Zimbabwe: reviews from our travellers

"This was our first visit to Southern Africa and it exceeded our expectations.

Sabina had given us a great itinerary and set of accommodation, with sound advice about distances and what to see. In retrospect we would not have spent two nights at Camp Kwando, but more in the panhandle. However, we thoroughly enjoyed our visit and would love to do it again.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

A list of where the ATMs are located would be useful.
Note that bird/animal guide books are not readily available at the lodges. Suggest that customers buy them before travelling.

Clarify the cross border permit instructions for vehicles from Namibia to Botswana.

Note that Zimbabwe now charges US$55 for UK residents visitor permit whereas EU members generally are charged US$30." Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"Whole trip started in Namibia and was very enjoyable after rocky start due to initial car hire problem. Without Expert Africa s intervention and backing an inadequate car could have proved very problematic if not disastrous.

Also EA information about the newly opened West Etosha through Galton gate proved the key to the Namibian tour. All EA recommended accommodation was excellent as was the Sandwich Harbour tour

Zimbabwe trip a full on safari, Fabulous game .Very dry this year which meant waterholes were great but not a lot in between. Thank you to James for suggesting Camp Hwange. It was just right for us although we probably won't do Zimbabwe again as we prefer the type of walking in Zambia." Read full review: 26 nights in Africa; 8 on a Zimbabwe safari

"Our whole trip was amazing and went perfectly.

Thank you so much to Nick (and later Tracy) at Expert Africa for helping me with my itinerary and as usual you arranged everything with the lodges and agents to perfection. We could not fault anything, we felt really well looked after and didn't have to think of anything except enjoying ourselves.The recommendations and discussions over lodges were spot on and we saw everything we wanted to in very comfortable surroundings.

We have used you many times in the past and will not hesitate to again." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari

"We thoroughly enjoyed the trip; it met all of our expectations, for country and wildlife, and above at times. Namibia is a lovely country with nice people. The places we stayed at almost always got a "wow!" on arrival, what more can we say?

We would return very happily.

Fitting Victoria Falls in was good, but perhaps an expensive luxury." Read full review: 25 nights in Africa; 21 on a Namibia trip

"It was a delightful safari.

Mention should be made of Wilderness Safaris in Maun, who on learning of our loss of luggage immediately took over the task of locating it and produced within a matter of minutes two emergency bags for us. After nearly 24 hours of travel their "don't worry we will sort it" approach was most welcome.

Our road transport from Kasane to the border was in a safari vehicle - driving at 40/50 mph in an open vehicle, being blasted by the wind, was extremely uncomfortable. Fortunately the second vehicle over the border was a normal minibus." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 14 on a Botswana safari

"I've been, as always, been very pleased with the service of Expert Africa. This has been the fifth time I booked or partially booked my trips to Africa with help of Claire or Nick.

I travelled together with friends to two lodges in Hwange. No complaints at all, but for a solo traveller things tend to be a little bit unsatisfactory. The seat next to the driver, that is my opinion, should not be considered as equivalent to the others. You don`t see much, especially when you are small. The photographic opportunities are limited, too. So, as it seems to be no question that couples should be separated during a game drive, it`s the fate of the solo guest to be confined to this place.

I was lucky, however, that other guests arrived late, and I had an entire vehicle and driver for myself one day." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 6 on a Zimbabwe safari

"We had a wonderful time on our eight day trip to Victoria Falls and Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe.

We have only good things to say about the help and guidance we received from Nick at expert Africa. He understood perfectly the kind of trip we were trying to make, made valuable suggestions that improved our itinerary, and he chose fantastic lodges for us to stay in Hwange.

After Nick left the company, Freddie took over for a smooth transition." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 8 on a Zimbabwe safari

"The trip of a lifetime!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Maruska was wonderful: very knowledgeable, helpful and she built an amazing itinerary. All details were covered.

I've been recommending her to people at home!" Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 7 on a Namibia trip

"We were very pleased that all the arrangements made for us by Expert Africa, camps and lodges, internal flights, transfers and extra activities all happened seamlessly.

When a problem arose with our booking before we travelled, Expert Africa resolved the situation quickly and at no cost to ourselves for which we were very grateful." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"This was our 17th trip with Expert Africa (dating back to 2006); but it was somewhat different to most of our previous ones in that we had two family members with us making their first trip to Africa.

Our guests had spent two weeks in Zambia with us before we took this trip, mainly at our home just outside Livingstone. But, other than a day at Masuku Lodge just north of Choma and a couple of sunset cruises around 'our' patch of the Zambezi, this had not been safari as such. We therefore wanted to give them a good taste of the wildlife. We picked The Hide in Hwange NP and Victoria Falls (Gorges Lodge) because of their proximity to our home in Livingstone and our wish for our guests to see the Victoria Falls on both sides.

This turned out to be about as good a final week to their three week trip as we could have imagined, not only in absolute terms but also as a great counterpoint to the time our guests spent in Zambia. It was also very good from our perspective too. Getting such a good balance is not straightforward and we are grateful to the team at Expert Africa for once again coming up trumps." Read full review: 6 nights in Africa; 6 on a Zimbabwe safari