Africa Small Group Trips

Loved this trip. A fantastic trip for birders. I am not one but like wildlife generally and enjoyed the birds with pelicans of two species, flamingos and a grey heron plus all the others being memorable. Assan our guide could identify a speck in the distance before we could even see it! Other aspects of the tour were also interesting and photogenic with the "oyster factory" and all the colourful fishing boats. Assan imparted a lot of information about both countries - the people and their history, shared languages and customs. The boat trip from Georgetown on the Gambia river was a good experience - very calm and relaxing. All the hotels were in a good position although occasionally showers were a dribble or cold and generally breakfasts were not inspiring although there were always eggs. The hotel with the best dinner had the worst breakfast! The food on the boat was good and I enjoyed local bread and peanut porridge neither of which reappeared elsewhere. Weather was great with blue sky every day and not excessive heat. Our last boat journey was 5 hours on a bench seat and we all got wet from spray. We endured but were relieved when we made it. Our driver Ousman, probably name misspelt, was very careful and avoided potholes, donkeys, goats etc. He was very friendly and helpful too. A few long journeys and not a trip for beach lovers or foodies. I would have welcomed another two night stay about two thirds of the way through. To summarise it was a great experience.

This was an excellent, well paced tour of 2 really interesting countries with and amazing culture. The tour had to be amended at the last minute due to a change in the UK Government travel advice meaning that we were no longer able to visit one of the areas on the itinerary. In addition with the government in Benin deciding to end the voodoo festival at midday on the 10th due to the general election taking place on the 11th, the itinerary had to have another change. However Explore and the local agent were able to make a number of amendments that meant we still saw everything else and had a couple of extra items, including a stilt dance, added. I was disappointed to miss the voodoo procession, but we saw a lot of dances, both at the festival and in the villages, which were fantastic. I enjoyed the free time that we had in several locations as it gave me an opportunity to wander around exploring and chatting to local people and I even watched Kara FC, who I was told are a premiership team in Togo, play a friendly. There wasn't much variety in the food, but as a vegetarian I was well catered for and the quality was good, although it sometimes lacked a bit of protein. Overall I thought that the accommodation was good for this area of Africa and I enjoyed being in the stilt village (with very basic facilities), watching life go by and hiring our own boat for an afternoon trip. Whilst we didn't spend long there, I was pleasantly surprised by Cotonou, where I loved the large statue of an Amazon warrior and the long graffiti wall. Royal Air Maroc did manage to lose the luggage of everyone on the London flight via Casablanca, due to the short transit time at Casablanca. Our guide said that this can often happen and worked well to get all but one of our bags delivered to us after lunch on day 3 (one person didn't get their bag until the penultimate day of the trip so we had to lend him clothes etc). We had to pay for a taxi to get the bags to us, but Explore refunded this. So, I would recommend that you check the flight timings and ensure that any transit times are sufficient. Our guide wasn't particularly forthcoming with information on occasions and could have communicated better with us about what was going on, especially given all of the changes. However he did deal with a number of issues well, including the lost bags and late changes to the itinerary. So in summary, I really enjoyed the tour, the dances were fantastic, the cities, towns and villages were very interesting, most people were friendly and, given all of the challenges, I thought that Explore and their local agents did an excellent job in ensuring that we still saw and experienced so much.

I found this to be a fairly intense tour, despite the ‘moderate pace’ characterisation. However looking back on the experience, I’m very glad that we covered as much ground as we did, tiring though it sometimes was at the time. I came back with a really rich set of memories of this hugely diverse country. Special thanks must go to our guide Ali Ait Ichou, who was simply outstanding - so informative, entertaining and helpful, and endlessly patient.

A fabulous trip for those who are a little adventurous in their travels - the itinerary is a really good mix of insights into the history and culture of both countries as well as the beautiful nature reserves and abundant birdlife. Our tour leader was caring and organised and enhanced our experience by sharing personal experiences.

Great itinerary; visiting a variety of wildlife hotspots and scenery. It was the rainy season with many animals having recently produced offspring. We were lucky and saw a great variety of animal families from elephants, giraffes, hippos, jackals and various species of antelopes to lions, leopards, hyenas and wild dogs, not to mention the huge number of birds. The quality of accommodation varied from luxury lodges to simple tents. Camping in the rainy season has its challenges; everything is always damp and roads can be flooded. Our tour leader was excellent. Not only did he expertly navigate the roads there was nothing he didn't know about the animals we encountered. He also made sure that we had enough time to observe them and take plenty of photos. The tour ended with a visit of the spectacular Victoria Falls and we took the opportunity to go on a helicopter flight over the area which was well worth it. A memorable trip overall.

The trip was well organised and managed. I was very impressed with the team on the ground - the lead guide (Julius) was extremely knowledgable, attentive and good-humoured, the rest of the team from junior guides, to porters and cooks did an incredible job making our stay on the mountain safe and as comfortable as possible. Me and my partner felt very well cared for from start to finish. The trek itself was incredible - beautiful views and a fantastic way to spend time in nature and challange yourself. We thought 8 days was perfect to acclimatise. It was lovely to also see animals on the safari afterwards. A once in a lifetime experience!