Reviews of holidays to East Coast Zanzibar

"We were very impressed with the Asilia staff at all the locations we visited. It would appear that their staff training is very good as there is a notably high standard of commonality between sites - quite a rarity these days.

Well done Expert Africa! The itinerary put together by Olivia was absolutely spot and fully met our brief for a unique safari holiday. The order in which we completed it and the places we stayed worked ever so well, to the point that the great experience built throughout and finished with a real crescendo in our final camp. Hard to beat it!" Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 6 on a Tanzania safari

"James did a fantastic job of organizing this trip for us. His suggestion of adding Kichaka to our plans was spot on, and we never would have known about them without his advice. Arrangements were all smooth, service everywhere was great, and the plan he shared was exactly what we got. I think if I could change anything about the trip, it would have been the Pongwe part. While the resort was fine, it wasn't totally our style. I think we would have been happier at one of the places with a stronger environmental orientation and better access to good snorkeling. That's on me, not James - I didn't share that this was a priority, and I was thinking too much about the expense.

I also wasn't prepared for the aggressiveness of some of the street hustlers in Stone Town. While in most places, they would respect a polite "Hapana, Asante," in the Forodhani Gardens area, they were so aggressive it made it unpleasant to walk over there - sometimes escalating to physical contact and insults from them although we stayed polite. This isn't something that Expert Africa controls of course! It would be something that it would be helpful to add to the next Bradt guide update.

I also need to note that at the beginning of our trip, things went off track due to a problem with Turkish Air. Because of their delays, we missed our Istanbul connection, and had to stay the night in Istanbul. This was clearly not Expert Africa's fault, but it was very frustrating that I couldn't get through to anyone on the 24 hour emergency number. I called four times. Each time, a recording would tell me that someone would be with me in a minute, and then the phone would start ringing. I would let it ring 100 times before I gave up. Maybe I should have had faith and let it ring longer?

I guess I'm used to hold music playing if I'm in a queue of calls, and then the ringing starting when I'm actually being connected. Is the ringing what happens when you're in queue on your line? Because all this happened during the 36 hour stretch that no one is on your office, folks at Lake Manze camp were quite concerned that we had disappeared without a word, and we were concerned that we wouldn't be able to reconnect with our trip. We spent a scary 4 hours sitting outside the Dar airport hoping we'd be able to figure everything out at sunrise, which we did with the help of a friendly cab driver and the staff at Coastal Aviation." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 9 on a Zanzibar holiday

"Yet again Expert Africa lived up to their name by setting us up with a great trip.

We enjoyed every part of it and frequently thought the next day could not be as good as the last. However it always was. Thanks to Ellie for developing the itinerary for us and thanks to James setting it up." Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 14 on a Tanzania safari

"Would have liked to know my options when travelling to Zanzibar as I was unaware that Stone Town was the only big town in Zanzibar! Perhaps I should have done more research myself, but having only one choice of hotel in Zanzibar seems somewhat limiting!

Lake Manze was a delight and the highlight of our trip.

Thanks again." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 5 on a Zanzibar holiday

"Excellent - a memorable trip and lifetime experience." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 7 on a Zanzibar holiday

"A wonderful trip. It was like having four different holidays as we had two contrasting safaris, two days in Stone Town, and four days at the beach in Zanzibar. All very memorable and enjoyable.

The organisation by Expert Africa was exceptional - everything happened as we had been told and there was only one glitch which our rep had sorted out in hours." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 7 on a Tanzania safari

"We usually book everything on our trips ourselves but as it was our honeymoon, we decided to get some back-up from a travel agent should things go awry.

We chose Expert Africa from two other companies for our safari and beach trip to Tanzania. All the other agents we approached were very knowledgable about Africa, but we felt that Lyndsey at EA was more down-to-earth, friendlier and open to our ideas of what we wanted.

The process of booking the holiday was actually good fun and most importantly we really did have a honeymoon that was memorable for all the right reasons.

Plus, the fact I've spent a good chunk of my day writing up all the feedback on this website must tell you that we thought it was worth telling someone about it! Just don't ask to see the photos, or you'll be here all month ;)" Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 7 on a Zanzibar holiday

"Fantastic!" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 8 on a Zanzibar holiday

"My only adverse comment is that we could have been warned before booking of some of the disadvantages of individual camps and lodges. I might have selected different locations, had I been in possession of the excellent Bradt guide before booking.

I also wonder whether the scarcity of game in the area of the Selous that we chose might be something that was predictable and about which we should have been warned." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 10 on a Tanzania safari

"I enjoyed the contrast between town and coast; my driver between the two was brilliant." Read full review: 6 nights in Africa; 6 on a Zanzibar holiday