Field photo setting off for rhino tracking
Karumuna Safaris
- Located In:
-
Australia
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2010)
- Member Of:
- Uganda Tourism Board
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $70 to $600 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
US
Email Ray | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Merchant Falls excellent tour! A++
My family and I went on the 3 day Merchant falls tour. It was an absolutely amazing experience. Karumuna safaris did a great job communicating with us days leading up to the safari.
Our safari guide Onan did an outstanding job and made the safari a once in a lifetime unforgettable experience! His knowledge of local culture and all wildlife made him the perfect safari guide! Onan is highly recommended!
Email Meagan | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
You"ll come home with the biggest smile and long life memories that you will not stop talking about!
Karumuna Safaris showed my partner and I a life time experience that will be in our memories and hearts for ever. Can’t fault our 13 day safari tour as we saw the Big 5!! Elephants galore, giraffes, zebra's, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, primates Gorilla’s & Chimpanzee and all the extra wild life that Uganda houses. The breath taking country side and the amazing sights, with all the National Parks as well as the local community. We did extra as we wanted all the highlights and wonders of Uganda from seeing the Shoe Bill Stork to White Water Rafting on the Nile in Jinja and so much more. Wow Wow Wow!!!
Karumuna Safaris top priority is you the client, they are not happy unless you are happy and they make sure you are happy!! Which was easy for them as all the staff from Karumuna Safaris, Richard the principal, Jonah, Onan and Mosses, are very friendly and helpful with any queries just like the rest of Ugandans. They make sure you see and do what you have requested and their driver/guide (Mosses) has an amazing insight and has friends at every stop which made our Safari even more enjoyable. This Safari was more than we could ever imagined.
A Big Thank You to Karumuna Safaris and we look forward to our next visit :-)
DE
Email John | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great experince with the perfect guide!
We had a wonderful safari in Uganda. Our guide Gerhard was always helpful and even if we needed a couple of short stops on the way, he never lost his patience! We already recommended the tour back in Germany and Italia and would definitly do it again!
Wonderful safari and great staff!
The service was wonderful. Our guide did everything to ensure that we had a great time. The transportation was comfortable and all our expectations were met or exceeded.
US
Email Liam Smith | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Murchison Falls 3-day Safari
Karumuna Safaris well exceeded our expectations. They were extremely flexible and friendly. They picked us up from our place we were staying in the morning. They had food and water for us during the whole trip and stopped whenever we needed to. It was a very affordable trip, especially considering it was just our group of three. We found that Karumuna was the cheapest available, and in comparison with the other companies that were at Murchison, Karumuna was the best in quality. We were able to adjust our schedule on the trip and add an extra game drive with ease.
I would highly recommend Karumuna for anyone. It was an extremely positive experience and I will definitely use them in the future as I further travel to and experience the beauty of Uganda.
IT
Email Simone | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A good travel companion who is able to make you feel comfortable and add value to your trip.
As solo traveller and passionate wild life photographer, I travelled through Uganda for 11 days with Richard, a 15 years experienced guide with whom I had preliminarily made contact and defined the details of the trip during the booking stage.
The tour was well organized with sufficient time for relaxing and enjoying the places after tiring days spent on game drives, various wild life activities such as Mountain Gorillas trekking and long driving sessions to reach the next destination. It was also possible to adapt the program based on short notice requests/developments to suit weather conditions and/or travelling schedule; this added value to the experience and made it feel like not pre-packaged but authentic and more intriguing.
I would personally reccommend Karumuna Safaris for the fair value for money and the extensive knowledge and experience of his guide Richard who always showed a high level of preparedeness and availability to respond to the traveller's requests.
ES
Email Javier | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Stress, lies and nature
I booked (and paid) a Safari in 2019, which would happen in 2020, for 5 days including: chimps in Kibale, gorillas, climbing lions safari, and birding in Mabamba Swamp.
Obviously, COVID came and we couldn't make the trip in 2020. Richard (the owner), said that it was OK and that we could postpone everything to 2021, but he wasn't able to return the money. 2021 arrived, and we were not yet vaccinated, so at first, we decided to go but then we postponed again. Richard said that it was okay, with no penalties for postponing to 2022.
2022 arrives and around April I start moving everything for July of that year. We fix the dates, I buy the planes and everything seems to be okey. A couple of weeks later, the first unpleasant surprise, Richard tells me that the gorilla permits have expired, and we need to pay again. Even though he was explicit on the opposite a year before. We were angry, but what could we do, we paid again. Starting from that date, I asked like 6 times during the coming months for an official itinerary of the Safari, with the specific dates and what was included. Richard didn't send anything. A week before going to Uganda, he sends me the itinerary, and it was wrong!! The gorillas were booked for the day I was supposed to leave the country. Imagine my stress, ONE WEEK EARLIER with no gorillas, because Richard told me even in April that we should book the gorillas right away because it gets sold out very very quickly.
He said a couple of days later that everything was ok with the gorillas, but the chimps were not going to be in Kibale, but in Kalinzu. I paid 150$ for Kibale and the fee for Kalinzu was 45$. I didn't receive back any money.
We arrive in the country. The planning (roughly) was:
1-. Arriving + Transfer to Chimps zone
2-. Chimps + boat trip
3-. Safari + transfer to gorillas
4-. Gorillas
5-. Birding + departure flight
First day, everything OK.
Second day, chimps. We were alone in Kalinzu, I suppose because it's way worse than Kibale. Terrible surprise, Richard ask me on Whatsapp to borrow him 500$!!! Something about his mother. WTF I thought. Very angry, I answer him that no, I would not give him any money and he ask again for 100$! At that point, I was equally upset and surprised.
Third day. We arrive at Ishasha, and the guide tells us that the national park is closed because of an injured animal. I tell him that then what about the money that I paid for the entrance and how is it possible that an entire park closes without prior notification causing inconveniences to all the visitors. After insisting a couple of times, he said that we could try on the other entrance. We go to the other entrance, and after a couple of minutes of speaking with the people in the park, the guide comes out of the reception tent of the park with a soldier, and the soldier tells us that it was some elephant in the middle of the road that the veterinaries were healing. Big lie, and the soldier was for increasing credibility, I suppose. We arrive at the end of the day at Bwindi. The accommodation was super amazing, and because of that I was a little bit disappointed because we were supposed to start our day at 8 AM, but the guide eventually changed it to 9, and that hour in the balcony of the accommodation would have been amazing.
When we were having dinner, another terrible moment. Richard WhatsApp me, telling me that we were not going to make it to the Birding because watching the gorillas + transfer to Entebbe is too much for one day. Obviously, I was mad again. I asked about the money, and he refused to give anything back. The only option we had is to drive a long long time during the night for arriving on time. This was a bad option because the driving in Uganda is crazy, and even worse at 2 AM with a guide that has driven for 10 hours already.
Forth day. The guides make sure that we were with the group that would arrive quicker to the gorillas. Luckily, we saw the gorillas early and we started heading to Entebbe. We arrived at our very late in the night and we woke up at 04:30 to make it to the birding.
Fifth day. Woken up at 04:30, went to the birding and then to the airport. End of the trip.
The guides made everything that was on their hands to make our trip comfortable, they drove uncountless hours and were very nice to us, but the owner is a very unprofessional person that made our trip very unpleasant for moments, so I can't recommend him.
Email Priya | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
DO NOT TRUST. SCAMMER. TRAVEL AGENT FROM HELL
•Cancelled tour 1 day before flight from London and we PAID OVER $1000 USD to reschedule flights and accommodation, because he did not disclose that he failed to get the permit
•Booked SUBPAR accommodation and transport, from what was agreed.
•Still OWES US MONEY (waiting 6 months) for the disorganisation and troubles.
•Lack of communication and updates
•CHANGED OUR INTERNAL FLIGHTS without telling us resulting in stopovers and delays.
I have email proof of all of this for anyone who still wants to book with them.
OVERALL A REALLY NEGATIVE AND HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE OF OUR FIRST IN UGANDA.
Reply from Karumuna Safaris
Posted on Jan 3, 2023Thanks Priya for the review but be informed that changes came in due to permits sold out we informed the company paid extra costs on your domestic flights, paid extra money on the accommodation and rescheduled your gorilla permits to make sure your trip is done accordingly we sorry for what happened but we give services even paid more money to make sure your trip is done in proper way and you do not owes us money. you did your successful trip in September but you talking of six months
Email Hudson | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Successful Trip
I had a 2 night and 3day Murchison Falls NP trip with Karumuna Safaris, I really enjoyed each and everything about the tour. I can say that I really felt the value of my money, enjoyed quality services, tour guide and the driver are so professional, Accommodation was so conducive. Thank you Karumuna Safaris, see you soon!
No word to express my feeling, it was extremely fantastic !!! With excellent tour guide .
It was my first experience to tour Queen Elizabeth National Park. Karumuna safaris, my tour agent made it more wonderful beyond expectations.
Time management and site location was perfect. Good hospitality and professionalism of our tour guide with detailed explanation of the animals and places.
Can't wait to visit other parks with Karumuna safaris.