Africa: Reviews from our travellers

"We thoroughly enjoyed our holiday, and it lived up to all our expectations. This was some feat considering that we were a family of four - with 2 mature daughter - each of whom had different interests and needs. All these were satisfied by the holidays, which included different types of accommodation and experiences.

Expert Africa's advice was terrific, always professional and always timely in their responses.

One negative - the recommendation of $10 per person per day as a tip is, we feel, over generous. We are always happy to voluntarily reward good service, but there seems to be an excessive tendency of expectation by most staff, in all accommodations and places, which is to-say-the-least off-putting. To facilitate this 'expectation culture' is counter-productive." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 10 on a Zanzibar holiday

"Expert Africa organised the whole trip tremendously well. We saw loads of animals and birds from a superb safari base camp. Enjoyed our trip to Stonetown and ended up with 5 outstanding days and nights at an excellent beach hotel.

All the arrangements worked perfectly and the people of the country as well as those working for the tour companies and hotels were kind, helpful and very friendly." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 8 on a Zanzibar holiday

"Expert Africa helped tailor this trip to our requirements exactly. The first half (Zambia) was our best holiday ever. The second half (Zanzibar) was a bit of an anti-climax and very disappointed with inability to scuba dive.

Anna Devereux is the best travel agent I have ever dealt with. I am quite demanding/ pernickety but she was always more than glad to answer any query with alarming efficiency. As I told her - sometimes it seemed she was working for us and noone else. Her recommendations were spot on. Anna was also willing to get involved when issues came up during the holiday (Zambian airways flight overbooking/ disasterours last-minute trip to Ngorongoro (not booked through Expert)). Real value-added travel agency." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 7 on a Zambia safari

"An amazing country, with friendly, helpful people.

The geography is phenominal and all the lodges we stayed in compimented it.

Thoroughly recommended." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"Superb planning by Expert Africa, thank you so much.

Great memorable smiles on the faces of children who have nothing in this world. Shows the Brits that there are people with nothing in this world and they can still smile and not winge. Did not realise that Bic pens can be used to bargain with in the markets.

We have sent our valet at Tongabezi a Chelsea shirt with his hero printed on the back to say a further thank you and we have sent a parcel for the school in the Zambian school of Simonga, they have nothing out there. What a wonderful life experience. All Brits ought to pay a visit to Africa." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 6 on a South Africa trip

"Superb holiday - simply the best.

The hotels/lodges/transport etc all worked like clockwork. The combination of accomodations suited us well - teenager friendly, good quality, good food etc. People incredibly helpful and friendly.

Would change little in retrospect - probably only a direct flight from Cape Town to Maun." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 6 on a Botswana safari

"As a complete trip I think that I speak for the whole family by saying that this was probably the best family holiday that we have ever had - which is probably a good thing because it certainly was the most expensive! Having said that however when one considers what we experienced over the 2 weeks both Liz and I agreed that it constituted excellent value for money." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 7 on a Tanzania safari

"Absolutely out of this world! We feel so privileged to have had such a wonderful experience and have met so many lovely people. The safaris were more than we ever could have dreamed of and we saw absolutely everything we wanted to see and more!

We expected with all the transfers that at some point something might go wrong/ bags be lost etc, but everything went exactly according to plan.

Thank you so much for organising this holiday. We were very sad to have to leave Zambia.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Keep up the good work!" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 13 on a Zambia safari

"The trip was great, well organised and most of the time things happened as they were supposed to. My husband is now nearly as fond of Africa as I am!" Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 7 on a Zambia safari

"My goals were to show my grandaughter:

1. conservation efforts in southern Africa,
2.a glimpse of how average people live/work in rural and urban areas,
3. some of the geology and animals of Namibia and Botswana.

All goals met and we had a wonderful time!!!

The only thing that didn't work out was that I did not realize that virtually none of the shops/restaurants in either countrywould accept American Express credit cards. Even at the airports! I had allowed enough cash for gasoline, camp tips and misc but was relying on my AMEX card for the bulk of shopping and meals. This made for a very tight trip, especially at the end in Windhoek where we totally ran out of cash.

Please let people know which credit cards are accepted in these two countries!" Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 11 on a Namibia trip