Zambia: reviews from our travellers

"Overall our trip was excellent. Only glitches were a missing extra spare tire in Namibib and they guy in Livingstone who was to meet us ran off with another couple. Thanks to a great airport travel desk guy, he sorted it out and matched us with the person we needed.

The Expert Africa folks we dealt with were uniformly very good to excellent. There were some delays in feedback during the planning process which we noted but overall very good. Quick feedback during the planning process is critical to us as we are comparing ideas and proposals from more than one company and we need to hear from everyone.

For this trip we spoke to three different folks--Nick, Sabina and one other. Next time I would spend more time in conversation with each of them and would better understand our itinerary options. There is only so much I retain from web sites and travel books.

We also want to find places in Botswana with animals. That was the big surprise for this trip. Our East Africa trips have spoiled us and shaped our expectations for game viewing." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 6 on a Botswana safari

"We have not been to Africa before and wanted to have a 'safari' experience which would fit alongside some charity work which part of the family were undertaking in Zambia, but where to go and what to see? We talked to ExpertAfrica at length about what we would like to see/do as part of our trip, ie a walking safari, drive safari, seeing the local community, not too commercialised etc. and the South Luangwa Park fitted all our needs.

Thank you for the time and effort you put into organising an excellent trip for us. We needed extra luggage to be transported and had particular sleeping requirements, and all these needs were met.

The organisation and attention to detail was second to none." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 7 on a Zambia safari

"This was a wonderful trip. We would work with Expert Africa again and recommend them to family and friends.

The team member who dealt with most of our trip was Gwynneth -- who I know is no longer working at Expert Africa -- but she deserves recognition for all her efforts. I am evaluating Gwynneth below, even though I have to choose a different team member from the drop-down menu" Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 9 on a Namibia trip

"Nick was straight back to us on the text when he knew we would be late and showed great forethought in reserving us a room at the Airport Hotel. The A380 had a lot of passengers who missed their flights and the hotel soon became fully booked.

As a comment if Expert Africa has customers who are "time rich" as we are [though not necessarily "cash rich" ] it might be a good idea to suggest a day's stopover after a long-haul flight. Because we had to stay over a day we started our holiday fit and refreshed and enjoyed it all. If we had arrived at Nxia Pan Camp as planned I think we would have been exhausted and it could have taken a few days to recover............the tourist schedule for retirees is pretty demanding !" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"This trip went extremely well.

All the details were attended to, flights were met, transfers occurred as expected and memories were made. We've lived in Nigeria for the past 8 months and so did not have extremely high expectations for successful logistics. This trip proved us wrong in the most wonderful way.

We loved this trip so much that we are planning a similar trip for next year's spring break.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Expert Africa delivered exactly what they promised and we were very happy with our experience. We have and will continue to recommend Expert Africa to friends who are planning trips to Africa." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 5 on a Zambia safari

"RPS camps are still some of our favourites and we had a great time courtesy of El Presidente Daudi, the team and our fellow travellers.

Getting to Zambia is now something of a real long-haul as the direct BA flight has gone - perhaps we will explore other options next time." Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 8 on a Zambia safari

"Great trip, lots of variety, went without a hitch so thanks to expert africa for all the organisation" Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 3 on a Zambia safari

"See introductory notes. We enjoyed our stay and everything we desired was provided.

The guides are the best in Africa. We are safari experts having been at it for twenty years at least twice a year." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 15 on a Zambia safari

"My trip was expertly organized, to say the very least and was a truly amazing experience.

I have already commented on all the camps, so I'll just comment on the overall organization. I think the selection of camps for me was just perfect. I had a river camp, a desert camp, a jungle camp and a combination river/bush camp. This allowed me to never get tired of what I was seeing and always experience something new. I also think Maruska gave me great advice in suggesting that I do 11 days rather than 7, because the game viewing is trickier in the rainy season, so you see less, so you need more time. So because of my timing, I traded off game viewing for privacy, but because I made a longer trip, I still saw all the game. The advantage to safaris in December is privacy. On 8 of my 20 game drives, I was the only person in my safari vehicle! For 24 hours at Tubu and 8 hours at Savuti, I was the only guest in camp!

But the most impressive thing for my were the transfers. My first day, I left Lusaka and flew to Livingstone where I was met at the airport and whisked away. At the border between Zambia and Botswana, I was met by a boat, which had been waiting for me, was zipped across the river and met by a safari vehicle. This vehicle then whisked to a rendez-vous with the safari camp's vehicle, with then met the afternoon game drive from Mucheje camp part way and I was on a game drive! So I left Lusaka and noon and 5 transfers later, all done seamlessly, and I was on a game drive at 4pm!

Another example is: at Tau Pan in the Kalahari, I went on a morning game drive, came back to camp to have brunch and pack and then had a one hour game drive to the air strip. 5 minutes after arriving, the plane landed and 5 minutes later we were airborne. After a 1 hour flight where I was co-pilot, I landed at Little Tubu and was on a game drive 10 minutes later! So, I was on a game drive in the Kalahari at 2pm and on another in the Okavango Delta at 4pm. What amazing logistics!

Really, really, really well organized trip all in all. It's a rare trip that I leave all the logistics to someone else, but I am very glad to have left it to Expert Africa!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

The only thing I can think of is for you to probe a little more into what exactly we are hoping to experience. For me, this was my first safari, so I really wanted to see big cats. I'm not sure the camps chosen for me were the absolute best for this (I'm not sure they were not either), but I would have benefitted from some more info as to why those particular camps were best for me in that particular area. I had no idea there were so many options to choose from.

All in all, you guys are awesome and I will certainly recommend you and use you again. I was referred to you by a good friend who has used you a couple of times." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 11 on a Botswana safari

"I had a fantastic and meaningful experience in Zambia-my first trip to Africa as an adult and part of the success of this experience was a great safari trip." Read full review: 5 nights in Africa; 5 on a Zambia safari