Expert Africa
Reviews of Expert Africa
| Reviews submitted: | 330 |
| Reviews accepted: | 330 |
| Reviews rejected: | 0 |
| Excellent | 321 | |
| Good | 8 | |
| Average | 1 | |
| Poor | 0 | |
| Terrible | 0 |
A Trip Worth the 50 Year Wait
Once upon a time, like fifty years ago, I lived in Africa but hadn't returned until last month. Now with my husband, a reluctant traveler, and our two young adult children, both eager travelers, we planned a safari to Zambia. I selected Zambia based on its description as having the highest density of animals and the lowest number of tourists, for I wanted to introduce my family to as authentic an African experience as possible, and to me, this meant getting close to the soil. (However, the reluctant traveler in our family would never agree to camping, so "close to the soil" came to be interpreted as a remote and secluded location, even if we always had solid flooring under us at nighttime.) I approached Expert Africa with dreams accumulated over 50 years of waiting, and remarkably, each dream was met. In addition, everyone in the family fell under Africa's spell, even the reluctant traveler. Expert Africa put together an ideal travel package for our family--we started in Livingstone, spent several days memorized by Victoria Falls and exploring local markets, and then flew to South Luangwa National Park, where we did two different safaris. Both experiences were excellent, although quite different one from the other. Both safaris were pretty much exactly as I anticipated they would be, for our tour operator had described them accurately and provided us with detailed information so as to minimize any possible misunderstanding as to what the trip would hold. We saw beautiful sunsets, majestic skies, spectacular stars, wild animals close enough to touch, and unforgettable guides and camp operators. Our travel arrangements and accommodations were precisely communicated to us and unfolded flawlessly. With any luck, I won't have to wait another 50 years before taking my next safari, but this one was definitely worth the wait. And in case it's not obviously apparent, I would never consider using an operator other than Expert Africa.
We dealt with Maruska Adye at Expert Africa. The first time I spoke with her, I talked for 15 minutes telling her my hopes and dreams for our safari, or, as it was referenced in the family, Mom's Dream Trip to Africa. After I finished, she said she'd like to make sure she understood what I'd said, and in 3 minutes flat she not only summarized what I'd said but also captured thoughts that I hadn't yet verbalized. In each of my subsequent dealings with her, she showed herself to be patient, resourceful, efficient, knowledgeable, and unceasingly pleasant! My husband, the reluctant traveler, was an initial skeptic about the trip, so I suggested he talk with Maruska. Within minutes after the conversation began, Maruska had calmed all of his anxieties simply with her impressive knowledge and professionalism. Early in the trip, in Livingstone, our daughter became suddenly ill, and the medic recommended we delay our trip to Mfuwe by a day. Within an hour after I sent an SOS to her, Maruska telephoned me back and within a second hour, she had made all of the necessary changes to our schedule. Maruska gets total credit for the unqualified success of our trip, and if I could deal only with her on all of our future trips, I would be supremely happy. She has the full endorsement of our family.
Expert Africa responded to this review on 22 Jun 2017:
It was our pleasure to assist this traveller on her return adventure to Africa, and in introducing the rest of the family to safaris. We'd be delighted to hear from them again in the future.
A Holiday of three Parts
Our Holiday consisted of Safari at Beho Beho, Tanzania - then a beach holiday in an eco-lodge in Zanzibar and then a few days in Stone Town enjoying both the atmosphere and its fascinating heritage. All totally different experiences but together giving us a very real understanding of Africa.
Expert Africa. Cannot praise this operator high them enough. Listened to what we wanted and delivered a holiday that was both high quality,spectacular and memorable.
An Southern African Road Trip
We recently undertook a self drive holiday touring Namibia, Botswana, and Victoria Falls. From our prospective we felt we were privileged to experience these three wonderful countries, and enjoy the sights and sounds as we travelled through them.
Expert Africa.
This is the 2nd time I have used this company, I found them to be excellent at every level of the service they provide.
A life-changing experience
Our 5 day safari in Zambia was truly wonderful. The accommodation, the staff, the food, the guiding, the game viewing - all were truly fabulous.
Expert Africa truly are the experts in this field. This was my 3rd time of travelling with them, but the 1st time for my wife. They are so knowledgeable and helpful and I would not hesitate to recommend them to anybody looking for a very special holiday in Africa.
