Reviews of safaris to Okavango Delta Safari Reserves
1013 holiday reviews from our travellers of holidays which include Okavango Delta.
Mrs K.
Gravesend
"1st safari trip - Botswana and Victoria falls"
I visited Botswana and 1 other country between 25 Sep 2018 and 6 Oct 2018
"Excellent service from the 1st time I spoke to Rich - he gave us very good advice and guidance and we feel he fully delivered the Safari we wanted - everything went to plan we had no problems at all - because of the wonderful experience we will definitely book with Expert Africa again - they definitely are experts - this was our 1st Africa trip and he managed and exceeded our expectations"
Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 6 on a Botswana safari
Overall trip
Excellent
Simon&Carmelo
Italy
"A holiday not to be forgotten"
I visited Botswana and 1 other country between 23 Sep 2018 and 14 Oct 2018
"A great holiday would recommend Expert Africa to other travellers."
Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 5 on a Botswana safari
Overall trip
Excellent
Mr B
New York
"My Sep 2018 trip"
I visited Botswana and 1 other country between 22 Sep 2018 and 1 Oct 2018
"A very special trip with memories that will last for a very long time. Most of the specific comments are in the individual review sections so it is only worth adding that overall the variety of the two camps was very important and the order that we did them was great. At Sable Alley we were very comfortable and loved the setting, staff and the huge quantity and variety of wildlife. Little Vumbura offered a different setting with a different experience."
Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 6 on a Botswana safari
Overall trip
Excellent
Ms J.
London
"My Sep 2018 trip"
I visited Botswana and 2 other countries between 20 Sep 2018 and 14 Oct 2018
"The trip worked perfectly so thank you Expert Africa for organising."
Read full review: 24 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari
Overall trip
Excellent
Mrs MW
W London
"Fabulous trip"
I visited Botswana and 1 other country between 18 Sep 2018 and 6 Oct 2018
"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 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
Overall trip
Excellent
Mr & Mrs
Carshalton
"safari in Botswana"
I visited Botswana and 2 other countries between 11 Sep 2018 and 27 Sep 2018
"Fantastic holiday!
I think that if we had to share our jeep with other people on our safari we would not have had such a personable/educated holiday. That is what made out holiday!" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari
I think that if we had to share our jeep with other people on our safari we would not have had such a personable/educated holiday. That is what made out holiday!" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari
Overall trip
Excellent
Family A
Scarborough
"My Sep 2018 trip"
I visited Namibia and 3 other countries between 5 Sep 2018 and 2 Oct 2018
"This was our third trip with Expert Africa and our biggest. I had planned this trip over a couple of years to celebrate my retirement and was not disappointed.
I would change a few things, with hindsight.
Erongo deserves at least two nights. Trust me.
Zimbabwe was a challenge. Getting in took ages. We did not feel at all welcome. I would advise staying in Zambia and travelling in to see the Falls.
As a general rule, lodges where you are able to go off road are better. The exception this rule is Chobe, just because of the scale of the wildlife experience that you are exposed to.
In future (God willing), I would transit through Jo'burg faster.
See you in a coupe of years, God willing.
I would be tempted by a lodge with perhaps more water based activities in the delta.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
No.
Keep doing what you are doing." Read full review: 27 nights in Africa; 10 on a Namibia trip
I would change a few things, with hindsight.
Erongo deserves at least two nights. Trust me.
Zimbabwe was a challenge. Getting in took ages. We did not feel at all welcome. I would advise staying in Zambia and travelling in to see the Falls.
As a general rule, lodges where you are able to go off road are better. The exception this rule is Chobe, just because of the scale of the wildlife experience that you are exposed to.
In future (God willing), I would transit through Jo'burg faster.
See you in a coupe of years, God willing.
I would be tempted by a lodge with perhaps more water based activities in the delta.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
No.
Keep doing what you are doing." Read full review: 27 nights in Africa; 10 on a Namibia trip
Overall trip
Excellent
Miss B
Marple
"Fantastic trip to the Delta"
I visited Botswana between 4 Sep 2018 and 14 Sep 2018
"Overall a wonderful trip -- going to be a hard one to beat. After two previous trips to South Africa, we wanted to clarify a few details about how the game drives and lodge logistics were run. e.g. flight times not impacting on game drives, whether we would go straight to dinner from the evening game drive or be allowed to freshen up and requests for quiet rooms with better wildlife viewing. We struggled to clarify these details before the trip, being told that we would go straight to dinner and that our points had been on passed on and the lodges would do their best.
In reality we never had to go straight to dinner (a different set-up from safari in South Africa) with the consequence that we would have packed differently. We also discovered out there that all the intra-lodge delta flights are run between 10am and 1pm, meaning that the morning game drives were cut a little short on every change over day, but were always possible. In terms of room selection, though we were located further from the main areas in both Xaranna and Sandibe, in Xaranna we were placed in a room between a near constantly running fan and a generator -- which did not add to the peace and quiet. There were other room options and we raised it with the lodge, but no action was taken." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari
In reality we never had to go straight to dinner (a different set-up from safari in South Africa) with the consequence that we would have packed differently. We also discovered out there that all the intra-lodge delta flights are run between 10am and 1pm, meaning that the morning game drives were cut a little short on every change over day, but were always possible. In terms of room selection, though we were located further from the main areas in both Xaranna and Sandibe, in Xaranna we were placed in a room between a near constantly running fan and a generator -- which did not add to the peace and quiet. There were other room options and we raised it with the lodge, but no action was taken." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari
Overall trip
Excellent
bazjogone
UK
"My Sep 2018 trip"
I visited Botswana between 2 Sep 2018 and 6 Sep 2018
"Megan was very attentive and helpful, patiently answering all our queries.
No problems with advance organisation" Read full review: 4 nights in Africa; 4 on a Botswana safari
No problems with advance organisation" Read full review: 4 nights in Africa; 4 on a Botswana safari
Overall trip
Good
Mr & Mrs LN
London
"My Sep 2018 trip"
I visited Botswana and 1 other country between 1 Sep 2018 and 24 Sep 2018
"Stunning! A huge variety of memorable experiences, diverse lodges and special people made this trip everything we hoped for.
Tracy Lederer take a bow as your help, suggestions, comments and patient answers to our many questions made this trip work as well as it did. Everywhere we stayed added something special to our overall experience and your suggestions of adding a private safari and a trip down to San Camp made a great trip a spectacular experience. Our private safari with Kazuma will always be very special and you may have spoiled us for the future!
We did not know what to expect from Botswana. The old mantra was Botswana was high cost because of low vehicle numbers/tourists. In our experience that is not totally true any more. Chobe around Kisane is so busy from the land and the river that it is unpleasant in places and it looks like development is continuing at pace. Some of the companies who run river trips are aggressive and do not consider the animals or other boats. Having said all of that, seeing the hundreds of elephants on the Chobe River near Kasane and being able to watch them swim makes this still a wonderful place to visit. Moving quietly in boats is a fascinating way to see wildlife from a different perspective. Savute and Khwai are both busy with Khwai being particularly so at times. In Khwai and Savute you can, however, leave the crowds around the lions or the dogs and go off and find your own wonderful wildlife which we could do with our private guide.
The wildlife is not the wide variety of plains animals that you see in Kenya or South Africa. Botswana is not the place for a quick tick-list safari. What you do have is much more intense and lengthy experiences with the animals you see. We found most of the animals to be very relaxed and not bothered by vehicles or boats. The variety of landscapes is breathtaking. The guiding is very, very good in general.
We are used to travelling in a variety of little planes which are used like taxis so they were not a shock. The routes are not finalised until the day before you fly so be prepared for short hops to drop off and pick up other passengers from a variety of dirt air strips. You may not get to leave at a time that suits you. The small planes we took were a mixed bag but the young pilots all seemed professional. The planes could get a little bumpy but nowhere near as bumpy as the road trip would have been!
We did not expect to come away with an understanding of how the different management styles between Botswana and Namibia affected the wildlife and the land. Although explained to us several times we are still struggling with the geography of the Delta! We did not expect to learn so much about the Salt Pans and how everything managed to survive such a harsh environment. We learned so much about animal behaviour by being able to take the time to sit and watch what was going on and have everything explained by well-trained and enthusiastic guides. We listened to the calm debate about the possibility of reintroducing hunting in Botswana. We met some wonderful like-minded travellers and some that were not so pleasant but that is what happens on safaris: you learn when to speak and when to leave subjects alone! We met some really special Batswana people whose enthusiasm for their country is wonderful.
This was a special holiday for us that we had wanted to do for a long time. We have been lucky enough to travel to many African countries, some repeatedly but had never made it to Botswana before. We would llike to return!
A few hints.
- A number of tourists did not realise how cold it can get at night so take clothes you can layer, a puffer jacket or fleece and even gloves and a hat.
- Take a torch and spare batteries.
- Take a kanga or a kikoy with you so that when the temperature gets unbearable you can soak it and wrap it around your neck to keep you cool. It also helps when it is very dusty to cover your mouth and nose.
-Laundry is done almost everywhere so you do not need as many clothes as you think and it is certainly not a fashion show.
-Almost everywhere we stayed provided shampoo, conditioner, soap and mosquito spray so you can save weight on not bringing too much of these.
- Stick to the baggage size /weight recommendations if you are in small planes. They really can not take suitcases! Have something different like a bright ribbon on your handle. We saw one group of around 20 all travelling with the same bags that were just like ours!
- Cross pack with someone you are travelling with in case one bag goes missing somewhere!
- Money: Botswana Pula is not available out of the country. There is no cash machine in the new airport at Kasane. There is a cash machine at a shopping strip in Kasane town so your driver may stop for you if you ask. I do not know about Maun. We carried US dollars cash with us for tipping (with a number of small bills for porters) and we carried more than we thought we would need.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
You are streets ahead of the opposition and I recommend you to anyone and everyone. The knowledge of your staff is first-hand and they always take our likes, dislikes and experiences into account when suggesting holidays. Seems simple but not often done!
Your web site is amazing however too many of your description pages that I was browsing now say that the lodge has not been visited since ... (quite a few years ago) I know it is impossible to keep totally up to date but a lot of pages are well past their use by date so maybe time for some more visits to keep your pages up-to-date and the comments relevant. Chris and I will volunteer to help whenever you like! :D
You do not have Aardwolf or Elephants on your San animal list." Read full review: 23 nights in Africa; 14 on a Botswana safari
Tracy Lederer take a bow as your help, suggestions, comments and patient answers to our many questions made this trip work as well as it did. Everywhere we stayed added something special to our overall experience and your suggestions of adding a private safari and a trip down to San Camp made a great trip a spectacular experience. Our private safari with Kazuma will always be very special and you may have spoiled us for the future!
We did not know what to expect from Botswana. The old mantra was Botswana was high cost because of low vehicle numbers/tourists. In our experience that is not totally true any more. Chobe around Kisane is so busy from the land and the river that it is unpleasant in places and it looks like development is continuing at pace. Some of the companies who run river trips are aggressive and do not consider the animals or other boats. Having said all of that, seeing the hundreds of elephants on the Chobe River near Kasane and being able to watch them swim makes this still a wonderful place to visit. Moving quietly in boats is a fascinating way to see wildlife from a different perspective. Savute and Khwai are both busy with Khwai being particularly so at times. In Khwai and Savute you can, however, leave the crowds around the lions or the dogs and go off and find your own wonderful wildlife which we could do with our private guide.
The wildlife is not the wide variety of plains animals that you see in Kenya or South Africa. Botswana is not the place for a quick tick-list safari. What you do have is much more intense and lengthy experiences with the animals you see. We found most of the animals to be very relaxed and not bothered by vehicles or boats. The variety of landscapes is breathtaking. The guiding is very, very good in general.
We are used to travelling in a variety of little planes which are used like taxis so they were not a shock. The routes are not finalised until the day before you fly so be prepared for short hops to drop off and pick up other passengers from a variety of dirt air strips. You may not get to leave at a time that suits you. The small planes we took were a mixed bag but the young pilots all seemed professional. The planes could get a little bumpy but nowhere near as bumpy as the road trip would have been!
We did not expect to come away with an understanding of how the different management styles between Botswana and Namibia affected the wildlife and the land. Although explained to us several times we are still struggling with the geography of the Delta! We did not expect to learn so much about the Salt Pans and how everything managed to survive such a harsh environment. We learned so much about animal behaviour by being able to take the time to sit and watch what was going on and have everything explained by well-trained and enthusiastic guides. We listened to the calm debate about the possibility of reintroducing hunting in Botswana. We met some wonderful like-minded travellers and some that were not so pleasant but that is what happens on safaris: you learn when to speak and when to leave subjects alone! We met some really special Batswana people whose enthusiasm for their country is wonderful.
This was a special holiday for us that we had wanted to do for a long time. We have been lucky enough to travel to many African countries, some repeatedly but had never made it to Botswana before. We would llike to return!
A few hints.
- A number of tourists did not realise how cold it can get at night so take clothes you can layer, a puffer jacket or fleece and even gloves and a hat.
- Take a torch and spare batteries.
- Take a kanga or a kikoy with you so that when the temperature gets unbearable you can soak it and wrap it around your neck to keep you cool. It also helps when it is very dusty to cover your mouth and nose.
-Laundry is done almost everywhere so you do not need as many clothes as you think and it is certainly not a fashion show.
-Almost everywhere we stayed provided shampoo, conditioner, soap and mosquito spray so you can save weight on not bringing too much of these.
- Stick to the baggage size /weight recommendations if you are in small planes. They really can not take suitcases! Have something different like a bright ribbon on your handle. We saw one group of around 20 all travelling with the same bags that were just like ours!
- Cross pack with someone you are travelling with in case one bag goes missing somewhere!
- Money: Botswana Pula is not available out of the country. There is no cash machine in the new airport at Kasane. There is a cash machine at a shopping strip in Kasane town so your driver may stop for you if you ask. I do not know about Maun. We carried US dollars cash with us for tipping (with a number of small bills for porters) and we carried more than we thought we would need.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
You are streets ahead of the opposition and I recommend you to anyone and everyone. The knowledge of your staff is first-hand and they always take our likes, dislikes and experiences into account when suggesting holidays. Seems simple but not often done!
Your web site is amazing however too many of your description pages that I was browsing now say that the lodge has not been visited since ... (quite a few years ago) I know it is impossible to keep totally up to date but a lot of pages are well past their use by date so maybe time for some more visits to keep your pages up-to-date and the comments relevant. Chris and I will volunteer to help whenever you like! :D
You do not have Aardwolf or Elephants on your San animal list." Read full review: 23 nights in Africa; 14 on a Botswana safari
Overall trip
Excellent
1013
reviews of Okavango Delta by travellers since August 2007
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