Africa: Reviews from our travellers

"A memorable trip indeed !

We have wonderful memories, in spite of the disappointment in Mafia because of the weather.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Your organization was perfect. We don't know how you could possibly improve it." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 10 on a Tanzania safari

"We (the two couples who went on the trip) are experienced safari goers; we have previously travelled to Tanzania, Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Kenya, and Uganda.

We had an exceptionally good trip. The cost was high, but worth it. The organisation was superb, with everyone along the way (the local transport, the domestic airlines and the camp staff) all being fully informed of our itinerary and being right on time on everything.

As I have said in the individual camp reviews, the food was superb as was the guiding." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 9 on a Kenya safari

"If something is not broken it does not need fixed. This trip was well planned and well executed at all levels, congratulations to everyone who helped make it a success and a trip of a lifetime.






Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Hard to improve on excellence." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 14 on a Kenya safari

"We had an excellent holiday. Well planned and executed.

Where there were unforeseen difficulties they were swiftly overcome." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 9 on a Tanzania safari

"Overall the trip exceeded my expectations. Victoria Falls was good but the helicopter noise ruined it for me.
The safari camps were brilliant and although one was much richer in terms of game viewings, overall the experience was superb.

We met some lovely people as well as part of the journey...

The only negatives were the crossing from Zimbabwe to Botswana was a mix up as there was not guide there to meet us. The itinerary was not in line with local travel staff. Fortunately a local person, who was not part f the company bailed us out and took us to meet the driver who was waiting somewhere else.

There was also a problem with the itinerary when we tried to get off at Omsdorf airstrip for Duba Explorers, as stated. The pilot was insistent that we needed to get off at Vumbara instead. The was ratified by two people getting onto the plane. So we stayed on the plane and in fact they, and not the itinerary from Expert Africa, were correct." Read full review: 32 nights in Africa; 6 on a Botswana safari

"The trip as a whole was amazing- all the arrangements worked flawlessly. all told, a fantastic and memorable family holiday I suspect we'll be talking about for years!" Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"It was amazing! We had a wonderful time, especially in Botswana. The scenery and the lodges in Namibia were exceptional but our enjoyment of them was tempered by the poor condition of many of the unmaintained gravel roads. The government should get on to this if they are serious about the importance of tourism to their economy." Read full review: 23 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"We had a wonderful time in Malawi, with all accommodation of a good standard and all travel arrangements working more or less to plan.

We were glad that we had the night in Blantyre on arrival to recover from the journey out (exactly 24 hours door to door), prior to going to the game park.

The drive from Majete to Liwonde was arduous and took nearly 7 hours. This was partly due to misty conditions through the mountains, bridge repairs in Blantyre and the poor quality of the roads, particularly the access road into Liwonde National Park.

The drive from Liwonde to Nkhotakota was extremely arduous and took about 7.5hours. The driver did not seem too well to start with and had to stop for a short while. We fed him some of our packed lunches as the monkeys had apparently pinched his breakfast!. We had a stop in Salima for toilets and refuelling, but there was a delay due to an issue with the driver's office, in sending him through sufficient funds to buy enough petrol. We moved on and had the same issue in Nkhotakota town, where we stopped for nearly an hour while he tried to sort it out. The driver had not been to Tongole Lodge before and had to keep stopping to ask how to get to it. Once in the park, signposting disappeared and we ended up at the sister camp and had to be re-directed. We were concerned when the driver said that he was driving straight back to Blantyre without a break. It might be worth exploring air transfer - the pilot we spoke to said it was possible via Lilongwe. Obviously the cost would be higher but after undertaking the road journey, this could be worth it.

We are not sure why Expert Africa are offering South African Airways via Johannesburg as their preferred route. We found Ethiopian Airlines flights to be extremely good, with modern planes (Airbus A350 and Boeing 787) and excellent crew. The issue about flight changes that we were notified about prior to departure were due to the main runway at Blantyre being closed for several months for re-building. Only small planes can land at Blantyre on their small runway, and so all large planes have to go into Lilongwe and then a shuttle service is run down to Blantyre in small turboprop planes. Ethiopian could have explained this to us when they changed the flights. Our luggage was taken right through to Blantyre and immigration was also done at Blantyre, even though we arrived there on an internal flight.

The only other downside to Ethiopian is the airport at Addis Ababa. although a relatively new terminal, is not to the standard of Johannesburg airport, although is tolerable for a few hours.

Our Business Class flights (for 2 people) cost £4545.24 compared with your quote with SAA of £9841.98 and we were extremely happy with the service.

Thank you so much for organising this trip for us. we had a fantastic experience and really enjoyed our time in Malawi." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 16 on a Malawi trip

"A good balance between locations, walkinig and driving safaris.

It fulfilled our brief.

We didn't thoroughly read the travel information until the last moment. This meant hurried purchase of soft luggage which worked well." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 11 on a Zambia safari

"I had an indescribably excellent experience for my first safari!

I had done some research prior to contacting Expert Africa and Lucy Copson was awesome - listened to what my expectations were and made wonderful suggestions for my itinerary! She was never annoyed when I asked for modifications to the itinerary and when my return flight was postponed a day, she knew about it immediately, found some options for me and booked my last day at Luangwa River Camp. I wouldn't have done it any other way.

The transfers were seamless, everyone was professional and pleasant and my trip was worry free. I selected Robin Pope since they don't charge a single supplement but I can't imagine staying with a better outfit.

I highly recommend the services of Expert Africa and Robin Pope safaris! Thanks, Lucy!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Definitely tell people doing the mobile walking safaris to bring clothing that is army green/brown/grey. Otherwise you stick out like a sore thumb in the bush! The guide and host did have extra shirts they kindly loaned to me." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 12 on a Zambia safari