Africa: Reviews from our travellers

"All went to clockwork, thank you.

One small comment was the times on our itinerary were different to Fisherman’s Tours. As such I thought they were late so rang the number on the itinerary for them to check someone was coming. They did arrive 5-10 minutes later, which was just before 6.30am, the time they had down. We were expecting them at 6am.

They did give us their itinerary with the times, down, but I hadn’t read it prior to the pick up.

The driver informed me I had phoned the general manager of Fisherman’s Tours, not the local office! Perhaps it would be worth checking the numbers on your itinerary which is where I got the number from.

Similarly the pick up from Qambani, was at 5am, not 5.30am as on our itinerary.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip, thank you for the organisation and recommendations. The service was excellent, and everything went fine.
Our only struggle, was with tipping, who and how much ! and not having local currency when we arrived. The porters at Zanzibar are quick to strike on the poor inexperienced traveller!!

We took advice from the Siwandu manager, (who was overall excellent) re tipping the staff, but I probably hadn’t read your comments carefully enough. I think we ended up tipping $4-500 dollars over the trip, which I hadn’t really been expecting, so I guess it would help to give a ball park figure to the client initially.

Thank you Chris for spending so long on the phone with me and Lyndsey for putting it all together." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 8 on a Tanzania safari

"Could not have been better" Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 3 on a Namibia trip

"I had a fantastic trip.

I thought the locations and camps were well balanced and excellent. I loved the Maasia Mara, the people and the amazing amount of wildlife that we saw there. We successfully saw three Wilderbeest crossings which was the icing on the cake!

I thought that Clare listened to our requirements and did a great job in fulfilling them." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 11 on a Kenya safari

"Our first holiday to Africa was simply amazing, it surpassed all our expectations. The National Park was stunningly beautiful with such a varied landscape, the views and the light were so photogenic. The opportunity of seeing the wildlife and birds was beyond our dreams and expectations, it was amazing what we saw and we appreciated being immersed in the landscape whilst in the camps and on game drives, a truly memorable experience. We also valued the fact that the Park was not overrun with tourist vehicles surrounding and disturbing the animals.

The guides were fantastic, their knowledge and skills were awesome, they literally enhanced our whole experience with their information and their ability to locate animals and birds. Their knowledge did not stop there, we enjoyed being told about the different trees, the tracks (thank you Daudi for your drawings), and even the different animal poo...all so interesting.

The camps were all in quiet, beautiful locations, they were so comfortable with a very high standard of house keeping. The food was constantly delicious, varied and so beautifully prepared and served. The laundry service was efficient and so appreciated .
Finally though, it was the welcome we received from all the staff that made our holiday so perfect

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

We have wanted to do a safari holiday for many years but we have worried about the impact of tourism on local communities, the environment and the wildlife but then we were told about RPS and Zambia by some friends of my sister, who also recommended Expert Africa. Having looked at the RPS website and receiving their Monday newsletter we knew that Zambia was the place for us but as we hadn’t been to Africa before we had so many questions to ask and many of them trivial.

We wanted to talk to someone at Expert Africa directly and Claire was perfect, she answered all our questions quickly and patiently, she put together our wonderful itinerary and had so much knowledge and enthusiasm. We will be returning to Zambia and we will be in touch with Claire to discuss our future holiday.

In addition, the complementary guide book and wildlife survey were so appreciated.

Thank you all at Expert Africa and RPS for a fantastic holiday in Zambia." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 13 on a Zambia safari

"Excellent trip which more than lived up to expectations.
The camps, staff( particularly the guides) were outstanding as were the wildlife sightings. We collected some of the best photographs we have ever taken largely thanks to the guides.
Expert Africa organised an efficient, well planned trip which we will remember for a long time.
Particular highlights( and there were many) include: the hot air balloon trip, wildebeests crossing the Mara river. Very, very close encounters with big and small cats. Leopards under the jeep and lion cubs on the bonnet.
The enthusiasm friendliness and efficiency of all the staff was hard to fault.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
It is difficult to think how the service could be improved and we would use Expert Africa again and recommend it to friends.
Keep up the good work!" Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 9 on a Kenya safari

"We loved everything about our trip. The choice of lodges was excellent. The car hire perfect. The route on the map was good and we didn't get lost. Frankly it would be hard to do better.

Thank you" Read full review: 23 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"We have booked several times with Expert Africa and found their first hand knowledge of the camps and service to be impeccable." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari

"Excellent, with well chosen accommodation and locations which met our needs and expectations perfectly. The trip was very well organised by the team at Expert Africa and we continue to sing your praises after several safaris arranged by you over the last few years." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 10 on a Zimbabwe safari

"SATISFIED WITH ALL ASPECTS OF YOUR SERVICES, MEET AND GREET DURING THE TRIP WAS GOOD WITH NO HICCUPS.

NO COMPLAINTS.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

NO." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 11 on a Zambia safari

"Overall we enjoyed our holiday, especially the "off piste" section we organised in the Cape before returning via JNB.

Less game and far less variety than we expected. Dissappointed to find night drives not allowed in Zimbabwe. Expert Africa should provide more details of the flight operators for the bush flights and there needs to be tighter communication when informing guests and checking their documents and itineraries." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 6 on a Zambia safari