South Africa: reviews from our travellers

"This was the BEST trip of our lives.

It was everything we had hoped for and more. So many memories and new experiences.

Maruska met and exceeded our brief, and we can't thank her enough for her time, suggestions and recommendations." Read full review: 23 nights in Africa; 11 on a Botswana safari

"We had a magical trip to Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe side), Okavango delta in Botswana and self-drive in Namibia.

We usually self-organise our trips around the globe, but having Expert Africa extensive, efficient and reliable support was a massive plus for our multi-country trip. It was extremely pleasant to feel really on holiday, with almost everything taken care of.

Locations and all accomodations but one were magical: beautifully set, very kind and helpful staff very often going an extra mile, extremely comfortable, quiet and relaxing, with amazing landscapes and/or wildlife to discover and admire.

A massive thank you to ExpertAfrica team and all partners involved!" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 5 on a Namibia trip

"It felt like hard work this time, a combination of an uncomfortable vehicle and almost extreme temperatures probably caused this. Everyone said the park was quiet. As we only had a week there is no slack to catch up on missed sightings. This is the second time we have seen a leopard, but no cheetah at all this time. Lion sightings were very good. We saw nine lions in total, of which three were repeat sightings on another day or trip. We met someone who only saw 7 in two weeks. There is a lot of luck involved. Nossob was the least productive area no cat sightings and very sparse in general.

We enjoyed the trip and especially spending 1.75 hours with a pair of lions at Craig Lockhart, who then disappeared after that sighting.

Bird sightings were down, one owl, couple of bateleur eagles, but plenty of tawny and some vultures for the first time.

I mentioned queuing to get out into the park this seemed more time consuming. The roads were not well maintained on the Nossob side, which makes driving tiring.

I wonder whether the park is too full? They are supposed to be building more picnic sights which will break up journeys. This year Auchterlonie toilets was having a refurb so out of commission. The ones at Lijersdraai urgently need an overhaul, I forgot they had no sink, as not visited since 2022." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 8 on a South Africa trip

"Our overall experience of Expert Africa was excellent.

They listened very carefully to what we wanted to achieve and created a really good programme for us in terms of locations, drive times, variety of landscapes and things to do and see. This absolutely ticked the boxes in terms of history and culture which particularly interested us, while enabling us to enjoy the classic Cape food, wine and landscape experience.

In other words, our holiday was exactly what we wanted, delivered with care and attention to detail." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 11 on a South Africa trip

"Overall we all agree it was the best family trip we've ever done, we just loved it!

Tracy was very patient with the booking arrangements and all her suggestions were sensible. I think a conversation about how busy Cape Town would be in the New Year would have helped, although I suppose with hindsight it's obvious. Otherwise I really can't think of anything that could have been done better.

Thank you so much for helping us create the amazing memories we now have!

Just have to work out how we can do this all again!!" Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 8 on a South Africa trip

"Overall our trip was excellent.

Looking back, perhaps the most wonderful thing was the feeling that someone was in control and we didn’t have to worry about anything.

It was wonderful. Thanks a lot!!!" Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 7 on a Kenya safari

"Fantastic trip; we've done extensive travel in Africa before but this trip added more unique experiences and was cleverly designed by Chris McIntyre given our requirements." Read full review: 23 nights in Africa; 7 on a South Africa trip

"I loved my trip. It really was the journey of a lifetime. It helped me a great deal to have the advice and support of Tom at Expert Africa in planning my trip, which was a fairly complex process as I was combining work and leisure for some of the time. Everything went smoothly and to schedule and I had no problems, which was amazing considering that I was away five weeks (everything except a cancelled flight home, but the airline dealt with that).


The places I stayed were well chosen and I enjoyed them all in different ways. I especially loved Fish River Lodge and the canyon there. I was lucky enough to meet the owners and to talk with them about their interesting plans to extend their conservation work in the area.


The only aspect of my journey that was different to what I expected and a bit more challenging was the driving. I did not have any problems, although I covered about 1,500 miles driving solo, but it is not easy driving on dirt roads (they are described as gravel roads but this is not really accurate). The car hire company and the Bradt guide recommend not driving above 70kph on dirt roads but that is not practicable over long distances and I think this advice should be revised. Nobody else was travelling at those speeds. If I had driven that slowly on certain days a 5-hour journey would have turned into an 8-hour journey, which presents a different kind of risk. I would recommend driving at the national speed limit, which is what I did, meaning that I was driving safely at 80-90 kph on those dirt roads. I think a frank discussion of what driving in Namibia realistically entails would have been useful, but this is a minor point!

Namibia is a beautiful country, for me part of its attraction is its remoteness and the opportunity to be alone in open spaces, but I also had encounters with Namibians of many different backgrounds, all of which were positive and interesting. I have brought home many happy memories and would love to return one day. Thank you, Tom, for making it happen." Read full review: 35 nights in Africa; 19 on a Namibia trip

"Overall the trip had many surprises, and thankfully they were almost all positive!

The people we met were all enthusiastic, friendly and knowledgeable. Several went out of their way to help us. We did not meet anyone who was antagonistic.

The accommodation was better than we were expecting. We found all the small lodges to be exceptional and very well appointed. The individual accommodation was always superb. As a retired geologist I found Mowani's great granite boulders to be inspiring.

There was a lot of travelling and some of the roads were a bit rough but our Toyota dealt with them easily and never let us down. On one occasion when we got stuck in deep soft sand it's four wheel drive got us out with aplomb!

We had gone to Namibia to see the scenery and animals and neither let us down. I will never forget the elephants of Etosha and Damaraland. The sand dunes of the Namib are unforgettable.

This was the best holiday we have ever had. Thankyou!" Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"Maruska did a great job planning our trip and was great when it came to answering all of our questions!" Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 5 on a Zimbabwe safari