Africa: Reviews from our travellers

"This was an amazing holiday, we enjoyed every minute of it. Thanks to Sabina for all her expertise, organisation and suggestions.

Disappointing not to see apex predators, should have gone on more guided drives." Read full review: 25 nights in Africa; 19 on a Namibia trip

"This was an epic trip. We both agree it was the best we have ever taken. Maruska was so helpful with first designing it and then with questions we had along the way. She even helped with getting us tickets to Robbens Island when it was sold out!
At times it felt like too much driving but I wouldn't have wanted to cut out anything. Probably just added more time. I really liked that we were in Swakopmund in the middle of the trip to have some city time between lodges. Also having stays at two different ends of Etosha with a drive through the middle. The lodges were all so wonderful and fun. Also being met at the airport before and at the end by Wilderness Safaris was so helpful. They waited in line for sim cards while we did rental car. Got us on our way quicker.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Not really. You did say somewhere that the shortest route is not always the fastest. We wish we had listened as we followed our cars GPS on first day and ended up hours behind schedule and at the start of darkness. Warned not to drive after dark so that was stressful on our first day.
We felt we had lots of info." Read full review: 25 nights in Africa; 19 on a Namibia trip

"I have been on a number of safari holidays in different African countries but nowhere have I experienced the wonderful isolation of feeling yours was the only vehicle watching these amazing animals. Also we never had more than 3 or 4 people in the vehicle so everyone had good sightings. Sadly Malawi has only recently been able to offer such good safaris but I hope their profile as a safari destination continues to grow.

They have already had great success with elephants which have been translocated to other countries. Malawi may not have the huge numbers of animals you see in the Serengeti but neither does it have the huge, annoying number of safari vehicles! ( 2500 A DAY in the Ngorongoro Crater)

I had never seen Sable antelope or Nyala before and they are magnificent. The number of raptors at Kuthengo was impressive and the boat safaris a joy - to see everything from a different perspective. Although both Majete and Liwonde are wooded they are very different experiences. Liwonde is more open woodland and so maybe easier to photograph animals.

The guides at both camps were great and very sensitive to the wishes of the guests - brilliant. Robin Pope Safaris seems to be a very efficient organisation training local people to fulfil the various roles very successfully. The bonus of a guide to help you through the Airport on departure was great.

I would not hesitate to recommend Malawi to experience the sound of silence broken only by the sounds of birds and animals! I had a wonderful time!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

I travelled to Botswana with you a few years ago which was a great experience and is why I returned.

I have recommended you to many people." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 9 on a Malawi trip

"Amazing." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 6 on a Botswana safari

"A very good trip. We have steered clear of Kenya for many years because it has become so popular and crowded but felt we would like to give it a try again in the hope that we might see the wildebeest crossing the rivers with all the action that the crossing produces.

In the event we were unsuccessful in that regard because animals are not always predictable! Having entered the Mara pretty much on schedule they decided to turn round and go back into Tanzania. In fact this the third year running they have not travelled as far north as previously.

In this respect it was our fault for relying on historic data and we had not taken the trouble to update ourselves on recent trends. It will always be difficult to make predictions on this subject and while there are websites which give up to date information this is not relevant at the time one has to make a booking.


This disappointment was compensated by several rare sightings. We were able to spend a lot of time and able to follow a Serval mother and three kittens and on two separate occasions we witnessed a cheetah making a successful chase and kill right in front of us. Over many years of going on safari we have occasionally seen cheetahs with the result of a successful chase and kill but never before have we seen the actual chase right in front of us.

We selected the two camps because they are operated by a company with several locations in southern Africa and who work with Expert Africa and whose camps we have visited at four other locations in Tanzania and where we were suitably impressed.

One particular aspect which pleased us was the flexibility of the ranger/guides to check with their guests on the duration of the trips. The fact that we always had a packed breakfast with us meant the duration of each trip was not governed by the need to get back for a cooked meal." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 10 on a Kenya safari

"I had difficulties at first, because inexplicably a member of the team forgot about my booking and failed to follow through the details.

However on enquiry this was swiftly put right and the trip proceeded exactly as set out, and without any glitches. This was very satisfying as on a safari trip the wheels can come off!

Have to say all my trips with Expert Africa, have proceeded as planned." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 9 on a Zambia safari

"Our safari was perfect, topping and tailing the excitement of the mobile safari with some more conventional lodges.

Lucy was extremely helpful in putting together this itinerary. She helpfully guided us away from a “single species” safari and that led us to consider her suggestion of the Private Mobile Safaris which we enjoyed so much that we are already planning another safari with him. We organised our own flights to and from the UK and Lucy very kindly and unprompted arranged for a meet and greet at Johannesburg airport which was extremely useful in speeding us on our journey.

Lucy was good at humouring us with our preference for land transfers and these were very successful and enjoyable (albeit sometimes in a bone shaking way). We saw parts of Chobe that we wouldn’t otherwise see, saw species we otherwise might not have seen, and we gained an appreciation for the size of the park.

She also dealt well with our special requests and liaising with Andrew.

Altogether, it was an exhilarating safari and one that we probably would not have been able to design without the help of Lucy and Expert Africa." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari

"This was our first trip to Africa (and Tanzania of course) and we loved it.

The highlight was the Safari which was excellent thanks to the camp and our guide." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 6 on a Tanzania safari

"Anton Walker really nailed everything for me. Just the right camps, accommodated my myriad of questions with great patience, and provided me with a trip beyond my wildest dreams. He was always available and listened well. Unbelievably smooth transitions from airport to camps.

Botswana was surreal. Like entering the world before development, where the animals lived as they were meant to and people leave a very small footprint. And they were everywhere! In addition to the animals listed on your spotting chart, there were impala and red lechwe and warthogs. I never imagined being able to watch a leopard and its cub eating an impala way up in a tree, or following a cheetah and watching it settle down for a nap. All was spectacular.

Anton also arranged for me to visit the Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust, where I got a private introduction to all the great work they are doing both with the animals and the community. Fascinating!

Also - wanted to mention how great the other people on safari were. As a solo traveler, it made it an even more rewarding experience.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Every detail was spot on.

I found the elephant encounter a bit contrived, but others were thrilled, so might just be me. As beautiful as the rooms were at The Elephant Camp, I would definitely opt for Old Drift over that every time. And probably should have done Old Drift at the end to enjoy the pampering and the food after Botswana (I think Anton would have agreed, but I was set on Zimbabwe first)" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"It was a trip of two halves really. We loved Nomad’s Kigelia, great authentic camp, excellent staff and food, exceptional guiding. We like Nomads philosophy too. Star gazing tents an asset. Wildlife and landscape good. Couldn’t have been happier.

However Ubuntu, despite being a very good camp, didn’t fulfill my needs. Although the wildlife viewings were good, the guides don’t really listen to what you want to see, in my case elephants and landscape, despite it being written in my details. The camp itself is good and the staff and food.

Expert Africa delivered on everything else and all our connections went smoothly, thank you Jessica.

Jessica and Tam (and Lindsey) were also very helpful and knowledgeable in the planning stages, giving me lots of information especially about Ruaha national park as I knew nothing about this park, or Kigelia.

I love Tanzania and I’m sure I’ll be back, maybe next time I will get the landscape shots in the Serengeti that I am after…. Fingers crossed.

Perhaps Asilia need to train their guides on the unusual guests who want to photograph the scenery and trees, as well as the animals, and who prefer elephants over cats! so that they can understand that, and who make special requests to do this.

All in all thank you Expert Africa, Jess and Tam for helping me to plan the trip and organising it for us." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 8 on a Tanzania safari