Reviews of safaris to Victoria Falls

"Pre-trip planning was great. I had many back-and-forth conversations with Megan and we tailored a trip that met our specific needs. We had to go through several rounds of proposals until we got the right one, and Megan was patient, prompt, friendly and very helpful. We definitely could not have arranged the trip without her guidance.

Once on the ground in Africa, we encountered a major problem. Because I was traveling without my wife, I was told by the border agent in Namibia that I needed to present my son's birth certificate, a letter from my wife giving me consent to travel alone with my son, and a copy of my wife's passport. This is all due to child trafficking prevention laws in southern Africa. I was not aware of these requirements and had to call my wife at 2am in the morning US time so that she could send me a copy of my son's birth certificate. The border agent also wanted the letter and her passport scan but I told her there was no way I could get those in short order and she reluctantly let us in to the country.

Over the next few days, I had my wife get a notarized letter and scan that and her passport and send to me. This, however, was not technically in compliance with the laws of these countries, as I was supposed to have an original copy of both the birth certificate and the letter. This meant that any border agent in Zimbabwe or Botswana could have decided to follow the law exactly and decline us entry into their country.

Upon reviewing the itinerary from Expert Africa, I did see a short section about traveling with children under 18 in southern Africa. It was several pages into a long itinerary, it was pretty vague (it mentioned a birth certificate but nothing else), and no one at Expert Africa - either by phone or in email - ever pointed this out to me.

I feel that this was a major failure on the part of the company. I had several restless nights wondering if I was going to miss an entire week of my trip due to this, I had to call my wife in the middle of the night, I spent time talking to the US consulates in each of these countries and generally this caused me a lot of stress.

I want to be very clear with this: any time Expert Africa has a parent and child traveling with them, they should repeatedly and proactively remind the parent to get all necessary documentation in order weeks before the trip takes place. This should not be left to a small-print section at the back of a document. As much as I loved my trip and the service I got planning the trip, I don't think I can recommend Expert Africa to friends unless I have confidence that other travellers would not be put in the same situation that my son and I were put in." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 6 on a Botswana safari

"We found the booking process with Tracy very straightforward, especially as we had only contacted her about 10 weeks prior with our idea of a trip to either Kenya or back to Namibia. Tracy was able to reserve all the lodges for us, and present an itinerary for our approval very quickly, after we showed an interest in the 'Pygmy Mouse' safari.

Having used Expert Africa before, we once again found the quality of the service exceptional, coupled with benefiting from the teams in depth knowledge of the countries we were visiting. We once again found Namibia to be a wonderful country, and very easy to self drive around. We absolutely loved exploring the areas of Botswana on our itinerary, and meeting the friendly people of Zimbabwe around the amazing Victoria Falls. Every petrol station we stopped at had fuel available, and all accepted payments by card or in cash.

All lodges have Wifi, usually available in the main lodge area, but we found quite often our room would be close enough to this to be able to use it there. The was a noticeable difference between the quality of the roads in Namibia (good) when compared to those we used in Botswana (not so good)." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"Our second trip to Namibia that was arranged by Expert Africa. As before, this was an excellent trip. Our request were accommodated by Tom, and his suggestions for places to stay were excellent.

This trip in addition to Etosha we went along Caprivi Strip with gave us a different set of birds and mammals from our previous trip - the change in habitat was well worth it. The roads along Caprivi were much improved from guide books and many of the pot holed sections had been (or were being) resurfaced. This made travel even easier.

We thoroughly enjoyed this trip, relaxed in the knowledge that everything was arranged and would work - thank so much all at Expert Africa and in Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 10 on a Namibia trip

"All excellent with little exception

A great holiday" Read full review: 23 nights in Africa; 13 on a South Africa trip

"Our trip involved a lot of travelling with complicated logistics and pick-ups/transfers etc and without exception it was all excellent. Extremely well organised.

All flights in small planes were great and lodges in Botswana and Namibia were small, clean, comfortable with extremely friendly staff.

Great 2-weeks! Thanks Expert Africa for organising!" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 5 on a Namibia trip

"we had a great time" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 5 on a Namibia trip

"Our trip was fantastic. Thoroughly enjoyed by all members of the family. The 15 year old who usually struggles to get out of bed was first on the truck for the early morning game drive. The wildlife was obviously the highlight and it did not disappoint. We saw a lot and learnt a lot. We found the guides extremely pleasant and knowledgeable.

All our guides also commented on what a well constructed itinerary we had with contrasting environments for all the different places that we stayed.

The lodges were all extremely comfortable with very friendly and helpful staff.

The food was without exception excellent and we enjoyed meeting other guests over dinner.

We had requested a swimming pool/plunge pool in all our accommodation and we found this a very pleasant way to cool off in the middle of the day.

Our 13 year old found the early starts and long days tough as he normally sleeps for 9 hours a night and it's difficult to achieve that when you get up at 0500 and dinner is not til 2000. We were able to have our evening meal a little earlier at Hyena Pan which was helpful from that point of view.

The only thing I would consider changing if I went again would be to insert a night's sleep either in Jo'burg or in Maun prior to starting the actual safari as we were all quite tired following the trip out from the UK. This of course would have occurred if we had started in Vic Falls as is normal procedure but we deliberately arranged the trip in reverse due to the requirement for Covid testing before crossing borders." Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari

"Our first proper venture into Zimbabwe and we found it a wonderful experience.

We had a side visit to Little Vundu, which we thought was a jewel in Mana Pools." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 11 on a Zimbabwe safari

"The trip was amazing.

This is our second safari with Expert Africa and we will book again with you when we return.

Our experiences with Kwando Safaris have been outstanding, not only because of the quality of their concessions, but most especially because of their wonderful staff. The guides are fabulous and there is a real sense of teamwork and enjoyment at their lodges." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 13 on a Botswana safari

"It was a fantastic trip.

Tracy was so helpful in all areas of organisation.

The lodges were superb, all the transfers were really easy and ran smoothly.

The itinerary was spot on; a great variety of experiences." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 12 on a Botswana safari