Botswana: reviews from our travellers

"A fantastic experience. We had a great trip that we will remember forever.

The worst bit was the famous gravel roads of Namibia - I don't understand why they call them gravel - almost all of the non-tarred roads we drove on were more rock or sand or corrugated roads! However, despite my trepidation the Volkswagen Polo did us proud - not even one puncture!

Keep up the good work!" Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 8 on a Namibia trip

"It was our 3rd safari experience and it was everything we hoped it would be

Suggestions for improvement:

Although your pre trip information was excellent I wish someone had reinforced how little we needed in the way of clothes. Because there was no need or time to change for dinner we could have left a lot of our clothes at home. We really didn't need our 20 kg" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"This is our 4 trip to Africa having previously been to S.Africa, Kenya and Namibia and this was the best. We were guided by Lucy at Expert Africa as to which camps to stay at and she did a great job.

The quality of service was incredible, everyone made you feel special. All the camps were different and had something special to offer. Food was great. As far as we are concerned this was one of our best holidays." Read full review: 7 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"Our 3 week trip took in Zimbabwe, Botswana & Namibia. Maruska and the rest of the EA team were invaluable in the planning phase.

We completed 3850km (mostly on good tar roads at 120kph) in my brother's 8 year/150,000km-old Toyota Corrolla, without a hitch. Only disappointment: we didn't get a chance to sample the rescue & recovery services. Reports from fellow travellers were however encouraging and there was enough traffic on all roads to give us confidence. Border crossings were troulble free and relatively quick. We used Tom-Tom SatNav with the Southern Africa maps from UK, it was a good supplement to the paper maps and Brandt guidebooks, giving us accurate road mileages and ETAs.

In Bulawayo we stayed at the Banff Lodge: highly recommended. Travel in Zimbabwe was a pleasent surprise: recent changes to make USD & ZAR official have made it much easier for foreigners. There is an air of quiet optimism about, but filling stations, electricity and phone connections are not constantly available, and the neglect of infrastucture & public facility maintenance is quite evident. No problems with immigration/emigration (we did both twice), and people generally very friendly, welcomong and helpful.

The lodges we chose were most satisfactory and exceeded our expectations in many cases, particularly Chitabe Lebida, Etosha Aoba & Camp Kwando. Due to the distances travelled, we did not spend long enough at some ot the locations, but I don't see any way around this as we wanted to drive to get a good feel of the countries visited, maybe next time we'll stay an extra week or two! We would spend more time in the Delta: Chitabe is largely dry and we would liked to have sampled a wetter location too. Similarly, Etosha merits more than just 3 days in the Eastern sector." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 7 on a Namibia trip

"We really enjoyed it. There were some long drives which got a bit tiring particularly when coupled with border crossings (6 in total) but it was very interesting to see the way the scenery changed from arid to wetland. We were also interested to see how the culture changed significantly once we crossed the border into Rundu province.

When we reached Victoria Falls we felt very satisfied that we (or rather my husband) had driven all the way up from Cape Town over the course of 3 holidays (thanks for the idea Chris).

Some of the scenery was superb - we've never seen such beautiful and unspoilt wetland areas. We considered ourselves fortunate to have seen it at a time of exceptionally high water although the recent flooding has not been great for local residents" Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 10 on a Namibia trip

"Overall my trip was a great experience and I have many fond memories of my time there and all the truly wonderful people I met and became friends with.

Suggestions for improvements:

Not really any I can think of!" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari

"FANTASTIC EXPERIENCE!!!!!!!

After just 24h in th bush it felt as if we had been away from the humdrum of UK life for an age. We have rarely experienced service as good as that provided by Wilderness staff anywhere in the world and would recommend the company very highly to other travellers. We will definiteley book another holiday in Africa in the future.

Suggestions for improvements:

Keep it up! Excellent in all respects." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"We had a great time.

This was our second trip organised through Expert Africa and once again the service we received was excellent. Everything was very well organised by Expert Africa; Susannah gave us sterling advice that was well tailored to provide exactly what we were looking for. The Kwando camps we visited were outstanding and we would recommend both Expert Africa and Kwando to anyone considering a trip to Botswana.

We would also, by the way, recommend that everyone shoudl consider a trip to Botswana.

Suggestions for improvements:

No. I would just like to thank you again for a great holiday." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"We were delighted with our trip.

All went smoothly - Botswana exceeded our expectations and everywhere we felt looked after and taken care of.

Having spent a considerable sum of money, we hoped that we'd feel it was worth it, and it certainly was in terms of uniqueness of experience and sheer enjoyment.

We felt well prepared for our trip and all went to plan - I like the fact you send a complimentary copy of Chris's book and also the Notes to Travellers are really good.

Thank you for a great holiday." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"Great" Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 5 on a Botswana safari