Reviews of safaris to Okavango Delta Safari Reserves
1005 holiday reviews from our travellers of holidays which include Okavango Delta.
Mr & Mrs C
Shropshire
"Botswana revisited"
I visited Botswana between 4 Nov 2009 and 17 Nov 2009
"Overall the trip was just fantastic, the only moan (if you can call it that) was at Lagoon where we felt as though we had no options to do anything other than go with the flow. To give the driver and tracker their due they did find us some birds but to satisfy every one on our cramped vehicle we felt that we just had to go with the majority.
The other three camps we visited were just brilliant and we would not hestitate going back to them again.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
As you show Special Interest trips in your brochure would it not be possible to group like guests together." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 12 on a Botswana safari
The other three camps we visited were just brilliant and we would not hestitate going back to them again.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
As you show Special Interest trips in your brochure would it not be possible to group like guests together." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 12 on a Botswana safari
Overall trip
Excellent
Mr & Mrs S
Warks
"Botswana safari trip"
I visited Botswana between 1 Nov 2009 and 10 Nov 2009
"Congratulations on a very well organised safari trip. You gave us everything we asked for and we thank you for that.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
No problems - so no suggestions!" Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
No problems - so no suggestions!" Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari
Overall trip
Excellent
Mr & Mrs C
Bristol
"Okavango holiday"
I visited Botswana between 1 Nov 2009 and 13 Nov 2009
"The trip overall was a fantastic experience of pure escapism into a luxurious safari world, free from mobile phones and the internet.
Every request was granted: if we wanted a boat trip, we had a boat trip; a walk in the bush, and one was arranged. We had some excellent sightings of lions and leopard, although the wild dogs and cheetah were hiding on this occasion. Two big thunderstorms added to the excitement of the trip!
We greatly appreciate the expertise of Expert Africa in advising and organising the details of the trip which we enjoyed without any hassle whatsoever! Definitely an experience for the discerning tourist." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari
Every request was granted: if we wanted a boat trip, we had a boat trip; a walk in the bush, and one was arranged. We had some excellent sightings of lions and leopard, although the wild dogs and cheetah were hiding on this occasion. Two big thunderstorms added to the excitement of the trip!
We greatly appreciate the expertise of Expert Africa in advising and organising the details of the trip which we enjoyed without any hassle whatsoever! Definitely an experience for the discerning tourist." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari
Overall trip
Excellent
Mr G & Ms N
London
"Zambia / Botswana Oct /Nov 09"
I visited Botswana and 1 other country between 23 Oct 2009 and 7 Nov 2009
Overall trip
Excellent
Nick & Kate
Sussex
"The ultimate game experience"
I visited Botswana between 22 Oct 2009 and 2 Nov 2009
"1. Botswana delivers the ultimate in high-quality, varied and abundant game viewing, in a beautiful setting. Also, it seemed that all the camps have a policy of ensuring that there are no more than 4 people in a vehicle - often, we had the vehicle to ourselves as a pair.
2. The lodges are run very well, and are also high quality - albeit, they lack any individuality or idiosyncrasies. The Wilderness experience is, therefore, very reliable, but a bit corporate. Nevertheless, it does what it says on the tin, and does it very well.
3. The company needs to be more thoughtful about how it manages interaction between staff and guests. The staff are a constant presence - breakfast, coffee breaks, brunch, tea, pre-dinner drinks, dinner - and, while always lovely people, are not necessarily the most gifted conversationalists (true of quite a few guests, mind you). It can be quite oppressive having to 'manage' the conversation, and it can interfere with one's ability to socialise easily with other guests. One can in theory choose to ignore the staff, but this is hardly British. I understand that safaris are meant to be communal, and that the company doesn't want an atmosphere of servile staff and snooty guests (not at the classic camps, anyway) - but the balance is absolutely not right at the moment.
4. Standards of guiding, while competent and friendly, falll a long way short of the standards we have experienced in Tanzania and Zambia from guides trained in Zimbabwe. The knowledge of the guides is often superficial, and they can get quite flustered by questions which take them out of their comfort zone. Standards of tracking seemed low. There is a need for significant investment in training if the standards are to reach the levels whereby a guide can transform your experience of a game drive.
5. There should be more active management of a variety of options for activities - too often, it was assumed that a day drive was all that was ever wanted.
6. Except at Chitabe, the main meals were very uninspiring as a rule.
7. On the other hand, I have never had such a mosquito free trip! Well done to the camps for making the nights a really relaxing time for sleeping." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari
2. The lodges are run very well, and are also high quality - albeit, they lack any individuality or idiosyncrasies. The Wilderness experience is, therefore, very reliable, but a bit corporate. Nevertheless, it does what it says on the tin, and does it very well.
3. The company needs to be more thoughtful about how it manages interaction between staff and guests. The staff are a constant presence - breakfast, coffee breaks, brunch, tea, pre-dinner drinks, dinner - and, while always lovely people, are not necessarily the most gifted conversationalists (true of quite a few guests, mind you). It can be quite oppressive having to 'manage' the conversation, and it can interfere with one's ability to socialise easily with other guests. One can in theory choose to ignore the staff, but this is hardly British. I understand that safaris are meant to be communal, and that the company doesn't want an atmosphere of servile staff and snooty guests (not at the classic camps, anyway) - but the balance is absolutely not right at the moment.
4. Standards of guiding, while competent and friendly, falll a long way short of the standards we have experienced in Tanzania and Zambia from guides trained in Zimbabwe. The knowledge of the guides is often superficial, and they can get quite flustered by questions which take them out of their comfort zone. Standards of tracking seemed low. There is a need for significant investment in training if the standards are to reach the levels whereby a guide can transform your experience of a game drive.
5. There should be more active management of a variety of options for activities - too often, it was assumed that a day drive was all that was ever wanted.
6. Except at Chitabe, the main meals were very uninspiring as a rule.
7. On the other hand, I have never had such a mosquito free trip! Well done to the camps for making the nights a really relaxing time for sleeping." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari
Overall trip
Excellent
Mr & Mrs W
NHants
"A great 4 camp trip in Botswana"
I visited Botswana between 11 Oct 2009 and 22 Oct 2009
"A very memorable and special experience.The 4 camps provided us with a good contrast and balance. Our expectations were exceeded. All of the camps had happy smiling staff who were always there to help. The standard of food, especially in the Ker & Downey camps was amazing given the location.
The organisation of the holiday arrangements were extremely well managed. At no time were we asked for any paperwork or vouchers. I still have the original vouchers package - I wonder if I could turn up next year with the same documents...............
Overall a wonderful time !" Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari
The organisation of the holiday arrangements were extremely well managed. At no time were we asked for any paperwork or vouchers. I still have the original vouchers package - I wonder if I could turn up next year with the same documents...............
Overall a wonderful time !" Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari
Overall trip
Excellent
Dr W & Ms E
London
""
I visited Botswana and 1 other country between 6 Oct 2009 and 21 Oct 2009
"I think we could have done with only 3 locations in Botswana as Chitabe Lediba and Selinda in many ways were quite similar. We will know for next time!
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
All went extremely well and efficiently.
Afterwards we spent 2 weeks on our own in South Africa and I felt the difference straight away, in terms of organisation and things going wrong. We had to bribe a policeman to get off a speeding fine, hit a stray tyre on the road, etc etc." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 11 on a Botswana safari
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
All went extremely well and efficiently.
Afterwards we spent 2 weeks on our own in South Africa and I felt the difference straight away, in terms of organisation and things going wrong. We had to bribe a policeman to get off a speeding fine, hit a stray tyre on the road, etc etc." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 11 on a Botswana safari
Overall trip
Excellent
Mr & Mrs W
Wiltshire
"Botswana Holiday"
I visited Botswana between 29 Sep 2009 and 13 Oct 2009
"This was a fantastic holiday.
