Africa: Reviews from our travellers

"High expectations exceeded." Read full review: 7 nights in Africa; 7 on a Zambia safari

"The trip as a whole was AWESOME!! The trip by far exceeded our expectations and was so so so so much fun!! Olivia spent countless hours talking to me on the phone and answering non-stop questions over email to make sure this trip was tailored exactly to our preferences. From the moment we stepped foot off the plane in Rwanda, to the moment we flew out of Nairobi, my family had an absolutely phenomenal time. Each aspect of the trip fit my family like a glove, and was a once in a lifetime experience. The entire trip, including transfers and activities were flawless and my family and I never had to worry about what was next. A guide or staff member always made sure we were where we needed to be, and that we were well taken care of.

Olivia recommended Kigali Serena and Encounter Mara, and Encounter Mara was the best time! Expert also booked all of our transfers for us and the guides were personable, knowledgeable, professional, and a blast! This was such an excellent trip and there is not a single thing about the trip that we didn't love!!

The only negatives we had about our trip was some layover schedules, but that was booked through a different US agency, so everything Expert did was great!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

THANK YOU to Olivia for booking this trip with us! She is absolutely wonderful and did such an amazing job! The only suggestions on how you could improve would be pushing more people towards Encounter Mara because it was so amazing :)

There is nothing we think you could have done to improve, great job!" Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 4 on a Rwanda safari

"The trip was more exciting & delivered more experiences in a short amount of time then any of us 4 in our group could have imagined. We've traveled to lots of different European countries, S. America & many of our own states in US in search of unusual places to visit. We thought we sort of had an idea from film, pictures, National Geographic, etc., but still you can't capture the emotion of being with these amazing animals in their environment. In addition, we really enjoyed all the people we came to meet in Botswana, Zimbabwe & S. Africa." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 6 on a Botswana safari

"We loved our safari holiday - we had a fantastic experience which totally exceeded our expectations. I can't wait to go on another safari.

Thank you so much for arranging such a great holiday." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 6 on a Tanzania safari

"Really happy with this company and the level of service they provided to us for the whole trip - from the pre planning to during and the post the trip. All very professional and if/when i am going back to Africa again i would seriously consider getting a quote off these guys and using them as i was really happy. This was our third trip to Africa and i hope it wont be my last. Keep up the good work." Read full review: 7 nights in Africa; 4 on a Tanzania safari

"I had refused to do a long haul flight since our honeymoon 30 years ago. My husband was not convinced about going on safari but wanted us to go because he knew I would love it.

Expert Africa were brilliant at asking what would make the trip fantastic for us and what would make it bad. Their planning and advice meant we had the most mind blowing and amazing experience. We stayed in Arusha two nights, Little Oliver's in Tarangire two nights, The Highlands in Ngorongoro for two nights and Lemal Kuria Hills in Northern Serengeti for three nights. Everywhere was great and there is nothing we can fault about the camps, the service, food wine and outstanding hospitality.

Our eyes were wide with wonder from the moment we left the airstrip at Tarangrine airport and saw beautiful birds and incredible wildlife so close. Obviously we experienced a lot and so some experiences were better than others for us. The hospitality and exclusive feeling of Little Oliver's plus our brilliant, knowledgeable guide meant our time in Tarangire really stands out but that is very much a personal comment and does not mean the other camps and game drives were not brilliant.

Needless to say Duncan enjoyed the safari tremendously and I simply loved it!" Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 8 on a Tanzania safari

"Maruska was so great to work with! It all started with a phone call to your main number. Although I'm in the US and she's in New Zealand, the time and geographical difference didn't matter. She encouraged me to rent a car which initially worried me but I'm so glad that we did. It gave us a lot of flexibility. She was right, we didn't need to rent a GPS. We did buy a SIM card at the Windhoek airport along with some data. That was essential for navigating Windhoek and Swakomund. Thanks goodness for Google maps.

We exchanged many emails and she was always kind and thoughtful with her answers. We really liked the leather travel folder and luggage tags. The travel folder was a good location to keep our documents and vouchers.

The booklet on Notes for Travelers to Namibia & The Coast was very helpful and I appreciated having it as a reference. It was good to know about tipping and the infrastructure. And that the tap water was safe to drink!

I found out about your travel organization because of the Namibia travel book written by Chris McIntyre. I'm excited to donate the new book that you sent along with my maps to the library. When I was researching Namibia, our library didn't have any travel books. Now they will!" Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 5 on a Namibia trip

"This was a slightly complicated three week trip, as we were organising the first two weeks privately, with our son who lives in Kenya, and then segueing this with a final "solo" week planned with Expert Africa. In fact, it became a bit of a hybrid arrangement and Expert Africa (Richard Trillo) was enormously helpful and flexible in assisting us to plan and book both parts of the whole trip.

We covered some 2,500 miles of travel in country (not including flights to/from UK), by road and internal flights, taking in Nairobi, the Aberdare National Park, Nanyuki, Mount Kenya National Park, El Karama Lodge in Laikipia, Sarara Camp in Namunyak Wildlife Conservation Trust, wild camping north of Archers Post, Buffalo Springs National Reserve, Shela on Lamu Island, Porini Lion Camp (Olare Motorogi Conservancy), Loldia House on Lake Naivasha, Lake Elmenteita and Lake Nakuru National Park.

Every part of the itinerary booked with Expert Africa went without a hitch and we felt thoroughly well looked after from beginning to end. We saw more wildlife than you could possibly imagine, including all of the so called "Big Five", met wonderful, friendly people and learned something of their lives and cultures. It has been a truly memorable trip and I would recommend Expert Africa to anyone who might be planning a similar experience.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

I really can't think of anything!" Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 9 on a Kenya safari

"Thank you so much to Expert Africa and especially Maruska for making this trip possible and specifically tailored for us.

Maruska spent a lot of time tailoring the programme for us and answering ALL our questions (and we had a lot!) always in a very timely manner. Once in Namibia, everything went very smoothly and was easy.

We had an amazing time, in exceptional places and this trip would not have been possible without Maruska's help

Thank you!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

We should do more advertisement in countries outside UK. I am a French national and my family was very keen using a French agency but after a few exchanges with Maruska I could tell she was more efficient/responsive than people at other agencies.

Great services, thank you so much!" Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"It was excellent. Our thanks go to Claire Scott who really listened to what we wanted and selected excellent locations for us." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 13 on a Tanzania safari