Tanzania: reviews from our travellers

"Great varied holiday.

For a month long holiday there was only one minor one hiccup so that's pretty good. The Wild Horizons road transport from Zambezi Sun to Livingstone Airport didn't turn up. They then didn't answer any of the contact numbers incl their emergency mobile so that is probably more of a concern. No problem we just got the hotel to order us a taxi. A Wild Horizons rep finally called the hotel & said their vehichle wouldn't start that morning & they had another vehicle on the way. We said that given the time we were now taking whatever turned up first (which was the taxi). To their credit Wild Horizans must have contacted the taxi driver and told him to return the fare to us.

Proably the only thing we would have changed on the holiday was to sway Tafika camp in Sth Luangwa NP for one that was on a perennial river with watersports such as canoeing (eg Lower Zambezi NP)

Maruska was extremely helpful with planning our trip and very responsive to our questions .. thanks Maruska

PS: We don't normally have our trips organised by a travel agent and only initially contacted Expert Afrika for the Busanga & Tafika bookings .. but then Maruska offered to book most of the other accn & transfers & that's what happened. Very unusual for us to have transfer cars waiting at an airport etc with our name on a card & we don't see much of an advantage over just getting a bus/taxi .. but i can see that some folks would love the certainty of transport waiting for them

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No" Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 12 on a Zambia safari

"We had a wonderful holiday. The whole trip ran very smoothly and had been exceptionally well organised." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 8 on a Tanzania safari

"Our overall trip was more enjoyable than we ever anticipated. A wonderful and exciting experience!

Our grateful thanks to Liz and James at Expert Africa who devised 7 options for us to choose from." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 7 on a Tanzania safari

"An outstanding experience for all of us. Couldn't fault it, really.

Perhaps one less night on safari and one more at the beach would have been a better balance

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No, it all went smoothly.

As advised, we got yellow fever vaccination exemption certificates (plane change in Nairobi) but these weren't asked for so maybe we could have done without them" Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 7 on a Tanzania safari

"We saw three crossings which is what we went to do and lots of other game - better than expected" Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 9 on a Tanzania safari

"You did an excellent job with our itinerary except as explained earlier we felt the two camps were too close in proximity to each other.

Overall, we have already recommended you to several people and believe one couple from Northern Ireland will contact your company about a trip to Tanzania and we suggested "little Oliver" and "Sayari". They said they had used your company in the past and would look you up immediately on their return to Belfast. You have our address for our commission." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 7 on a Tanzania safari

"The trip was frankly spoiled by matters beyond the control of you or the camps. The park is very commercialized and touristy and the use of radios and swarms of cars makes the "Africa USA" sites in the US seem somehow more authentic

Your office staff is very accomodating and helpful" Read full review: 6 nights in Africa; 6 on a Tanzania safari

"We had an excellent trip and felt we were particularly lucky with sightings at the first three camps/lodges due to the expertise of our Asilia driver, Stanford. We were particularly pleased that once an animal had been spotted we were able to observe at leisure and have wonderful memories of a very restive leopard in a tree. We watched for about half an hour as he tried to find a comfy spot and walked up and down and all around the tree. Having our own vehicle really made a difference.

As I had made our booking some months before the trip I had forgotten that this would not be the case at Lamai. I think that it would be a good idea to make a note of this on the confirmation invoice or in the final letter you send just before departure. We had taken this paperwork with us but had not printed out all the emails leading to the final trip details. The couple we shared with were extremely pleasant but they had just flown in from the UK and were on safari for only 3 nights before going to Zanzibar whilst we had gone to the north more for the wildebeest. Things worked out well but this could so easily not have been the case and I will certainly bear this in mind for a future trip.

We had an excellent guide, Kakae, at Lamai, not only was he very good indeed at spotting game but he had a detailed knowledge of all the animals we saw. He had a great sense of humour and we enjoyed conversations with him on a number of topics." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 10 on a Tanzania safari

"A huge thank you to Liz and Angela for organising our trip. It was very reassuring that when asked by staff at both camps who we had booked our trip with and we mentioned Expert Africa, they would nod and say that you are one of the best!!

This holiday really exceeded all our expectations and I for one would love to repeat it sometime in the future!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

I think the thing I really liked about dealing with Liz in particular was because she has first hand knowledge of the areas we were visiting and I understand that is the case with all the staff at Expert Africa who have their own areas of expertise. I also really liked the gift of the Bradt guide that was sent to us on confirmation of our booking - a nice touch.

I would have no hesitation in using Expert Africa again and in recommending them to anyone wishing to travel to Africa." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 6 on a Tanzania safari

"We joined a trip organised by Ellie with a friend (Tarmo) and hence did not have to make any decisions about where to go.

The recommendations were excellent and we enjoyed it very much, it being our first safari.

Certainly not the last!" Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 4 on a Tanzania safari