Reviews of trips to Johannesburg

"The trip was as a whole was excellent. The Namibian 2 weeks went much more smoothly than I personally had anticipated for an African self-drive holiday. We booked 18 months in advance, so with Sabina's guidance were able to pick the lodges which seemed to suit us best, and we knew ahead of the trip which were likely to be the best and worst. Sabina put up with a massive number of email questions over the preceding year, and I can only congratulate her on staying cool, calm and collected, and answering my constant questions accurately, in detail, and with good humour!

We relied on Chris McIntyre's Bradt Guide to Namibia as our 'Bible' during our 2 weeks. It is packed with almost all the detailed information that anyone could want to know about everywhere in Namibia, with very few updates needed. We only had to pay National Park fees for Etosha, not for the Namib Naukluft Park nor the Skeleton Coast Park. We also didn't have to pay taxes for entry to & departure from Mozambique! The information given re the left luggage facility at JHB OR airport was incorrect. They charge ZAR70 per case per day, and have apparently never ever accepted credit cards. Fortunately we had ZAR980 in cash that this cost us.

Being in an air-conditioned car in Namibia we didn't need to drink anything like the recommended quantity of water, and found the garages we filled up at usually had enough food/sandwiches to keep us going, so we didn't buy extra food.

We did have a hick-up on flights a week before we left UK, but Chris and Sabina managed to fix this to our advantage!

We were delighted that we had gone clockwise round Namibia, ending up with the highlights of Etosha and the Africat Foundation at the end. We met a number of couples who had gone round anti-clockwise, and were disappointed by the relative lack of game after they left Etosha.

Our week in Bazaruto could have been marred as all the other couples at Bazaruto Lodge on our arrival left after 2 days, and the whole hotel was taken over by 64 S. African marlin fisherman for their 21st annual Marlin Fishing competition! However when we booked they hadn't, but as they have used the same hotel at the same time of year for the last 20 years Expert Africa should have been warned beforehand by the Pestano Group Central Reservations team. The Manager,Tony, was quite embarrassed, but it didn't spoil our stay there. What was disappointing was the cloud cover and rain, which almost ruled out snorkelling - our main reason for going there!" Read full review: 24 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"As a regular client of Expert Africa we received the normal high level of attention to our needs." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 8 on a Zimbabwe safari

"The whole trip was everything and more than we hoped for to make our sixtieth birthday holiday memorable.

The &Beyond lodges and staff were outstanding, Rovos rail a touch of 1930's luxury and Cape Town a great city break.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

You may want to update at your yellow fever guidance in the literature you send out. US medics we spoke to during the trip had looked into it and found that Tanzania no longer had any yellow fever risk. Since they needed some sort of certificate, they had an exemption certificate. The side effects of the YF vaccination made Lawrence ill for about a week, necessitating time off work and in retrospect, with a little more information, we may have decided not to have this vaccination.

I know that Tanzania still require tourists to be vaccinated but the wheels of government move slowly and you are in a position to move somewhat faster and provide a fuller picture." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 6 on a Tanzania safari

"We talked to a number of travel agencies when we decided to go to Namibia and Botswana. Expert Africa was clearly the most knowledgeable and helpful so it was easy for us to choose to use your services. We spoke to Maruska a number of times and she was able to answer all of our questions and help us make informed decisions. The materials she sent and your website resources were extremely informative and helpful.

This was a great trip and exceeded our expectations, especially the wildlife viewing opportunities. All of the lodges were very good and more luxurious than we are used to. We only gave a few "Excellent" ratings on our survey responses so we could single out the truly outstanding lodges and activities.

When we started planning this trip, we realized that it was going to be an expensive holiday: certainly more expensive than any of our other vacations. After returning home from a wonderful 3 weeks in Namibia and Botswana, we feel that it was money well spent.

Thank you for helping us to have the trip of a lifetime.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

There's nothing that you can do about this, but you might want to warn other travellers about the long wait time when arriving at Windhoek airport. It took well over an hour to clear Customs and Immigration. It would have been even longer but they moved a few of the older passengers (including us) to the front of the line. The staff were generally unwelcoming and unhelpful - not sure if this was an isolated incident or general practice. This was such a contrast to everyone else we met during our stay in Namibia." Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 15 on a Namibia trip

"Maruska, thank you so much for all your work and patience too!!! Everything went perfectly. There were no hiccups or problems of any kind.

The game viewing was better than I had hoped as we were lucky enough to see lion, leopard and cheetah at all three camps! Though observing the dogs was not a high priority for us, it turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip. Eleven nights at three camps was perfect as we departed content but fatigued too!!!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Just keep doing what you are doing and give Maruska a raise!!!" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 11 on a Botswana safari

"You did an excellent job with our itinerary except as explained earlier we felt the two camps were too close in proximity to each other.

Overall, we have already recommended you to several people and believe one couple from Northern Ireland will contact your company about a trip to Tanzania and we suggested "little Oliver" and "Sayari". They said they had used your company in the past and would look you up immediately on their return to Belfast. You have our address for our commission." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 7 on a Tanzania safari

"Dear Maruska,

This is for you. You are sure an expert in what you do. I can't say enough as far as your wonderful, well planned itinerary for us.
The whole trip was beyond our expectations. South Africa and Namibia were terrific.

Perhaps the only thing I would have changed was the City Lodge at Johannesburg. The Intercontinental Hotel was closer, bigger rooms and have a better restaurant. On the other hand, we only stayed at the City Lodge for less than a day and it was easy enough for us to walk and have dinner at The Intercontinental Hotel.

Thanks a lot, Maruska! Let us know if you handle other trips aside from Africa.

It was surely a very memorable, fun trip for us." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 11 on a Namibia trip

"My trip couldn't have been better. Nick Hobbs did a superb job of arranging all the logistics so that almost everything went smoothly. I have to send my special thanks to managing director Chris McIntyre for sending me my binoculars after I misplaced them on a flight between Tuba Tree Camp and Lagoon Camps. I received them at City Lodge and Chris even paid for shipping them. I was truly impressed by his kindness and generosity.

This was my second safari with Expert Africa and I'm already going to another one next year. I've already been on five safaris, but I still have along bucket list of locations in Africa I want to either visit or revisit.

I love the fact that unlike it's numerous competitors in Great Britain, the United States, and South Africa Expert Africa places the emphasis as much as possible on visiting unfenced national park or concessions, and staying at lodges which aren't fenced as well. This in my experience and many other safari goers I've met greatly improves gong on safari.

I will undoubtedly take more safaris with ExpertAfrica." Read full review: 24 nights in Africa; 10 on a Zimbabwe safari

"Adventurous and exciting Zambian safari.

recommend to others !

We would not be unhappy if the price were less!!" Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 8 on a Zambia safari

"This was our first time traveling in this part of the world and the first time we spent so much time planning in advance. It paid off - the trip was successful and the travelers happy.

As a family of three with an eight year old child, we valued the planning process and the considerations brought to our attention by Maruska. She helped us through a number of itineraries, patiently making suggestions/changes as our knowledge of the area expanded. Maruska's input was always thorough, professional and thoughtful.

The travel went off as planned and we are happy with the choices made thanks to Maruska's shepherding. I would absolutely use Expert Africa again and have already recommended it to others." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 9 on a Namibia trip