Reviews of trips to Livingstone & Victoria Falls

"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

"All in all it was a wonderful holiday and (having said that it would be a one-off) we can't wait to return next year.
I cannot recommend RPS highly enough (and I'm usually pretty difficult to please!).

Expert Africa arranged everything smoothly and efficiently and we would be pleased to use them again.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

It's hard to improve on flawless!" Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 9 on a Zambia safari

"Another fantastic trip, our third one with Expert Africa, thanks Ellie!

This was a longer trip (2 weeks) visiting two Countries and several places. This involved a lot of organization and we are once again impressed by how well every little details is sorted in advance. We spent a lot of time asking Ellie a million questions and debating about options and she never ever gets tired of answering my emails...and usually in a matter of hours if not minutes! Every suggestion she gives us is great.

Having been to Tanzania previously in June, we wanted to see different places and the green season. The landscape is fantastic and as expected it is a bit harder to see animals, but we still saw a lot. Of course this is not the best season for walks, as it is a bit hot (at least for us) and some roads and area are not accessible or not safe for walking but we did enjoy morning walks. The bonus is there are very few people and you have the places for yourself.

The game behaviour is very different in South Luangwa and Hwange: in SL they are almost tame, for example impala are in the middle of the road and do not move away from you, while in Hwange they are more skittish. On the other hand Hwange feels a lot wilder (even if they created artificial waterholes). It is good to see different places and landscapes and their contrasts.

We got the biggest safari bug and we are already dreaming about another trip, with Expert Africa of course!

As a last comment I would like to add that everywhere we went everyone (including a couple of tour operator from Australia) spoke highly of the Expert Africa team, not surprisingly!

Thanks a million!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No matter how hard I think I cannot find any suggestion- no need to improve!" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 9 on a Zambia safari

"It was a great trip that I enjoyed completly. Nothing to complain about

All was good" Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari

"We booked this trip (unusually for us) at very short notice but EA was able to come up with an itinerary which totally matched our parameters and which worked out extremely well (including the potentially tricky issue of crossing the Zam/Zim border twi ce with different carriers on each side). We were very happy with the whole experience

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

As mentioned in feedback from previous trips we do think the website could be usefully updated more frequently. But we would congratulate you on the 2011 brochure which is a step up from the still very good 20010 version." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 10 on a Zimbabwe safari

"Zambia continues to be one of the great holiday destinations.

The level of professionalism seems to increase each time I visit, and the people, with their charming and helpful attitudes, make a holiday there very special There are too many members of staff in the lodges to mention individually, but our thanks go out to them all for making our stay with them memorable in every way.

Thank you, Lucy, for organising everything, and I will certainly be in touch when organising my next trip to Africa.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No, you seem to have covered everything." Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 7 on a Zambia safari

"We had fantastic safaris and a great trip to Victoria Falls where we would recommend the helicopter ride.

All the arrangements went like clockwork and the transfers were all on time and the staff excellent.

Thank you Expert Africa for making it so enjoyable and trouble free we will certainly recommend you to our friends.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

We were happy with your service and have no specific comments." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 3 on a Botswana safari

"One of the best, if not THE best holiday we've ever had. (Only thing missing was exercise, but not much chance of that.)
Game viewing bit disappointing at Lebala with hindsight but as virgins we still enjoyed it. Rooms and camp very good.
Little Kwara very enjoyable.

Nxabega stood out though, as a superbly-run camp, with a truly wonderful atmosphere. Grant and Dimari really set the benchmark.
Game best at Sandibe but what a miserable dump by comparison to Nx.

The transfer processes worked very well and once we knew the score, we relaxed totally about moving from camp to camp, and this really helped make the whole thing more enjoyable compared to hacking around India or wondering if the planes would fly in South America.

Zimbabwe day trip was worth it although we got stitched up by Zambia immigration, they hadn't given us a multiple-entry, only a double entry visa but this was not clear.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Take note of any unusual situations (eg airstrip down) and set expectations accordingly.
Check game viewing status / concession conditions closer to the off, maybe it would be better to switch (eg Lebala was only worth 2 nights due to so much empty burnt scrub).

Transfer from Livingstone to Lebala took a while; no food on the Proflight transfer, no food opportunities at Livingstone airport (only coffee) or en route (Kasane airport not selling food) so we were starving by the time we got to Lebala; it would have been good to arrange some opportunity to eat or buy food at some point. Maybe include a visit a cafe / restaurant in Kasane town, as there is plenty of time ?" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 11 on a Botswana safari

"Everything ran very smoothly – we were very well looked after and didn't have to worry about any of the transfers at all. However the transfer from Lusaka to Royal Airstrip was a bit confusing as you arrive in Lusaka after overnight flight to near chaos in Lusaka airport. But we had been in the area before.

Overall we expected a repeat of our last trip which had been amazing – we were not disappointed

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

SmaIl comment - I think pictures depicting the rooms at the lodges should include all standards to avoid disappointment on arrival – all brochures and lodge websites show the honeymoon suite! And all tents at Chiawa [except the honeymoon tent] were superior, superior to what?" Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 9 on a Zambia safari

"From the moment I chose Expert Africa to book my trip with and met Lucy Copson who arranged my itinerary it has been incredible. I would never book a trip to Africa with anyone else but the EXPERTS! I did a lot of research and contacted at least 6 other companies, none of them compared on any level.

Lucy organised my trip using her incredbile knowledge and customer service skills. It took a while to finalise the trip but not once did I feel under any pressure. Some of the other companies were very pushy and just seemed to want your booking. All my queries were responded to promptly and I could never have organised such a fantastic experience without her help. Expert Africa are the best travel company I have ever dealt with. If you are thinking of travelling to any of the destinations that EA provide then don't hesitate to put them at the top of your list.

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

The Northern Botswana Mobile Safari can be undertaken in the reverse order I did. My only suggestion is scrap that and keep it from Kasane to Maun only.

The only other very small point is that I asked Lucy about organising a bean bag for the safari. I was told that this was not an option but the Letaka site does offer this. Fortunately one of the couples on the trip had ordered two so they kindly let me use on of them. It would have been a real issue for me not having one." Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari