Travel reviews by Mr & Mrs B from Dersingham

"We had a wonderful time. This was our fourth visit to South Luangwa so we knew what to expect. Everything ran smoothly - from an easy and rapid booking process to the flights and transfers. It was really good to have the spacious family chalet (again!) at Kaingo, and to have Andrew and Yoram as guides, both of whom have been excellent in the past.

The very recent addition of electric battery charging points in each chalet at Mwamba was a welcome touch. This is worth mentioning to future travelers as it means that there is no longer a need to try to conserve camera battery life when staying there for a few days."

"This was an excellent holiday. We had visited Tafika and Kaingo twice before so had a good idea of what to expect, but Chikoko Tree Camp, and the walking activities there, were a new experience. Walking safaris are totally different from driving safaris and proved a great new experience for us, but not to be recommended for the faint of heart or anyone who is not physically fit. On one afternoon walk we had to make numerous detours due to encounters with elephants (a great experience!) and therefore had to walk at a fast pace in order to arrive back at camp just as darkness fell.

We did find the 30-hour journeys between the UK and Zambia more tiring than when there was a direct flight from Heathrow to Lusaka. We might consider an overnight stay, or an airline class upgrade on the night-time leg of the journey, should we decide on a repeat visit.

Our booking experience through Amanda was easy. She quickly grasped what our requirements were. As before with Expert Africa staff we were impressed that we were not pushed to do things that we didn't want. Amanda kept us up to date with progress regularly and very promptly via email.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

It was very good to be met by a Tours Africa representative at Lusaka airport. He had our names on a board, and collected our luggage while we obtained our visas. We weren't 100% sure that this would happen, as your 'Notes for travellers to Zambia' booklet says on page 11 "they'll normally meet you". First time travellers would find the meeting service very helpful, and the knowledge that it would actually happen very re-assuring."

"This was the second time we had visited Zambia. We liked our first trip two years ago so much that we returned to exactly the same camps, changing only the order in which we visited them. In all our travels this is the first time that we have ever done that, and we were not disappointed.

Of course we saw many of the same animals as before, but every encounter is different, and we now have even more precious memories and photographs."

"We had a wonderful time! The lodges and camps were very much as we expected - or even better. It is true that one can 'travel light' because washing really does come back on the same day. Our sightings of wildlife were beyond our expectations and have left us with some marvellous memories - and hundreds of photos. We saw leopards on no fewer that seven occasions, and lions that were within touching diistance, not to mention all the antelopes, birds and other animals.

Unfortunately there was one event that could have spoilt our holiday had we not been fairly seasoned travellers who do not easliy panic. On arrival at Lusaka we discovered that our names were not on the Proflight list for the flight to Mfuwe, and it was full. The existence of our Expert Africa voucher for the flight proved totally worthless. Fortunatey we were assisted by staff from Tours Africa, who tried to contact Expert Africa for us but it was before office hours in the UK, and Chris McIntyre's phone was on voicemail.

They then contacted Heather at Tafika, and she sorted out an eTicket for the midday flight. All this meant we lost a morning hanging around at Lusaka airport, when we were expecting to be travelling out to the Luangwa valley. When we did arrive at Mfuwe we were met by a driver who had had to make an extra round trip to pick us up when he should have been on his way to one of the Tafika bushcamps. So our arrival at Tafika was all very rushed in the end, and not at all the relaxing start to a holiday that had been planned.

We would point out that Heather also checked our return Proflight flight, and passed on an eTicket (booked by Claire Scott), as there was no booking for that either. She also checked with Shentons that they were expecting us. Considering that this holiday was booked in early February this experience was very disappointing."