Botswana: reviews from our travellers

"We had a great holiday.

We've never used an agency before. The Wilderness Safari and Sefofane linkage is, generally, so smooth it’s unbelievable. From the moment we arrived at our first stop, in Livingstone, we were whisked from point to point. Having travelled on our own for years, it was disconcertingly lovely to be told mid-afternoon that we'd be moving onto the next camp at, say, 11:30 - and just led by the hand. In itself that was a great luxury.

Having never been to southern Africa before, we were completely enchanted by the camps, wildlife and people." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 6 on a Botswana safari

"We had an excellent holiday that exceeded expectations. Saw loads of animals and birds plus wonderful scenery. Ate well, too much and too often. While this was our first visit to sub-saharan Africa and our firast safari we met manyother first-time travellers but also several seasoned safari riders who were on their tenth trip!" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 11 on a Botswana safari

"Almost flawless.

We had selected our camps with care, and were very pleased with the outcome. This was our 4th trip to Botswana, and we are quite particular in our requirements. Our comments are a realistic appraisal of our experience, and are not gushy or over the top.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Not really, everything went so well. All connections/arrangements went like clockwork.

One minor point would be that the request of Lucy that we be housed in tents away from noisy areas did not reach any of the camp managers.
As it turned out we had no problems in this regard," Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 13 on a Botswana safari

"Expert Africa's arrangements all went perfectly. The camps we visited at their suggestion were all very good and we'd happily recommend all of them.

We would like to thank Lucy in particular. We were affected by the BA strike and though we had booked our flights independantly, Lucy was quick to assist us with reserving SAA flights as an alternative, should they be required; she also did some last minute research on camps in Maun, with the associated flight changes, in case we needed to bring our trip forward due to the strike.

Everything went smoothly, each camp knew when we were due to move on and informed us of flight times and our guides were always waiting for us at the airstrips. It was professional and reassuring.

As a holiday, it exceeded our expectations. We had limited experience of safari from a trip to Namibia two years earlier. In Botswana, we loved how we quickly felt at home at the camps and we lost track of the days. Each day was so full that something that we saw the morning before felt like days ago and by the time we left each camp (particularly the Kwando concessions) we felt like we'd been there a week and become part of the furniture.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No - everything worked well except issues with our e-mails being rejected as junk." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"Had a great trip and was well organised.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Worth explaining there's no guarantee of seeing lions, leopards etc and that different camps have different resident animals - eg wild dogs at Lagoon" Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 6 on a Botswana safari

"We thought you might wish to hear from us now we have returned from Zambia and Botswana. We had the most wonderful time in both countries, we met some lovely people from all parts of the world and we were well looked after by the management and staff of all three camps.

Finally, thanks once again to you Chris, Expert Africa and Wilderness Safaris for organising and re-organising our trip which we much appreciated and thoroughly enjoyed. Below, I will select you, Chris, who at the end of the day made things happen for us and went that extra mile to ensure we had a terrific experience under what were very difficult circumstances but I would also like to make a special mention to Maruska who helped us through the initial choices of camps and bookings - she was very professional, knowledgeable and helpful.

It goes without saying that you and your collective help and service will be recommended by us to others. Please pass on our comments to those you think would like to hear from us.

These travellers commented about their flights:

All Sefofane flights were a fantastic experience. They were great fun, exhilarating and provided superb views of the landscape and the Okavango Delta. The pilots were skilled,helpful and very informative. The flight schedules were punctual and safety procedures made passengers feel at ease.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

I have none at this stage." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 6 on a Botswana safari

"We had a real nightmare with the Volcano Ash and had to cancel the first part of our trip to SA. Ann worked tirelessly to sort out options if ourre-scheduled flights to Botswana fell through and I was very impressed tat Kwando agreed to let guests affected by the flight ban to re-book at not extra cost.

Thankfully we made our Botswana leg, but Anna really showed just how good Expert Africa are in a crisis and that is exactly what you want from an agent. Well done EA we will definitely choose you again!" Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari

"Everything worked as intended until the volcano caused our flight home to be cancelled. Advice from Susannah about which lodges to visit, and the order in which visit them, was good." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 6 on a Botswana safari

"outstanding trip - botswana has more than lived up to expectations and compares very favourably to other safari's i have been on (south africa/kenya)

the game is superb and the camps/staff outstanding

if going to victoria falls it is more than worthwhile upgrading to royal livingstone

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

as mentioned if staying over in joburg ensure stay is in an onsight airport hotel" Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"Wonderful experience from planning stage to returning home. The variety of lodges/accomadation suggested by Tracy were superb, possibly our best holiday ever !!.

Car hire; Tracy recommended a 4x4 when pushed, accepted it was possible in a 2 WD, as indeed all brouchers indicate, not just EX AF. I would happily tell anyone that I made a mistake, and a 4x4 is essential. The gravel roads are so variable in quality throughout Namibia some rutted so badly or loosely laid that grounding is unavoidable at 20Kph, the C14,C19, C27 for example, in Etosha water flooding the road -- how deep?, fortunatly we remained dry.
Thanks Tracy for a wonderful trip

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No --- keep up your high standard of good work." Read full review: 31 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip