Botswana: reviews from our travellers

"We were absolutely thrilled with our trip of a lifetime safari experience. Anton at Expert Africa organised an itinerary which really delivered on all our wishes for this trip. Everything was top notch at the majority of our camps/lodges.

We had an unfortunate experience at one camp - perhaps it was just bad luck - and have delivered our feedback on this separately, for which Anton really listened to and understood our concerns.

Setting this camp side, our overall safari was incredibly good value for money, with all of our rooms extremely comfortable / luxurious, well fed and watered, and most importantly all of the wildlife sightings that we hoped to see. It will be a lot of fun going through our 1,500+ photos!! We will continue to rave in particular about Mma Dinare for years to come - cheetahs, leopard, hyena cubs, wild dogs, lions galore - amazing guide/tracker - just WOW!

Please do consider Expert Africa for your safari needs. They clearly have strong relationships with the camps we visited and we felt well looked after from our first enquiry through to detailed follow-up on our return home.

I am sure that we will be return clients for our next Africa adventures!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Not a suggestion but just an additional thank you to Anton. So grateful for all his support - all enquiries, big and small, were met with expertise and willingness to help.

Highly recommend him to anyone considering a Botswana safari!" Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 6 on a Botswana safari

"AMAZING experience!!!

We worked with Tom to plan our trip, and he was nothing short of exceptional. Patient and attentive, he crafted an itinerary that perfectly matched our interests. Tom's knowledge and creativity were evident in every detail, and he organized the trip flawlessly. From suggesting the overall structure of our journey, selecting the perfect places to stay, arranging transportation, and even accommodating our vegetarian dietary needs, everything was executed perfectly. Not a single glitch occurred throughout the trip, even as we crossed multiple borders and transitioned from a mobile safari to a lodge—everything went smoothly. A truly remarkable job.

This once-in-a-lifetime, bucket-list journey turned out to be such a marvelous success for our entire group (age range: 25-65 years) that we all returned with the desire to do it all over again.

Thank you, Tom, our wonderful guides and support teams, and the lovely people of Botswana for giving us the opportunity to experience the best possible vacation." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"Our trip was everything we hoped for and more. Of course it would have been nice if there had more water in the Delta but that it an acceptable risk. We enjoyed the smaller camps and were particularly impressed by Great Plains and their attention to detail.
In our feedback form in Footsteps we did say to Ker &Downey that they should invest in more modern vehicles particularly since they had that long journey to and from the airstrip and water based activities.
The game everywhere exceeded our expectations, the guiding was really excellent and all the staff throughout the trip were welcoming,kind and thoughtful. We would not hesitate to recommend Botswana as a brilliant safari destination." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari

"This trip was one of the best of my twelve safaris in eleven years.

GP have some fabulous camps in great locations with expert staff and excellent food and guiding." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 15 on a Botswana safari

"Can't wait to do this journey again and look foward to trying other Wilderness camps such as Vumbra.

Maruska did a wonderful job working on our scheduling and keeping in touch throughout the process.
I am very happy to recommend her and Expert Africa to anyone who asks." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari

"Although we ended up staying at camps we had been before - one by choice, Chitabe Lebida - and the other because Sabe closed down and we ended up a Duma Tau, it was a perfect plant\ in terms of changes in habitat followed by a complete change at San Camp.

Our entire experience including transitions was seamless. The trip was magical and a great family experience.

Maruska did a great job.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
I can't think of a thing." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari

"I have provided a lot of feedback on the individual camps, covering the amazing wildlife, the superb lodges and camps, and the brilliant staff in each location.

Expert Africa, Tracy, were very helpful. The advice we received on the different options that were possible in Botswana, fitting our budget and timelines, was excellent, and proved to be spot on!

We were heading onwards to Victoria Falls and Malawi under our own steam, and Tracy was able to provide excellent advice on best route, and we took the opportunity to ask Tracy to book us the land transfer from Kasane to Livingstone.

The whole trip worked like clockwork, so efficient! The locations were exceptional. I would highly recommend!



Cannot suggest any improvements. That says it all!" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"This was the BEST trip of our lives.

It was everything we had hoped for and more. So many memories and new experiences.

Maruska met and exceeded our brief, and we can't thank her enough for her time, suggestions and recommendations." Read full review: 23 nights in Africa; 11 on a Botswana safari

"We thoroughly enjoyed our trip which was 3 weeks in Namibia with a few days each in Botswana and Victoria Falls at the end.

Namibia was really surprising. We knew the landscapes would be impressive but needed to experience them to fully understand just how impressive they are plus we hadn't expected the wildlife to amount to much but saw a lot more wildlife than we could have imagined.

We started out a little worried about the idea of a self-drive but our concerns were largely unfounded. Europcar were very helpful, helping with buying a local SIM card then how to connect the phone to the car and so be able to use Googles SatNav. The 4WD vehicle was rugged and had plenty of space. There was no problem obtaining petrol, with plenty of petrol stations at important stages of the drive. Most petrol stations had good toilet facilities but charged a few Namibian dollars to use them. Diesel was invariably dispensed by one employee while another employee cleaned the windscreen and we found ourselves tipping little and often.

We had taken a lot of cash in SA Rand and some Namibian dollars as we had read that credit cards were not widely used. However, we found that very few shops, restaurants etc did not accept credit cards and in fact they were preferred to cash.

The roads during the first half our trip were a bit rougher than expected but we stuck to the speed limits recommended by the vehicle hire company for gravel roads and had no problems with the vehicle and not one puncture. This did mean allowing longer for the drives than the Sat Nav said but we built that into our time-lines on travel days. The second half of our trip, ie once past Etosha and up to the north, was mostly on long, straight, tarmac roads and there were regular, sign-posted stopping places with picnic benches and shade along all the main roads where we could stretch our legs and have a drink and a snack which we had brought with us.

Navigation also proved to be easier than expected thanks to a combination of the SatNav (Google maps using a phone connnected to the vehicle) and the directions supplied by Expert Africa.

Highlights for us were the general scenery around Sossusvlei and particularly the balloon trip over the dunes, the coastal area around Swakopmund, sleeping under the stars in Damaraland, the wildlife in the Etosha area and particularly the waterhole at Okaukeujo and the wetlands in Bwabwata National Park. However, the quality of the various lodges, their staff, guides and food in 12 out of the 13 places we stayed are what really made our holiday special.

We will remember this trip for a long time and took so many great photographs that making the photobook of this holiday is proving daunting - there won't be space for everything we want to include.

Thanks so much to Chris McIntyre who insisted we needed to visit Okaukeujo and to Sabina who suggested the balloon trip over the dunes, for all the other recommendations and for putting the whole trip together.

This was our second Expert Africa trip and we are already looking forward to contacting them about our next African adventure in a couple of years." Read full review: 24 nights in Africa; 19 on a Namibia trip

"It was great!" Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari