Encounter Africa Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2009)
- Member Of:
- Association of Uganda Tour Operators
- Tour Types:
- Custom budget tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $50 to $300 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
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Email Kasandra | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing Safari with a knowledgeable and friendly guide!
Our trip with Encounter Africa Safaris was amazing! From the beginning, the communication with Chris was great. He always responded within 24 hours and answered all of the questions we had. We decided to go with Encounter Africa because we felt it was the best value and they had great customer service. Once we decided to book with them, we were give the option to pay via credit card, which would adds a 5% fee or wire the money through our banks. We wired the money and while it may make people nervous, the process was easy and Chris confirmed for us when payment was received.
When we arrived at Entebbe airport, our guide Tolbert was waiting to pick us up! Tolbert was great throughout the entire journey! He was very nice and was able to explain so much to us about the animals, Ugandan culture and more! He stayed with us the entire journey and drove us all over the country! We even decided to change our itinerary last minute to include white water rafting and Jinja and he was more than accommodating, handling all of the necessary hotel and rafting reservations for us!
During the trip we went gorilla tracking in Bwindi, did game drives in Queen Elizabeth National Park, and chimp walking in Kibale forest! It was an unforgettable trip and Encounter Africa Safaris exceeded our expectations! All of the accommodations they arranged for us were amazing as well! We paid for budget accommodations but they were very nice and each unique in their own way!
I would highly recommend Encounter to anyone looking to experience all that Uganda has to offer!
Email Ellie | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Easy and enjoyable every step from booking to touring
Communication was excellent, often responding to emails within an hour. Always polite and pleasant, answered all my questions without hesitation. Once we arrived in country, our guide Jason was punctual and polite, and made the whole experience so easy and effortless for us. He even went the extra mile by racing back to a restaurant to retrieve our forgotten camera when his shift was over and he could have gone home. I highly recommend this company, couldn’t fault them at all. Thanks for fabulous experience.
Email Jim | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Gorilla and Chimpanzee safari
I had a great time on this trip, my first 5 days in Uganda were made super easy being with this tour. The car was perfect, and the tour guide was fantastic. Communications before hand were good, very helpful in deciding which tour I wanted to go on. All of the day trips, hotels, food were great, I had no problems with the trip, and would recommend the tour to anyone looking into going to this beautiful country.
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Email Robert Benedict | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Encounter Africa made my gorilla trekking trip to Uganda even better
From first email to being dropped off, Encounter Africa Safaris was absolutely wonderful, and worth every shilling. Chris was extremely responsive throughout booking, always responding clearly and promptly to make me comfortable, despite my many questions. Tolbert picked me up right on time at the airport, and was the best guide! We talked and laughed and had a good time while driving, his English is flawless, making it fun to spend time together. By the end I like to think that we are friends, and I'll miss him helping me to remember to repack all my things!
Every tour booking was up to expectations, and Tolbert took care of every transaction, often calling head to double check operators were available and I was confirmed. Beyond the normal politeness and expectations of everything going smoothly, it really seemed that Tolbert's position as a friend to and respected member of the communities we visited benefitted me. Small favors here and there with things like timing and special menu items (chapati beats rice every time) seemed to come our way because of Tolbert.
I can't thank Encounter enough for making this trip perfect with no more effort on my part than a few emails and making my flight.
Email Matt Hamilton | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent Service
Encounter Safaris helped us to organise and complete a filming trip to Queen Elizabeth National Park. Communication was quick, efficient and very clear throughout, which made setting up the shoot completely stress-free.
The service throughout the shoot was excellent. Tolbert, our guide and driver, was a great professional - both friendly and organised. He is also a very safe driver. Everything went very soothly indeed, thanks to his great work.
Email Raquel | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An absolutely amazing trip
Over the summer I spent 7 weeks in Uganda. Being my first time to Africa, and as a female traveling alone, I decided to book a tour for the first part of the trip.
I did quite a lot of research, and after much thought decided to go with a company owned and run by locals. I can say without a shadow of a doubt that I made the right choice, and that the trip was worth every single penny I paid. For 19 days I had the luxury of comfortably traveling the country in the company of my fantastic guide.
Patrick was incredibly knowledgeable about the places we visited and the wildlife. He had worked in many of the parks before joining Encounter Africa Safaris, so he knew the best places for spotting animals. I saw pretty much everything: leopards, tree lions, hyenas, elephants, giraffes, monkeys, chameleons... and of course, gorillas!
The trip was a good mixture of nature, culture and adventure, and I felt safe and well taken care of at all times.
Thank you, Encounter Africa Safaris and Patrick, for making this a memorable summer! I will definitely go back:)
Email Simone Wilson | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fantastic guide, fantastic time
Danson was an incredible guide and made our experience unforgettable. All accommodation and meals were outstanding and we couldn't have asked for more on our game drives.
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Email Martina and Markus | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
We had a great Trip!
We had a really great time in Uganda and I was very happy to find Encounter Africa Safari Tours, who were very helpful from the beginning. I wrote a few tour operaters in Uganda to get help with the permits for the Gorillas, but Chris from Encounter was the only one, who answered right away. So we decided to book with them and it was definitely the right choice. We had a 6 days tour and started in Kigali to go to Biwindi National Park for the Gorilla Trekking. This is definitely a once in a lifetime experience!
Our Tour Guide Tolbert also was the best choice, he had a good knowledge of everything and helped us whenever we needed anything, but he also gave us enough private time, which was great.
We also went to the Queen Elizabeth National Park and to the Chimps in Kibale and were really lucky to even see Lions and also the Chimps very near.
Tolbert was a great guide and also helped us in Entebbe to book a Tour behind the scenes in the Zoo, which was amazing.
Overall I would recommed Encounter to everybody who would like to visit the beautyful country of Uganda.
Responsive, efficient, as promised
We hired Encounter Africa for a gorilla habituation trek in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. The trek was a relatively new offering from Uganda--a 4-hour experience accompanying rangers as they continue the process of habituating a gorilla troop to tourists--and Encounter Africa explained this alternative appropriately when we were deciding what to purchase. Additionally, the transportation and lodging arrangements made through Encounter Africa were just as we had agreed, no surprises. Good responsiveness to email inquires both before and after we had agreed (and paid) for their services.
Joseph is the best tour guide one could have
We had a great time with the gorillas and Encounter. Joseph went out of his way to make sure me and the other 3 girls travelling together had the best experience one could have! All of our wishes came true. He is very kind and helpful, I'd recommend him to my entire family if I could!