Family adventure in Zambia
Two weekends of travel - on safari at S Luangwa National Park and at Victoria Falls. Lodging at Flatdogs and Waterberry beyond excellent.
Expert Africa planned a perfect itinerary!
An excellent safari to Botswana
We spent our holiday in 4 camps, 3 in the Delta and the final few days in the Central Kalahari. We especially enjoyed, and would thoroughly recommend, the mobile safari with Andrew Harkness.
Very efficient and helpful. This is the second holiday they arranged for us and it could not have been bettered.
Superb and well organised down to the very fine detail. A holiday that was very special.
Superb locations and wonderful staff, guides and experiences at all camps and locations we visited. We have travelled with Expert Africa a number of times previously and would always recommend them to other people for trips of this sort.
Well organised and very knowledgeable staff. We would always contact them to organise our Africa trips and recommend them to other people. Their knowledge is second to none. Nothing is too much trouble.
Holiday of a lifetime to Botswana
A thoroughly enjoyable, once in a lifetime experience on safari in Botswana.
The welcome was first rate with accommodation, food and service all excellent.
The local guides were particularly knowledgable about the flora, fauna, animals and life in the bush at the Motswiri camp.
The tour operator was extremely knowledgable about the options available to us and taylor-made our trip to suit our preferences such as including an experience of walking safaris.
Beyond beautiful
We had a holiday to Namibia for one week, which is absolutely not enough time. We arranged for a fly-in safari where we flew from Windhoek to Sossusvlei. We spent two days in the beautiful desert, in awe of the ecosystem, dunes, and fiery sunsets. We had a beautiful safari lodge with a view to die for. Then we flew up to Etosha, and were taken aback and how different the environment was. We stayed at a camp that was very welcoming, hospitable, and quite good at taking us out on game drives. We saw more than we bargained for and were very impressed with the guides. I was disappointed when it was over but I have the pictures. When I look at them, I'm in disbelief at how beautiful Namibia is.
Expert Africa was incredibly helpful with arranging my trip to Namibia. I love to plan trips and am quite good with it, but when I opened the Brandt Travel Guide to Namibia, I was immediately overwhelmed. The guide mentioned Expert Africa as a company that the author works for, so I looked it up. I shot off an email not expecting much, but instead I got incredibly responsive and personalized service. It was very in-depth and the agent must have spent a lot of time working out the details of my specific requests with no guarantee that I'd book with them. Ultimately I did, because the trip was planned so perfectly that I would have been a fool to try to arrange any other way. Plus the trip was extremely well priced. I reached out to other companies to try to arrange the same thing in order to price shop, and absolutely it was the lowest price. I was very glad that the agent worked with me and my budget to ensure I got what I wanted but still within my price range. That was absolutely the most impressive part. I absolutely will use Expert Africa for all of my Africa trips from now on.
Unparreled animal and bird viewing and luxury lodges at night!
14 NIGHTS IN NAMIBIA
THE BEST NATURE EXPERIENCES
The first antelope by side of road - day1
Sitting on veranda bed at first lodge - day 1 - watching antelopes , warthog family , lots of birds .
Close enough ( 6 ft) to cheetahs to hear them purr - Day 2
Mongoose pack being harried by 2/3 hawks - day 3.
Warthog Male trying to kill youngsters - because Female then goes into heat!?
All alone at waterhole in empty west Etosha watching 25 giraffes of all sexes and ages and then enthralled by the herd galloping away - because I spooked them by getting out of car!!
Bird with corn cricket in beak - bashing it on branch like on an anvil
Chasing 'flocks' of hornbills along Hornbill Highway in far north east Etosha !
The noise of seals at Cape Cross - especially deep bellow of males!
Flamingos sieving the water as the tide came in ( went out?) leaving puddles behind
The garden at Mushara Lodge - mongoose hunting snakes in long grass - dik dik grazing - wart hogs grazing - lots of birds - very cold swimming pool
Elephants coming to Hobaterre Lodge waterhole - could reach out and touch but must not!
Lizards everywhere - especially at Erongo all colours - all sizes!
Huge flocks of cormorants at Cape Cross !
Thousands of pelicans , flamingos , shore birds in Walvis Bay. Watching the pelicans fishing by diving from 10 metres up!
Always there to hand craft our holiday to our changing specification.
