Botswana: reviews from our travellers

"In short, we felt like we had died and gone to heaven (and one of us almost pulled it off and went!). Maruska's expert advice, planning, and execution fulfilled our dreams and concepts of the perfect African safari. This unforgettable holiday started with us being whisked through the diplomatic lanes (by the delightful Wilderness Safari representative) in the Windhoek airport, and every experience that followed caused us to continually pinch ourselves ( I, 54 years old, even did cartwheels after sliding down the roaring dunes on the way to the skeleton coast).

Although we never imagined we would need to contact Maruska or Expert African on our trip, a surprise, unfortunate medical emergency caused Maruska to be contacted by our private guide Andrew Harkness. She immediately emailed me, expressing her sincere concerns and willingness to help in any way possible. She expediently helped me with the documentation of the cancelled portion of our trip, and all of her follow up communication has demonstrated her exceptional professionalism and her personal touch. We highly recommend her services and would use her again in a heartbeat!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
We think you have a sterling operation, which we will recommend to everyone we know who is considering a trip to Africa. Thank you Chris McIntyre for your guide books and for heading this superlative travel service!" Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 11 on a Namibia trip

"We had a fabulous trip with no disappointments at every stage. The trip was very varied with a range of different excellent game viewing in different environments. The staff everywhere were welcoming with the best trained being the And Beyond staff. The quality of the game viewing ( e.g. three separate lion kills!) was exceptional. In addition to game drives the most memorable and instructive activities were the photographic safari on the Chobe, bush walk and star gazing in the Kalahari.

I do think that the flora aspect of these places are a resource to be developed as their was little information on them unless one asked questions. Premises should label plants important to the animals and the community as it is part of the narrative of the environment.

We would like to thank Lucy Copson for the time and trouble she took to tailor a Safari that met our needs which resulted in two very happy travelers!

We would be happy to recommend Expert Africa to anyone wanting to visit Botswana." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari

"I have no criticisms. I thought everything worked beautiful and I had a great time. I didn't see everything I would have liked, but I understand you see what you see.

Incidentally, the ex-staff member who dealt with all the arrangements for my trip was NICK HOBBS (not listed below). All my comments on the overall service apply to him, and NOT to a random team member I had to pick, otherwise the form wouldn't be accepted." Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari

"As usual, Expert Africa provided us with all we required - a great holiday and experience!" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 11 on a Namibia trip

"Overall, and in every detail, this trip truly turned out much better than we had expected - and our expectations were high.

Maruska went the extra mile, several times, to ensure that our itinerary was precisely what we wanted. When the initial camp selections turned out to be more expensive than we wanted, Maruska proposed alternatives that worked out very well.

Our safaris to Botswana and Namibia couldn't have been better.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
We never received a brochure, but did receive a glossy guide to your offerings, after we had returned home. Since we used your web site, and it's very good, it wasn't really an issue.

There were a number of comments about various camps that were only for Expert Africa, but there wasn't a place to put them. So we were obliged to just put them at the end of reviews. Ditto for some suggestions regarding improvements at camps, probably only of interest to camp managers. These things could be removed before posting the reviews, if you like.

We'd like to thank the Expert Africa team, and Maruska in particular, for arranging this very special trip for us." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 8 on a Namibia trip

"The highlights in some sort of order :
Hoanib Camp *****

Edo's Camp ****
Ongava Tented Camp****
andBeyond Soussusvlei Desert Lodge ****
Mack Air ****
Desert Air ****

Okonjima Bush Camp ***
Olive Grove Guest House ***

Wilderness Air **
Damaraland Camp *

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Tracy organised my/our safari really well. She had to blend in two different itineraries and there was a fair bit of juggling to be sorted through and she did it well.

The only arrangement that I found a bit frustrating was to find out that Wilderness Air did fly direct from Sousessvlei through to Hoanib, albeit from an airstrip a bit of a drive from Soussusvlei Desert Lodge. I felt that it should have been feasible to organise a transfer (perhaps at extra cost) to fly direct from Soussusvlei and avoid an overnight at Olive Grove in Windhoek which was really a """"wasted"""" travel day which might have been better spent at Hoanib.

And I think Expert Africa need to talk closely with Wilderness Air - the latter seems to have some problems." Read full review: 23 nights in Africa; 18 on a Namibia trip

"Our experience in Botswana and Vic Falls was excellent throughout - great accommodation, smooth transfers and wonderful safari.

We greatly appreciated all the work that Nick Hobbs from Expert Africa put into advising us on our itinerary to meet our requirements and budget. We hope to do it all again soon." Read full review: 7 nights in Africa; 5 on a Botswana safari

"We had attempted to book a two way stay with a car hire for a good part of it, and the first few either refused or discouraged that idea even though our daughter is serving for two years in Botswana. Maruska was a pleasure to deal with, encouraged and supported what we wanted to do, and pulled together a seamless trip from start to finish.

The transfers by Wild Horizons were spot on and she worked to find the exact vehicle we wanted. All of our accommodation bookings were perfect. The only wrinkle we experienced was the car hire company who claimed they never received a voucher they needed and tried yo charge our card a 1000 deposit, requiring several calls to expertafrica to clear the issue up" Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 3 on a Botswana safari

"It was great, we saw a leopard up a tree which we have been wanting to see for 20 years of visiting Africa! All the camps were excellent and flights on time. (We had 11 flights in 14 days)

This is the 6th holiday that we have booked with Expert Africa and I must emphasise that you are the best. From the time I make my first enquiry to the final documents your staff are helpful, polite and kind enough to put up with me wanting more information, changing my mind and just giving us so much useful advice. I always recommend Expert Africa to our friends and other travellers.

We had decided that this was going to be our last holiday in Africa and indeed on our arrival at Joburg airport British Airways gave us wrong information for immigration/transit and we spent a long time in the wrong queue only to be directed to an even longer one. At this stage we said never again!

However the holiday was super and we have changed our minds and will probably be contacting you for another holiday in 2018 to celebrate our Golden Wedding.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

As I have said above you are the best.

A small point on the feedback form 'flights' is spelt incorrectly!" Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"Maruska did an excellent job in putting together a varied itinerary for our mixed group. We had a fantastic trip!! One of the highlights of our seven months away. Such a wonderful balance of comfort and adventure. Highlights included the balloon ride over the Namib desert, game drives in Etosha and Chobe, fishing on the Okavango panhandle and enjoying sundowners as a family each evening.

Although more expensive than other trips we had done, we can confidently say that it was excellent value for money. Simply put, Maruska made everything easy for us - things worked like clockwork!

Namibia is an easy country to do a self drive. The flexibility this gave us was refreshing. Given the long distances, everyone shared the driving. The pacing of the trip was spot on!

We were also pleasantly surprised with how much we loved the Okavango panhandle. It really was the 'Delta' experience we were looking for.

Thank you once again Mush for a great holiday!" Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip