Reviews of safaris to North Luangwa National Park

"This is a star holiday. All the senses are fully alert during the walking trips which is what we like best. Zambia is such a friendly country and the lodges work very well. We simply love these trips and hope to return.

Many thanks to Claire and Chris who helped us choose once again to go back to this bit of paradise.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

I would like an easier, more transparent view of lodge costs to help rule out the unsuitable early on in the selection process." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 14 on a Zambia safari

"We stayed in some great places and saw more wildlife than ever before (as much leopards as on our five previous trips to Africa combined).

We met a lot of nice people, some of who we will try to stay in contact with. We will definitely return to Zambia someday. A very diverse trip!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Perhaps you should market yourself more in the rest of Europe (outside the UK). During our trip we only met British people who booked with Expert Africa. People from other countries (e.g. the Netherlands) would not immediately think of Expert Africa when looking for a travel agent, while you're definitely the best we've had so far (after many Dutch disappointments)." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 14 on a Zambia safari

"Norman Carr Safaris were excellent - facilities and food first rate. They are however overprotective of guests and , if you have done any independent self drive and camping, their safety precautions are OTT and risk spoiling the experience. So be beware.

For first timers they would be great. The walking was really good and our guides were generally excellent. The ZAWA scouts did a great job.

N Luangwa was really relaxed and more of a wilderness experience. Highly recommended." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 14 on a Zambia safari

"It was great to be back with the Tafica team and their 3 bushcamps. Walking is the activity to do at every opportunity, once you have seen most animals from a truck.

Suggestions for improvements:

lets talk about next year's trip and how about an increasing discount for faithful clients?" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 14 on a Zambia safari

"I have run out of ways of saying excellent............we cried all the way home on British Airways flight.

Suggestions for improvement:

I hope that Tafika's recipe of giving the best, not spoiling the dish by overloading the camps, and charging a price that gives them the return they want is the right one for the future.

A costly holiday no doubt; but cheap at the price !" Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 12 on a Zambia safari

"We first booked this trip for 2007 but Catherine was ill and we had to cancel. So we rebooked for 2008 as soon as we could.
Chris McIntyre was very helpful on the phone and persuaded me not to try to go to Botswana as well as Zambia. An excellent advice as this was more than enough for 2 weeks.

Anna worked through with me the camps to visit and their sequence, and got it just right so we had an excellent balance between basecamps and bushcamps. Mwalshi needs 4 days and is best kept until last. All the paperwork etc arrived to time and in full. I trust Expert Africa completely now after 2 trips with them to Africa. Many thanks to Anna.

The Bradt Guide is essential prior reading for choosing the camps and what to take etc.
Now I look forward to another trip to Africa. Will it be Botswana ( read up on the Bradt Guide first), Zambia in June/July, or back to Namibia. How lucky we are to have these choices!

Suggestions for improvement:

Don't change a thing. You have it just right for me." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 14 on a Zambia safari

"Not the best we have done due to circumstances but enjoyable all the same.

The arraangements made by Expert Africa were first class." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 10 on a Zambia safari

"The holiday was everything that we could have wished for, and we loved every minute of it. Anna and Expert Africa are quite clearly highly regarded by the guides.

The one thing that did cause me some confusion were the various vouchers issued to us by Expert Africa, though ultimately it made no difference to our trip. One voucher stated that it was for a transfer from Lufupa Lodge to Lusaka, but in fact it was from Lunga River Lodge airstrip to Lusaka. The transfer vouchers for the second week while in North and South Luangwa were completely wrong. Though this caused me a lot of confusion, Remote Africa had worked it all out correctly, ignoring the vouchers, and everything was fine.

The issue of Tipping was a bit difficult for us, and definitely an area that I feel needs to be addressed in greater detail by Expert Africa. I had read somewhere that tipping is discretionary but that an amount of $5 - $8 per day per guest would be appropriate to pay to the guide. However, it is not only the guide that often deserves a tip, but also the staff at the various bush camps. I have no idea as to whether we were being mean or generous, but on average we were tipping our guides the equivalent of $40 - $50 for each day that we had with them, and a further $30 or so to the remainder of the staff at each camp per day (remembering that we are a family of five, and that we were usually the only guests at each camp).

Our guide for the whole of the first week was Brad from Wilderness Safaris. He was absolutely fantastic, extraordinarily knowledgeable about virtually anything that we wished to discuss, and seemed to possess a sixth sense when it came to spotting wildlife. He is such a nice person, and our 17,15 and 13 year old children all got on very well with him. He works tremendously hard and deserves a medal.

Would it have been possible for Expert Africa to give us advance notice of the identity of who we would be having as our guide? It would have been nice for us to have known his name in advance so that when we first met him we could have immediately realised what his role was.

Before we left the UK, I spoke with Anna and asked if it would be an idea for us to take out some spare clothing for the local villagers. She responded very enthusiastically and gave me a long list of suggestions as to what we could take, including any old clothes, shoes, toys, childrens books etc. When packing our bags we chose mostly old clothes that we did not wish to bring back to the UK at the end of our trip, and any spare room in our bags were then filled with other bits and pieces to give away.

At each camp that we stayed at we asked the camp manager whether it would be appropriate to give him some clothes and toys to distribute to his staff, and each time we received a very positive response. The staff may look well fed and clothed but their familes back in their home villages often own virtually nothing and we were assured that our meagre gifts would be gratefully received. Consequently we left quite a large volume of things behind in Zambia, and feel good that we have done our little bit to assist these people. Maybe Expert Africa could include some sort of guidance and suggestions in this area for any future like-minded travellers." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 7 on a Zambia safari

"People always say you'll be disappointed when you go back to somewhere you've been to and really enjoyed - they say it won't be as good as last time. Well we were amazed and delighted that it was even better - it exceeded every expectation or hope for the trip.

It is a fantastic place with really superb people at the camps we've visited. We'd like to try some other camps next time we go, but don't know if we'll be able to tear ourselves away from Remote Africa - I guess we'll just have to try to find some extra time!

Suggestions for improvement:

You really helped us decide against Botswana in an open and honest way. Having had such a great holiday we can't think of anything you could have done to improve it since we don't believe you can control the airport/flight aspect." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 9 on a Zambia safari

"A very enjoyable experience. The itinerary covered a good variety of locations each proviing different experiences.

We were impressed with everyone we came in to conact with - their friendliness, helpfulness and their knowledge." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 10 on a Zambia safari