Reviews of safaris to Kwando-Linyanti area

"The experience was far better than I ever expected.

Most special was the professionalism of guides, trackers and hospitality staff. It is hard to imagine how excellently they provide for an action packed, special individual experience in such a remote area where water, power and stores have to be provided, along with clean sheets, hot showers, three course home cooked meals and an astounding variety of drinks.

The hospitality was warm and genuine, the safaris professionally run with extremely knowledgable guides who were patient with our ignorance and generously shared their love of the bush: THANK YOU POSTER, VINCE, VASCO,KT, BALE AND GOMES.

We cannot wait to get back on another safari

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

The dress code advice was a little deceptive as people dressed as they pleased. Many travellers had small "wheelie bags" which you advised were not permitted. As we travelled from Australia via multiple large airports, the lack of wheelable luggage was a downside so perhaps this needs an update?

HOWEVER, I thought the whole trip was very good value for money despite the high dollar cost, and would recommend it highly to other travellers. I cannot wait to do another trip and would definitely go back to Lagoon and Okavango delta, but would prefer a smaller lodge than Splash.

The organisation at Splash was not as good as the other 2 camps. Staff seemed not yet comfortable with dealing with the larger numbers and the "style" of the lodges with the turnover of guests and numbers of cars going every which way doesn't seem to work as well with the bigger groups, so I would be keen to find out about new Kwara. I would return to Tau Pan in a different season when the waterhole attracted more wildlife.

The food deserves a special compliment: fresh, home made flavours, served imaginatively and I just love the pre-dinner announcement.

FINALLY, I just loved the boat trip at lagoon with the bar service on the bank for sundowners with the hippos. Same as the bar on the floodplain at Splash. Special luxury experiences which I will always remember.

Your staff is amazing. Genuine, friendly, knowledgeable, professional and open to discuss Africa, poachers, politicians, animals and have a joke with the guests. I love them all. Hope to be back soon." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari

"This was our fifteenth safari and every time we go, we wonder whether we can top the previous trip. Once again, the answer was yes, we can.

Expert Africa's organisation is always impeccable. The camps were excellent - fantastic wildlife, great people.

We had some amazing, unique sightings that included a number of "firsts" for us of the rarer animals." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari

"We had a really wonderful holiday which exceeded all expectations. It was the first time we had been on safari and we were looked after the entire time by friendly, helpful and efficient staff, the guides at all three camps were excellent, very knowledgeable and showed us a huge variety of game. The camps were extremely comfortable and the food was great. We hope it will not be too long before we can get away to Botswana again." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"Val and I live 70 miles apart and do not see each other regularly. She does not regularly use the computer and does not have the ability to print material, which I made clear on at least two occasions during the booking process, asking that everything sent to me should be duplicated to her and assumed that this had happened. However it did not happen until emails and phone calls from both of us tried to rectify the situation, which was frustrating and worrying, as it undermined our trust in the whole booking procedure. It angered Val considerably and you will have on record her various phone calls, We discovered on the journey that she still did not have the full itinerary as we had both requested. This is a shame, as it was an amazing experience meeting most of our wishes let down by inadequate administration and a lack of comprehension of our situation as travelling friends, rather than friends travelling!

We have both had experience of safaris and Botswana is a wonderful place with absolutely delightful people well trained staff, but I would not recommend it as a first safari due to long distances and well distributed animals, that is just my view." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"3 camps with the same activities got ‘samey’

The Botswana people are aim to please & were lovely to deal with." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"Thanks for all help, suggestions and fast follow up, even when we had some challenges the night before we left Amsterdam due to flight changes the next day from Johannesburg to Windhoek.

Great you were thinking along how to beat that challenge and giving alternatives for accommodation if we could not make it to our first stop. Thanks Tracy!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Inform your guests esp if they are used to safaris in other countries than Botswana, eg South Africa that the experience can be different. Im not talking about the game viewing which is obvious off course but the experience in the lodges. In South Africa you often for the same amount of money get more value (luxury, guest experience)" Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 14 on a Botswana safari

"We cannot thank Expert Africa enough for helping make this trip a wonderful success. From the beginning this was the only internet site we could find that provided detailed information about each camp, including cost. We tried using a travel agent but they would not book the camps we wanted because they had relationships with specific operators. Though we felt a bit nervous about sending money to an internet operator, we forged ahead and were well rewarded. They took care of everything, including arranging flights from Joberg toMaun to each of the camps. Thank you!" Read full review: 6 nights in Africa; 6 on a Botswana safari

"Botswana was our first return to Africa after many years and we had high expectations. We have come back with great memories having seen some fantastic wildlife, met some lovely and interesting people and had a few adventures.

We feel we have had a good mix of camps and experienced the delta and other areas.

There is just the niggle that we were at Chitabe on the wrong days!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No, we were pleased with the service. Lucy asked lots of questions and listened to the answers!" Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 12 on a Botswana safari

"We had a fantastic trip, i was expecting great things, but i was still surprised at how great the trip was .

i would go back tomorrow and the next day,...

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

the trip was wonderful, Im sorry but i do find you website a bit dull, i prefer to go onto other web sites for inspiration and pre-holiday excitement. however that is small and wouldn't stop me using expert africa. the knowledge of the team is phenomenal" Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 17 on a Botswana safari

"Our trip was amazing!

Lucy could not have done a better job of meeting our needs. Her knowledge of the camps allowed her to help us make choices that would be good for us.
If she didn't have the information, she would find a colleague who did.

Everything was seamless." Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 6 on a Botswana safari