South Africa: reviews from our travellers

"This was an amazing vacation! The camps/food/game viewing were excellent.

Thanks again Maruska for all your help in putting this trip together.

You are always a pleasure to work with.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Passport check for Chris took three hours in Johannesburg. I'm not sure if Expert Africa arranged the representative for us in Lusaka, but it made our arrival/departure a breeze. Thank You! We checked our bags to our destination on the departure as to avoid the nightmare in Johannesburg.

I hoped to visit the shops at the main entrance to the park on the way to the airport. Unfortunately, due to our early flight they were not open. Had I known, we could have made arrangements at the start of the trip. Not a big deal --- there's always next time ... just mentioned it in case other guests had the same idea." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 11 on a Zambia safari

"Fabulous trip.

Great itinerary from Expert Africa - good variety of camps and length of stays were perfect.

Our main Expert Africa contact was actually Megan, not Tracy, but she is not in the pick list.

It would have been nice to have received a phone call on returning from the trip to ask us how it had been.

Our guide Theo was excellent and negotiated two fabulous groups for our gorilla treks." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari

"This was our first time in the Western Cape, the scenery is stunning and it was a special holiday.

We saw what we hoped for during a September/October trip: Southern Right Whales African penguins, and fabulous spring flora generally and in the Postberg Reserve. The opportunity to walk unguided in all of the reserves we visited is a bit special (West Coast, Bontebok, De Hoop, Chapman's Peak, Cape Point)

We had not expected the weather to be so cold with persistent bitter winds; but it was mostly dry.

Some of the driving directions were out of date and some ignored more obvious, shorter routes.

We were correctly warned that driving standards in SA are poor. We saw the aftermath of 2 serious accidents; were overtaken while driving single file through road works and generally felt we were lucky to escape alive!

Overall, accommodation standards were high, but someone should have warned us (and Expert Africa?) that De Hoop is still undergoing redevelopment and our beautiful room was adjacent to a noisy building site.

We discovered the penguin colony at Betty's Bay by accident: much larger than at Boulders on the Cape peninsular, and worth highlighting for anyone visiting the Hermanus area, as is the Harold Porter botanical garden." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 13 on a South Africa trip

"The best safari we have ever had. Great accommodation. Planning our 2018 trip now.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No. Keep doing what you are doing and I will be back" Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 11 on a South Africa trip

"As always with EA you know what you get: Expert Service! This time around it's no different.

Our long awaited and thoroughly planned first trip to Kalagadi Transfontier all looked good until British Airways threw the spanner in by rescheduling our flight to depart 14hrs later than the original time. However Tracy expertly resolved the problem by booking us to SAA and we were on our way to KTP!

We had an excellent trip and thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience of the Kalahari.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Website a bit too complicated - lots to digest" Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 6 on a South Africa trip

"Visiting Africa was an experience unlike any other. We saw and learned a lot. We are already talking about our next visit and seeing gorillas will be on the itinerary.

Everything came off without a hitch. All transfers were on time and uneventful. (Except when the plane at Mana Pools started rolling backwards with no one in it. We were able to stop the plane about ten feet from the pick up vehicle, avoiding a collision.)

I will not hesitate to recommend Expert Africa." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 10 on a Zimbabwe safari

"Having looked forward to the trip for 18months expectations were high!

Although overall the trip was highly enjoyable, we can now say that we have been to Botswana but will not be returning as it seemed to miss the wow factor. This was mainly down to the game viewing.

We appreciate that it is nature and so cannot predict these things and are already looking forward to our next African adventure" Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari

"Excellent

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Very happy with the trip.

Re feedback from - a problem in that I can't preview what I wrote and I may not have changed some overall ratings from the ""excellent' default so they won't match my comments. please check this and contact me if there is a discrepancy." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"We have come to expect wonderful holidays when organised by Expert Africa and once again we were delighted. From our first chat to Tracy until we got this form our holiday was all we expected it to be.

We only wish it could have been longer - a couple of days more at Bushman's Kloof (to take advantage of their 4 nights for the price of 3) and an extra night at Augrabies Falls. We wonder if staying inside Etosha is not for us anymore as standards do not improve - although the accommodation was fine in both Dolomite and Okaukuejo.

Thanks Tracy we had a fantastic holiday!" Read full review: 23 nights in Africa; 11 on a Namibia trip

"A fantastic trip to Botswana, Zambia and Tanzania (my fourth safari); the three weeks flew by. Everything ran smoothly, and was as expected. A few flights were inevitably delayed, but not significant enough to adversely effect the itinerary.

My preferences/interests had clearly been passed onto the camps, and acted upon, which was much appreciated.

An awful lot of work goes into organising a 3-week long trip, and Ellie was most knowledgeable. At times when I contacted her she was very busy and hence there were sometimes some delays in her responses. But everything came together perfectly, and I had a terrific time. I'll be back!" Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari