South Africa: reviews from our travellers

"The trip was excellent." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 4 on a South Africa trip

"Wonderful!" Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 8 on a South Africa trip

"The Namibian part was tiring with many early starts for activities followed by long drives on dirt roads but spectacular scenery and Rhino.

South Africa more relaxed but Babylostoren disappointing.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Your directions on the paperwork were inaccurate and confusing. We needed to use the GPS coordinates. These could be improved.

Drive times were underestimated, bearing in mind road conditions." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 9 on a Namibia trip

"An excellent trip overall, with many memorable aspects, particularly for Linda on her first trip of this nature.

It largely went extremely smoothly, especially considering the significant amount of driving involved (through our own choice). There were times when we felt the driving instructions underestimated the journey times. It would be helpful on future occasions to stress that these times might be significantly longer with stops and, similarly, that roadworks in SA involve far greater holdups than in Europe.

In addition, although sign-posting is adequate in places, there were places where it disappeared entirely, including at the point where we needed to rejoin the N2 to return to Cape Town from Franschhoek. This would not be an issue for anyone with access to a GPS system, but that is not the case if one is trying to avoid the exorbitant charges either for mobile phone roaming or for activating the rental car's system. I would recommend that Expert Africa's documentation spell out these potential pitfalls.

On a different note, Linda was horrified to find several ticks on her body when we were in Franschhoek which, we suspect, might have attached themselves during a bush walk in Kariega, although this is by no means certain. We learnt from a local pharmacist that this is not an uncommon occurrence in summer and I would suggest that the trip documentation should warn of this possibility.

Although this form only asks for feedback on hotels booked through Expert Africa, I feel it is important to talk about the 2 hotels I booked myself.

I strongly recommend the Taj in Cape Town for anyone wishing to see the central sights of the city. Not only is it a beautiful hotel with excellent facilities and very high quality food outlets, but its location is perfect for sightseeing, shopping and choice of restaurants nearby. And its rates are more reasonable than other, well-located five-star establishments.

Similarly, the Plettenberg Hotel is, I feel, a good choice for anyone staying in that area and wanting easy access to both the town and the beach.

A word of warning for anyone staying nearby and tempted, as we were, to visit the Robberg Peninsula nature reserve. Although the setting is spectacular, the shortest hiking trail, which we chose, is a hair-raisingly difficult experience, visibly so even for people far younger than ourselves. At one point, there is no option to get back other than by hauling oneself by rope up a precipitously steep hillside.And there is no indication of the difficulty in the information provided at the ticket office or on the maps at the start of the trails." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 8 on a South Africa trip

"Our trip was amazing.

Other than getting soaked through on one game drive at Shinde, it is hard to imagine how it could have gone better.

Everything happened on time and as it should. I can't think of a single person who wasn't helpful or better.

We traveled with our children and each place we stayed was great for them as well as us. We wanted a variety of experiences, but with a certain level of comfort and we were not left wanting. Really, an outstanding experience!" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 6 on a Botswana safari

"This was a special, month-long trip to revisit some of our favourite places in Zimbabwe, Botswana and Western Cape. We were joined for part of it by 6 family members, including one son-in-law and two grandchildren (aged 8 & 10) who were having their first experience of Africa.

Lucy took a lot of trouble putting together an itinerary in which everyone’s requests could be included. She made some excellent suggestions for accommodation and activities, which we all enjoyed. The Zambezi cruise on New Year’s Eve was just one example.

As there were eight of us for almost half of the tour, we were treated as a ‘group’. This meant we had our own vehicle and guide for safaris, which was very relaxing and we all had a lot of fun.

A major flight delay at the start threatened to seriously derail our itinerary. It was a couple of days before Christmas, but the team at Expert Africa sprang into action and got everything back on track incredibly quickly.

The South African part of the holiday was just the two of us. It included a hire car and some very high quality accommodation.

We had very high expectations of this trip and were not disappointed, thanks to Lucy and her colleagues." Read full review: 32 nights in Africa; 11 on a Zimbabwe safari

"Our first trip to South Africa, and it was a wonderful experience, the whole itinerary worked perfectly.

We made other sightseeing plans independently in Capetown, with no difficulty.

We took far too many clothes!!! Travel lighter next time !" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 10 on a South Africa trip

"All went very smoothly and was a great experience.

Standard of 2 of the camps much higher than expected . 1 slightly less so but compensated for great guiding and wildlife viewing .

One bonus of the Duba Explorers Camp is they ( Great Plains Group ) have introduced a really good lounge at Maun airport which was really helpful as we had 2 and a half hours to wait ." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"Trip of a lifetime!" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 6 on a Botswana safari

"Very "diverse" trip from wine tastings, excellent food to hiking in the Namibian deserts and beachwalks in Paternoster.

Rather easy and comfortable to be done in three weeks." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 14 on a South Africa trip