Reviews of safaris to South Luangwa National Park
942 holiday reviews from our travellers of holidays which include South Luangwa.
"Safari in South Luangwa"
Unfortunately there was one event that could have spoilt our holiday had we not been fairly seasoned travellers who do not easliy panic. On arrival at Lusaka we discovered that our names were not on the Proflight list for the flight to Mfuwe, and it was full. The existence of our Expert Africa voucher for the flight proved totally worthless. Fortunatey we were assisted by staff from Tours Africa, who tried to contact Expert Africa for us but it was before office hours in the UK, and Chris McIntyre's phone was on voicemail.
They then contacted Heather at Tafika, and she sorted out an eTicket for the midday flight. All this meant we lost a morning hanging around at Lusaka airport, when we were expecting to be travelling out to the Luangwa valley. When we did arrive at Mfuwe we were met by a driver who had had to make an extra round trip to pick us up when he should have been on his way to one of the Tafika bushcamps. So our arrival at Tafika was all very rushed in the end, and not at all the relaxing start to a holiday that had been planned.
We would point out that Heather also checked our return Proflight flight, and passed on an eTicket (booked by Claire Scott), as there was no booking for that either. She also checked with Shentons that they were expecting us. Considering that this holiday was booked in early February this experience was very disappointing." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 11 on a Zambia safari
"great adventure"
We were pleased with the suggestions of places to stay especially the camps in Zambia and in S Africa Bishops Court and Ocean Eleven were really good. In retrospect the only changes I would make would be a day longer at Kaingo with possibly one less at Hog Hollow, and I would prefer to stay at one of the wineries rather than Rusthof.
The trip organisation was again excellent with all the connections, transfers etc working as expected and I would certainly use Expert Africa again for future holidays.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Perhaps worth considering suggesting people take evaluation forms with them as they are quite detailed and filling them in at the time might be easier and allow a more independent review (rather than comparing the different camps on your return." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 9 on a Zambia safari
"Overall Trip Experience"
The pictures in the Norman Carr brochures have obviously been manipulated (we heard that one of the hosts had admitted this to fellow travellers), very misleading. Had we known that the animals ran away we would not have taken this holiday. A very expensive mistake.
Because of the repetition we also thought that the trip was too long. 5 nights would have been more than enough before moving to a new location altogether.
A herd of buffalo bolted when we were 200 metres away. Hippos and crocodiles ran into the water when we were walking on the river banks on the opposite side to the sand spits they were on 40-50 metres away. A lion even moved into the grass when we were over 250 metres away. Lions, Hippos and crocodiles do not move away from vehicles even when they are relatively close.
We saw lots of game on the drives and were lucky to see 5 leopard and a significant number of lions including a mating pair during the trip.
There were some issues of cleanliness at the camps with broken or chipped toilet seats and general dirtiness of room floors and at Kakuli the bar area. We do not mean daily dust. Mrs Lloyd has lived in Zambia and understands the local situation regarding cleaning. The expat staff should be more on top of general cleaning.
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We have no issue with Expert Africa's service.
For walking safaris I would suggest that you ask people what they think they will experience. The novelty of the walking safari experience is short lived and therefore we recommend that 4-5 days on the Norman Carr safari is more than enough. Our 9 night holiday was far too long." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 9 on a Zambia safari
"Fantastic honeymoon"
From start to finish everything went smooth and was great. Our best trip so far (out of seven trips to Africa).
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
No idea. It's already so close to perfection." Read full review: 28 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip
"Expert Africa & Robin Pope Safari"
The Robin Pope Safari experience was of a very high standard with the quality of guiding and camps expertly selected. The transfers were all very well done with no lost time as these are treated as being part of the driving safari experience. The camps hostess and the good humour of the guides ensured that the visit was good fun all the way through.
We could not fault the techinical knowledge of the camp guides and they certainly added to the experience.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Whole trip was completely faultless and ran totally trouble free so sorry but can't make any good suggestions here!" Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 7 on a Zambia safari
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All travel arrangements went smoothly. Our itinerary was excellent with a great choice of camps. We liked every camp and everthing went so well that we arrived home feeling completely rested and relaxed. Other guests and guides or managers who saw our itinerary in South Luangwa said we had made very good choices. I'm pleased we chose camps that offered walking as we grew to love starting the day with a walk.
We are already thinking about our next trip and will use Expert Africa again. Thanks Maruska for arranging this wonderful trip.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
None. The trip was perfect." Read full review: 27 nights in Africa; 22 on a Zambia safari
"Zambia safari & Lake Malawi"
The varied, fun-filled days and nights in Lower Zambezi and South Luangwa were all that we had hoped for and both parks more than deserve their reputation. To just name a few highlights: 7 great leopard sightings in 10 days, lions hunting/feeding on buffalo/playing with cubs, elephants within reach (his and mine), lazily canoeing down the great Zambezi river (incl. hippo "bump") or herds of elephant majestically crossing the Luangwa/Zambezi.
Lake Malawi and Kaya Mawa has been a wonderful addition that should not be missed.
As usual, thank you very much to Ellie and the Expert Africa team for their knowledgeable advice and valuable service - there is a reason we have booked all of our Africa trips with Expert Africa during the last 10 years. May there be many more to come
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Keep doing what you are doing" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 10 on a Zambia safari
"A fantastic holiday in Zambia"
Would have spent more time at Nkwali (3 rather than 2 nights) to start the holiday.
Saw a lot more game/birds than our last visit which was 6 weeks earlier in the season (2004)." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 8 on a Zambia safari
"Faultless."
The guiding and game viewing were excellent and it was so nice to enjoy the company of wildlife without, in most instances, anyone else around to spoil the perfect experience.
South Luangwa is a very beautiful place with a surprisingly varied landscape. It is a great destination for those who really want to appreciate an African safari rather than simply ticking the boxes and going back home.
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Although we recieved a large bundle of vouchers, these were only required in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe is a much better place to view Victoria Falls during the dry season and it really should be suggested as an option when putting together itineraries for visits to Zambia .
We recommend pre booking some activities at the Falls. We did this for the Flight of Angels but not for the sunset cruise and we only managed to get on one of the smaller more exclusive boats owing to a last minute cancellation. There is no point in going all that way to be disappointed" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 11 on a Zambia safari
"Great Trip"
The combination of bush walking (Zebra Plains), vehicle based (Tafika) and water based (Old Mondoro worked really well and we saw some great game. It did seem that some of the game denisty had dropped since our last visit to Zambia in 2003 but we were glad to be back.
As usual Maruska was a star; patient and helpful in knitting together a perfect trip at short (4 weeks) notice.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
none" Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 8 on a Zambia safari
Where to stay in South Luangwa
Our suggestions for safari camps in South Luangwa National Park