Tanzania: reviews from our travellers

"Our trip was fantastic from beginning to end.

Your recommendation of the Selous was excellent as we saw all the animals we could wish for and enjoyed the extra activities of river/lake trips and fishing.

As a family group there was something for everyone.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No, you thought of everything!" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 6 on a Tanzania safari

"This was a holiday of a lifetime for us and it certainly lived up to expectations.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

The service was fantastic I have no further comment to make." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 8 on a Zanzibar holiday

"Expert Africa organised everything very well, our taxis and middle men were very efficient and reliable.
Great advice for what we liked doing and we enjoyed our whole stay in Africa.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No, we picked you because you had extensive good and bad reviews available on your website (so an honest and exhaustive approach), and later on your staff were very good and helpful on many levels." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 7 on a Zanzibar holiday

"# Please also refer to our 14 June letter to Ellie and Liz, with our Expert Africa experience to that date. [Ed: See below for extract from this letter.]

# Thank you both for arranging a faultless trip which was close to perfect. We are already looking at a future trip and will keep an eye open for further news of Coastal's new KILIMATITI Camp that we understand is currently being built near the Olduvari Gorge.

Asante,
Brian and Colin

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

# tipping safasri camp staff - please see earlier comments on Mdonya page. We feel very strongly that the tip box is the best solution so that all the camp staff share in the guests tips. Not all guests had had the benefit of Expert Africa's comprehensive literature so it is important that the camp managers gently weave in the tip box solutioin into their welcome briefings.

# we were very pleased to have arranged to overnight in Dar before going on safari. Indeed several of the Manze guests (not Expert A clients) were quite envious as even though their BA flight arrived on time, they apparently found the process of changing terminals, sorting out baggage to store etc etc somewhat stressful in order to make the 8.30 flight to Selous. Clearly there are cost implications but perhaps worth considering sowing the seed of overnighting to future clients? The point was underlined as the inbound BA flight on 23 July arrived some 45 minutes late, which meant a huge challenge for Coastal if there were any clients booked on the 8.30 Selous flight?

# day in Dar - the pre-booked car proved to be a wise decision. In particular, we were very impressed that our Kearsley driver was well briefed and had a copy of the suggested itinerary that we had shared with Liz and he was a useful mentor when buying presents. We eventually found 'Wonder Workshop' and although they had just closed, we were made very welcome - thanks for the recommendation. Also, we recommend lunch on the balcony of the Karamba Cafe, Sea Cliff Hotel - G&T's and a superb seafood platter overlooking the Indian Ocean was a great scene setter for what proved to be a superb safari." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 9 on a Tanzania safari

"A really good trip overall but Breezes was very disappointing

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

As stated above. The holiday was not cheap and we did not think Breezes was worth the money we paid for it - definite budget hotel. Had we known, we would not have gone for a resort style hotel but opted for something smaller without the facilities as the facilities at Breezes were less than satisfactory." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 5 on a Tanzania safari

"Many thanks to Expert Africa for good advice and arranging a truly superb trip to Tanzania. A great place to bring teenage children.

We will certainly be back to Africa." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 6 on a Tanzania safari

"This was a completely wonderful holiday - exceeded our very high expectations.

Was so pleased I used Expert Africa: good advice at every stage, and so we got a trip that was just what we wanted. It was obvious that all the staff members I spoke to had first-hand experience of the camps and so could really help with our choices, and were very helpful talking through what we needed to consider.

Thank you.

These travellers subsequently wrote to us:

As you see, we really did have a fantastic holiday, and are extremely pleased that we used Expert Africa to help us get the trip we wanted. We realised while we were away how good your advice had been, and that we had a more "adventurous" holiday than I would have confident booking without that advice.

Not all the other people we met while we were away felt they had such a good experience with their own agents. This was often because they had taken a package deal so had little if any choice of camp and hadn't not known what to expect, through a variety of people with small problems changing onto internal flights at Dar Es Salaam, to some people who had been routed through Johannesburg during the World Cup and found themselves with nowhere to stay!

We were happy to mention Expert Africa as we really felt that the whole trip was very well organised and just what we hoped. The two camps in particular were so welcoming especially to the children - before we left, so many people had told me how brave I was to take my kids on safari that I had started to wonder whether it really was a sensible decision, but they loved it, learnt so much and felt included in everything we did." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 8 on a Zanzibar holiday

"I count myself as very lucky for having been able to take this trip to Rwanda and Tanzania. Both countries are so beautiful, and it is a profound spiritual experience to see nature in such raw form.

From a practical standpoint, everything went smoothly, and from the moment I boarded the BA flight to Nairobi, I didn't have to give a thought to logistics, and was just able to relax and focus on the trip. This was my third trip with Expert Africa and I can't imagine using another travel agency. I really trust Expert Africa and would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 8 on a Tanzania safari

"Fantastic - thanks Claire! An excellent mix of lodges and experiences with some much needed RnR at either end. We would highly recommend Expert Africa to friends and family going forward.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Love your website and the detailed info it gives - so keep it up!" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 11 on a Tanzania safari

"THis was the second trip we did with Expert Africa and they could not have been better! Ruaha is marvellous park.

Ellie and Liz spent a lot of time discussing with us during the planning of the trip and they really know every single camp and place.
When BA went on strike they rebooked us (Actually they were holding seats for us anyway) on KQ and managed to even change the internal flight to Ruaha from one airlne to a different one so that we "missed" only 2 hours. This was impressive as we met other people who were stuck in Dar for hours.

All the camps were exactly as they said and we could not ask for more. We enjoyed this trip very much and we are already dreaming about the next one!
Thank you so much!!!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

We realised in this trip how important the skills, experience and qualifications of a guide are. Maybe you could add more comments on the guiding team in each camp or mention in some way where they focus on guiding. Pietro and Molly must be among the best ones as their knowledge is impressive. We are 2 small animal specialists vets and we asked lots of questions and they were just great!
(I know there are already some comments in some camps but I could not find any other suggestion and the website does not allow me to submit with this field empty!)" Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 7 on a Tanzania safari