Reviews of safaris to Majete Wildlife Reserve
32 holiday reviews from our travellers of holidays which include Majete.
"My Dec 2024 Malawi trip"
The parks and lodges are beautiful with excellent and full activities and great guides and overall fairly quiet. People were all really friendly too. My focus for this trip was birdwatching and photography and overall I saw 266 species of birds as well as lots of mammals including hippos and elephants as well as two lion sightings of a mother and three cubs and a cheetah sighting.
The evening drives were also great including my first porcupine sighting, a civet cat as well as nightjars, a bat hawk and couple of owls. I'm very glad I included Zomba Mountain too as this provided greater diversity of a different environment in Malawi and more diverse species of birds which can't be seen in the large parks.
It was a wonderful trip!
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Overall the trip was great and Maruska was really helpful in arranging everything. Her speed of response/feedback was great and detailed which is one of the reasons I ended up going on this trip as it 'got ahead of other options'.
Also when I asked about an option, Zomba, which appeared less well known it was followed up quickly and really good arrangements made. I really enjoyed the trip. Thanks!" Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 8 on a Malawi trip
"My Sep 2024 Malawi trip"
Unfortunately I didn't get to see either leopard or rhino but, overall, it was an elephant, hippo, buffalo and a lion kind of holiday (saw loads of all) so I can't complain (seeing 3 of the big 5). With both camps being on the banks of the river there was prolific birdlife and saw a huge variety of the smaller colourful birds as well as the larger raptures and water birds.
My experience of staying at two Robin Pope lodges did not disappoint - my expectations were met fully. For me, it's not just the wildlife viewing but also the experience of the accommodation, food and staff. I was welcomed warmly into both camps and met some interesting people (guests as well as staff).
I came home relaxed and extremely happy!
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
No - just keep on doing what you do well - I've used you before and will continue to use you in the future.
Thank you." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 9 on a Malawi trip
" Magical Malawi"
They have already had great success with elephants which have been translocated to other countries. Malawi may not have the huge numbers of animals you see in the Serengeti but neither does it have the huge, annoying number of safari vehicles! ( 2500 A DAY in the Ngorongoro Crater)
I had never seen Sable antelope or Nyala before and they are magnificent. The number of raptors at Kuthengo was impressive and the boat safaris a joy - to see everything from a different perspective. Although both Majete and Liwonde are wooded they are very different experiences. Liwonde is more open woodland and so maybe easier to photograph animals.
The guides at both camps were great and very sensitive to the wishes of the guests - brilliant. Robin Pope Safaris seems to be a very efficient organisation training local people to fulfil the various roles very successfully. The bonus of a guide to help you through the Airport on departure was great.
I would not hesitate to recommend Malawi to experience the sound of silence broken only by the sounds of birds and animals! I had a wonderful time!
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I travelled to Botswana with you a few years ago which was a great experience and is why I returned.
I have recommended you to many people." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 9 on a Malawi trip
"My May 2024 trip"
Nothing was too much trouble resulting in an extremly enjoyable and memorable holiday.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Can't really think of anything negative to say about our experience. Just wonderfully managed from start to finish." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 15 on a Malawi trip
"Malawi & Zambia in Nov 2022"
- Input was always taken into account and the trip put together in a very careful and thought through way
- Very professional and reliable customer handling, we always felt we were in good hands
- We would choose Expert Africa any day as we consider them to be the best" Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 11 on a Malawi trip
"My May 2022 trip"
Claire ensured we had a family holiday to remember and the overall service and value from Expert Africa was fantastic.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Thanks for a very special holiday." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 8 on a Malawi trip
"30th wedding anniversary safari"
We met lots of lovely people and saw loads of animals - 164 species recorded in my notebook! Our guides were all extremely eagle eyed and did their utmost to get you in the best position for taking photos. In 3 of the 4 camps, we were lucky enough to not have to share a jeep which really helps build up a good relationship with your guide.
We only put on 3lb in weight each which is astonishing when all the camps feed you every 2-3hrs with tempting food. Each park we stayed in offered different scenery and new animals and birds to see. Whilst some animals such as cheetahs and rhino remained elusive, we have some amazing memories and photos to remind of us this fabulous trip. Roll on the next safari!
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Not really - Lucy was incredibly helpful and patient with my endless questions.
Occasionally there was a bit of a delay getting a response but it was never a major issue." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 9 on a Zambia safari
"A wonderful time in Malawi"
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
"August safari adventure 2019"
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
No, I think you have good knowledge and are very helpful as when flight was cancelled at short notice" Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 4 on a Malawi trip
"My Jul 2019 trip"
Two beautiful lodges with a good range of wildlife
Excellent food at Mkulumadzi
Thomas at Chilo Gorge & Mali at Mkulumadz were excellent knowledgeable guides with a sense of fun. Thomas was an expert on birds." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 7 on a Zimbabwe safari

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