Botswana is expensive but it really has been worth the extra pennies. Being able to drive off road makes a huge difference over other destinations in Africa. Our wild dog encounters were outstanding - we fell in love with this country & cant wait to return.
The only negative comment was our fellow guests. we have never been anywhere where 95% of our fellow guests showed so little interest or knowledge of what they were viewing e.g no-one knew what a pangolin/aardvark was and showed no interest or excitement in the exceptionally lucky sightings and seemed more interested in the table decorations and the Wine.
Suggestions for improvement:
We cannot think of anything apart from the price!" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 13 on a Botswana safari
Botswana is expensive but it really has been worth the extra pennies. Being able to drive off road makes a huge difference over other destinations in Africa. Our wild dog encounters were outstanding - we fell in love with this country & cant wait to return.
The only negative comment was our fellow guests. we have never been anywhere where 95% of our fellow guests showed so little interest or knowledge of what they were viewing e.g no-one knew what a pangolin/aardvark was and showed no interest or excitement in the exceptionally lucky sightings and seemed more interested in the table decorations and the Wine.
Suggestions for improvement:
We cannot think of anything apart from the price!" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 13 on a Botswana safari
Overall trip
Excellent
Sisters
London
"Zambia/Botswana"
I visited Botswana and 1 other country between 25 Sep 2009 and 11 Oct 2009
"This was our first safari so it needed to be very special, which it was.
We loved the fact all the camps were different and we didnt know what we were going to experience next which was great. Also glad we went to Victoria Falls first rather than last, as it was good to end up at one of the best camps. 2 weeks was a great amount of time to have-would definitely still like a minimum of 10 days with a selection of 2-3 camps plus maybe a coast/beach trip after next time!" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 12 on a Botswana safari
We loved the fact all the camps were different and we didnt know what we were going to experience next which was great. Also glad we went to Victoria Falls first rather than last, as it was good to end up at one of the best camps. 2 weeks was a great amount of time to have-would definitely still like a minimum of 10 days with a selection of 2-3 camps plus maybe a coast/beach trip after next time!" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 12 on a Botswana safari
Overall trip
Excellent
Mr & Mrs VanZylrus
UK
"African Adventure in more ways than one!!!"
I visited Namibia and 2 other countries between 25 Sep 2009 and 18 Oct 2009
"We planned our trip a year and a half ahead of our travel date, which allowed us to book all the accommodation that we wanted to stay in at the places we wanted to visit. Maruska is fantastically knowledgeable and very friendly and always tried to match our wishes with the places that she knew would suit us. This proved very much the case with KTC. We were sad that Maruska had moved to New Zealand, by the time we returned, however, we had the pleasure of meeting Chris McIntyre and Tracy Lederer who were also very kind and helpful on our return.
Prior to our departure in addition to Chris' books and the brochure, the literature and the organization of the vouchers and pictures of the places we were staying at, were excellent. We often spent time at airports spotting EA travel tags!!!
We also met other travellers who were equally happy with their EA trip.
We had the most wonderful trip, which surpassed all our expectations. We would definitely recommend Expert Africa to anyone wishing to travel to Africa, particularly for making it such a personally tailored experience. We certainly will be using EA on our next trip!
Just to mention as well we had a very comfortable stay at the Brigadoon in Swakopmund run by a lovely called Margaret ." Read full review: 23 nights in Africa; 8 on a Namibia trip
Prior to our departure in addition to Chris' books and the brochure, the literature and the organization of the vouchers and pictures of the places we were staying at, were excellent. We often spent time at airports spotting EA travel tags!!!
We also met other travellers who were equally happy with their EA trip.
We had the most wonderful trip, which surpassed all our expectations. We would definitely recommend Expert Africa to anyone wishing to travel to Africa, particularly for making it such a personally tailored experience. We certainly will be using EA on our next trip!
Just to mention as well we had a very comfortable stay at the Brigadoon in Swakopmund run by a lovely called Margaret ." Read full review: 23 nights in Africa; 8 on a Namibia trip
Overall trip
Excellent
1005
reviews of Okavango Delta by travellers since August 2007
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