Reviews

Sort By: Date Most Helpful Rating 81-90 of 99 Reviews
Fajar   –  
Indonesia ID
Visited: February 2020 Reviewed: Feb 20, 2020

Email Fajar

Budget tour to trek the gorillas in Bwindi National Park
4/5

I chose Bamboo EcoTours for their budget-friendly option to trek the gorillas in Bwindi National Park. They provided me transportation from Kisoro to Buhoma and return to Kabale. Although my gorilla trekking experience was rather underwhelming, I nevertheless enjoyed the ride as Jackson was very professional and helpful. Perhaps if the tour included a packed lunch for the price I paid that would've been even nicer.

JBtimes   –  
Tanzania TZ
Visited: August 2019 Reviewed: Sep 9, 2019

Email JBtimes  |  50-65 years of age  |  Experience level: over 5 safaris

Expert organisation of four-day Gorilla Trek in Uganda
5/5

Bamboo Ecotours were really great to deal with. Edison was prompt in answering emails and queries. The trip worked out perfectly and met our expectations without exception. We were able to fit everything into a tight schedule. Our guides Joseph and Herbert were very well organised and made sure we had a good time and were always safe and well looked after. The gorilla trek itself was real highlight and was very well coordinated. It only took one hour to get to the spot where our designated family group appeared to be waiting for us to arrive. We were amazed to find the gorillas sitting around going about their daily business and not bothered by our presence. The thrill of being so close to these wonderful creatures and sensing how comfortable they were was truly beautiful. To know that they were not threatened by us, was the most rewarding experience. We were able to observe them for more than an hour and of course took plenty of great photos and videos of the silver backs, mothers, juveniles and a couple of adorable babies. We also hired (our own expense) a porter to assist with our bags and getting us up and down the muddy mountainside. This was agreed to be very worthwhile. During our four-day tour we also travelled through three other parks and saw a variety of wildlife up close. We got to see nearly all of the creatures mentioned in our itinerary. The accommodation booked by Bamboo Ecotours was of a very high standard and did not disappoint. The guides were very punctual and thorough in their organisation of our tour and we felt we received great value for money. I would highly recommend Bamboo Ecotours to anyone wanting to make a similar trek through Uganda and/or Rwanda.

Derek   –  
United States US
Visited: June 2019 Reviewed: Jul 21, 2019

Email Derek  |  35-50 years of age  |  Experience level: 2-5 safaris

Great way to see the best of Ugandan Wildlife
5/5

I had an amazing experience in Uganda thanks to Bamboo Ecotours. The 5 day tour covers everything! You see Gorillas, do game drives for local wildlife, a game boat ride, and see the chimps. They put the entire package together and made it all work. I would definitely use them again.

Stephanie   –  
Canada CA
Visited: June 2019 Reviewed: Jun 25, 2019

Email Stephanie  |  65+ years of age  |  Experience level: first safari

Majestic experience!
5/5

We loved our time in Bwindi and Rushaga Gorilla Camp. The warm hospitality of the people was incredibly welcoming and the gorilla trekking was something words can't describe. Edison was extremely responsive, timely, reliable and helpful in organizing our package and I would highly recommend him. The drivers he arranged for us, Fred and Gerald, were also excellent and had a ton of knowledge to share. Fred was very friendly and we appreciated his expertise. Overall, I would strongly recommend Edison for his outstanding service and to experience the majestic gorillas of Uganda.

Lani   –  
Canada CA
Visited: May 2019 Reviewed: Jun 10, 2019

Email Lani  |  35-50 years of age  |  Experience level: 2-5 safaris

Great tour, professional company and guide
5/5

My friend and I did a 4 day gorilla and lake tour of southern Uganda from Kigali. I would highly recommend both the tour, the company, and our guide Fred. Communication with the company was easy, they were very responsive, payment was easy, the hotels we stayed at were great, and our guide Fred was very professional and had a lot of information to share with us. He was a great driver and also seemed knowledgeable about our questions on local history and culture.

I had hoped to see gorillas interacting with one another, but unfortunately for us our gorilla family were found in a very dense part of the forest so this wasn't possible, and we couldn't see them very well. We did, however, get to see the silverback very clearly. Fortunately were were just 4 tourists in our group so we were able to easily maneuver around each other in the dense vegetation to get a good look at him.

I would also highly recommend doing the 4 day tour and going to the lake. The hotel there was wonderful and the setting gorgeous, with many volcanoes in the background. The lake is swimmable (no bilharzia) and you can rent paddleboards or a canoe, or take a boat across to an island and hike. Lots of options of things to do there. Plus the food was delicious.

I don't normally give 5/5 reviews, but all in all this experience was great!

Joana Rosa   –  
United Kingdom UK
Visited: May 2019 Reviewed: May 31, 2019

Email Joana Rosa  |  35-50 years of age  |  Experience level: first safari

Very impressive company
5/5

I haven't been on my safari yet but I've been exchanging emails with Edison (owner of Bamboo Ecotours) for several months and I must say I'm very impressed with his promptness, efficiency and attentiveness. I'm looking forward to meeting the rest of the team and to spending 14 days exploring beautiful Uganda.

Vincent Roten   –  
Switzerland CH
Visited: December 2018 Reviewed: Mar 29, 2019

Email Vincent Roten  |  35-50 years of age  |  Experience level: 2-5 safaris

Beautiful experience
5/5

Everything worked fine. We saw the gorillas. I can recommand it. It is just quite expensive but worthy.

Tom   –  
United States US
Visited: February 2019 Reviewed: Mar 13, 2019

Email Tom  |  20-35 years of age  |  Experience level: first safari

Amazing 10 day western Uganda wildlife safari (including chimps and gorillas)
5/5

Just returned from an amazing trip, and all I can say is how amazing Bamboo Ecotours was. We chose to do the 10 day Western Uganda wildlife tour as we had 3 weeks total to spend in East Africa, and wanted to do more than just primates in Uganda, since clearly it has so much more to offer. And I am so glad that we did this, it was an amazing experience.

From the time we first inquired about the trip, Edison was nothing amazing and professional! Our tour guide Joseph and driver Herbert did such a great job - any time there was even a small issue they all went out of their way to help correct things (and these were problems that were beyond their control - if you don't own the hotel you can't make the staff care - but you can confront them about the issues and help your clients which they certainly did). Not that any issues impacted our enjoyment, because it was a great trip. All the lodging was mid-range either lodges or permanent tents/bandas - I think we actually liked the tents/bandas best - stayed cooler and felt closer to nature. Honestly liked all the places we stayed quite a bit. Also have to commend the transportation - 4 wheel drive mini bus type of thing (with pop up roof). The roads in Uganda (especially in the areas in/around/between the parks) are mostly dirt and many were actively under construction - and the vehicle never had any issues and had lots of room for us. Most companies seem to just have a single driver/guide - I really liked that for this type of longer tour we had a driver and a guide. The driving was very difficult and it was nice that we could ask questions without disturbing our driver, but they also worked as a great team. Really liked that setup.

Some specifics about places we went to:
-Ziwa Rhino sanctuary was amazing, was able to get so close on foot with a ranger (and unfortunately didn't see any other rhinos during our total 3 week trip so this was great to have included)
-Murchison Falls national park was absolutely gorgeous and had so much more wildlife than I could have imagined - the boat tour on the Nile was fantastic and relaxing, and lead to a hike to the top of the falls - also amazing
-Kazinga channel (essentially adjacent to QENP) was great. It was the end of the dry season and very hot, so pretty much all the animals were at the water's edge. We did a boat trip here as well - but small boat with only 2 other people plus guide and driver so we were able to get very close (which was different than the big double decker boat on the Nile)
-Kibale for the chimps and Bwindi for the gorillas were just amazing, once in a lifetime kind of experiences. In both cases the animals ended up just a few feet away and we got such good pictures
-Before the chimp trek at Kibale we did a swamp walk in Bigodi swamp including a community walk and stop at someone's home to see how banana beer and gin were made - optional activity but highly, highly recommended
-Last stop was Lake Mutanda - wish we had more time here, was gorgeous! Did more cultural activities here - visited with the Batwa people and then went to a coffee plantation (small, family owned) - which was so incredible. Had options of activities for this day - I think we chose well and I really like that these were community activities where money we paid went directly to individuals in the community and not to some other company.

Overall I really just can't say enough good things about Bamboo Ecotours. They will of course do a great job if you just have a few days and want to see primates - but I really would recommend seeing more of the country with them. We spent a week in Tanzania after this and it was different - so I don't feel at all like we duplicated things. Thanks to Edison, Joseph and Herbert for making this incredible experience possible!

Kristen Nowling   –  
United States US
Visited: February 2019 Reviewed: Mar 13, 2019

Email Kristen Nowling  |  20-35 years of age  |  Experience level: 2-5 safaris

adventure of a lifetime
5/5

My boyfriend and I recently went on the 10 day Uganda tour ending in Rwanda with Joseph and Herbert and cannot begin to describe how amazing the tour was.

We both had the best time and cannot thank them enough for all the amazing memories we went home with. The lodges were great, gorilla trekking/chimp trekking were more amazing than we could have ever thought. We got up and closet to the animals. Most importantly we felt so safe and comfortable with Joseph and Herbert. They were in contact with the manager Edison the whole tour to update him on how things were going and we really loved that. We recommend this tour to all of our friends and family and would love to come back and do another. We appreciate ever little thing they have done for us to make sure the trip was awesome. We cannot thank them and the whole company enough.

Anne   –  
Qatar QA
Visited: February 2019 Reviewed: Feb 15, 2019

Email Anne  |  35-50 years of age  |  Experience level: 2-5 safaris

Brilliant gorilla & chimp experience
5/5

I chose this tour company as I like to go with local companies. From my first email to Edison who answered all my questions promptly to my eventual drop off back in Kigali after my tour ended I found Bamboo Ecotours to be highly efficient, professional & caring. I was traveling solo & I felt safe & comfortable the whole time.
Joseph (guide) & Herbert (driver) were fantastic & friendly, couldn't have asked for better companions. They were both very knowledgeable & able to answer any questions be it about Rwanda or Uganda. As they are both from the local area it was interesting to see & hear about life from their perspective. As I suffer from asthma, Edison & Joseph both endeavored to see if I could trek a gorilla family that was closest to the headquarters which I was extremely appreciative of. Seeing the gorillas & chimps was an amazing experience & the rest of the tour was very good too.
The transport, meals & accommodation were all of a high standard. Everything met or went above my expectations.
I have no hesitation at all in highly recommending this company!

Average User Rating
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