Zimbabwe: reviews from our travellers

"My biggest fear of going on safari was not acquiring COVID but having testing for one or all of our 5 party members significantly impacting the trip.

I put my faith in Expert Africa, and everything went seamlessly. From pick up and testing at JNB airport for our initial tests for Zimbabwe to all the planes and vehicles along the way, there were conscientious staff on time waiting to assist us.

While it was a leap of faith, we were rewarded with camps with few other travelers giving us undivided attention and spectacular game viewing.


Here a few things I felt were important in making my trip such a success so that you might consider duplicating them for future clients.

First, I feel the order of the camps is crucial. Somalisa Acacia in Hwange national park was a good place to start. The camp itself is luxurious and beautiful, and the game viewing is very good. If guests can request a guide, I highly recommend Calvit. He made the experience. This camp, however, is about 10° colder than the others. I think going from cold to warm is much easier to adapt to than the other way around.

Steve Edward’s camp at Lake Kariba is significantly different than the other two camps. It is largely water-based which offers a different experience from typical game drives. I think it was a nice way to break up the land based parks. While I felt the game viewing wasn’t as good as the other two locations, the ability to go to the fishing village and see how a large portion of Zimbabwe lives was the most interesting thing I experienced on the trip. An opportunity not to be missed by any of your clients. Also fishing was tremendously fun for my boys.

Finally, I cannot praise the final camp at Mana Pools enough. Its location along the Zambezi river with an expansive view and extraordinary game was by far the highlight of the trip. No camp will surpass it and by having it last, the vacation ends with a crescendo. Also, we found Mash to be an excellent guide again to be recommended if possible.

The Armadale Lodge was very pleasant with large private grounds if a day in Harare is required. My wish is that others may have our experience.

Once in a life time experience!" Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 10 on a Zimbabwe safari

"Our fourth trip to Africa with Expert Africa was another memorable adventure.

Expert Africa has always done an excellent job putting together workable itineraries that meet our (sometimes particular) travel goals. For this trip they had to deal with the vicissitudes of COVID testing requirements as well. The result was a wonderful sequence of adventures across beautiful Zimbabwe and Tanzania and was everything we hoped it would be.

Many thanks to our friends at Expert Africa.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No suggestions" Read full review: 24 nights in Africa; 12 on a Tanzania safari

"We had the most amazing trip this summer for three key reasons:
1) Expert Africa,
2) Giving Back to Africa,
3) Enjoying the benefits of traveling during Covid.

First, Expert Africa, and in particular Maruska, helped us work through all the challenges that Covid 19 presented during planning. Our original trip was for 2020 so we had to deal with many flight changes and reworked our complicated itinerary several times. When planning for 2021 there were important details Maruska worked through for us regarding transitions between countries, all of which required covid testing and declaration documents etc. It was a little tricky because we were traveling to so many countries over just a couple of weeks, but with Expert Africa's help it all came together perfectly. Having Expert Africa people on the ground in each country understanding the situations and meeting us and smoothing the way at every step made it painless and very VIP. Everywhere we went in all countries the local people were very helpful and understanding.

Secondly, the locals who rely on tourism were so happy to see us that it made our trip that much more rewarding. We felt like we were giving back to them by supporting their important tourism industry all the while we got to experience a most amazing vacation.

And third, we were able to enjoy our sightseeing with limited other tourists which made it all absolutely exclusive and magical. Our transfers and flights were awesome because we had room to spread out. The number of guests at the hotels, lodges, safari camps was still low and again we were able to feel like we had the places nearly to ourselves which was very exclusive and lovely.

Everyone we came into contact with was vaccinated, as it is a regulation of the travel and tourism industry and so we were very safe from Covid and never worried.

This was an amazing trip two years in the planning and so we had very very high expectations that were not in any way dampened by covid details - in fact, we benefited by traveling now when we did. Our trip far exceeded our expectations." Read full review: 30 nights in Africa; 5 on a Seychelles holiday

"Another wonderful welcome from the people of South Africa and Victoria Falls Zimbabwe. Visiting the township of Chinatimba Victoria Falls on the Sunday at the Anglican Church of the Resurrection where the welcome I received was unforgettable a treasured memory. Thank you to Old Drift Lodge for making this and many other memorable experiences possible and for the incredible care given to me during my stay - you are all very special people. In my view absolutely the ONLY place to stay at Victoria Falls.

Thank you Lucy for going the extra mile to ensure that I fitted in all the things I wanted to do in the right order all of which made for another great trip to South Africa and Victoria Falls and wasn't I lucky that you managed to organise it for the dates I requested because otherwise I wouldn't have got to go again this year!" Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 6 on a Zimbabwe safari

"Excellent, very well organized and all transfers and trips went smoothly.

Thanks to Tracy and Wild Horizons, this element was at the end of my trip and was definitely one of the highlights - highly recommend.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Just keep doing what you do ... its an excellent service you provide !" Read full review: 2 nights in Africa; 2 on a Zimbabwe safari

"This is the fifth time our family has used ExpertAfrica to suggest, and arrange, safari trips. And the experiences just keep getting better!" Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 6 on a Zimbabwe safari

"Excellent, memorable." Read full review: 4 nights in Africa; 4 on a Zimbabwe safari

"As always the trip was wonderful.

Not having to worry about transfers, just had to be there at the correct time.

The booking of the trip was excellent and communication was very good." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 9 on a Zimbabwe safari

"Great safari experience throughout Zimbabwe in a luxurious Setting in diverse places. Great lodges and especially in view of current economic struggles of the Country a very professional infrastructure for national park tourism. While nature was suffering from the 2019 drought, nevertheless unique game viewing experiences.
Information on the Website of ExpertAfrica was very detailed and accurate, we planned our trip with Tom who was very helpful and knowledgable, we ended up with a trip that was everything (and more) we expected, highly recommended." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 9 on a Zimbabwe safari

"Excellent." Read full review: 7 nights in Africa; 5 on a Botswana safari