Speke Uganda Holidays
- Located In:
-
Germany
United States
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2008)
- Member Of:
- ATTA, APTA, AUTO & We Are Africa
- Tour Types:
- Customizable private tours and fixed group tours
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $250 to $1,830 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
Email Clara | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Wonderful Uganda trip
I should start by saying that we had a fantastic guide - Charles - who was amazing from day one. He was patient, knowledgeable (he knew every bird!) and knew there national parks inside out. The accommodation was great, every place had something special, and we were grateful too that Charles tried accommodate us having local means to the extend possible (we really wanted to try Ugandan food). The service in all lodges was very good. And the national parks were of course superb. Gorilla trekking is so special, we were sad it only took 50 minutes to find them as the forest is so beautiful! Amazing trip
DE
Email Petra | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Exzellent Operator for perfect holidays
It was a perfect trip which was worth the money we payed. We can recommend the selection of the lodge and experiences. Our guide Hand a high knowledge of the country including animals and fauna.
Email Oliver Buxton | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
One of the best holidays that we have ever been on, it had everything and our guide was fabulous.
Everything was absolutely first rate: great lodges, great food, fabulous guide, fantastic scenery, the organisation ran like clockwork, and the country is a special place. Highly recommended.
Email Tony Burton | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Professional to a tee, the entire team do everything humanly possible to make your holiday a dream
At the outset of our planning (extended to 3years due to Covid-19) we fully expected the primate trekking aspects of our trip, both chimpanzee and gorilla, to be astonishing and unforgettable. And they were. What we not prepared for was the sheer beauty of the natural landscapes in Uganda. This completely exceeded our expectations. From the awesome power of Murchison Falls to the majestic landscapes of the Kasenda Crater Lakes, the endless view across the Nile River and of course Lake Victoria. We have travelled to more than 10 African countries and Uganda has to be among the most beautiful and alluring of them all.
David Mukwaya from Speke Uganda Holidays was our guide. From start to finish, David could not have done more to make our holiday as relaxed and smooth running as it possible could. From our evening briefings, never failing to be on time and to schedule, to the gift of a meal on the shores of Lake Victoria, even man-handling our luggage at every turn, he was the perfect gentleman. Intelligent, well-informed and polite, we discussed many topics with David during our 2 weeks together including the wildlife, how people live, how Uganda is developing, and many many more. We grew close during our two weeks together, miss him and hope to see him again sometime (may in a combined Uganda-Rwanda adventure).
DE
Email Stefan | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
I don't think it is possible to get a better Africa experience than by this Uganda holiday
If you like watching animals, I can highly recommend this tour through the various national parks of Uganda. There was always a change from safaris to boat tours and jungle walks ... absolutely amazing! It was very well organized. We even got the chance of additional things to do, in fact a swamp walk and shoe bill watching. The tour guide was very friendly and pleasant. We could absolutely rely on him in every situation, f.e. when roads were an adventure itself. The lodges were very pleasant. In my personal view they were even more luxury than I really needed. Of course it was not a cheap travel, but I never had a feeling that it wasn't worth the money. I really consider to come back once just to see more of this beautiful country.
An African Gem!
The tour was great and compared favourably with holidays we have taken in Africa in over 40 years of travelling. The journeys between lodges were sometimes long and bumpy, but enabled us to see many aspects the country, whilst travelling through communities and countryside. The wildlife was plentiful with sightings of the big 5, a close up of the endangered shoebill and plentiful sightings of one of our favourites-the warthog!!! The accommodation was extremely good with wonderful staff. The whole holiday was a great experience and Uganda needs more marketing!! It is a great and friendly country.
US
Email Travis L | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Incredible tour operator - 5 stars!
Took an 11 day tour of Uganda with Speke Uganda Holidays in June 2022. I cannot say enough how great it was. The company was incredibly responsive throughout the whole planning process (which stretched 3 years due to COVID) going above and beyond to make our tour absolutely incredible. We had several issues with flights being cancelled and changed, Speke was very accommodative making sure we got the most of our time in Uganda. Our driver/guide Tony was very good and provided everything we needed at any notice. The lodges were very nice and exceeded our expectations. This is one of the larger tour companies in Uganda, you can rest assured when booking that this is an experienced operator.
DE
Email Claire & Thomas | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Perfect organized tour and perfect guide (David Mukwaya)!
We made our long-awaited trip to Uganda in September 2021 and would like to thank the whole team for your organisation and the wonderful experience we had.
Our main goals were of course tracking mountain gorillas and chimpanzees, we additionally experienced and saw a lot of other game and birds on our round trip. Our guide David Mukwaya from Speke Uganda Holidays proved to be very smart from the very first moment and he was able to fulfil all our desires. He knows the country in detail and we had much fun together!
Our trip began with a visit of the Mawamba Swamps and a sighting of the shoebill, which we had never seen before! We had looked at any square metre in the Bangweulu Swamps in Zambia but no Shoebill was there and here it took just some minutes. What a surprise! We continued via Mburo National Park to Lake Mutanda, where we were accommodated in the lodge of the same name. The next morning we drove to our first gorilla tracking in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park. This experience was unique, we visited the Mucunguzi group in the Rushaga sector and could not get enough of the gentle giants and their joking kids!
Then we went to the Buhoma sector on the other side of Bwindi NP, where we had our second tracking, quite different because first of all we were a bigger group and the weather was rainy. After a steep climb we came across the silverback of the Mubare group and about five other animals that were temporarily hiding from the rain under bushes, but showed themselves again after the shower. We were very close and it was fantastic! Obviously we were of interest for them as they were for us.
Thanks to David, we visited the Bwindi community Camp and the Bwindi Ride for a Woman project in Buhoma. Very impressive how the local population is involved in nature conservation with relatively simple means.
