the beginning to the trip far exceeded my expectations for a "camp"; I've done lots of camping, but the safari camps far exceeded anything I would call a "camp". Meals, facilities, drinks, guides exceeded all my expectations, but missed my mountains. Very impressed by the training and knowledge of the guides; only in Botswana is English the primary language.

Only down side was the HEAT, and getting pestered by the street vendors in Victoria Falls. Forget about a cotton scarf for the dust, but one thoroughly kept soaked, and dripping around my neck, saved several of the morning and afternoon safari rides. Might suggest those scarves filled with hydrating beads for the hot months; I would have brought one. Forget about wearing complete safari gear in the hot months, shorts and short sleeves are more appropriate; all vehicles have a roof for sun protection. Knowing how to keep cool under a soaked cotten towel in the afternoon, or playing "hippo" in a pool, also helped. Also, being warned that you never leave a vehicle while on safari, would make one aware to only bring sandals for footwear; that was all that was needed. OK, you could get out of Land Rover for morning tea or a sun downer, served right at the vehicle; must get permission about where to go for a "potty" break. Guides hold safety as highest priority.

I can hardly wait to see the thousand plus pictures my daughter took; we had different final destinations and she said the "card" is in the mail. I think you should also contact my daughter for her evaluation." Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari

"End to end perfection, from the planning stage with Saskia and Maruska to the trip itself which leaves us wonderful family memories for a lifetime. We indeed highly recommend Expert Africa.

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Even thinking hard, there is none I can think of." Read full review: 7 nights in Africa; 6 on a Botswana safari

"The trip was as a whole was excellent. The Namibian 2 weeks went much more smoothly than I personally had anticipated for an African self-drive holiday. We booked 18 months in advance, so with Sabina's guidance were able to pick the lodges which seemed to suit us best, and we knew ahead of the trip which were likely to be the best and worst. Sabina put up with a massive number of email questions over the preceding year, and I can only congratulate her on staying cool, calm and collected, and answering my constant questions accurately, in detail, and with good humour!

We relied on Chris McIntyre's Bradt Guide to Namibia as our 'Bible' during our 2 weeks. It is packed with almost all the detailed information that anyone could want to know about everywhere in Namibia, with very few updates needed. We only had to pay National Park fees for Etosha, not for the Namib Naukluft Park nor the Skeleton Coast Park. We also didn't have to pay taxes for entry to & departure from Mozambique! The information given re the left luggage facility at JHB OR airport was incorrect. They charge ZAR70 per case per day, and have apparently never ever accepted credit cards. Fortunately we had ZAR980 in cash that this cost us.

Being in an air-conditioned car in Namibia we didn't need to drink anything like the recommended quantity of water, and found the garages we filled up at usually had enough food/sandwiches to keep us going, so we didn't buy extra food.

We did have a hick-up on flights a week before we left UK, but Chris and Sabina managed to fix this to our advantage!

We were delighted that we had gone clockwise round Namibia, ending up with the highlights of Etosha and the Africat Foundation at the end. We met a number of couples who had gone round anti-clockwise, and were disappointed by the relative lack of game after they left Etosha.

Our week in Bazaruto could have been marred as all the other couples at Bazaruto Lodge on our arrival left after 2 days, and the whole hotel was taken over by 64 S. African marlin fisherman for their 21st annual Marlin Fishing competition! However when we booked they hadn't, but as they have used the same hotel at the same time of year for the last 20 years Expert Africa should have been warned beforehand by the Pestano Group Central Reservations team. The Manager,Tony, was quite embarrassed, but it didn't spoil our stay there. What was disappointing was the cloud cover and rain, which almost ruled out snorkelling - our main reason for going there!" Read full review: 24 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"As a regular client of Expert Africa we received the normal high level of attention to our needs." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 8 on a Zimbabwe safari

"Our trip was truly amazing, we were all delighted with all aspects of this trip, Megan was extremely helpful and her advise invaluable.
The trip exceeded our expectations and thank you." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"The whole trip was everything and more than we hoped for to make our sixtieth birthday holiday memorable.

The &Beyond lodges and staff were outstanding, Rovos rail a touch of 1930's luxury and Cape Town a great city break.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

You may want to update at your yellow fever guidance in the literature you send out. US medics we spoke to during the trip had looked into it and found that Tanzania no longer had any yellow fever risk. Since they needed some sort of certificate, they had an exemption certificate. The side effects of the YF vaccination made Lawrence ill for about a week, necessitating time off work and in retrospect, with a little more information, we may have decided not to have this vaccination.

I know that Tanzania still require tourists to be vaccinated but the wheels of government move slowly and you are in a position to move somewhat faster and provide a fuller picture." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 6 on a Tanzania safari

"Excellent second trip to Namibia where we explored north of Windhoek, covering Etosha and Damaraland. Our previous visit was south of Windhoek to Kalahari, Fish River Canyon and Sossusvlei. Both were equally fabulous for scenery and animals.

It was brilliant seeing the wildlife at the waterholes in Etosha from our car and also at the waterholes in the various lodges we stayed in. The service everywhere in Namibia was excellent and very friendly.

No wonder Namibia has featured strongly for a number of years in the world's top ten countries to visit by readers of the Wanderlust travel magazine.

The garden route in South Africa, following Namibia, was a little tame and too touristy in comparison although it was great seeing whales in the bay at Hermanus. The food and wine in S.A. is extremely good and cheap in comparison to the UK.

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My husband thinks I should be paid for completing this feedback! It was a bit time consuming due to the number of lodges we stayed in over a three week period - it becomes a job to remember them all clearly.

Having said that the trip was brilliantly organised by Gwynneth and we will be contacting her again for our next trip in a couple of years time." Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip