Reviews of holidays to East Coast Zanzibar

"This was our first safari, and overall the trip exceeded expectations. Jessica really took the time to understand the kind of thing we were looking for and her recommendations and advice were spot on.

It was nice to bump into Chris (the boss) on our trip - once on one of the flights and again at Mdonya. He's clearly extremely knowledgeable and passionate about all things safari.

We loved the two camps, and it was great to visit two different areas as the experience was different at each. In particular we loved the fact that both parks were relatively quiet and on the game drives we rarely saw other people.

We expected both of the camps to be quite basic in terms of facilities, but we felt really spoilt at both, the tents were lovely and the food was excellent. Probably because of this, the time in Zanzibar, which we were anticipating being a bit of luxury at the end, fell a bit short in comparison (although Jessica's first recommendation wasn't available).

Overall, I'd highly recommend Expert Africa and we hope to be able to book another trip with them one day!" Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 7 on a Tanzania safari

"Jessica helped my husband and I plan our first trip to Africa in celebration of our wedding anniversary. She provided great guidance and suggested a trip itinerary to Tanzania and Zanzibar that fit our desires and budget.

We were so impressed that every detail was executed on the ground perfectly. Our transfers, meet and greets, and local flights were exactly as described in our itinerary.

This was a trip of a lifetime for us and Tanzania has forever changed our hearts and lives forever.

Thank you, Jessica!" Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 5 on a Tanzania safari

"We had a fantastic trip, and appreciated the time you took to make sure it would work for all of us, from ages 7 to 77!

The process of deciding upon itinerary (places, lodging, timing) involved very productive discussions to arrive at a great trip. The 15 days with Anaphi Anafi demonstrated that our desires were listened to, and we had a truly great and effective guide.

Thank you so much for everything.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No.

Any small matters that arose, the sorts of things that occur with any planned trip, were handled very quickly" Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 14 on a Tanzania safari

"I had a fantastic trip. The safari camps had excellent facilities and the guides were particularly good.

It was exactly what I was looking for.

The staff and guides had obviously been primed to know what I was interested in and were superb throughout.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

I would like to add that Claire saved me from a minor catastrophe when she spotted that I had booked my own flights home for the wrong day, which meant that she could make additional arrangements." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 9 on a Tanzania safari

"From the first conversation with Richard we thought the level of service from Expert Africa was outstanding. The attention to detail and the diligent way the many paperwork requirements were set out was faultless.

Every question was answered in depth and very helpfully and all the recommendations were accurate.

Having spent 30+ years in the travel industry it was a delight to travel with another company who understand and practice the highest levels of customer service that we always tried to do.

Well done one and all

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Really I don't. It seemed like we were travelling under the wing of a class outfit who did the ground work so well we didn't need much help overseas at all.

The icing on the cake was that we happened to be lucky enough to have the best guide at Little Governors. From talking to other guests who had minor frustrations with their guides, we soon realised that Tom was giving us a masterclass in how to be the perfect guide." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 6 on a Kenya safari

"A few thoughts I had: I think it would be better to have a minimum of 3 nights at each camp or lodge as I found 2 nights was not enough especially as I lost a day due to a flight cancellation/postponement. If I'd had 3 nights at Plantation Lodge I could have still done the Ngorongoro crater safari. I know there are cost implications but in hindsight it is worth it for a better experience. And Plantation Lodge was my favourite accommodation and I only got one night there!

I would also prefer to stay in camps that are not too long a drive from the airstrips. I found more than one hour quite difficult as you just want to get there and it can also be a long drive back to camp after a safari. I would consider this if I was doing another trip.

Needless to say I preferred the luxury camps in Botswana which had a pool and included drinks and laundry, although I realise they cost more, and I did enjoy the other camps which felt closer to the wildlife etc. as a contrast. Paying for drinks and laundry was not expensive so that did not put me off.

The support and help from my Expert Africa agents with the few challenges I encountered was wonderful and
I can't speak highly enough of the quality of your company. Of course I don't know how you compare with others but having met agents from other companies and having feedback from other guests at the camps I felt very glad that I had chosen EA.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Perhaps to warn travellers about the potential for things to go wrong such as flight cancellations and injuries and talk through what to do in these situations. i know this in included in your written material but it is a lot to take in especially when having to get visas and vaccinations in preparation for the trip. I had read the information but still felt stressed when things happened. However your responses were so helpful and reassuring which helped me to calm down. Big thank you to Chris in this regard - I could only nominate one agent above but it is the sign of a good manager/owner to be prepared to step in out of hours to help a client." Read full review: 36 nights in Africa; 11 on a Tanzania safari

"Our trip was a fabulous experience, we would not hesitate to recommend Expert Africa to our friends and family." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 10 on a Zanzibar holiday

"Everything went according to plan which was an achievement in itself!" Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 6 on a Zanzibar holiday

"This was a return trip, and a fairly similar itinerary to 5 years ago.

Aided by Expert Africa again, we stuck to what we knew had worked. All the camps continued to be oustanding and the wildlife experience was once again wonderful yet completely different than last time.

We fell in love with Tanzania the first time, and we love it even more now.

Simply magical.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Absolutely not, its been amazing from the outset, and even through the Covid nightmare you managed to keep us up beat and informed.

The only sadness this trip was the relocation of Olakira away from the river which was enforced by local authorities apparently. A great shame because the game experience and game drives were decidely poorer for the extra driving and diversions away from some riverside areas that this relocation requires. Can't be helped and of course if we'd not been there in 2017, we'd have no comparison.

We were only disappointed by the quality of the wine offered with meals. It really was at best average.. We had been spoiled by having Stellenbosch wines in 2017! And we do appreciate that economies may be necessary after the Covid pandemic." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 11 on a Tanzania safari

"It was the best. All the different things we saw and did, my absolute favourite type of holiday.

Thank you for making it so easy for us.

Just wish we could do it every year!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Just continue as you are, letting clients talk to you !" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 6 on a Zanzibar holiday