Reviews of safaris to South Luangwa National Park
896 holiday reviews from our travellers of holidays which include South Luangwa.
Dr P
Aberdeenshire
"Zambia Sep 2011"
I visited Zambia between 23 Sep 2011 and 8 Oct 2011
"First time in Zambia but ExAf was able to take feedback from previous trips to Namibia and create an itenerary to suit expectations. Had a great time.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Feedback I heard while out in Zambia at Tafika is that you are very good at matching people to the camps so that no one arrives with the wrong set of expectations.
That is also my experience in dealing with you, which is why I am a return customer..." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 14 on a Zambia safari
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Feedback I heard while out in Zambia at Tafika is that you are very good at matching people to the camps so that no one arrives with the wrong set of expectations.
That is also my experience in dealing with you, which is why I am a return customer..." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 14 on a Zambia safari
Overall trip
Excellent
Mr & Mrs A
Essex
"More than exceeded expectations"
I visited Zambia between 21 Sep 2011 and 6 Oct 2011
"More than lived up to expectation, glad we chose the camps we did and appreciated the help Lucy gave us on our itinerary.
Will live long in our memory and very much hope to return sometime in the not too distant future.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
None I can think of" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 14 on a Zambia safari
Will live long in our memory and very much hope to return sometime in the not too distant future.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
None I can think of" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 14 on a Zambia safari
Overall trip
Excellent
Dr & Mrs C
Henley
"a fine 4th trip to Luangwa"
I visited Zambia between 21 Sep 2011 and 6 Oct 2011
"Everything went wonderfully well as we returned to our 4 favorite camps in Luangwa. Plenty of new things to see and do, and we met up with all our good friends in the camps there. What a bit of paradise it is.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
No. Just keep it up! We value the service EA has given to us on 5 trips to Africa, and have recommended it to others at the camps.
The advice before the trip is especially helpful as it avoids the wrong expectations/clothing/cameras/binoculars etc that other operators seem to ignore." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 14 on a Zambia safari
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
No. Just keep it up! We value the service EA has given to us on 5 trips to Africa, and have recommended it to others at the camps.
The advice before the trip is especially helpful as it avoids the wrong expectations/clothing/cameras/binoculars etc that other operators seem to ignore." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 14 on a Zambia safari
Overall trip
Excellent
Dr & Mrs B
Herts
"South & North Luangwa, Zambia"
I visited Zambia between 15 Sep 2011 and 1 Oct 2011
"Outstanding trip. We thought our last visit to Zambia couldn't be bettered, but it has been. All the camps were excellent - no negative comments or suggestions for improvement. The African bush remains as alluring as ever.
Unfortunately for our bank balance we'll be back - please wait for the call!
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
We really can't think of any. This is our fourth trip organised through Expert Africa, and every one has exceeded expectations. We've also recommended you to others, and they've also experienced outstanding service.
Keep it up!" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 16 on a Zambia safari
Unfortunately for our bank balance we'll be back - please wait for the call!
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
We really can't think of any. This is our fourth trip organised through Expert Africa, and every one has exceeded expectations. We've also recommended you to others, and they've also experienced outstanding service.
Keep it up!" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 16 on a Zambia safari
Overall trip
Excellent
Mr & Mrs B
Dersingham
"Safari in South Luangwa"
I visited Zambia between 14 Sep 2011 and 26 Sep 2011
"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." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 11 on a Zambia safari
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." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 11 on a Zambia safari
Overall trip
Excellent
Mr & Mrs G
Leics
"great adventure"
I visited Zambia and 1 other country between 11 Sep 2011 and 1 Oct 2011
"My husband and I had been to Zambia 3 years ago and were travelling with my brother-in- law and his wife (from Canada) who had not been to Africa before. I think we were all very pleased with the holiday in terms of the huge variety of places we saw and things we did. It was a lot to pack in with 2 countries and 7 different camps/hotels in 3 weeks (so unavoidably a lot of travelling) but it gave us a great flavour of the countries and places we might want to revisit for longer.
We were pleased with the suggestions of places to stay especially the camps in Zambia and in S Africa Bishops Court and Ocean Eleven were really good. In retrospect the only changes I would make would be a day longer at Kaingo with possibly one less at Hog Hollow, and I would prefer to stay at one of the wineries rather than Rusthof.
The trip organisation was again excellent with all the connections, transfers etc working as expected and I would certainly use Expert Africa again for future holidays.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Perhaps worth considering suggesting people take evaluation forms with them as they are quite detailed and filling them in at the time might be easier and allow a more independent review (rather than comparing the different camps on your return." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 9 on a Zambia safari
We were pleased with the suggestions of places to stay especially the camps in Zambia and in S Africa Bishops Court and Ocean Eleven were really good. In retrospect the only changes I would make would be a day longer at Kaingo with possibly one less at Hog Hollow, and I would prefer to stay at one of the wineries rather than Rusthof.
The trip organisation was again excellent with all the connections, transfers etc working as expected and I would certainly use Expert Africa again for future holidays.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Perhaps worth considering suggesting people take evaluation forms with them as they are quite detailed and filling them in at the time might be easier and allow a more independent review (rather than comparing the different camps on your return." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 9 on a Zambia safari
Overall trip
Excellent
Mrs L
Surrey
"Overall Trip Experience"
I visited Zambia between 4 Sep 2011 and 15 Sep 2011
"Very disappointed about the walking safari experience and because there was so little interaction with animals the walking safari part was repetitive and after a few days boring. As the camps were relatively close to each other the terrains were very similar and therefore again led to repetition about the trees, grasses and poo.
The pictures in the Norman Carr brochures have obviously been manipulated (we heard that one of the hosts had admitted this to fellow travellers), very misleading. Had we known that the animals ran away we would not have taken this holiday. A very expensive mistake.
Because of the repetition we also thought that the trip was too long. 5 nights would have been more than enough before moving to a new location altogether.
A herd of buffalo bolted when we were 200 metres away. Hippos and crocodiles ran into the water when we were walking on the river banks on the opposite side to the sand spits they were on 40-50 metres away. A lion even moved into the grass when we were over 250 metres away. Lions, Hippos and crocodiles do not move away from vehicles even when they are relatively close.
We saw lots of game on the drives and were lucky to see 5 leopard and a significant number of lions including a mating pair during the trip.
There were some issues of cleanliness at the camps with broken or chipped toilet seats and general dirtiness of room floors and at Kakuli the bar area. We do not mean daily dust. Mrs Lloyd has lived in Zambia and understands the local situation regarding cleaning. The expat staff should be more on top of general cleaning.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
We have no issue with Expert Africa's service.
For walking safaris I would suggest that you ask people what they think they will experience. The novelty of the walking safari experience is short lived and therefore we recommend that 4-5 days on the Norman Carr safari is more than enough. Our 9 night holiday was far too long." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 10 on a Zambia safari
The pictures in the Norman Carr brochures have obviously been manipulated (we heard that one of the hosts had admitted this to fellow travellers), very misleading. Had we known that the animals ran away we would not have taken this holiday. A very expensive mistake.
Because of the repetition we also thought that the trip was too long. 5 nights would have been more than enough before moving to a new location altogether.
A herd of buffalo bolted when we were 200 metres away. Hippos and crocodiles ran into the water when we were walking on the river banks on the opposite side to the sand spits they were on 40-50 metres away. A lion even moved into the grass when we were over 250 metres away. Lions, Hippos and crocodiles do not move away from vehicles even when they are relatively close.
We saw lots of game on the drives and were lucky to see 5 leopard and a significant number of lions including a mating pair during the trip.
There were some issues of cleanliness at the camps with broken or chipped toilet seats and general dirtiness of room floors and at Kakuli the bar area. We do not mean daily dust. Mrs Lloyd has lived in Zambia and understands the local situation regarding cleaning. The expat staff should be more on top of general cleaning.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
We have no issue with Expert Africa's service.
For walking safaris I would suggest that you ask people what they think they will experience. The novelty of the walking safari experience is short lived and therefore we recommend that 4-5 days on the Norman Carr safari is more than enough. Our 9 night holiday was far too long." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 10 on a Zambia safari
Overall trip
Average
Mr W & Ms W + kids
NL
"Fantastic honeymoon"
I visited Namibia and 1 other country between 2 Sep 2011 and 30 Sep 2011
"Absolutely fantastic trip!
From start to finish everything went smooth and was great. Our best trip so far (out of seven trips to Africa).
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
No idea. It's already so close to perfection." Read full review: 28 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip
From start to finish everything went smooth and was great. Our best trip so far (out of seven trips to Africa).
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
No idea. It's already so close to perfection." Read full review: 28 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip
Overall trip
Excellent
Mr & Mrs W
Northnts
"Expert Africa & Robin Pope Safari"
I visited Zambia between 31 Aug 2011 and 8 Sep 2011
"On return we could not fault the advice and guidance we were given by Lucy at Expert Africa.
The Robin Pope Safari experience was of a very high standard with the quality of guiding and camps expertly selected. The transfers were all very well done with no lost time as these are treated as being part of the driving safari experience. The camps hostess and the good humour of the guides ensured that the visit was good fun all the way through.
We could not fault the techinical knowledge of the camp guides and they certainly added to the experience.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Whole trip was completely faultless and ran totally trouble free so sorry but can't make any good suggestions here!" Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 7 on a Zambia safari
The Robin Pope Safari experience was of a very high standard with the quality of guiding and camps expertly selected. The transfers were all very well done with no lost time as these are treated as being part of the driving safari experience. The camps hostess and the good humour of the guides ensured that the visit was good fun all the way through.
We could not fault the techinical knowledge of the camp guides and they certainly added to the experience.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Whole trip was completely faultless and ran totally trouble free so sorry but can't make any good suggestions here!" Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 7 on a Zambia safari
Overall trip
Excellent
Mrs & Mr F
BC
""
I visited Zambia between 22 Aug 2011 and 18 Sep 2011
"This was the best holiday we have ever had, and we've had some excellent holidays.
All travel arrangements went smoothly. Our itinerary was excellent with a great choice of camps. We liked every camp and everthing went so well that we arrived home feeling completely rested and relaxed. Other guests and guides or managers who saw our itinerary in South Luangwa said we had made very good choices. I'm pleased we chose camps that offered walking as we grew to love starting the day with a walk.
We are already thinking about our next trip and will use Expert Africa again. Thanks Maruska for arranging this wonderful trip.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
None. The trip was perfect." Read full review: 27 nights in Africa; 22 on a Zambia safari
All travel arrangements went smoothly. Our itinerary was excellent with a great choice of camps. We liked every camp and everthing went so well that we arrived home feeling completely rested and relaxed. Other guests and guides or managers who saw our itinerary in South Luangwa said we had made very good choices. I'm pleased we chose camps that offered walking as we grew to love starting the day with a walk.
We are already thinking about our next trip and will use Expert Africa again. Thanks Maruska for arranging this wonderful trip.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
None. The trip was perfect." Read full review: 27 nights in Africa; 22 on a Zambia safari
Overall trip
Excellent
896
reviews of South Luangwa by travellers since August 2007
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