"We had a wonderful time in Malawi, with all accommodation of a good standard and all travel arrangements working more or less to plan.

We were glad that we had the night in Blantyre on arrival to recover from the journey out (exactly 24 hours door to door), prior to going to the game park.

The drive from Majete to Liwonde was arduous and took nearly 7 hours. This was partly due to misty conditions through the mountains, bridge repairs in Blantyre and the poor quality of the roads, particularly the access road into Liwonde National Park.

The drive from Liwonde to Nkhotakota was extremely arduous and took about 7.5hours. The driver did not seem too well to start with and had to stop for a short while. We fed him some of our packed lunches as the monkeys had apparently pinched his breakfast!. We had a stop in Salima for toilets and refuelling, but there was a delay due to an issue with the driver's office, in sending him through sufficient funds to buy enough petrol. We moved on and had the same issue in Nkhotakota town, where we stopped for nearly an hour while he tried to sort it out. The driver had not been to Tongole Lodge before and had to keep stopping to ask how to get to it. Once in the park, signposting disappeared and we ended up at the sister camp and had to be re-directed. We were concerned when the driver said that he was driving straight back to Blantyre without a break. It might be worth exploring air transfer - the pilot we spoke to said it was possible via Lilongwe. Obviously the cost would be higher but after undertaking the road journey, this could be worth it.

We are not sure why Expert Africa are offering South African Airways via Johannesburg as their preferred route. We found Ethiopian Airlines flights to be extremely good, with modern planes (Airbus A350 and Boeing 787) and excellent crew. The issue about flight changes that we were notified about prior to departure were due to the main runway at Blantyre being closed for several months for re-building. Only small planes can land at Blantyre on their small runway, and so all large planes have to go into Lilongwe and then a shuttle service is run down to Blantyre in small turboprop planes. Ethiopian could have explained this to us when they changed the flights. Our luggage was taken right through to Blantyre and immigration was also done at Blantyre, even though we arrived there on an internal flight.

The only other downside to Ethiopian is the airport at Addis Ababa. although a relatively new terminal, is not to the standard of Johannesburg airport, although is tolerable for a few hours.

Our Business Class flights (for 2 people) cost £4545.24 compared with your quote with SAA of £9841.98 and we were extremely happy with the service.

Thank you so much for organising this trip for us. we had a fantastic experience and really enjoyed our time in Malawi." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 16 on a Malawi trip

"After a week in Blantyre our daughter joined us for the 8 day leg organised by Expert Africa.
We found the advance information and help setting up the trip first class.
Malawi is a beautiful country. Everyone we came in contact with from drivers to guides and lodge staff were superbly friendly and attentive to our comfort.
All in all it was a fantastic trip enjoyed by all.

The only glitch was the failure of the transport for the airport to arrive on our last night which cause some anxiety and expense as it was late on Sunday night and it was not easy to find alternative transport. A working contact number for the provider might have helped." Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 8 on a Malawi trip

"Great trip. Everything happened as per plan. The only reservation was about the new Robin Pope camp and that needs commencing to the owners.

Otherwise, an amazing experience, and we saw far more wildlife than we were led to expect from the literature.

The country felt safe and friendly and the lack of hordes of visitors made you feel you were experiencing the real Africa." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 12 on a Malawi trip

"We went to Malawi after many visits to the RPS camps in Zambia. Whilst we did not expect to see rhinos or big cats in Malawi, we did see many species of antelopes, including sable, roan and nyala for the first time, and also many new birds.

Photography in Majete was more difficult than we had anticipated, because of the dense woodland.

Our impression was that the camps were underresourced in terms of vehicles and guides, and therefore could not offer the standards set by the RPS camps in Zambia. But in each camp, the camp managers were doing their best with the limited resources available to them.

Potential guests should be aware that RPS has no age limit for children in their camps, and wants to promote them as family destinations." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 9 on a Malawi trip

"I think my third trip with expert Africa was probably my best so far.

The South Luangwa in particular exceeded my expectations and was truly an unforgettable experience. I certainly hope to revisit this part of Zambia in the near future. All the arrangements and flight connections worked without a hitch.

On reflection I should probably have selected a stop over on my outward journey as I travelled continuously for more than 30 hours. I think it is worth mentioning that travelling between the lodges in Malawi does involve some lengthy road trips. In my case nearly 6 hours each time. This is not really a problem , but I think should be born in mind.

I learned a great deal about Malawi and the problems facing the country while I was there , and there is a programme of recovery and restocking of wildlife going on across the country in areas that suffered greatly from poaching and neglect in recent decades. African Parks are the main driving force , and are to be congratulated and supported. Therefore I encourage people to visit the parks and lodges in Malawi in support of this project , as well as to visit a very interesting country.

My thanks to Claire in particular at Expert Africa for arranging everything , and for helping me to Plan such a successful trip.

I certainly intend to use Expert Africa again in the future." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 7 on a Zambia safari

"The trip was everything we had hoped for! Very hot for much of the time (40-42C) but we coped with that." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 10 on a Malawi trip

"Great holiday in that Pam knew what to expect.

The last two Lodges might have disappointed others who expected more and had researched less.

Malawi was disturbingly poverty stricken and food aid was obvious everywhere.

Lake Malawi is dropping alarmingly and one good rainy season will not be enough to restore the lake. What happens to the tourist business if the lake drops another metre from the September 2016 level does not bear thinking about." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 13 on a Malawi trip

"The lodges were excellent. The transfers were acceptable apart from the last one from Mkulumadzi to Blantyre which was appalling." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 9 on a Malawi trip

"Fantastic.

Malawi and Zimbabwe proved to be two great countries to combine on this trip. There were many similarities. We found the staff in the camps and the people we met along the way to be very friendly, helpful and interested in us. The high standards of our guides impressed us, from Chris the manager at Mkulumadzi who personally took us on a walk and on a boat up the Shire River, to Richard Chamwala at Mvuu who delighted in sharing all things big and small with us. In our book you can always tell the best guides when they like finding the little birds and bugs to point out, not just the hippos fighting 30 feet away from the boat, both of which Richard did.

Our guide Nduduzi Ndlovu at Camp Amalinda in Matobo Hills was great at listening to us and discovering our interests, as evidenced by the wonderful day we spent with him driving through the park and the local communal lands, visiting a school, and hiking up to a cave with ancient paintings. He not only knows 7 languages but also knows where to find a zonkey!

Even our drivers that took us from one camp to another (or to an airport) were excellent, like Mike from Wilderness Safaris who stopped the car several times so we could see and talk to people and who also helped me buy a tchenge (those colorful traditional fabrics that woman wear as a wrap) in a roadside market.

We went to both countries in the hope that our visit would encourage and support the conservation of wildlife and wild areas. We also came to really appreciate the people of these two countries, where life has not been easy but there is a great determination to carry on and do better.

Claire at Expert Africa, with assistance from Chris, shared many insightful comments from personal experience so that we came up with this list of places to visit that really suited us. As usual, all details were handled and executed perfectly on the ground. This is really saying something because we gave quite short notice of our desire to travel.

And next time I will really believe you when you say that it gets cold in July at night!" Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 11 on a Zimbabwe safari

"In addition to having a wonderful time at the various locations it is also worth commenting on the other staff, the drivers we had were fabulous - Sydney was with us for the main and was informative and helpful throughout the long trips between camps - he drove carefully and respectfully and was always attentive to our needs.

We also had one more driver for a short journey who was good, we were met at the airport and escorted through customs and on the way home looked after well also, we even received a call from Wilderness Safaris on our return to the airport to ask if everything was ok.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Nothing major, we were dealt with at all levels in a professional manner, even when Claire was out of the office we had Ellie to cover who was equally knowledgeable about the trip.

I think the Heuglins Lodge info needs to be updated as the pictures are not representitive of the actual." Read full review: 7 nights in Africa; 6 on a Malawi trip