Reviews of safaris to South Luangwa National Park
945 holiday reviews from our travellers of holidays which include South Luangwa.
"Wonderful"
All aspects were excellent from the camps to the wildlife provided an never to be forgotten experience" Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 11 on a Zambia safari
"My Sep 2019 trip"
Tongabezi as a base to see the Victoria Falls was great and a perfect way to end our holiday.
Everything went as planned without a hitch of any kind - a real tribute to professional organisation. Many thanks!" Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 6 on a Zambia safari
"Our September 2019 trip"
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.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Keep up the good work!" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 13 on a Zambia safari
"Wonderful trip!"
We especially appreciated Amanda‘s feedback and valued her recommendations. We’ve been to Africa many times, but it is extremely valuable to get the perspective of someone who is familiar with areas, such as South Luangwa and Lake Malawi, that we have never been to. We have used expert Africa services before and would not hesitate to use them again. Thanks, Amanda." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 12 on a Zambia safari
"Zambia / Zanzibar"
"My Sep 2019 trip"
Before the trip we were a liitle concerned about the short transit time in Lusaka between the arrival of our afternoon Emirates flight and our Proflight booking to Mfuwe. We were assured this was not a problem and this proved true.From the time of landing, Immigration and Visa issue, Luggage collection, and check in for the next flight were completed in just 30 minutes.
We were very pleased with the knowledge on birds of guides at all the camps. This meant there was always something to look at.
A couple of points of our personal views not necessarily relevant to Expert Africa:
We rather wish we had spent one night in Lusaka, for no other reason than we don't feel we've visited the country in the true sense.
In a future trip we would look for an alternative to the Emirates routing via Dubai.The timing of this allows little chance of a proper sleep in a transit time of over 17 hours from London to Lusaka. Via J'burg is better in this respect and we would also consider more direct routes via Addis Ababa or Nairobi, which could include a stopover.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Nothing springs to mind. Every query was handled quickly and efficiently." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 10 on a Zambia safari
"My Sep 2019 trip to Zambia"
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.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
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
"A perfect Zambia - Malawi combination Holiday"
Lucy really provided expert guidance on chosing camps that suit us. We wanted to go back to Tafika and she has given us new places to consider and her recommendations have been excellent." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 13 on a Zambia safari
"My Aug 2019 trip"
"Simply amazing, beyond all our expectations "
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
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
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
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