Reviews of trips to Lusaka area

"Ever since our first trip in 2015 I have said "This is the best trip ever." I say it every year and 2019 did not disappoint.

It was very interesting going at a different time of year. We loved seeing the trees in flower and were surprised by how green the park was in late September. The wildlife was much more concentrated around the river compared to May/June. We had never seen so many lions before nor so many carcasses. Birding was good but many of the birds were much higher up in the trees than on previous visits - presumably because there were fewer seeds on the ground. Tree frogs and insect life were less evident on this visit. The exception being the tsetse flies. However they were not a problem on most of the game drives. They just a issue in certain areas of the park.

Special thanks should go to the chefs and kitchen staff at all three Robin Pope camps. There were plenty of options for breakfast including porridge (proper cut oats none of your rolled oats or instant stuff). Amazing lunches with such a refreshing array of salads. And delicious evening meals. Not forgetting the afternoon homemade cakes and biscuits (forget the Great British Bake Off - we have the winners in South Luangwa!). A wonderful variety of nibbles that were provided at sundowner time plus more surprises on the bar when we returned from our evening drives. We also need to mention the huge variety of home made bread and rolls that were served!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Once again Tour Africa staff were there at Lusaka Airport to welcome us and assist with transfers. They also helped with our departure flights.

Freddie Sutton was responded to our initial enquiry and Claire Scott was responsible for completing all the final details. Both of them were great to deal with and responded promptly and efficiently.

We are already planning next year's trip. Thanks Robin Pope Safaris. Thanks Expert Africa.

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Keep up the good work!" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 13 on a Zambia safari

"Very pleasant and unforgettable holiday! From booking until arriving back home. We've had already the opportunity of visiting several countries in Africa, and this travel to Zambia was one of the most fantastic.

The chosen camps, their locations, the accommodations, the food and the activities in which we took part are/were great. Everything has gone very smoothly, as planned or above expectations. We had some very agreeable surprises that we will never forget. But, above all, it was the professionalism, the sympathy and the warmth of the people we've met.

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Booking this travel with Expert Africa was a pleasure.

From the very beginning, the quality of the information obtained, the clarity of the documents, the rigor of the approach and all the support provided by Maruska were simply superb.

Doing better is not easy..." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 11 on a Zambia safari

"Lucy helped arrange our trip. She was wonderful. I travel a lot, and this is the first time I have used someone to plan a trip. It was so helpful, and Lucy was a pleasure to work with. Overall, it exceeded my expectations, and I learned more about my expectations and where I needed to be clearer in the future. What I really appreciated about Lucy, is I messed up a flight (spelled a name wrong on an airline ticket). I got no where in fixing it and Lucy jumped in and got it rectified.

I did learn that when flying with South African Airline and the smaller airlines that they change flight schedules and cancel flights frequently, so don't book multiple legs of a trip on one ticket - unless they are the same day." Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 7 on a Zambia safari

"Our second visit to Zambia and both experiences were great" Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 9 on a Zambia safari

"Our first holiday to Africa was simply amazing, it surpassed all our expectations. The National Park was stunningly beautiful with such a varied landscape, the views and the light were so photogenic. The opportunity of seeing the wildlife and birds was beyond our dreams and expectations, it was amazing what we saw and we appreciated being immersed in the landscape whilst in the camps and on game drives, a truly memorable experience. We also valued the fact that the Park was not overrun with tourist vehicles surrounding and disturbing the animals.

The guides were fantastic, their knowledge and skills were awesome, they literally enhanced our whole experience with their information and their ability to locate animals and birds. Their knowledge did not stop there, we enjoyed being told about the different trees, the tracks (thank you Daudi for your drawings), and even the different animal poo...all so interesting.

The camps were all in quiet, beautiful locations, they were so comfortable with a very high standard of house keeping. The food was constantly delicious, varied and so beautifully prepared and served. The laundry service was efficient and so appreciated .
Finally though, it was the welcome we received from all the staff that made our holiday so perfect

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We have wanted to do a safari holiday for many years but we have worried about the impact of tourism on local communities, the environment and the wildlife but then we were told about RPS and Zambia by some friends of my sister, who also recommended Expert Africa. Having looked at the RPS website and receiving their Monday newsletter we knew that Zambia was the place for us but as we hadn’t been to Africa before we had so many questions to ask and many of them trivial.

We wanted to talk to someone at Expert Africa directly and Claire was perfect, she answered all our questions quickly and patiently, she put together our wonderful itinerary and had so much knowledge and enthusiasm. We will be returning to Zambia and we will be in touch with Claire to discuss our future holiday.

In addition, the complementary guide book and wildlife survey were so appreciated.

Thank you all at Expert Africa and RPS for a fantastic holiday in Zambia." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 13 on a Zambia safari

"Met all expectations (i had done the holiday in 2015 and wanted to bring my husband who just loved it!)

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As you probably know I have used Expert Africa for all my sub-Saharan holidays and where possible booked through Claire as she knows exactly what i am after!" Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 10 on a Zambia safari

"The couple running the Lodge were new and I think need to learn a bit more about other possibilities but very welcoming.


Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No, I think you have good knowledge and are very helpful as when flight was cancelled at short notice" Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 4 on a Malawi trip

"Zambia and the South Luangwa exceeded our expectations. This has been our favourite family holiday (agreed by all 4 of us!)

The two camps we stayed in, Lion Camp, and Chinzombo, were both fantastic.

We enjoyed the remoteness of Lion Camp and the scenery in that area of the park. It was nice to stay in two different locations within the South Luangwa. Chinzombo is a luxury camp, but so too is Lion Camp, which has recently been refurbished." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 7 on a Zambia safari

"The trip was wonderful, very well organised and planned.

Our special requests were all noted and fed through to the camps which made us feel very special. Thank you

We loved Mchenja and Chongwe camps and although the treehouse at Flatdogs is totally unique, the experience does not quite match the other 2 camps.

Our suggestion would be to stay at Flatdogs first, outside the park before moving into the much quieter and exclusive inner park.

We loved being asked to record our wildlife sightings." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 13 on a Zambia safari

"This was a fantastic trip - many thanks to Claire.

The remoteness we experienced in North Luangwa in particular, and the quality of the guiding plus the lack of other vehicles in all the places we visited, were really very special indeed.

Walking in the bush, particularly with Remote Africa, was both immersive and addictive and coupled with the smaller, rustic nature of the camps we stayed at throughout the holiday has very much whetted our appetites for more!" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 13 on a Zambia safari