South Africa: reviews from our travellers

"Our itinerary was so well thought out. Driving times in the Self -Drive part were manageable. Definitely a key point. The folder with notes for travellers was priceless. It really contributed to the success of our excellent holiday. It was most appreciated to have all the bases covered in such exacting detail.

Maruska really helped walk us through the initial planning stages, pointing out practicalities in her most diplomatic way. Her suggestions always held true, yet she listened to our ideas as well. She showed great patience and carefully dealt with our concerns. Her knowledge and expertise enabled us to experience a great adventure.

It was truly a unique experience. We were so very fortunate to have had Maruska as our contact.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

At this time, I can't think of any way our experience could be improved upon." Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 9 on a Namibia trip

"We talked to a number of travel agencies when we decided to go to Namibia and Botswana. Expert Africa was clearly the most knowledgeable and helpful so it was easy for us to choose to use your services. We spoke to Maruska a number of times and she was able to answer all of our questions and help us make informed decisions. The materials she sent and your website resources were extremely informative and helpful.

This was a great trip and exceeded our expectations, especially the wildlife viewing opportunities. All of the lodges were very good and more luxurious than we are used to. We only gave a few "Excellent" ratings on our survey responses so we could single out the truly outstanding lodges and activities.

When we started planning this trip, we realized that it was going to be an expensive holiday: certainly more expensive than any of our other vacations. After returning home from a wonderful 3 weeks in Namibia and Botswana, we feel that it was money well spent.

Thank you for helping us to have the trip of a lifetime.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

There's nothing that you can do about this, but you might want to warn other travellers about the long wait time when arriving at Windhoek airport. It took well over an hour to clear Customs and Immigration. It would have been even longer but they moved a few of the older passengers (including us) to the front of the line. The staff were generally unwelcoming and unhelpful - not sure if this was an isolated incident or general practice. This was such a contrast to everyone else we met during our stay in Namibia." Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"Maruska, thank you so much for all your work and patience too!!! Everything went perfectly. There were no hiccups or problems of any kind.

The game viewing was better than I had hoped as we were lucky enough to see lion, leopard and cheetah at all three camps! Though observing the dogs was not a high priority for us, it turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip. Eleven nights at three camps was perfect as we departed content but fatigued too!!!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Just keep doing what you are doing and give Maruska a raise!!!" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 11 on a Botswana safari

"This was a second holiday booked with Expert Africa. For the first trip they were excellent, but this time not so good. Three comments -
1. this second trip was across two countries and Expert Africa staff seem organised by country. I was passed from one person to another and initially nobody seemed responsible for the whole trip
2. lack of answers to e-mails. On a couple of occasions I gave up waiting and had to phone
3. I booked 10 months in advance and even that far out some lodges were already fully booked. We were wait listed. A month before departure I contacted Expert Africa to make a final check of our wait list status and was somewhat surprised to find that in 10 months Expert Africa had not followed up on the bookings. By lucky chance only, we eventually got our first choice lodges, but only because I followed up" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 8 on a Namibia trip

"Malawi was absolutely wonderful, one of our best holidays ever. Would love to go back some day.

Weather in Cape Town was variable, from sun to hail, through wind and rain, so we couldn't do a couple of things that we wanted to do (go up Table Mountain and visit Robben Island). We did see whales at Hermanus, which was on our to-do list, and penguins at Betty's Bay. City bus tours were good for getting to know the city. We were very glad we hired the car for two days as this enabled us to see the coast and the wine area.

All arrangements worked like clockwork, thanks a lot, Claire., for putting it all together for us." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 9 on a Malawi trip

"Our trip as a whole was superb, from the initial contact with Sabina, to our arrival home.

We had enjoyed our visit so much 2 years ago, that we wanted to return, and see more. this could well have been an anti climax, but fortunately it wasn't. None of us have any regrets.

We noticed the effect of no rain for more that 2 years, very little greenery anywhere.

The unmade roads were in a bad condition, which we were told was due to the increase in large tourist transports.

The people, the accommodation and the food were as wonderful as we expected. Thank you Sabina for putting such a great trip together for us.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

A little caution is required when driving from Dolomite to Okaukuejo, especially in a 2x4 car. We were warned, by a frequent visitor, of very deep tyre ruts, at the start of the most direct route. We took the slightly longer southerly route (an extra12 Kms), which was fine.
We were also warned of the extremely large Anteater holes in the roads, some were 2 feet wide & 18 inches deep. Many could be seen, if driving at a sensible speed, as they had pile of earth beside them, but others were not visible until nearly on them! They need to be avoided, or the car would get stuck, and you could do serious damage!

There were none east of Okaukuejo." Read full review: 30 nights in Africa; 24 on a Namibia trip

"fantastic" Read full review: 29 nights in Africa; 12 on a Botswana safari

"This was a marvellous trip, partly because we visited some amazing places which showed completely different aspects of Africa but partly because of the effort put into planning the holiday by Megan at Expert Africa. She was endlessly patient and wanted to get the trip absolutely right for us whilst staying within our budget. We were happy to take Megan's suggestions which proved to be absolutely spot on for us.

Many thanks for helping us to have such a great introduction to Africa. We will be back!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Perhaps you could explain the varied nature of some of the transfers more clearly. We were surprised by the number of different drivers we had going from Livingstone to Muchenje and the transfer to the small boat across the Zambesi seemed somewhat precarious, (and hilarious!) but having said that it did all work! It was not quite what we expected but certainly gave us a feeling of adventure and Africa from the start!

I think that the organisation is to be congratulated on such an efficient and personal service. Many thanks" Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 4 on a Botswana safari

"You did an excellent job with our itinerary except as explained earlier we felt the two camps were too close in proximity to each other.

Overall, we have already recommended you to several people and believe one couple from Northern Ireland will contact your company about a trip to Tanzania and we suggested "little Oliver" and "Sayari". They said they had used your company in the past and would look you up immediately on their return to Belfast. You have our address for our commission." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 7 on a Tanzania safari

"Overall another wonderful trip back to Namibia. Very well organised by Sabina yet again. Regarding dietary requirements, everywhere ( except for the Nest Hotel in Luderitz) went to great efforts to fulfil our requirements, and where the more remote lodges were unable to do so, they informed us on arrival, again except for the Nest Hotel who were not at all remote. Tok Tokkie and Ultimate Safaris went to a lot of effort on this.

The highlights were; Ultimate safari in The Kalagadi with Polentswa and Rooipots lodges, The Mule Trail Hike, The Sedina boat trip, Sinclair Guest Farm and Tok Tokkie. The outstanding guides were Tarry (Ultimate), Manilow (Mule trail hike) and Domingo (Tok Tokkie) and last but not least, Taso from Sinclair guest Farm a very able guiding dog.

It was good to explore Southern Namibia & a brief excursion to Botswana & South Africa in the transfrontier park - stunning for wildlife.

As ever, Namibia provides huge contrasts & inspiration.

A big thank you to Sabina for sorting out potential problems with Budget car hire & other issues." Read full review: 27 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip