"My husband and I had been to Zambia 3 years ago and were travelling with my brother-in- law and his wife (from Canada) who had not been to Africa before. I think we were all very pleased with the holiday in terms of the huge variety of places we saw and things we did. It was a lot to pack in with 2 countries and 7 different camps/hotels in 3 weeks (so unavoidably a lot of travelling) but it gave us a great flavour of the countries and places we might want to revisit for longer.

We were pleased with the suggestions of places to stay especially the camps in Zambia and in S Africa Bishops Court and Ocean Eleven were really good. In retrospect the only changes I would make would be a day longer at Kaingo with possibly one less at Hog Hollow, and I would prefer to stay at one of the wineries rather than Rusthof.

The trip organisation was again excellent with all the connections, transfers etc working as expected and I would certainly use Expert Africa again for future holidays.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Perhaps worth considering suggesting people take evaluation forms with them as they are quite detailed and filling them in at the time might be easier and allow a more independent review (rather than comparing the different camps on your return." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 9 on a Zambia safari

"Initially even we thought we were slightly bonkers with this ambitious itinerary but after extensive and detailed planning everything went smoothly (with the exception of Elegant Farmstead cancelling our booking at the very last minute in favour of a large group; if this is typical of their attitude maybe they're not suitable for EA's independent travellers).

We had a FANTASTIC time!!!! Whilst some drives were long they were perfectly manageable with two drivers, a flask of coffee and our trusty MP3 player to entertain us. The roadside picnic stations provided good places to stop and eat a bit of lunch – there are plenty of supermarkets in the towns to buy provisions, including a 5 litre bottle of water. Most lodges charge for water (about N$13 for a small bottle) so it makes sense to buy a big one in a supermarket (about N$20) and top up your little bottles from it. There seemed to be far fewer parking guards about than on our previous trips and, we were surprised to see, even petrol station attendants don't seem to expect tips any more.

Garden Lodge provided a gentle start to our marathon trip with good company, tasty food, an excellent boat trip and lots of cats and dogs to play with. Kasane is an interesting little frontier town, buzzing with activity though not the place to stock up for a long trip. Don't be surprised to see a warthog trotting across the road in the middle of town.

The brand new Ngoma lodge is excellent (see review) with loads of animals to see, excellent food and great staff. We highly recommend it. It is one of the few places that provides free water – we promised to take our Ngoma bottles all the way to Cape Town; after many refills they finally met their demise at security in Cape Town airport!

We returned to Garden Lodge to have our car delivered and set off for the border next morning. Crossing the border into Namibia is no problem at all and after stocking up at a supermarket in Katima Mulilo we set off across the Caprivi strip. Roads in the Caprivi are, as Chris's book says, long, straight and can be quite tedious though you need to keep an eye out for wandering cows, goats and dogs (and the occasional human).

Arriving at Ndhovu in the early afternoon, we spent a couple of hours on our deck on the river bird-spotting. Next day we took a trip across to Buffalo (suggest pre-booking if you want to do this) and then drove ourselves to Mahango in the afternoon.

It was a long drive to Ghaub the next day but switching from 'Caprivi time' meant we gained an hour; we had been debating whether the hour was going backwards or forwards and it was only when the guard at the vetinary gate greeted us with a cheery 'Good Morning' that we were certain! After two nights peaceful rest we set off to Okaukeujo. We arrived at Etosha in good time and managed to visit several good waterholes on the drive across the park.

We spent most of the next day in the park and then moved on to the big surprise of the trip; Taleni. We'd wanted to spend two nights at Okaukeujo but had been unable to get a room despite booking very early. Taleni is just outside Etosha and we loved it. It does attract some large groups but the staff use the different dining areas to give couples or family groups privacy and peace.

A comfortable morning's drive brought us to Gocheganas, just south of Windhoek, which proved an unexpected pleasure. We had been booked to stay at Elegant Farmstead but they had cancelled our booking at the very last minute (after we arrived in Namibia). As it turned out Gocheganas fitted in with our itinerary much better and we thought the place was excellent. Thanks to Sabina for organising the change for us; in the days before BlackBerrys and the internet this could have been a major problem but in this case was (almost) painless.

The drive to Bagatelle, for some reason, took longer than anticipated; the roads were good and we'd calculated the distance but it just took longer! However we arrived in comfortable time and enjoyed watching the waterhole, excellent food and company and, of course, the meerkats!

Next, off to Fish River Canyon. Until Keetmanshoop the B1 is a good tar road but you then have to venture onto gravel. The road is bumpy and undulates with the landscape, which is beautiful, and you may even meet a train! The canyon itself is fantastic and there are few people about; such a contrast to its rival in the USA!

We left Canon Lodge in the sunshine and headed for the border with South Africa. The crossing itself was painless though there was a notable diminishment in friendliness of immigration staff on the South African side. Heading down the N7 the weather turned and we found ourselves in rain and/or cloud. As we had plenty of time we went down to Skilpad to see the flowers with which we were disappointed. However, driving back over the mountains they were lovely.

