Several people here have recommend Bert's Fish Eagle Safaris, based in Houston. I've been working with him, and all seems fine, but I note that he has no affiliations as a travel agent or otherwise. He's just an independent guy.

This raises some flags, but I don't know enough to judge whether this is a serious problem. If I use a credit card for everything, am I covered? Anything I should do or check?

The BBB has no reports of problems with him, BTW.

Thanks,
-- Ethan

I had looked at them and found their prices to be extremely high compared to using outfitters/operators within Tz. While they might be an excellent company, you can save big bucks by doing your homework.

Good luck.

I actually found that Bert's pricing was very good.
No problems using him and he did help me when I ended up with flight delays en route.

Affiliations cost money, thus most companies can own them. I'd say judge the company on the advise offered and the confidence you feel when working with them.

Bert has been in the industry for quite some time and I believe built a great reputation. I don't believe that he is going to "do you in"... Check with your card company on their policy governing its use for travel.

Forgot, I believe that Bert only does trips to Southern Africa.
I'm curious about how dssxxx managed to do comps. on trips to Tz.

I have used Bert for two trips to southern Africa without any problems. Both of my trips were fairly basic: first trip CCA camps in SA and Wilderness Camps in Botswana and 2nd trip all Wilderness camps in Botswana. The ititneries were not too complicated, so I can't speak about what might happen if there is some big problem, but our trips went just fine. Certainly no problem with the credit card charge. I have found his prices to be very competitive for Wilderness camps.

I haven't worked with him, but I know several who have, always with the highest of compliments. I would not be concerned with providing credit card details to him.

We did a Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe trip with Bert in 1999. He is a pleasure to deal with and our trip was wonderful. I do not think you should even hesitate to use Fish Eagle Safaris.

I too have booked with Bert on multiple trips. He's efficient and particularly useful for itineraries that involve bookings at Wilderness Safaris camps which can't be done on your own.

I've only talked and emailed with Fish Eagle and never traveled with them. FE's TZ connections are top of the line and more expensive than others. For Southern Africa I found Fish Eagle to be one of the most reasonably priced.

I did not look into his affiliations or credentials. I would ask where your deposits are parked until you leave.

We used Bert for a Jo'burg/Vic Falls/Botswana (Mashatu + four WS camps)/Cape Town trip in 2004, and I thought he was great. We live in Houston where Bert lives, so it was very helpful to meet with him personally and go over maps and plans. He tends to use Wilderness Safari camps, but will do others. He was very flexible and responsive, and his price was as good as others. We had no glitches during the trip (which is a good thing), so I don't know how that would be handled.

Although he does arrange East Africa trips, Bert is a South Africa ex-pat and specializes in southern Africa. We did not use him for our Tanzania trip in 2007, but I intend to use him again the next time we go to southern Africa