Reviews of holidays to South-west Zanzibar

"Our trip went quite smoothly.

All arrangements were correct and we experienced no problems with accommodations or transfers." Read full review: 7 nights in Africa; 7 on a Zanzibar holiday

"A trip of a lifetime. An altogether wonderful experience among the delightful people of Tanzania. I would recommend all the camps visited to see game of every description and be cosseted by the staff. Missed out on seeing a rhino so need to go back

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Not really, it all worked very well. Fishermans Tours were very helpful also" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 6 on a Tanzania safari

"We had planned it as the holiday of a lifetime and it proved to be exactly this, just perfect.

The arrangements were flawless from start to finish

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No, and I will certainly recommend you to anyone travelling to Africa, we will certainly come back again" Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 10 on a Tanzania safari

"Our safari to eastern and southern Africa was absolutely stunning.

My family has an active, adventurous spirit, which Claire Scott (Expert Africa) picked up on right away as we discussed options nearly nine months prior. Accordingly, Claire recommended camps that met our desires and expectations. I cannot say enough about how easy it was to work with Expert Africa and how efficiently our holiday played out. Complex logistics were well planned and execution was seamless. Well done!" Read full review: 39 nights in Africa; 9 on a Zambia safari

"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

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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

"Full marks again to Expert Africa, with whom we've travelled many times. We wanted to visit a less travelled part of Africa and the Selous fulfilled all our hopes. Our four accommodation locations were all satisfyingly different. What more can one say?

Sorry Angela is no longer with EA to receive our thanks for her wise and helpful advice." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 6 on a Tanzania safari

"Overall experience was excellent with the exception of the Zanzibar Coffee House and the Fishermen tour organization.

The tour mostlly functioned as a taxi-they were on time and pleasant but not helpful." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 5 on a Tanzania safari

"We had the most wonderful trip and saw so much more than we ever expected. We particularly enjoyed living in the tented accommodation being surrounded by nature and learning so much about the wildlife. This was largely due to the skill of the guides, notably Silvanus who drove us around and acted as our guide for several days in different locations of Tarangire, Lake Manyara and The Ngorongoro crater. His knowledge was amazing and his patience with two novices was truly boundless.

We like to mention how impressed we were with the safari outfit used by Expert Africa and would highly recommend this company to anyone. Their operations were run smoothly and efficiently with a constant desire to improve their services and environmentally friendly camps even further. Their training policy and opportunity for further development seemed to be very much appreciated by their employees. All their staff were happy and proud working for them which we felt speaks for itself.

The balloon trip over the Serengeti at dawn was an unforgettable experience, which we would highly recommend. The pilot was very experienced and his expert handling of the balloon allowed us to fly extremely low. Gliding across the Mara River and seeing the sun rising over this amazing landscape was truly magical.

Zanzibar offered a completely different type of holiday. We were especially interested in the history and culture of the island. The 'Princess Salme' tour was particularly fascinating and took in several different experiences: a very informative visit around the Mtoni Palace given by the project manager of the restoration project, followed by a Dhow trip, a coffee ceremony as well as a fascinating spice tour led by a guide with real knowledge of the subject and finally a delicious meal provided by the plantation owner. We would highly recommend it as it is designed for very small groups and provides a real insight into what made the island what it is.

A special mention should also go to Nick at Unguja Lodge who is a very competent and professional diving instructor who enabled me to fulfil my long held wish to complete my diving certificate.

Expert Arfrica did deliver exactly what we had asked for in our original brief and more. They enabled us to choose companies and lodges, etc which benefit their local communities and this had been one of our priorities. It also allowed us to see some very well run local projects during our travels which are all equally worth while supporting in the future.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

A suggestion might be that while on safari, to consider having a day in camp to digest what had been experienced. This could take the form of a walk with guides followed later by an evening drive. Having some time to just sit in front of our tent for a few hours and to watch the wildlife from there or reading a book was rather enjoyable especially after several days of non stop action. We think people should be made aware of this option." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 9 on a Tanzania safari

"We have done so many safaris we have lost count and we thought this trip would just be a fill in. Far from it! There was a lovely balance between the Selous and Ruaha camps and the variety of game was superb.

The variety of activities was less than we hoped as there are no park rangers in the camps (Apart from Kitchaka) to act as guards for walks and no night drives. However in all the camps we had a very personal service and guides who were with you throughout your stay. That and excellent beach relax are two advantages over Zambia.

Thank you James for your excellent choice of camps and for such a smooth running trip. Our appetite is still not satiated, Zambia still has that edge for us and we hope return in the not too distant future." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 12 on a Tanzania safari