Zanzibar: reviews from our travellers

"Our overall experience was what we dreamed of. Africa is a unique untouched beauty. We would definitely recommend this trip to our friends excluding the Beyt al Chai experience. In the end we did accepted this as an adventure at Zanzibar island, but it wasn't a pleasant thing to happen since it was our honeymoon, if it was in other trip we wouldn't have been so disappointed.

The game drives were great, even with the fact of missing the migration at the Serengeti. The CC Africa lodges are amazing, the staff is very friendly. Everything is great there! It's a worthwhile experience. No one should miss it!

The Matemwe Retreat is all fantastic..and as we said before our butler was tireless!

This trip was everything that we expected. We are very looking forward to go back to Africa very soon." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 7 on a Zanzibar holiday

"We had a fabulous experience where the goal was to relax and take in the scenery on the island of Zanzibar. We greatly appreciate the fantastic expertise of Chris McIntyre and Ann Lederman, without whom this trip would not have been possible. The entire trip was planned on short notice, and was complicated by our own unreachability while traveling during the planning process. Also making things difficult were several itinerary changes that were unexpected but necessary.

We felt to be in great hands with the team at Expert Africa, and Ann in particular made a potentially difficult trip easy with her speed and incredible resourcefulness. In one instance, she was able to orchestrate hand delivery of an airline ticket to me in Arusha, Tanzania, when e-ticketing was unavailable and I was in-transit through Africa. Though I am an American, living in San Francisco, and Expert Africa is a tour operator based in the U.K., I always felt your services were instantly accessible, to a greater extent than even locally based tour operators in Africa.

We will always be grateful for your fantastic work in putting together our honeymoon, and if we ever have the wonderful opportunity of another vacation in Africa, we would use your services in a heartbeat.

Thanks again;

Suggestions for improvement:

We felt we received exceptional service, and have no suggestions for improvement." Read full review: 5 nights in Africa; 1 on a Zanzibar holiday

"Nothing much to add to all the comments here. We all enjoyed the holiday throughout. Such a range of experiences!
I think overall the standard of accommodation at Selous and Pongwe was 'under=-sold' and the quality of the food was higher than we expected.

Only thing we didn't think was worth it was trip to Prison Island, which we organised ourself- but it was quite an overcast and choppy day so we ducked out of the snorkelling which might have added to it.

Also I think the advice against taking travellers cheques should be rather more strongly stated; although we were able to cash them directly for dollars in Stonetown we did have to do a bit of shopping around and quite a high commission rate. I'm not sure we would have any success with sterling.

Suggestions for improvement:

Nothing to add to the various comments above. We will certainly speak positively of Expert Africa and recommend to anyone looking for a similar experience." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 7 on a Tanzania safari

"We couldn't have asked for a better holiday - both on safari and in Zanzibar.

Suggestions for improvement:

If only Expert Africa dealt with the rest of the world!

It was a pleasure to deal with Eleanor and her knowledge of all aspects of our holiday was spot on. Every single transfer went to plan, all on time, and the accommodation at all the venues was exactly as she had described it to me.

It was Eleanor's suggestion for us to spend 3 days in Ruaha and we wouldn't have missed it for anything.

Thank you." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 7 on a Tanzania safari

"Overall we were very pleased with our trip,
Our Guide on the Safari, Nuru was absolutely brilliant, he had so much knowledge and didn't have to rely on the CB or following other people around to find the animals. The way he was able to spot some of them was unbelievable. Also he had such a knowledge of all the small animals as well, always showing the animal afterwards in the books he had and always correct on their name as well.
he looked after us from the moment we landed to the time we took off for Zanzibar. We were very lucky to have some one like him.

The accomodation was very impressive overall considering the general standard on view. Was really impressed with the quality and variety of the food as well.

Tanzania is such a lovely country and would love to visit it again some time in the future.

A big Thanks to Claire & Ann who helped us out in preparing for the trip that were always very helpful when dealing with them." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 9 on a Tanzania safari

"Expert Africa live up to their name :)" Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 9 on a Tanzania safari

"Our trip was nearly flawless! It was great to have a vacation where all the details were arranged for us and all transports occurred on schedule.

Claire Scott was extremely patient, accepting changes to the duration of our trip and answering all questions without a hint of annoyance. We were totally delighted with the choice of hotels and her very good advice." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 9 on a Zanzibar holiday

"Everything that Expert Africa arranged was done efficiently. All the transfers were on time and we were kept informed at every transfer.

Thank you for making our holiday a magic experience." Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 7 on a Tanzania safari

"The trip was unforgettable. We felt our itinerary was perfect with just the right amount of time in each place. We were overwhelmed by the warmth and friendliness of the people wherever we went which added enormously to the enjoyment of our time in Tanzania. It is certainly a country I would like yo go back to.

We felt Claire/Expert Africa did a fantastic job sorting our holiday and preparing us for the trip. We were really impressed with how smoothly it went considering how much we moved about." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 7 on a Tanzania safari

"One of our most memorable overall Africa experiences. Partly because of the variety of camps, scenery and activities, partly because of the fact we visited in the early part of the wet season, implying green landscapes with fat and happy animals. This can make for very photogenic stuff, with animals pictured amongst fields of flowers and greenery, rather than dust, and I took some of my best ever pictures on this trip. Bird variety and sightings are also fabulous at this time of year.

The downside of the wet season is that things can become a bit more chaotic, with roads becoming impassable and airstrips being temporarily unusable. As such, not quite as "stress-free" as safaris can be at other times of the year, but very much recommended as an experience if all you've done before is the dry season (which was the case for us). Oh, there's one other downside too - more insects!

The balance of the trip was excellent in terms of safari/beach/city, with the Zanzibar accommodation being perfectly chosen to suit our particular preferences - thank you Ellie. Logistics were flawless throughout. Overall, very pleased indeed, and starting to think about our next trip already." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 9 on a Tanzania safari