Africa: Reviews from our travellers

"We thoroughly enjoyed our trip. All the components ran very smoothly and we felt well taken care of throughout. Expert Africa had clearly passed on our dietary requests to the camps in advance.

We have previously visited Kicheche Laikipia and Kicheche Bush and this trip confirmed our liking for Kicheche Camps in terms of style, ethos and level of comfort." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 11 on a Kenya safari

"This was our second Expert Africa arranged trip.

Josh and Claire were helpful, knowledgeable and patient with our endless questions.

I have no hesitation in strongly recommending them." Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 17 on a Namibia trip

"We knew this was going to be the trip of a lifetime, but nothing could have prepared us for the experience we had. By the 3rd day we had run out of superlatives and by day 8 we were tongue tied when trying to describe how remarkable the wildlife was, how fabulous the food, how gorgeous the accommodations and how well we were treated. Even now, two months later we have difficulty.

We would not hesitate to use the services of Expert Africa again, in fact we would insist on it for trip planning in that part of the world. We would also insist on having Lyndsey Marris as our personal representative. Lyndsey was outstanding from day one, asking all the right questions about our travel experiences, our wishes, making suggestions before I had a chance to even think to ask, and somehow despite her being in London and our being in the United States we never waited more than 24 hours for an email or telephone response. We don’t know how she managed to work around the time difference, but she did. Her recommendations were spot on and she was flexible with changes; nothing seemed beyond her. We met and formed a friendship with a family from greater London while in Ruaha who had also used Expert Africa and had Lyndsey as their agent and they had the same experience and praise for her as we did.

We were provided with daily itineraries including private drivers, reservations at restaurants, all flight arrangements, hotel and safari camp reservations and accurate information about all of them. In over three weeks of travel there was only one hiccup and that was minor and no doubt precipitated by a flight delay causing us to arrive in Nairobi 2 ½ hours late. The driver who was to have met our flight was not there and we were unsure on how to proceed. As it turned out, a very attentive gentleman had been observing our situation and eventually came over and asked what had happened and it turned out he worked for the same company, Southern Cross Safaris, who was to drive us that day and the next. He took over and got us transported to the hotel and put us back onto our activity schedule to see the Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage and the Giraffe Center. The driver from Southern Cross Safaris was delightful and informative and we met him again the last evening of our trip when we came back to Nairobi to fly home. The only adjustment we would make to our stay in Nairobi would be to give up the convenience of an airport hotel for the apparently unique, lovely experience of staying at Giraffe Manor. We didn’t know Giraffe Manor existed so it wasn’t something we asked Lyndsey about, but we really wish it had somehow come up.

I would suggest to anyone going on Safari to stay in multiple camps in diverse geographic areas. Lyndsey gave us a perfect itinerary in the perfect order: Nairobi, Selous, Ruaha, Mara River, Grumeti and finally Mafia Island and a flight home from Nairobi. Each of the areas had its own flora and fauna and special emphasis. Selous is private, no traffic or competition to view the animals, you can go off road, but the animals are very spread out due to its size. You have the opportunity to see the rare wild dog, but fewer cats. Ruaha, on the other hand, is a national park; you cannot go off road, there are many more vehicles, but it is definitely the place for cats. Mara River is all about the wildebeest crossing. It is also a national park. Grumeti is a private paradise in the Serengeti that gives you the absolute best of the best. Mafia Island is an exquisite respite from the “always on alert” feeling of safari.

If you looked on a map you might wonder why we worked from south to north just to fly much further south at the end, but Lyndsey explained her thinking, we took her advice - she was exactly correct. The wildlife built up as did the camps as we went along. Not once did we feel we were taking a back step in the quality of anything. And going on safari is quite tiring despite the fact you are being driven everywhere, so a restful beach idyll at the end is perfect.

We will definitely return to Africa. We would repeat this trip in a heartbeat. In fact this trip was so fantastic it will be difficult to resist literally going back to the same camps, but Africa is huge with so much variety, we will most likely expand our horizons. Where ever it is, Expert Africa will help plan our trip." Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 18 on a Tanzania safari

"From the first contact with Expert Africa to the last moment of our trip everything was just perfect.
Lucy really provided expert guidance on chosing camps that suit us. We wanted to go back to Tafika and she has given us new places to consider and her recommendations have been excellent." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 13 on a Zambia safari

"Our second visit to Zambia and both experiences were great" Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 9 on a Zambia safari

"Expert Africa had organized trips for us before and we were always satisfied.

This time, our contact is Tracy. She did an excellent job. We discussed on the phone our interest and expectation. The hôtels she recommeded were great. It was her advice to have the rental car delivered to BullsPort rather than we went back to Windhoek to collect the car. It saved us time and driving. We wanted to stay in the Fish River Lodge and by the time we confirmed the trip, it was not available. She followed through with the lodge and at the end, we got a room.

We had a lovely trip !

A big Thank You to Tracy !

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Great job ! Keep going !" Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"We enjoyed our trip immensely and were sad to leave - our guide Rama was excellent and made the whole experience memorable with his deep knowledge, great sense of humour and his obvious love of the bush and its animals & birds.

Another member of staff also deserves a mention - Jossina always had a wide smile and kind word at camp meals, bush dinners, breakfasts, in fact all the time

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

If we decide to return to Africa, your company will be our first port of call - I think that says everything" Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 7 on a Tanzania safari

"This trip to Tanzania for a safari followed by time relaxing on Zanzibar, was a long-planned trip for my brother and I, and our wives. My wife and I had previous experience of safaris, but my brother did not, so I felt the pressure of "getting it right". We decided to plan it with Expert Africa following a previous very successful trip planned with their help, and I am delighted we made that decision. A meeting with Expert Africa's Olivia helped her to perfectly judge our requirements, and the result was a highly successful holiday that exceeded all our expectations." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 8 on a Tanzania safari

"Overall it was a great trip and very well organized. Despite our booking the trip rather late EA managed to provide us a good mix of accommodation and we can honestly say that only one or two places were below average, most were excellent. Had we booked earlier I'm sure we would have been able to secure more first choice accommodation.

If we are fortunate to plan another trip to Africa in the future, we will definitely consider Expert Africa again, as well as recommend them to others." Read full review: 32 nights in Africa; 22 on a Namibia trip

"All aspects of the trip exceeded our expectations, which were already high given our previous trips to Africa, and the fact that this was our second visit to the Mara region.

Olivia and Richard were of invaluable help in planning and executing our trip, and I particularly appreciated their commitment to understanding our needs and expectations and ensuring that the trip they recommended was the best possible match for us. They found us late availability at popular camps and secured us competitive pricing that matched direct rates with the lodges concerned, but came with all the advantages of dealing with an experienced agency and a single point of contact.

Unlike other agencies, I never felt that they were promoting or selling specific camps with whom they may have preferential commission arrangements - I genuinely felt that their only objective was to meet the needs of their customers as best they could. This, in my view, is the key to a successful agency and repeat business, and we will certainly be using Expert Africa for our next trip.

It's also worth mentioning that the lodges were aware of our backgrounds, travel experience and preferences / objectives before we arrived, thanks to the information passed on in advance by Expert Africa. This was another plus, reflecting a high standard of customer service and attention to detail.

The team also did an excellent job of managing our expectations in terms of areas where the camps we visited might be different from places we had visited in the past. Our past travel history did include one of the most famously luxurious camps in the Mara, and so we were prepared that certain aspects of the camps we were visiting may not quite match what we had experienced before, but the overall safari experience would still be first class.

I'm pleased to say that the safari experience and the guiding matched or exceeded the best of what we had experienced in the past, exactly as the promised by the team. And in terms of the relative simplicity of the camps themselves, I can honestly say that I didn't notice all that much difference from what we had experienced before, and that this aspect of the trip far exceeded our expectations.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Keep up the good work." Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 8 on a Kenya safari