Reviews of safaris to Chobe National Park

"This was our first time traveling in this part of the world and the first time we spent so much time planning in advance. It paid off - the trip was successful and the travelers happy.

As a family of three with an eight year old child, we valued the planning process and the considerations brought to our attention by Maruska. She helped us through a number of itineraries, patiently making suggestions/changes as our knowledge of the area expanded. Maruska's input was always thorough, professional and thoughtful.

The travel went off as planned and we are happy with the choices made thanks to Maruska's shepherding. I would absolutely use Expert Africa again and have already recommended it to others." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 9 on a Namibia trip

"Our trip was phenomenal! I am so glad we booked our safari through Expert Africa. Nick Hobbs spent a great deal of time to understand our expectations and put together an amazing package for us.

We began our journey in Livingstone and then traveled to three camps/lodges in Botswana (Savute, the Okavango Delta and Chobe National Park). At each location, we seemed to be staying in prime units with respect to views and privacy and the guides, activities and food were all excellent. Winter in Botswana was a great time to take a safari…pleasant day-time temperatures, no snakes, bugs were minimal and the animals were quite visible in the low foliage.

Before the trip, I was afraid the nights in Botswana would be too cold. The nights and early mornings were indeed crisp, but we dressed accordingly and had a wonderful time." Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 6 on a Botswana safari

"This was one of the best holidays we have ever had. We do not spend a huge amount of money (at least compared to what you could spend in Botswana), but nonetheless had a great time, saw and experienced lots!.

We had highlights (Nxamaseri, Chobe, Vic Falls,) and lowlights (bald tyres, Camp Kalahari), but overall enjoyed the trip

The wildlife, birds and animals, is great. The landscape outside the delta a little dull (say compared to the desert in Namibia), but OK. The delta is really interesting as are the salt pans.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

a difficult one. we had several phone calls and lots of emails, and a few iterations of the itinerary before agreeing everything. my main concerns were about driving

on the driving, i think a 4wd is essential even if using camp drives in the parks. there are too many places where one can get stuck in sand. also, there are roadworks in Namibia and Botswana that caused some delay. i realise this is difficult to factor in when booking a year in advance - we did not think to check.

one other point - when discussing where we could drive and how to get into Zimbabwe I was told that Budget would not let us take the car across the border. instead we paid for a driver and van to take us to and from Vic Falls. however, when picking up the car Budget asked us if we wanted the paperwork to cater for crossing into Z. I don't know how much money we spent on the two taxis, but it would appear that this was an unnecessary expense" Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari

"Our first trip to Namibia (2010), covered central, north, northwest and coastal areas.

This trip (2013) was about 98% new locations covering central, north, northeast, Caprivi, Okavango and Vic Falls, Zimbabwe side.
The most noticeable differences in that span of time were the money exchange, electricity adaptor difference, more people riding bicycles, shopping modernization of cities, availability of 3G services (more mobile phones in daily use)

General travel tips
1. Before leaving Namibia, change your Namibian dollars to another currency: South African Rand, Botswana Pula, Euros, Dollars. They are no longer exchangeable at the Jo'berg airport nor in Paris.
2. The children in Namibia were usually asking for pens, whether or not we took photos. The supplement money for educational supplies in 2013 was used for election campaign spending.
3. Clothing is a great donation to leave with the lodges in the northeastern sector of Namibia and in Botswana. They distribute it to the villages or the lodge workers or in one case to the local churches.
4. Adaptors - Throughout Namibia and Botswana, the large 3-rounded prong South African adaptor is used. We purchased a smaller 3-rounded prong which only works in Zimbabwe. Bring your own charging strip/surge protector if you have multiple devices. Zimbabwe uses the small 3-rounded prong and British adaptors.
5. In your checked luggage through Jo'berg, pack nothing of value, other than clothing, ! It will disappear, guaranteed.
6. Reading material:
The Wildlife of Southern Africa is a definite plus to keep track of sightings (birds, mammals, insects, flowers, trees, etc.) (Vincent Carruthers) at the Windhoeker Buchhandlung across from the Hilton Hotel
"Namibian" daily newspaper - fantastic way to learn about modern Namibian culture and opinions of all ages.
"Zambezi Traveller" free newspaper in the Caprivi/Okavango (Lianshulu Lodge) - regional tips, ideas and covers a wide territory.
7. Pic n Pay grocery store (throughout Namibia) was our favorite, Super Spar is also good for finding lunch items (including an ice chest) when driving between destinations
8. Namibia has frequent, fairly well-maintained picnic spots (tree shade, concrete benches and table), which we used for lunches
9. Languages/Dialects: the smartphone "notes" application is a handy recording device to write down the courtesy words: hello, good morning, thank you, how are you, etc. We encountered 10 different languages/dialects or more over three and a half weeks. Asking a lodge staff member "how to say" is an ice breaker and opens a door to their culture.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Fantastic voyage!

The planning, Expert Africa contact, accommodations, expectations suited our needs to a tee. We made our own flight reservations, which worked out smoothly.

The Namibia/Chris McIntyre guide book was our bible. Thank you for supplying it.

On the review feedback, what does "facilities" include/mean?

We would highly recommend Expert Africa for any future voyages.

Obtaining visas before departure between countries was not totally clear.
The basic information about visas in the travel preparations could be much shorter (e.g., Visas are handled at each border control for Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe. Show your international driver license and passport at customs. The rental car agency provides you with all of the car details, including chassis number and motor number to fill in the paperwork.)

We paid for a permit into Botswana, but wonder if we could have given them the permit on the windshield. This was unclear in the instructions from Budget/Expert Africa whether to turn it in or buy a new one. This was the Chobe border. This was a more difficult and time consuming border post (a real hassle).

The Mohembo Border Post at Mahango was a breeze with both Namibia and Botswana." Read full review: 24 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"The trip was spectacular and worked out very well, perfect mix of places, good amount of time spent everywhere. Desert and rivers provided a good mix of wildlife and scenery, we were never bored looking for animals, always discovering new ones. We also enjoyed seeing the villages and a living museum. A bit more contact with locals would have been nice.

We loved the self drive and the ability to explore things on our own. While expecting a bit more adventure, it was surprisingly comfortable and easy, which was fine.

Maruska was wonderful in putting this together for us, she knew the places well, was very helpful and patient.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Looking up locations on a google map was important to me (especially off the path campgrounds), would be nice to have a google map that showed all places of interest (with lat/longs that one can use to enter in one's own google map search)

As much as we wished to get away, Wifi is becoming important for many travelers, and it would be good to collect that info (uptime and speed) and pass it on to the lodges. Elegant guest house and Mushara had good wifi. Ngepi was slow, Muchenje pretty spotty with several outages. Victoria Safari camp had expensive one, Victoria Falls Hotel had good ones for guests.

For guest support on the road, calling is often hard, it might be useful to have email addresses to contact local agents." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 6 on a Namibia trip

"Our trip was so fabulous in every way. It far exceeded our expectations. Not just a holiday we felt that we had been on a big adventure.

The order of the trip was perfect for us. We thought it was a great idea to have a kind of rest at the start of the trip after such a long journey, by visiting Victoria Falls (no early morning calls for Game Drives). and a nice small introduction to wildlife with the game that roamed Zambezi Sun's grounds.

Then Muchenje which can be accessed by road and is more lodge than camp still a wonderful wildlife experience but perhaps a bit less "Bush". Kwara (we felt) had the most "Bush" style atmosphere which really was our favorite place. Finishing at Lagoon with a touch more Luxury setting us up for our long journey home.

We finished our stay with a last Game Drive right to the door of our final Mack Air flight. It was a great end to a wonderful trip." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"you managed to do and enabled us to see what we wanted

outstanding choice of lodges and locations - well done

your advice regarding wild dogs was spot on

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

keep up the good work" Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari

"We really loved every minute of our holiday in Botswana!! From the places we saw, the quality of the camps and the services they offered, the food, all the incredible experiences ...

Not only the safaris were awesome but we met fantastic people and fell in love with the country. It was very sad when the holiday came to an end but we consider ourselves extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to go. It has been one of our best holidays and we will never forget it!!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Thank you Megan for having organised an amazing holiday for us! We went in occasion of our 10th wedding anniversary and in all the years to come we will always remember what a fantastic time we have had and how special our celebration has been." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"The help we received from Saskia from the Expert Africa team was invaluable in providing advice based on local knowledge and personal experience. Saskia was very accomodating in answering our multitude of questions and suggesting places to stay based on our desires and capabilities.

Once on the ground everything ran like clockwork, except for the air travel which wasn't organised by Expert Africa. Even then after a few phonecalls Chris and Gwynmeth from the UK office were extra helpful in helping us get on our way and keeping us updated on the supposed whereabouts of our luggage." Read full review: 23 nights in Africa; 8 on a Namibia trip

"This was my first trip to Africa and it exceeded all my expectations.

Megan at Expert Africa was wonderful to work with and really listened to what I wanted to do and see on my 12 day safari. I wouldn't hesitate to use them again on a future trip. Thank you Megan" Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 12 on a Botswana safari