David then took us to the Ishasha sector of Queen Elisabeth NP, where we saw tree-climbing lions! And also a leopard! And then on a hill David unpacked chairs and we had a wonderful sundowner!
Next stop was Mazike Valley Lodge, where we were the only guests. The bridge over the Kazinga Channel was closed and there was only a ferry to get across. Here David's knowledge of the country and his improvisation skills solved the problem once again: we had planned to cross to the other side for a late afternoon game drive, but when we arrived at the ferry it had just left and there seemed to be a problem on the other side because it did not leave again. He suggested an alternative, a great viewpoint on our side over the Kyambura Gorge, where we enjoyed our sundowner all alone again.
The next day we took the ferry across the river, a wonderful game drive including a boat trip with lots of antelopes, elephants, water buffalos and bird species. Simply great! We continued to Kibale Forest NP, where the highlight was the chimpanzee tracking. But again "little things" like seeing a rare Shining Blue Kingfisher near the lodge or the Giant Turacos in the Bigodi Swamp! We continued to Murchison Falls NP, where David changed the programme briefly and we were able to do a wonderful walk around the falls in the late afternoon, very close to the breathtaking water masses! The next morning we saw many elephants, many birds, including many bee-eaters, antelopes and a leopard on the game drive, and in the afternoon we again admired the fantastic birdlife and nature on a boat trip to the falls. Slowly we headed back towards Entebbe, we visited the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, where we were again lucky enough to see nine rhinos.
On the last day, we visited the botanical garden in Entebbe with David, which is very well designed and we liked it very much.
All in all, our trip was a perfect experience, the lodges we stayed in were all great, everything worked out to our complete satisfaction and we will never forget this trip! And David grew close to our hearts over the course of the 2 weeks and gave us so many insights into this wonderful country through his extensive knowledge of the country and its people, nature and wildlife.
A very big thank you for all that! We hope to meet you again!
US
Email Naomi | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great care when I needed it
I didn't know anything about Speke Holidays when I ended up traveling with them. I booked my tour through Timbuktu Travel, and Speke was their local partner, to whom they assigned me for the actual guide and details of the trip. But I want to review Speke itself because I think it's important to know what a company does when things don't go well, in addition to when they do.
For the first few days, I had a wonderful time on my tour with Speke. My guide was named Innocent, and we got along great and he took such good care of me that I had to make him promise to stop buying me things unless he'd let me pay for them! Otherwise I kept finding that when I mentioned that I liked fresh fruit, a trio of pineapples found their way into the van at an open-air market before I even had the chance to try and buy my own.
Then I got sick three days into my tour, from swallowing a few drops of bad water in the shower. Nobody's fault but my own. I didn't want to miss the things that mattered most to me on the tour, so I soldiered on... unable to eat most things available to me, and spending most of the driving time asleep in my seat from a side effect of the anti-nausea medicine I was taking.
Innocent couldn't have taken better care of me if I had been his own mother. I don't know what he said to the staff at Kibale Forest, but where most travelers were assigned in groups of six, I got not only a hired porter but my own private ranger assigned to me so that we could go at a pace I could handle. She found us chimpanzees almost right away, so I got to see them without having to walk far. Innocent was waiting for us when I staggered out of the forest and took me back in hand.
He found me a small-town medical clinic, but they didn't give me the one thing I really needed -- antibiotics. I don't know whether that was a mistaken choice on the doctor's part, or just that the clinic didn't have them available. I soldiered on, determined to see the gorillas at Bwindi no matter what it took.
It took a whole gang of porters and a thing that looked like a cross between a stretcher and a sedan chair, but I was carried up the mountain and back down again. The way to was terrifying and the way down was excruciatingly painful, but the gorillas were worth every moment of it all, and the guys Innocent hired to take care of me kept me safe every step of the way.
By the time we got back to the lodge after the trip into Bwindi, I was crying in pain and I hadn't been able to eat anything significant in six days. I had finally done the one thing I was determined not to miss. I decided that it was time to stop gutting it out, and get back to good medical care as swiftly as possible. So I asked Innocent the next morning what was the quickest way to get me back to Kampala.
Well, I found out!! I spoke to Tony, the head of Speke, on the phone briefly; then he arranged to have a plane held on the tarmac for me while Innocent got me and my things scooped up and raced me to the airstrip. He sent me off with a minimum of baggage, and followed by road with the rest of my things. I was in a Kampala hospital only six hours after I asked for help getting there, and settled in an Entebbe hotel that same evening, after a starter dose of antibiotics and a lot of IV fluids, already feeling much better.
From there, I recovered pretty quickly. Innocent and I even managed to do a few gentle activities in Entebbe during my last day or two in Uganda, like the behind the scenes tour at the zoo which allowed me to pet a friendly shoebill stork and throw fruit to the chimpanzees on their island.
But what's most important to me is the help that Speke got me when I needed it most -- both ensuring that even through my illness I could still see the chimpanzees and gorillas I came for, and then getting me back to medical care swiftly and effectively once I was willing to go get it.
Innocent and Tony did more than give me a good vacation. They handled a major medical crisis and kept me safe. I'm truly grateful, and I can't recommend them highly enough.
DE
Email Fred | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
thanks to Speke Uganda Holidays we had a spectacular and absolutely great trip to Uganda
right from the beginning it was a wonderful trip.
we had an exceptional good driver (Vincent) who was also an excellent guide and a really good guy with a lot of humor and a german speaking guide (Wahab) who was always very friendly and had always a good solution for our very rare problems.
The accommodations were outstanding either about their locations and also about their luxury. No wish was left open.
all was very very well organized and everything went out perfect.
Thanks to Speke Uganda Holidays it was a phantasmic an unforgettable trip.