Zanzibar: reviews from our travellers

"This was yet another excellent safari/holiday created by Expert Africa, each one just gets better than the one before.

We arranged a private guide and vehicle for these travellers, they commented:

Sadiq was an excellent and professional guide, he established what our expectations were and tried throughout the trip to accommodate our wishes. He is obviously an experienced guide of many years and knew the locations we visited well. He was also knowledgeable about the needs of a photographer and manoeuvred the vehicle to obtain the best photographic positions.

We could not have wished for a better guide - Thank you Sadiq

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

I cannot think of anything" Read full review: 23 nights in Africa; 9 on a Tanzania safari

"In February we spent 3 nights in Selous, 4 nights in Ruaha, 6 nights in Paje (Zanzibar), 2 nights on Chumbe Island, and the final night in Stone Town (Zanzibar). Our trip was full of great experiences - totally unique from any of the travelling we've done in the past. This was our first trip to Africa.

I am happy that we went to both Selous and Ruaha. We experienced the most diversity and abundance of animals in the Selous (we stayed at Azura Selous), but appreciated being able to sit and watch the interaction of the 'social' animals (lions, baboons and elephants) in the Ruaha. If I was forced to just go only to one place, I would reluctantly say Selous because of the more wilderness aspect of it. We didn't see a single 4x4 when we were out in the Selous, while in Ruaha we probably saw 6 on average per day. I understand that this is nothing compared to northern Tanzania, and is one of the main reasons we chose Selous and Ruaha.

The Tanzanians that we met were all extremely welcoming and hospitable. They all wanted us to go home as ambassadors for their country. We felt totally spoiled and were willing to overlook disappointments we had with some of the food because of this.

I'm glad that we spent some time shopping in Stone Town as it was a great place to pick up inexpensive home décor items, but I probably could have done that in a few hours and didn't need to overnight there.

Coming from Canada, we found the food and drink prices to be very inexpensive on Zanzibar. Watching the kite surfing in Paje was really interesting and made spending hours on the beach enjoyable." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 7 on a Tanzania safari

"we had a fabulous return to Africa (our first visit for almost 40 years!). We were recommended to Expert Africa by friends living in Tanzania and were very impressed with the service provided. James provided us with a great deal of information and if he couldn't answer a question he said so!

We were disappointed in one lodge where we stayed but James had made clear to us before booking that he didn't have any personal knowledge of this lodge. For the lodges which were recommend by EA we found their descriptions to have been fair and reliable. EA arranged all our local connections - taxis and flights and all worked out very well without a hitch." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 7 on a Zanzibar holiday

"Everything worked smoothly" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 8 on a Zanzibar holiday

"The trip was put together perfectly and at each juncture, the part awaiting us was exactly what we needed/ wanted to compliment the last and maintain variety. We were so impressed with the quality of the &Beyond destinations in particular- they really are a cut above- so slick. But saying that, Beho Beho was such an incredible experience, the whole Selous felt manicured it was all so perfect. Ellie has just been amazing throughout and the guidance in putting together such a trip of a lifetime was invaluable. We're not sure that we will ever top this trip. But then again, that's the sign of the most perfect honeymoon..." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 9 on a Tanzania safari

"Parts of our trip were really amazing but other aspects were so disappointing, so it's difficult to give an overall level of satisfaction really. In our view this was partly down to advice from Expert Africa and partly down to failings of Sunshine Marine Lodge (i.e. the food).

The connections etc. were all very smooth - the drivers were always waiting for us and there was never a need to follow anything up, so the trip had clearly been very well planned out and was very easy for us, which was great.

The upgrade for the last few nights at Sunshine Marine Lodge made a lot of difference, as it afforded some privacy, so we're pleased that it could be put in place." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 7 on a Zanzibar holiday

"It was wonderful! Every bit as fabulous as we had hoped and exactly what you would want your honeymoon to be.

The whole trip, considering we stayed in three different locations, across two different countries was brilliant. No delays or disruption to our travelling, lovely hotels and resorts and a lovely, warm welcome from Tanzania and Zanzibar.

Would definitely recommend to others!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Not really - may be a follow up call before receiving this form would have been nice but other than that, all good!" Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 6 on a Tanzania safari

"Can't thanks Expert Africa enough for sorting out all our arrangements, especially at relatively short notice. James D. was tremendously helpful. All the transfers worked like clockwork and we were met without hitch by the local agents. Particularly impressed with the one at Dar (Kearsley Travel) who were very professional (and, on our final departure from Dar when we were transferred to the main terminal by Coastal, we bumped into the driver we had had before who greeted us like old friends!). Slightly less impressed by the agent at Stonetown (Eco-tours), who was rather too keen to sell us the 'Stonetown tour'.. but otherwise transfers there were fine. All in all it was tremendous service from Expert Africa, which I highly recommend and would use again. Thank you!" Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 9 on a Tanzania safari

"An excellent holiday. We knew what to expect having been to both destinations once before.

Kwihala once again was fantastic. Pongwe was better than our first visit. Will be very happy to do both again. I definitely prefer a longer stay at a camp rather than a more typical few days at several camps." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 8 on a Tanzania safari

"Nice trip, few animals, Overall good experience" Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 6 on a Tanzania safari