Reviews of trips to Maun

"This time we wanted to experience the rainy season in Botswana and that was exactly what happened.

EA prepared us very well and provided everything we needed to have a memorable trip. In fact, we recommended EA to fellow travellers who were less fortunate in their preparations.

We started planning our next EA trip on the plane home." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari

"A first visit to Botswana in green season and generally a success - we knew that the viewing may be more challenging at this time of year, but the trade off is lush greens, flowers and fewer vehicles on the sightings.

It was great to see Botswana in a different light, albeit we never got any rain and moody skies! Climate change makes the seasonal rains far more unpredictable.

On the downside, low season meant fewer camp mates, and chatting around the table is part of the fun of safari, plus last minute camp changes due to maintenance was not something we had expected nor want again - a free upgrade is not always a positive.

Great service from Lucy and the Expert Africa team once again." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 11 on a Botswana safari

"This trip was booked at short notice due to receiving a special offer. We are so glad we took advantage of it as we had an amazing time.
Thanks Expert Africa!" Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"This was my eighth safari trip. The last five safaris have been with Expert Africa.

Although this was the first safari without my wife it was still very enjoyable and probably one of the best. Usually we booked our safaris a year in advance but this time in response to the special offers for safaris in Botswana the trip was booked less than six weeks beforehand.

The advice in planning of the trip and developing the itinerary with Expert Africa was easy and smooth.

From the time I arrived in Maun and until I left for home everything went to plan." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari

"This was our first trip to Botswana and we hope it won't be our last. The quantity and variety of animals and birds was simply amazing.

The camps we visited and their staff were all first class. Having both a guide and a tracker (a feature of Kwando safaris) worked very well - and they were more than happy to educate us when tracking the big cats. They were able to spot and identify animals and birds from a long way away (how do they do that!).

Our thanks to Amanda for recommending the camps we stayed in. They were excellent choices - all a little different from each other but all at the consistently high standard of guiding, accommodation, and food and drink.

We would be very happy to return to Lagoon, Splash and Rra Dinare and would recommend all three most highly.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

This is only the second time we've used Expert Africa, and on both occasions have found the company to be excellent.

We identified only one area for improvement - more for the safari company than Expert Africa - and that is to try to allocate people to safari jeeps based on their interests rather than just their arrival date. We realise this might prove difficult, but it is an area we feel merits a review." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari

"Extremely happy with everything, wouldn't change a thing." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 6 on a Zimbabwe safari

"The whole trip ran very smoothly.
Sometimes pre-trip communication could have been more prompt." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 11 on a Botswana safari

"Our trip was everything we hoped for and more. Of course it would have been nice if there had more water in the Delta but that it an acceptable risk. We enjoyed the smaller camps and were particularly impressed by Great Plains and their attention to detail.
In our feedback form in Footsteps we did say to Ker &Downey that they should invest in more modern vehicles particularly since they had that long journey to and from the airstrip and water based activities.
The game everywhere exceeded our expectations, the guiding was really excellent and all the staff throughout the trip were welcoming,kind and thoughtful. We would not hesitate to recommend Botswana as a brilliant safari destination." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari

"This was our seventh trip to Africa since 2016, which we decided to split between Zimbabwe and Botswana. Some of our friends have asked us whether we haven’t seen enough of Africa by now. I’m fully aware of the fact that there are countries in Africa that aren’t safe and better avoided, but our answer would be: no, we haven’t. As strange as it may sound, visiting Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Zambia and Kenya has always felt to us like coming home. And this is due not just to the charismatic megafauna that can be experienced here, but to the people living here. In our seven trips we have spent more than half a year in Africa, and we have only experienced a healthy curiosity, kindness and open-mindedness.

That said, as outlined above in the detailed comments on individual camps, this trip wasn’t short on highlights in terms of wildlife sightings, but I would like to add a few general remarks.

Shortly before our trip, President Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe declared a national desaster because of the drought experienced in the previous rainy season. Considering that Zimbabwe has a government with a questionable reputation and a poor economy, we were a bit apprehensive about coming here. But our worries were unfounded. Granted, en route to our first camp, we drove through villages with hundreds of people gathering around big bags of cornmeal donated by the UN. We were told that if this country would be run by a decent and effective government, this desperate step wouldn’t have been necessary.

Given these rather bleak economic circumstances it is all the more astounding that whoever we met along the way was kind-hearted and of good spirits.

Shortly before our trip, Botswana’s president Masisi jokingly threatened to send 10,000 elephants to London’s Hyde Park and 20,000 elephants to Germany, because allegedly, they have too many of them. Without question, there is evidence for human-elephant conflict, but I doubt whether the solution is to allow trophy hunting (Botswana re-introduced trophy hunting in 2019 after a five-year ban).

When I raised this subject in Zimbabwe, everybody had an opinion on this controversial topic, whereas in Botswana, they would rather not talk about it.


Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

I have nothing but praise for all the freely given advice before the trip and the organization of the trips themselves." Read full review: 28 nights in Africa; 12 on a Zimbabwe safari

"What a great trip.

We have travelled to Africa several times before but it never disappoints and there is always something new to see.

Organisation, camps and guiding were all superb" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 14 on a Botswana safari