Botswana: reviews from our travellers

"This was another great trip from Expert Africa. It was originally supposed to happen in 2021, but it was well worth waiting for.

The way that Lucy organised the order of our visits, and the choice of camps that she recommended was excellent. Everything ran very smoothly and we saw so much game at the first camp we were almost spoiled for the rest! The camps all had different features and we enjoyed the different experiences at all of them. I had an ambition to see Wild Dogs which was fulfilled, and the Chobe NP probably has more elephants than you could possibly imagine.

The Guide at Linyanti Bush Camp rather let the side down, and I have elaborated in our detailed feedback on this camp, but that shouldn't detract from it being a lovely camp with great camp staff.

The only slight criticism is that we hadn't expected the ground to basically be sand which meant very, very bumpy rides, and that we didn't have the best footwear. This was very different ground to other safari venues we have visited - but we managed okay - might just be worth forewarning folk if they've not been to Botswana before.

Overall a fantastic holiday, and we shall of course go with Expert Africa on future journeys to that great continent.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

The service is excellent. Just carry on as you are." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"Overall a fantastic trip staying at four camps in the Okavango Delta and Zimbabwe with an overnight stop at the Victoria Falls hotel.

We had been to the camp in the Delta before and knew what to expect but it was just as good the second time around. It was our first time in Zim, visiting one camp in Hwange and two in Mana Pools, each was very good in its own way and we would certainly go back again.

All the logistics worked pretty seamlessly.

Thanks very much to the Expert Africa team for putting it together for us and rearranging it twice, just a shame we couldn't do it in 2020 when we originally planned." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 10 on a Zimbabwe safari

"This is our second trip organized by Expert Africa, and once again, it surpassed our already high expectations.

Despite a complicated itinerary, it went very smoothly, thanks to Expert Africa's partnerships with excellent companies and lodges, but also and especially thanks to the exceptional, proactive, meticulous preparation and guidance by Maruska and the Expert Africa team.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

We have nothing but positive feedback." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 3 on a Botswana safari

"Little more to add to what I have said about each lodge/element individually. The whole trip was wonderful and exceeded expectations.

The booking process was really efficient, informative and painless thanks to Tracy's help and availability throughout. I had a particular itinerary in mind but was not sure whether it would work in practice. With Tracy's help it became a reality and the girls and I had a very memorable trip of a lifetime with lots of photographs to enjoy for years afterwards.

I couldn't fault any of it - all the connections worked well and no complaints about any aspect.

Thank you so much for all the help and making it a reality. I really hope it will have given my girls a taste for travel in the future." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 9 on a Namibia trip

"This was a totally memorable trip for our whole family.

The itinerary and logistics worked really well making the travel in Africa part of the adventure.

We saw amazing game and some beautiful places." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"Everything went according to plan and all flights connected and were on time. Being met in Johannesburg on arrival was a huge help.

The trip was wonderful." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"Good trip overall, a lot of variety and different environments/wildlife to see.

Flying made it a lot faster to get around, which made it easier to see more things (worth the cost)." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"We travelled as a family with our two teenage boys from Vic Falls to Maun in 20 days, self-driving & camping through the parks from Kasane to Maun with a 4x4 and we spent the final 5 nights at Splash. So to say taking things crescendo and leaving the best for the end. We got to know about Splash Camp from friends who stayed there and Expert Africa confirmed that the Camp would be exactly what we were looking for.

We originally planned to travel in March-April 2020 and postponed several times through the pandemic to July-August 2022 eventually.

Megan Green from Expert Africa was extremely helpful and accommodating to reschedule Splash several times. The most difficult part of the trip was actually getting to Zimbabwe and getting back from Botswana to Europe. The recipe for success with air travel in summer 2022 is to plan enough buffer between legs to accommodate for the unavoidable flight cancellations & rescheduling. The transfer with Moremi Air from Maun to Kwara Air Strip worked well. As soon as we arrived at Maun Airport and on the way back, Kwando Safari coached us through.

We arranged the air travel and the self-driving ourselves and just booked Splash through Expert Africa. In retrospect this was a mistake, we should have entrusted Expert Africa with the whole trip." Read full review: 5 nights in Africa; 5 on a Botswana safari

"A fantastic holiday experience only marred slightly by abysmal international flights with British Airways which is not Expert Africa's fault in any way.

Very, very pleased with Tracy Lederer (and Lucy Copson who stood in for her when Tracy was away).

Lodges well chosen with wonderful accommodation, guides, variety of landscape, wildlife and activities." Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 15 on a Botswana safari

"We have already recommended expert Africa and Maruska many times during and after out trip. We had already done one trip through expert Africa 6 years ago and so we knew we were going to get a great service and Maruska had such a great handle on our needs and what would suit us we trusted her recommendations and knew it would work for us.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service: There was only one area where I think it could have been helpful to understand a little more which was crossing the border from Botswana back into Namibia. This seemed to be far more officious and complex than going from Namibia to Botswana. For example - we ended up at the board queued behind a long line of lorries ( about 20) - but we luckily decided to chance it and drive past them to the front and it turned out that was the right thing to do but had we not taken the risk we probably would have been in the queue for 2 hours. Also we did take a bit of time to work out the tipping position as we were reading the book the information on our documents and then the local information. We worked it out in the end but real clarity on tipping guides directly and specifically and then tip box with an average daily tip probably would be helpful ( but maybe we were being to sensitive about this)." Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip