Reviews of trips to Lusaka area

"Overall the trip was enormously enjoyable and successful.

We thought that our visits to Lilongwe and Chipata, both the SOS Children's villages and the experience of smaller towns, added considerable interest to the trip and added an extra dimension to the safaris, since we met local people and saw the country beyond the slightly false environment of the safari camps. Everyone we met was extremely friendly and welcoming. We also enjoyed our short stay in Nairobi, staying as before at the excellent but unfussy Fairview Hotel.

The safaris were very enjoyable. Lion Camp was our favourite of the two camps and could not be faulted, and we would definitely recommend it to anyone. Its location is exceptional and the game plentiful. We saw lots lions, a leopard on 3 occasions and many elephants - these three being our favourites - and the reviews of the plentiful sightings of lions and leopards were a major factor in selecting Lion Camp. We were not disappointed.

Puku Ridge was also lovely and suffered in our estimation only because of the wonderful experience we enjoyed at Lion Camp and the unfortunate fact that we were the only guests. The wildlife was not as plentiful but the guide made the drives very enjoyable nontheless.

We identified the safari camps we wished to visit and made some of the other accommodation arrangements ourselves, but Expert Africa's Claire Scott was happy to talk through our proposals and offer alternatives for our consideration, and most importantly she made the travel arrangements to fit our plans as well as booking the safari camps and our overnight stays outside Lusaka, so that everything worked seemlessly. She also held our complicated international flight bookings longer than we imagined possible while we delayed fixing our dates due to difficulties finalising when we could visit the SOS Children's Villages. All the travel arrangements and connections went smoothly." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 8 on a Zambia safari

"another fine trip and Shiwa was an excellent add-on as so different.
Please can we talk about 2014 possibilities especially about some info we have on Zimbabwe and Kafue from other guests we met." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 14 on a Zambia safari

"This was the second time we had visited Zambia. We liked our first trip two years ago so much that we returned to exactly the same camps, changing only the order in which we visited them. In all our travels this is the first time that we have ever done that, and we were not disappointed.

Of course we saw many of the same animals as before, but every encounter is different, and we now have even more precious memories and photographs." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 11 on a Zambia safari

"As you will have gathered we had a fantastic trip thanks to Expert Africa and NCS.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

It's probably worth clarifying to clients about the seating in the jeeps so they know what to expect ie. if someone has to sit in the middle or not. Also we requested that the canopy be removed on one of the jeeps at Mchenja so that we could have a better upward view of birds and leopards in trees! This they did for us quite happily. It is worth people being aware of the option of an 'open' jeep which we managed to have throughout.

Just to mention re your staff - Ellie Dunkels was very helpful when Claire was not available. NCS seemed to think highly of Chris, Claire and Ellie." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 9 on a Zambia safari

"I booked this trip as a Birthday treat for my partner. I wanted it to be spectactular, exciting, interesting, and memorable. It was all of those things and more.

Claire Scott listened to my wishlist and produced an itinerary which allowed us to see more than we thought possible in the limited time we had available.

One of the reasons I chose Expert Africa was I wanted someone else to do the organising this time, so as not to have to worry about connections bookings etc. Well, it certainly was properly organised. We even had someone meet us BEFORE passport control in Lusaka who organised our visas for us, and we didn't have a raise a finger on our own behalf for the whole trip.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Not really, but thanks to Claire for not laughing when I told her how much I expected to pay for the trip! ;)" Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 9 on a Zambia safari

"Special thanks to Ellie, for sorting out my ridiculous mistake with the booking. You were brilliant.

Made the holiday rather more expensive than I'd anticipated(!) but was thoroughly worth it. Your initial advice about where to go was spot on too. Thank you.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

In a word - No. Whole experience was superb." Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 7 on a Zambia safari

"Great" Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 7 on a Zambia safari

"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

"Fabulous trip. Really impressed with everything.

I would love to go back to Zambia, so I'll have to fit it in when I've gone through everywhere else on my list." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 9 on a Zambia safari

"This was an excellent trip, great camps, super guiding in excellent locations and brilliant game viewing. All of the arrangements worked very well - everything went smoothly.

We were impressed by Expert Africa, and will certainly use them again.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

None - we are very happy with the service you provide. We met quite a few travellers you had sent to Zambia and they all seemed impressed." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 11 on a Zambia safari