Reviews of safaris to Kwando-Linyanti area

"A great once in a lifetime trip. Far exceeded our expectations.

Thank you very much Maruska for putting it all together and your patience in answering our never ending questions.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Recommend that:
- travelers be forewarned about the transfer between Zambia and the Kasane airport.
- travelers mark their battery chargers with highly visible markings so that they are not confused with other charges in a central charging station.

The trip turned out to be fantastic and would highly recommend the use of Expert Safaris for planning and organizing a safari in Botswana." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari

"We had a wonderful trip. All the arrangements ran like clockwork - thank you for a great hassle free trip.

There are not enough superlatives to describe our visit!! Although Botswana is an expensive destination, the people and the experience are worth every penny.

Our itinerary, which Megan helped us put together, was excellent and was even commented on by one of the guides as a great diversity of camps and scenery.

We would highly recommend Expert Africa.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

We cannot fault your service. Thank you." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 11 on a Botswana safari

"Incredible, extraordinary, exciting, unbelievably memorable experience we will always cherish as a family!

Maruska did a fabulous job of getting it all together with not a great deal of time. She got back with us in a very timely manner which especially helped given the time constraints and the fact that we were dealing with 6 adults with different job schedules and on different continents.

She was professional and very knowledgeable.

We would definitely recommend Expert Africa and hope to come back to Botswana some day.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Had we started at Okuti we might have felt differently about the experience. It was so different from Tubu Tree. Obviously one has to work with availability but it might be good, if possible, to use a formula of the least desirable camp first. Being our first safari, we also were not anticipating such a big difference between the private and public reserve experiences. One positive consequence was that Okuti really made us appreciate our time at Tubu Tree and Labala and allowed us to see subtle differences which none the less made a huge difference in the atmosphere and experience." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"Overall our trip was excellent. Only glitches were a missing extra spare tire in Namibib and they guy in Livingstone who was to meet us ran off with another couple. Thanks to a great airport travel desk guy, he sorted it out and matched us with the person we needed.

The Expert Africa folks we dealt with were uniformly very good to excellent. There were some delays in feedback during the planning process which we noted but overall very good. Quick feedback during the planning process is critical to us as we are comparing ideas and proposals from more than one company and we need to hear from everyone.

For this trip we spoke to three different folks--Nick, Sabina and one other. Next time I would spend more time in conversation with each of them and would better understand our itinerary options. There is only so much I retain from web sites and travel books.

We also want to find places in Botswana with animals. That was the big surprise for this trip. Our East Africa trips have spoiled us and shaped our expectations for game viewing." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 6 on a Botswana safari

"Overall, a fantastic trip.

Expert Africa did an excellent job in their seamless arrangements." Read full review: 34 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari

"In a word, the trip was superb - and Maruska Adye had a lot to do with it.

It's important, we think, to compliment Maruska on every aspect of her work with us. From the time we first contacted Expert Africa by email, to the phone conversations we had, to the numerous questions we sent - Maruska's responses were quick (ridiculously quick in some cases - we couldn't believe how attentive she was) and always helpful. We felt all along - and our trip was two years in the making - that we were being treated not simply as faceless clients, but as individuals with preferences and ideas that were worthwhile and needed to be dealt with. Maruska's suggestions always seemed to relate directly to the information we'd forwarded to her. She actually seemed to be thinking about OUR TRIP, not her needs.

One of the things that was most helpful for us was that her description of each of the camps we stayed at in our email correspondence before we left was very accurate. So we had a sense both of what the accommodation and feel of the camp would be, and a good idea of what we were likely to see in each of the concessions.

The organization of flights, transfers, etc. was flawless. Every time somebody was supposed to be somewhere to pick us up they were there. Every time a plane was supposed to arrive for a flight (and there were four of those) it was there ready to go. The drivers and pilots were all friendly and helpful. The most complicated little maneuver, the drive from Kasane to Victoria Falls with the border crossing from Botswana to Zimbabwe, was handled expertly by the drivers on both sides." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"An experience of a lifetime. Felt thoroughly looked after and catered to.

We saw the most amazing game and were privileged with the vast bush knowledge of our guides, and the love of the Batswana for their land and country.

Only one real downside of staying in the camps as a party of 6: we literally never had a moment of just being able to hang out or enjoy a meal on our own - because of the nature of long-tables with all guests eating together and guides playing host and conversation-partners during meals. With the strict rules around not walking about at night without a guide present, it created an awkwardness in us about staying around later into the evening and having to keep our guides up. So over the 8 days of the trip we actually had almost no time to interact with our own party on our own.

Lagoon and Kwara camps seemed to offer a reasonable balance between attentiveness and respect for guests' autonomy. Kanana, however, was a bit over-hosted and over-attentive (even though our hosts were truly wonderful) - it got a bit much to be hovered over ALL the time.

Everyone, everywhere, was so genuinely radiant and generous, and we are in love with the Batswana people!

Thanks to Expert Africa for good guidance and organising! And for the wonderful book on Botswana.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Is there any way to include more physical exercise?! It's an extremely sedentary experience with too much food :-) and an understandably restricted environment because of the wildlife.

Somehow though, we would have loved to engage in some kind of more robust activity/exercise over the 8 days." Read full review: 7 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"Overall we had a great trip. Camps were well run. Staff were sensitive to our needs and preferences. They were also flexible enough to divide our group into different activities to match the preferences within our party. For example, on one occasion four of us went out on the boat fishing while two were taken on a guided walk to study the medicinal uses of the flora.

There was sometimes the sense of being over programmed and not given enough time to ourselves.

We very much enjoyed our walking safaris and could have done more of those.

In conclusion the trip was excellent and no small thanks to Expert Africa and Maruska in particular for helping to organize this trip. Maruska was extremely patient, diligent and made sure that she understood what we were looking for. Nothing was too much for her. She is also very personable and pleasant. Thank you Maruska and Expert Africa" Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"An excellent and very enjoyable trip. Everything was extremely well organised and went without any hitches. Mack Air was efficient and always arrived on time, the only scary moment being on our last flight to Maun when the pilot had to take very rapid avoiding action to prevent us from hitting a stork flying at 4,500 ft! All the Guides were attuned to the requirements of photographers and did their utmost to position their vehicles in the best position. The green season is a wonderful time to go but made their jobs all the harder so their efforts were very much appreciated." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 12 on a Botswana safari

"My trip was expertly organized, to say the very least and was a truly amazing experience.

I have already commented on all the camps, so I'll just comment on the overall organization. I think the selection of camps for me was just perfect. I had a river camp, a desert camp, a jungle camp and a combination river/bush camp. This allowed me to never get tired of what I was seeing and always experience something new. I also think Maruska gave me great advice in suggesting that I do 11 days rather than 7, because the game viewing is trickier in the rainy season, so you see less, so you need more time. So because of my timing, I traded off game viewing for privacy, but because I made a longer trip, I still saw all the game. The advantage to safaris in December is privacy. On 8 of my 20 game drives, I was the only person in my safari vehicle! For 24 hours at Tubu and 8 hours at Savuti, I was the only guest in camp!

But the most impressive thing for my were the transfers. My first day, I left Lusaka and flew to Livingstone where I was met at the airport and whisked away. At the border between Zambia and Botswana, I was met by a boat, which had been waiting for me, was zipped across the river and met by a safari vehicle. This vehicle then whisked to a rendez-vous with the safari camp's vehicle, with then met the afternoon game drive from Mucheje camp part way and I was on a game drive! So I left Lusaka and noon and 5 transfers later, all done seamlessly, and I was on a game drive at 4pm!

Another example is: at Tau Pan in the Kalahari, I went on a morning game drive, came back to camp to have brunch and pack and then had a one hour game drive to the air strip. 5 minutes after arriving, the plane landed and 5 minutes later we were airborne. After a 1 hour flight where I was co-pilot, I landed at Little Tubu and was on a game drive 10 minutes later! So, I was on a game drive in the Kalahari at 2pm and on another in the Okavango Delta at 4pm. What amazing logistics!

Really, really, really well organized trip all in all. It's a rare trip that I leave all the logistics to someone else, but I am very glad to have left it to Expert Africa!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

The only thing I can think of is for you to probe a little more into what exactly we are hoping to experience. For me, this was my first safari, so I really wanted to see big cats. I'm not sure the camps chosen for me were the absolute best for this (I'm not sure they were not either), but I would have benefitted from some more info as to why those particular camps were best for me in that particular area. I had no idea there were so many options to choose from.

All in all, you guys are awesome and I will certainly recommend you and use you again. I was referred to you by a good friend who has used you a couple of times." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 11 on a Botswana safari