It absolutely tipped it down overnight (not ideal in a room with an iron roof!) and we set off for the marathon drive to Cape Town with some trepidation. Driving over the mountain passes in heavy cloud was 'entertaining' to say the least (particularly when we were held up by major roadworks – waiting time at least 20 minutes). We stopped off in Clanwilliam which we thought a lovely town.

The sun came out as we arrived in Camps Bay. We'd arranged our own accommodation here; there are lots of good guest houses .
The place has clearly been spruced up since the World Cup and there are some excellent new restaurants. We ate at The Codfather – excellent but shellfish is very expensive, Ocean Blue – just as excellent but less pricey, and The Kove – best steak Martin had all trip and great staff. Tuscany Beach was also highly recommended by our guest house.

We did the tourist bit – open top bus tour (don't forget to use the vouchers printed on the back of the ticket!) boat trip and lunch at the V&A – recommend The Greek Fisherman and City Grill Steakhouse – then the bus back to Camps Bay. The following day we drove (yes we hadn't had quite enough!) down to Cape Point where there seemed to be bonteboks around every corner (even on the beach) and few other visitors about.

Finally off to Hermanus and the whales. You really can see them from the coastal path, though the boat trip out to sea is well worthwhile too. The town is lovely and there are some excellent wineries to visit nearby.
Overall, a wonderful trip which we'd wanted to do for years. What's next???????

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

If only travel to Africa was less expensiver!

The name says it all - you are the Africa Experts and although we do shop around we come back time and time again.

Perhaps a minor point is that you should consider regular travellers' previous trips before saying they can't do something" Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 10 on a Namibia trip

"Tracy Lederer again put together an excellent trip for us. The service we have received from Expert Africa whilst planning both this trip and our previous trip to Namibia was excellent. The knowledge of the area and hotels really helps when discussing routes and accomodation.

We will definately be using Expert Africa for our next African trip.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

The maps for South Africa, especially Cape town were not as clear as Namibia. We used our Sat Nav and that got us around without any problems." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 9 on a South Africa trip

"Exceeded all our expectations and got better as the trip progressed. Well worth the huge outlay.

Never to be forgotton but will loose all our friends raving about it!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Hard to think how you could have improved it. I think it was a shame we did not listen to the advice regarding our last camp in Botswana and feel she should have told us how little wild life ther was at Selinda. She did inform us the wild life was not as good here but there was very little." Read full review: 33 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"Overall, we enjoyed it. However, the main reason for our visit - earlier in the year than we would otherwise have chosen - was our long-standing desire to view the vivid 'carpets' of spring flowers for which Namaqualand is so famous. This year there were none - according to local experts, the worst year for a decade. So this was a disappointment and meant that we drove a huge distance - to Springbok and back - for very little purpose. Of course, no-one can be blamed for that.

Our second disappointment was Constantia Uitsig and I have tried to explain why in my comments above. I'd be interested to know what your other clients think about this place." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 13 on a South Africa trip

"We had a very enjoyable stay in Hermanus & were able to travel around the Western Cape area with ease.



In the guidance notes it might be helpful to emphasize to motorists that when parked on the road the car needs to be facing the correct way for the direction of travel - we got a 300 Rand ticket for this 'offence' that is not an issue in the UK." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 7 on a South Africa trip

"We enjoyed the trip apart from the weather - it only warmed up the last 3 days. It was to be expected in Spring but locals could not believe the weather themselves.

This trip was a part of Africa we wanted to see although we had been to Capetown 20 years before but would not repeat as we prefer to see more wildlife and this is not the right area. It was our choice but enjoyable nevertheless.

We would have preferred more details in advance on the accomodation in SANParks as we took more equipment than necessary.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Impressed with receiving our final documents earlier than normal due to postal strikes" Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 11 on a South Africa trip

"All very enjoyable with a very high standard of accommodation and food. It was meticulously organised by Tracy, who is really professional.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Keep it up! Our next trip is already booked..............." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 6 on a South Africa trip

"Thank you for guiding us through the arranging of our holiday of a lifetime! Expert Africa's advice on where to stay, suggestions on itinery and patience in putting the trip together were exceptional. In particular, the advice to stay at Kwandwe Game Reserve made the holiday for us.

The only change we would have made would have been to stay in Cape Town for a further day, but we couldn't have extended our holiday to do this - a good excuse to return in the future!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Nothing we can think of - we'll certainly recommend Expert Africa." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 12 on a South Africa trip

"We really loved our trip and would not hesitate to use Expert Africa again or to recommend you. We really appreciate the extra advice you gave us when planning our trip.

It would be handy on the itinerary if more details could be given on transfers for example that the flight from Livingstone to Luangwa was via Lusaka and the approximate length of the onward transfer by jeep - it is good to know what to expect!" Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 10 on a Zambia safari