Botswana: reviews from our travellers

"Met all out expectations - great trip!" Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari

"If you are interested in birds or anything other than just large game animals, consider arranging a private guide. With a group, the guide does not tend to devote much time to small birds.

Late August/early September daytime weather was perfect, but night game drives were much cooler than we expected: bring warm clothing!

We never saw a single mosquito (or any other insect).
Although not covered in this questionnaire, we also enjoyed our stay at !Xaus Lodge in Kgalagadi TransFrontier Park in South Africa. Less game-intensive than the Botswana camps, and slightly more modest accommodations, but still a great nature experience of the Kalahari desert---plants, wildlife, start, and native people (Bushmen & Meir). Even a nature walk (impossible in Botswana camps). Wonderful managers Arne & Pieter, both 10th generation South Africans. Food surprisingly good. More European guests, fewer Americans. Less expensive than Botswana camps.

Also highly recommended for a late August/early September visit are Goegap Nature Reserve and Namaqua National Park (Skilpad), both near Springbok, S.A. for fantastic wildflower displays.

Northern & Western suburbs of Johannesburg were much nicer than we had been led to believe. We had no problems driving our rented car." Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"Expert Africa service has been excellent (as we've experienced in the past). Our trip was as good as it could have been and we thanks you for all your efforts." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"We thoroughly enjoyed our time at Lagoon and Lebala Camps and would recommend them to anyone who is interested in exploring the beautiful landscape, flora and fauna of the area guided by top notch guides and staying in lovely camps." Read full review: 5 nights in Africa; 5 on a Botswana safari

"Wonderful. We have had a short game trip in the Kruger many years ago but this exceeded our expectations. Ian used to live in Zambia as a teenager and this was his first visit back there for 45 years. He now wishes he had returned earlier. Gloria had never seen the Victoria Falls and she thought it was fantastic.

We thought Botswana and its people were delightful and would not hesitate to recommend this trip to our friends.

Thank you everyone.

Suggestions for improvement:

No very happy with the way the trip was organised." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"In fact I would go higher than this if the choices allowed and say that it was truely memorable. The key factors were:

1. The initial conversation with Chris and and Anna to help make our choices.
2. The Expert Africa web site is just brilliant at providing information for making informed choices.
3. The way that Anna coomunicated with us and when necessary made changes to accommodate our preferences.
4. The Lodges did just what it says on the tin.
5. The wildlife was beyond our expectations
6. The Delta and Chobe are a good combination

If I could improve on this the only thing I would need is a trip that geared to the needs of a video enthusiast. Guides that don't talk too much and fellow tourists that can avoide asking questions or chating when I am filming. Not many tourists take video so don't understand how much a microphone can pick up. The only answer is to have a truck to yourslef but at $500 a day at Duba is a bit too much on top of the trip cost.

This was our second trip organised with Expert Africa. My comments above reflect the high satisfaction we have with both the individuals and the company. This was also reflected by others whom we met on this trip who had booked with Expert Africa. We particualrly appreciate the care in making selections geared to what we like doing. The two way communication feels more like a partnership than a traditional customer relationship. You have proved that this standard can be maintained so we would have no hesitation in both coming to you again and recommending others to save themselves a lot of trouble and use Expert Africa." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari

"A most wonderful trip but slightly tainted by a very dissapointing visit to Kings Pool Premier Camp. The pure extravagance and oppulance does not compensate for poor game viewing.

If Wilderness Safaris are moving to towards more and bigger Premier camps I trust they retain some of the Clasics." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"A well planned itinerary ensured that we had an extremely enjoyable trip with many memorable experiences.

Fifteen days was not long enough to take it all in.

Suggestions for improvement:

We can't think of anything." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 10 on a Namibia trip

"The mark of a top operator is fitting the right trip to the client. This was achieved perfectly. A difficult spec - a mixed party of 8, including youngsters ages 8, 11, 15 and 17 - most of whom had not been to Africa before. We were tight on high season dates too.

Maruska came up with a trip which really fitted the brief, and scored at least 9 out of 10 from the participants.

Particularly excellent was Santantadibe Mobile Camp in the Okavango Delta - all ages (8-51) loved the genuinely African experience, the fact we had it all to ourselves, and the super hosting/guiding of Grant and Daphe. Well done!" Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 4 on a Botswana safari

"We had a fantastic trip. All the logistics worked out perfectly, our flights from camp to camp were all in the middle of the day so we didn't miss any activities and all the flights except the last one were without any stops and we were the only passengers. The only incident came on the trip back home, when our BA flight from joburg to heathrow had a 4 hour delay, so we missed our connection to Madrid and had to take a later flight. At least they didn't lose our bags!

We really liked the lodges & camps, most of them met or exceeded our expectations, and we will recommend them to friends, except perhaps Jack's Camp, which we didn't like that much: it's too stuffy and snobbish for our taste, the people there need to loosen up a bit. Also, we didn't like that they plan all the activities for you and don't tell you what the plan is when you arrive, it's like they want everything to be a big secret surprise, a bit childish and condescending.

All the rest were fine, our favorite was Duma Tau. I also loved Mapula because of its very relaxed and laid-back atmosphere and its focus on game viewing; my wife also liked it though she found it too rustic and less tidy than the others.

Expert Africa did an excellent job in organizing this trip, keeping us informed of changes (e.g., when NationWide Air went bankrupt and the flight was changed to BA), submitting all the info, etc. I especially liked the "camp availability chart" they sent us so we could figure out how to fit our preferred camps in the itinerary, that was a most useful tool for urs." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari