South Africa: reviews from our travellers

"Fantastic!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

N/a" Read full review: 7 nights in Africa; 11 on a South Africa trip

"It was amazing !!! 6 weeks travelling through Africa with a 6 year old child is not everyone's ideal holiday but due to the perfect recommendations given by Maruska and the closeness with which she worked with my husband ensured we had a relatively hassle free, stress free, safe journey.

The travel book was also a great guide as it was up to date and relevant

We would (and have ) fully recommended your company and specifically Maruska to everyone we met !

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
None that we can think of" Read full review: 46 nights in Africa; 20 on a Namibia trip

"Our trip was exceptional! We have been to Africa three times before but never to the Okovango Delta or Capetown and never with Expert Africa. We wouldn't change one day of it! Every part of it was exceptional from the Falls to the safaris to the wine tasting in Capetown.

We agreed that one of the things that made it truely exceptional was the construction of the trip. What I mean by that, is that we got to do and see exactly what we wanted, so it was a highly individualized tour, but we had Expert Africa there every step of the way to make sure that every detail was taken care of and taken care of professionally.

When we climbed on our flight from the US to fly ten thousand miles to another continent and begin a unique adventure, we did not know if everything would go as smoothly as promised or not. It went better, every step of the way, then we could have imagined. Every flight was on time, every camp was expecting us and treated us like royalty, even our side trips to Gaborone and Capetown went without a hitch. And through it all we were able to travel on our own schedule without being hampered by being part of a larger tour group. We would recommend Expert Africa to anyone!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No suggestions really. While Maruska was away, her sister helped, Saskia, us. She was as professional and helpful as Maruska. They were both great!" Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 5 on a Botswana safari

"This ranks as one of the top vacation trips in our 49 years of marriage. We received true value in every aspect, but particularly in Botswana.

Every aspect was planned and executed by Expert Africa with its various on-site agents to give us a vacation and experience without any hiccups. My hobby is photography, and I feel I had the opportunity for some great shooting. The camps selected or suggested by Expert Africa gave us the variety to get as much "feel" for Botswana in 9 days as we could have hoped.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

You might consider having potential customers fill out a form indicating what they want or expect from a trip to Africa. many of our friends reacted to our plans with comments like "aren't you scared to be out there at night?". Many Americans are not as familiar with the potential experience as they should be." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"We had an amazing adventure through SA, Namibia and Botswana. Being independent Kiwis, we were keen on arranging our own itinerary and travelling under our own steam, preferably off the beaten tourist track. Namibia appealed, and once I found your amazing website I was hooked. In a former life I was a travel agent here in NZ, but most trips were packaged and rigid, and that was not what we wanted. Having worked out roughly where we wanted to go, I emailed your office, who then referred me to your Namibian expert who (unbelievably!) actually lived in NZ.

Maruska's in depth knowledge of Namibia and her recommendations really made the trip work. Travelling distances were good, and although we travelled over 7,500 km in 5 weeks, it was very do-able. Maruska listened to our preferences and we were delighted with her choice of accom. We enjoyed having the freedom of travelling in the 4WDs to suit ourselves. I fully expected the odd hiccup when we finished with the vehicles and then were reliant on a complicated series of transfers, boats, small planes with no set schedule, more transfers etc, but it all went according to plan and worked like clockwork.

Full marks to Maruska and your agents in Namibia and Botswana for attention to detail and for putting it all together.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Just keep doing what you do so well. Your website is just fantastic, great to read other peoples reviews, which is why I've spent all day putting up all this feedback (Sorry it took so long!).

The Brandt guides to Namibia and Botswana are actually in our local library, and it was from there I picked up the website in the first place. Our copies are well worn from the trip, and there was a bit of a bun fight over who kept them. Maybe one per couple would be good, or at least one per vehicle? The Namibia maps were great and Maruska had highlighted each of our stops which was also great attention to detail. We were very happy with the service we received from Maruska - she's a gem - look after her!" Read full review: 33 nights in Africa; 19 on a Namibia trip

"We had a very good time, although it started badly with a delayed long-haul flight, missed connection which we had to sort out ourselves, then a call from the Game Lodge to say they were flooded out so don't come this evening. EA found us a hotel in PE which turned out to be really great and a relief to have found somewhere after a difficult journey. Next day we had a blown tyre - felt like trip was fated. But thereafter all went well.

We loved Samara and had a good time in Plettenburg area, although we felt the Plettenburg hotel was not quite us. Weather wasn't great but hey, we were away from home/work in March somewhere warm and beautiful.

And, most importantly, we had a great sighting of Aadvark that really made the whole trip a success." Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 7 on a South Africa trip

"We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to the Kgalagadi and Cape Town - and would happily, and enthusiastically, recommend it to others! The trip isn't for the faint hearted - or for anyone who is looking for a holiday on a plate - but if you love exploring, don't mind driving around (a lot!) and have been on safari before so you know that you won't see animals at every turn - then this trip is for you. The order you do things is important - so we would recommend Augrabies Falls, followed by the Kgalagadi, followed by Cape Town.

The wildlife we saw in the Kgalagadi was fabulous - and included the Black Maned Kalahari Lions (including a pair mating, as well as a couple of family groups and individuals), Cheetahs (including a pair lying in the shade right next to the road) and an amazing selection of antelopes, deer and other smaller mammals (including Bat Eared Foxes - and Meerkats!). As the tourist numbers in the the Kgalagadi are very low compared to other destinations in Africa, you have the chance to sit, watch and enjoy without interruption - which is a real privilege.

Cape Town is fantastic - and our only regret is not getting out to Robben Island (if you're going - make sure you pre-book ferry tickets to Robben Island in advance, as getting them when you're there is not easy).

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

We think you should recommend to travellers who plan to visit the Kgalagadi that they should consider upgrading to a 4*4 vehicle. Although the roads are very good in the dry, it's a different story in the wet. But also - and perhaps more importantly - a number of the roads are below the vegetation height of the scrub/bush either side - so unless you have a high vehicle, you struggle to see the wildlife (we bumped into several people who were disappointed by the lack of wildlife - and all of them were travelling in saloon cars. Either we were lucky - or the height really did make a difference!)" Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 11 on a South Africa trip

"Although there were a few weeks of delay in Expert Africa staff engaging with us to start our planning, due to some staff changes and an international travel conference, we soon were underway and were guided well and promptly through decision-making.

We had been to other parts of Africa before and could articulate what we wanted, which helped. I had read other guests' reviews about the need to be careful around animals and the harsh-sounding needs for insurance and liability forms to be signed at each camp; this wasn't actually troublesome at all.

Our trip was a delight. We look forward to going back, possibly to the Chobe area next time simply to experience a different part of Botswana while it's still as pristine as it is. The national tourism policy of low-volume, high cost is working for them now; long may they maintain it.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

About the survey: start by giving a list of the subjects we will be asked to address so we know what to save for future pages. Other than that I can think of nothing. You all are excellent at what you do, and you deserve to succeed. We have already shared your name with our traveling friends." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 6 on a Botswana safari

"Tracy Lederer again put together an excellent trip for us. The service we have received from Expert Africa whilst planning both this trip and our previous trip to Namibia was excellent. The knowledge of the area and hotels really helps when discussing routes and accomodation.

We will definately be using Expert Africa for our next African trip.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

The maps for South Africa, especially Cape town were not as clear as Namibia. We used our Sat Nav and that got us around without any problems." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 9 on a South Africa trip

"Exceeded all our expectations and got better as the trip progressed. Well worth the huge outlay.

Never to be forgotton but will loose all our friends raving about it!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Hard to think how you could have improved it. I think it was a shame we did not listen to the advice regarding our last camp in Botswana and feel she should have told us how little wild life ther was at Selinda. She did inform us the wild life was not as good here but there was very little." Read full review: 33 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip