South Africa: reviews from our travellers

"Expert Africa delivered everything we had asked for for our holiday. Excellent service, understood what we wanted - remote, few other people and especially few other vehicles but with lots to see. Personal service everywhere we went and we always felt we were valued as people as well as customers.

Remote Africa Safaris were exactly that, at the edge of the South Luangwa - superb places to stay and excellent guides. A walking safari isn't for everyone and you don't get as close to animals as you would in a vehicle, but the whole experience more than makes up for that. We saw lots of animals and birds - large and small and can't thank our guide (Moffit) enough - he really made the holiday.

We loved the eco ethos of both Remote Africa Safaris and Kaya Mawa; home grown food, avoiding plastics were possible, local employment, clear investment in staff training, recycling and solar energy.

A great holiday" Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 7 on a Zambia safari

"We had a great time in SA. it is a truly beautiful and spectacular country.

In hindsight, we regret not spending longer in Plettenberg Bay and would also have loved to spend a night or two in Prince Albert. At the expense of either Swellendam or Oudtshoorn; both of which towns were not as memorable.

Tracy was very helpful and gave great advice. If we travel to Africa again, we plan to use Expert Africa and have recommended it to several friends.
This was our second time to use Expert Africa. We travelled to Namibia in 2016.

Thank again" Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 12 on a South Africa trip

"We knew we needed someone knowledgeable to help us with our first trip to Africa. Claire was fantastic! We were so pleased with all of her suggestions and everything she planned for us. Everything went exactly as planned and we had no concerns during our trip about our plans.

We’ve already passed Claire’s name along to a colleague and she is working with him and his wife now on their upcoming trip. We definitely want to return to Africa, probably as soon as next year, and will plan to contact Claire to see about helping us with that trip as well." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 9 on a Zimbabwe safari

"The trip as a whole was simply outstanding.

We cannot thank Tom of Expert Africa enough for helping to plan this most memorable trip. All of his suggestions were worthwhile as we saw different landscape and animals at each location. Even our least favoured location (Dolomite) was worth seeing for the views and the variety of wildlife. Shame about the Camp. All the other recommendations by him were spot on and would happily return to any of them.

The variation of Namibia's landscape was incredible and we still cannot believe that we were actually there. I had dreamed of Sossusvlei and Deadvlei and it was just magical when we were there. Every place visited offered its own adventure. The Namibian people were friendly and helpful wherever we went. Driving on the dirt roads was an experience and when we encountered a tarmac stretch or road, we became as excited as if we had seen a rare animal!!

We have no hesitation in recommending Expert Africa to other travellers - Tom was able to deal with our exacting and specific requests with no difficulty.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

More advice on driving on dirt roads for first time travellers would have been helpful. We would emphasise paying great attention to the mechanics of changing the wheel when the spare is chained under the vehicle and also checking tyre pressure before leaving the city for the first time." Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"For us it always a pleasure to travel to southern Africa, which we have been doing for over 40 years.

As ever the Expert Africa consultants were excellent and we wouldn't consider travelling to Africa without their help and advice.

Although the travel tags and wallet are extremely well made and gratefully received, we found them bulky and might act more like flashing beacon to unscrupulous locals to locate unsuspecting tourists! We didn't use them preferring a simply plastic wallet on the basis that 'more is less'..

We booked our hotel accommodation The Taj in Cape Town ourselves. Located opposite St George's cathedral it is a very comfortable and welcoming place with staff eager to please. They also provide a complimentary shuttle service, by limousine (Range Rover/Jaguar ) to anywhere within 10 Km area and a regular shuttle bus to VA Waterfront and Table Mountain. Most rooms have views of Table Mountain too." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 5 on a South Africa trip

"My adult daughter and I agree that Somalisa was the best camp with Waterberry a very close second. Her favorite experience was the meerkat climbing on her. I found so much of it awesome it's hard to describe.

In trying to explain the experience to people the closest I can get to accurate is "something amazing happens and then something else amazing happens, etc." I can't compare the rush of seeing lion doing their thing against seeing the rush of Victoria Falls. I can't compare how it feels to be in the vast desolate Makgadikgadi Pans to seeing the vastness of the southern sky's blanket of universe. Being comedically entertained by the meerkat, mud wallowing warthogs, running ostrich, and hippo grunting are experiences like no other. It's completely absurd that neither my daughter nor I were afraid of the 7 white rhino we walked to and stood amongst. It was pretty clear to me when the 1st bush flight landed scaring away zebra and an ostrich from the airstrip that Africa suits me. I guess that's why I didn't blow the air horn when the elephant tried to join my shower.

To close this out - I've lived and worked on 3 continents and know a 4th extensively but there is nothing like Africa.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

The process was long for both me and everyone that had to interact with me. Now that I've done it I hope to not be so high maintenance in the future.

One of the reasons I chose EA was because when my plan went from Zambia only I was handed to another person with more expertise in the new regions. I appreciated that. No one at EA tried to "upsell" me either. That is why I dropped the other company I had begun inquiry with.

I'll be emailing the wildlife sightings. We wrote in a lot." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 3 on a Botswana safari

"A great trip." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 7 on a South Africa trip

"It met and exceeded our expectations.

All the accommodation was larger in real life than the photos suggest. It was all well maintained and presented.

All staff were focused on wanting to make our stays as enjoyable as possible." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 15 on a South Africa trip

"Many people see Namibia by fly-driving. We didn't want to spend long hours on the road (Namibia is a big country!) and since we had enjoyed travelling previously on Rovos Rail a rail safari seemed to tick all the boxes. We think our trip as a whole was a balance of luxury travel with well organised excursions and we came home with some lovely memories.

The wildlife, and especially birdlife, is magnificent. Our days before and after the train were also well organised and enjoyable and we can thank suggestions from Expert Africa for that." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 2 on a Namibia trip

"Just what we had hoped for.

Although there were only two other guests in the camps on two out of our 10 nights, we still received dedicated and outstanding service at all three camps; making us feel quite special. Experiencing two National Parks and three camps was just the right mix of variety for us. Staying 3 or 4 nights in a camp seemed optimal.

Having been on other safaris later in the year it is clear more wildlife sights are likely in the dry season, but the greeness and the dust-free air of April made the challenge of finding the animals a worthwhile counterbalance." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 10 on a Zambia safari