Botswana: reviews from our travellers

"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

"We had a great time. The Botswana leg and the Falls were both pretty much perfect. As per above comments Little Kulala could perhaps sharpen its act up a bit (by contrast, Sandibe sent us off with a farewell package and left us feeling they really cared). We would say that had we not booked our own dunes trip in Swakop, that would have felt like a wasted stop - driving 6 hours to get there and 5 hours the day we left, we would not have wanted a long drive on the Swakop day to see eg seals but Swakop itself really doesn't have much to last over an hour. So we would strongly recommend being clear with people that they ought to book an activity for the day. We went with Amazing 5 Tours and they were excellent (EA weren't able to book with Turnstone as we only decided late and we felt we were almost warned off going with anyone else). In Vic Falls, worth knowing that the back gate to the Falls is permanently shut so it would be a long walk. We could have done it all alone but found a friend of a friend who was able to take us down to and across the border. For non "Africa hands" I think there is a risk that EA underestimates how wearing it could be crossing and recrossing the border without someone on hand to help. I also have a bit of an issue with the wildlife survey - I think that, like the reviews, they take into account everything since 2007. So for Sandibe there are 4 poor reviews, all 2012 or earlier. More importantly there are reasonably high % sightings eg for Rhino when Sandibe now has none and Nxabega has a solitary male. If someone has their heart set on a rhino this is actively misleading. Not an EA point but maybe one for next edition of the Namibia guide. We wanted somewhere to stop on the way back to Windhoek and the book implied Gross Barmen was a decent idea. It is abysmal. Absolutely no positives and a 30 minute drive each way to find this out." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 6 on a Namibia trip

"This was an amazing trip and we are so grateful to Maruska for planning this in such an excellent way. We really liked the order of the journey, it felt like we were progressing through an African adventure, gaining experience and knowledge with each new location. The driving part of the trip was well planned and we were glad that we didn't try to go too far on any one day. There were a few spots where the roads really need grading, so our driving times were a bit longer (especially to Malansrus), but we really appreciated all the detail on how to get to each place. The lodges selected were outstanding. The Botswana portion of the trip was excellent and we were again happy with the order of where we stayed, saving Rra Dinare for last. With morning and afternoon game activities we got to see so many animals, enjoy sundowner drinks in locations we only dreamed of, and return with memories and photos that were beyond our expectations.

Overall, this trip was amazing and the experience and knowledge of Expert Africa (and Maruska) to arrange this made it so! We would recommend Expert Africa to to everyone we know that want a genuine trip to Africa.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Some of the times were a bit tight and travelling over lunchtime was a bit awkward to coordinate eating and newly arriving at a lodge with their planned itinerary." Read full review: 25 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip