Botswana: reviews from our travellers

"From the moment I chose Expert Africa to book my trip with and met Lucy Copson who arranged my itinerary it has been incredible. I would never book a trip to Africa with anyone else but the EXPERTS! I did a lot of research and contacted at least 6 other companies, none of them compared on any level.

Lucy organised my trip using her incredbile knowledge and customer service skills. It took a while to finalise the trip but not once did I feel under any pressure. Some of the other companies were very pushy and just seemed to want your booking. All my queries were responded to promptly and I could never have organised such a fantastic experience without her help. Expert Africa are the best travel company I have ever dealt with. If you are thinking of travelling to any of the destinations that EA provide then don't hesitate to put them at the top of your list.

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

The Northern Botswana Mobile Safari can be undertaken in the reverse order I did. My only suggestion is scrap that and keep it from Kasane to Maun only.

The only other very small point is that I asked Lucy about organising a bean bag for the safari. I was told that this was not an option but the Letaka site does offer this. Fortunately one of the couples on the trip had ordered two so they kindly let me use on of them. It would have been a real issue for me not having one." Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"Lucy did a great job setting up our honeymoon. She made excellent recommendations and we were happy with the cost.

I would highly recommend Expert Africa to anyone who wants a customized African vacation without having to do the legwork. Things went smoothly" Read full review: 6 nights in Africa; 4 on a Botswana safari

"A really great trip which takes you away from normal life so that you completely relax.

Looking foward to going back in future.


Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

- We think two days at a camp is too short, you just get there and have to leave. I would recommend minimun stay of 3 nigjhts.

- Try and keep the same airline for the flight, we nearly missed our connection due to SA Airways delay and did not get out luggage for 24 hours. We also met a number of people who lost theirs for up to five days due to issues with Air Botswana/South Africa.

- Linyati, mention the bugs as they were really bad!" Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"We know now that in Namibia we should have included The Skeleton Coast. We didn't know when we booked our holiday!

Selinda Camp was by far the best experience of the holiday, for us it was the perfect safari destination. Maybe because it is privately owned, it had that extra something? It was not nearly as expensive as Little Mombo, but it definitely had a 'magic ingredient'.

Last year we went to Lion Camp in Zambia, which is also on our favourite camp list, this is also privately owned, but again not on the silly cost list - so next time we book we will go for privately owned smaller camps.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

We would definitely use Expert Africa again." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari

"This was a fantastic trip and experience.

I enjoyed every aspect: the small aircraft flights low over the delta, the landscapes, the camps and the fact that animals could come and go, all the activities, the gin and tonic sundowners every day, the food, the interaction with the staff (and some of the guests!), the flora and, of course, the fauna.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

I would like to know why you don't go to Kenya." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 6 on a Botswana safari

"The first three camps exceeded our expectations in every aspect. The last camp, Santandadibe, was a real disappointment in terms of game viewing and the significant distance from Maun. The logistical aspect of the last camp certainly discourages future travel with Expert Africa.

Please note that while I give Maruska a "yes certainly" re: knowledge, for the life of me I do not udnerstand why she was so insistent on us visiting this camp last or even at all, plus the fact that it was a 6 1/2 back track from Maun.

Based on the first 3 camps our experience was more than "Very Satisfactory"--it exceeded expectation. Santandadibe was the downer!" Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"Exceeded all our expectations and got better as the trip progressed. Well worth the huge outlay.

Never to be forgotton but will loose all our friends raving about it!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Hard to think how you could have improved it. I think it was a shame we did not listen to the advice regarding our last camp in Botswana and feel she should have told us how little wild life ther was at Selinda. She did inform us the wild life was not as good here but there was very little." Read full review: 33 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"A trip of a lifetime! It was even more than we hoped for, romantic, adventurous, many new experiences with wonderful game viewing. We enjoyed the people in Botswana, dignified, skilled in their professions and enjoyable companions.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Expert Africa's service was personal, customized and very informative." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"Fantastic :-)" Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"Anyone who can put up with being fed 6 times a day, bone shaken in a Landrover or baked in the sun in a motorboat/mokoro must be mad but we keep going back because we absolutely love it. Expert Africa's planning and execution were, as ever, faultless. Any criticisms of the camps must be viewed in the light of consistently high standards across the board and are made when things are 99.9% rather than 101%.

This was the first time we had noticed a significant difference between the Wilderness Classic camps in tems of room size and facilities. It might be worth making this point in the brochure. People will still go because each camp has its unique charm or attraction.

This year was special because the annual flood was so high that there was still considerable water in places normally dry in September and a lot of the big game has moved. Is it worth considering bringing major weather/natural events to client attention in time for them to perhaps change their itinerary? We planned wet, dry, wet, dry and were not disappointed but we met a number of guests (not Expert Africa) who were deeply disappointed that they had been expecting the big 5 and had to be satisfied with mostly birds.

We had another 5 star holiday. Thank you. In overview, both Xigera and Tubu Tree feted us with extra activities. Jacana had none, not even a traditional evening while the 4 nights ay Chitabe Lediba provided just a traditional evening. Interesting contrast reflecting management styles?" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 13 on a Botswana safari