Bella Africa safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2015)
- Member Of:
- Association of Uganda Tour Operators, uganda wildlife association & licensed guide by uganda tourist board
- Tour Types:
- Custom budget & mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $40 to $500 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
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Email Roger | 65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
The Absolute Worst
AVOID. HIDE. RUN. My 11 day solo Uganda tour blew up after 5 days – money issues. I found out (too late) that Bella had financial difficulties. I paid in full before the tour but they kept asking me for money during the tour. Beware of her and guide Robin coming back into the business under a different company name.
Internet: “www.bellaafricasafaris.com Mailscanner has detected fraud in the website at docs.google.com. Do not trust this website”. www.inspirock.com Bella ... # 78 of 102 in Wildlife in Kampala “www.tourhq.com ... Bella ... ranked # 39 of 47 tour groups in Kampala”
Before the Tour: My repeated emails were typically returned days late. I had to ask for receipts after monies were paid. A “must have” list never came. I emailed the lodges on the tour itinerary a week before it started. Only one lodge said they had a reservation under my name or Bella’s. I emailed Bella, and guide Robin responded that"all reservations are confirmed" (liar).
The Tour: Substitutions were made for all of the lodges listed on the itinerary. I was picked up late every morning at my lodge, once 3 hours late. Guide Robin said that the van had repairs done that day, but the driver told me in the afternoon that Robin spent the morning trying to get money. They asked me for money on the second day … difficulties in Bella getting money to Robin (lie). We spent an entire morning trying to get into Murchison NP - Robin with Bella on the phone tried to talk the person at the gate into letting us in. Finally I paid (and was never reimbursed). A joke. The van was given gasoline 6 gallons at a time – never filled. Bottled water was purchased one bottle at a time. The tour blew apart on day 5 in Kibale NP. Bella never paid for my Chimp Habitation permit (surprise!) – she asked me to pay the 200 USD fee. Nope. The game warden said I could go on the habitation if Bella got the money to him before I returned at the end of the day. I went on the habitation but no money came. When Guide Robin arrived to pick me up (I was the last person to be picked up out of 25 people) they kept him, fortunately letting me go back to the lodge with the driver. The warden kept Robin in jail for the night because of lack of payment. He was let out the next day. I heard later that they were thinking of keeping me in jail, too! The driver got disgusted with everything and drove his van home – he had never been paid anything by Bella and had been using some of his own money to buy gas. I stayed on one more day – the wonderful lodge manager got me a ride back to Entebbe (200 USD) and I stayed in Entebbe until my plane left 5 days later. Believe it or not Bella came out to Kibale NP and apologized – too little too late. She said I would be completely reimbursed for the tour (I’m still waiting on the money that won’t come !). Bella and Robin wanted me to continue the tour! I was genuinely concerned about my safety as well as being outraged with the tour. When I got back to Entebbe the lodge people and other guides told me about Bella and her money problems. They were angry with her for giving Uganda tourism a bad name. I could tell more. DO NOT GO NEAR!
The bottom line is that Bella let me fly 19 hours in the air to Uganda (and back home), pay 1500 USD roundtrip air, and pay her about 5000 USD in full for a trip that she knew that she could not pull off. As low as you can get. Would have liked to give zero stars. Amazingly, she still has her website online and on Safari Bookings.
Email Vanessa | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
DO NOT USE SHE STEALS YOUR MONEY
We visited Uganda in June on the celebration of my 50th Birthday. All started well until we got to see the gorillas and same as last review no permits paid for and we had two days to pay for and had to pay twice. Again as last review we paid her in January. Then went to see Chimps in Kibale and were staying in a lovely hotel close to chimps but had to move as this was not paid for either! The driver was not being paid and was hassling us for money too which we had no choice but to give him or be left stranded. Bella did come and meet us and gave us same story. We did consider going to the police but trusted her that she would refund us. To date we have received nothing! DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY
IE
Email Barbara | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY - THEY WILL ROB YOU!
Do not use Bella Africa Safaris as Bella basically took our money and left us hanging high and dry.
We found this out the day after our arrival in Kigali when it turned out that nothing was paid for: no car, no permits, no activities. We did have phone calls with Bella herself who told us that she had financial problems, but all would be solved within 3 days and we just needed to advance $2000 for the first 3 days so that she could sort herself out. She would meet us in person back in Kigali, apologize and ensure us we will have a fantastic trip. Needless to say that never happened. We had no choice but to pay for everything all over again it was that or taking the next flight home. We were lucky to still be able to get gorilla permits and I wont mention the financial impact of having to pay for this trip of a life time twice.
We sent the deposit back in February to ensure all permits would be bought well in advance but nothing was done. So this was not a last minute problem with cash flow as one of the versions of the story we were provided with
I repeat DO NOT use this company they are a sham. Rwanda is amazing but our trip was spoilt by Bella’s dishonesty and greed. We went to Rwanda and have been back for 3 weeks and the last thing we heard she was going to ask for a loan and reimburse us every penny. This was 2 weeks ago. We will never see our money again don't waste yours as well, find another company.
NL
Email Robert-Jan | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Pleasant and Carefree Safari with Relaxed and Expert Guidance
One of the reasons for us to choose Bella Africa was the idea that they only work with female guides. When a male guide showed up in our Entebbe Hotel on the starting day of our safari we were unpleasantly surprised. Bella seems to have intended to tell us that our female guide was not available but for technical reason the message did not reach us. During the 15 days of our safari Ben Aloysius Kyenyune (our guide) proved to be a nice guy and a good and expert safari guide. We have visited beautiful places and saw a great number of animals. We especially enjoyed the tranquility at some remote locations, like Kidepo NP. The accommodation was quite simple but good. Recommended!
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Email JT | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful experiences with a great driver and many opportunities to explore Uganda.
The experience was wonderful! It is a well rounded adventure thru Uganda. Spending time with mountain gorillas was the highlight, although, all the animal sightings as well as the opportunity to experience nature, (including the people) was a fabulous opportunity. All the activities were wonderful, and the accommodations were appreciated. I probably would have preferred a ramp up of the accommodations- some were more spartan than others, and I like to leave on a high note- however, all had wonderful parts to them, especially the wildlife that were all around us and all the employees accommodating. We were not surprised by the BBC ranking of Uganda as the #1 most welcoming country in the world. Air conditioning in the van would have been nice, especially when on the red dirt roads where it had not rained for a while- SO much dust. However, I would do it all again, and most likely will.
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Email Peter | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing 7 Day Chimp/Gorilla Experience!!!
It was a pleasure to work with Bella Africa Safari's from start to finish. We were on the road when we booked and did not have access to our banks back home to wire money for our deposit. Bella went ahead and set up a way for us to pay with a credit card. We also had a complicated itinerary in which members of our group would be arriving in Uganda at different times. Arranging separate pickups at the airport for both groups was not a problem at all. That was great customer service!
A few days before our safari Bella informed us that she had gotten sick and was no longer going to be our guide. We were disappointed at first, but as soon as we met our guide at the airport, we knew we were still going to have an unforgettable experience. In Kibale Forest we had an amazing encounter with the chimps. We got to see a group of about 10 chimps (including babies) descent from the treetops to the forest floor around up. Our experience trekking for the Gorilla's was definitely the highlight. We got within mere inches of the Gorilla’s. One ever charged us for a moment giving our group an awesome thrill!
The reason I gave 4 stars instead of 5 is because communication between our guide and our group could have been a little better. We actually trekked for chimps one more time in addition to the experience above. The second time was supposed to be in the gorge but the chimp trackers cancelled the trek because of extreme heat. Instead of telling this up front, it seemed as if our guide was trying to convince us to skip the trek and rest up for the following gorilla trek. He ended up working really hard and found us another area to do some chimp trekking for that afternoon, but he never told us why we did not go to the gorge. We found out the reason (extreme heat) from the other couple who was trekking in our group. If instead of trying to convince us not to trek, he just let us know that the chimp trackers cancelled the trek and that he was having a hard time finding a replacement trek, we would have been very happy.
On our Gorilla trekking day our guide never let us know that he was anxious to get to the gorilla trekking headquarters and eventually drove off without any of us and told a member of our group that we could walk. Luckily, we were staying only about a 15 minute walk away. We concluded later that he ended up leaving so that he could get us a spot trekking for a family not too far into the forest. If he just told us that he needed to leave to go get us a good gorilla family to trek for, we would have been so grateful and happy that he left to secure us a good gorilla family. Instead we were confused about why our guide would take off and make us walk right before we were about to spend hours walking to find the gorillas. In both of these instances, clear communication about that was going on would have made us very happy.
However, I will say those are minor things, we still had an unbelievable, unforgettable experience. We chose the mid-range option and all of our lodging was superb and included fantastic meals. If I were to visit Uganda again, I would not hesitate to contact Bella Africa Safari’s to arrange my tour. They offered a great tour, at a great price, with great customer service from start to finish.
NL
Email Ilse | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Great views, sighting, location, everything is taking care off by Bella and her team!
Bella organized a 3 day trip to queen Elizabeth for me and another volunteer. We could tell what we wanted to do in those 3 days (schedule is flexible). You pay a bit more then some other Tour operators but thats definately worth it. Everything is included, food, water, soda's, even snacks were bought. The accomodation was fully booked so another location was arranged, other issues were solved immediately.
We had a nice driver, stopped where ever we wanted a picture of the amazing view, saw several lions, 2 shoebills (gamba stamp is a must see!) and stunning sunsets. It was a great relaxing weekend away from Kampala!
JO
Email Samar | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
BEST SAFARI EXPERIENCE WITH BELLA....
Despite the pandemic, as countries are slowly opening up, I took a solo trip to uganda to try and relax despite the chaos in the world, so I needed a safari company that works with women in particular, a friend of mine recommended Bella Africa Safaris, so I checked them out and I was kinda put off by some of the negative reviews, either way I decided to contact them and right from the start our back and forth email exchange with Bella herself was really great and efficient, I decided to book with her though I was abit skeptical at first but she really out did herself. She gave me value for my money, my 15 days in Uganda were really the best, we visited the great murchison falls, amazing magnificent falls, Queen Elizabeth park, Kidepo park, lake mburo and above all the highlight was the Gorillas for me... maintaining the guidelines for covid was key right from the airport, Uganda is really beautiful with very friendly happy people and am glad to have ticked it off my bucket list. Thank you Bella Africa Safaris for making my trip a memorable one, I sure will come back with you next time. It's an amazing experience being driven and guided by a woman. I recommend you to all female travelers. Thank you again Bella!!
AE
Email Bj | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Most exciting fun filled family trip with the best guide ever.
We are an Arab family from Uea(Dubai) and we where so hesitant to travel to Africa (uganda) at first but when someone recommended Bella to us, and we saw our package and the way Bella drafted it out to suit and involve all of us for the activities, it was wow.Our three children didn't miss any of the activities..
We saw various animals all the big fives in mfnp.our favorites where the beautiful giraffes and elephants.
The waterfalls is so amazing.
Bella is so knowledgeable and passionate about her job, she kept on checking if we where comfortable and where having fun and if where enjoying the meals too.
She bought for us fresh fruits like bananas and really sweet pineapples.
The whole trip was so memorable.
Thank you so much Bella.
Bj
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Email Lara Vimercati | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
An amazing way to visit Uganda
My sister and I travelled through Uganda for 13 days with Bella Africa Safaris. We had an amazing time with our guide Ronnie. He was very knowledgeable, friendly, fun and always making sure we had a great time. The team was very helpful in organizing a tailor-made safari for us.
We loved the country and the overall experience with the cmpany. The only thing we would have liked different was that the tour program given beforehand was more detailed and accurate. Sometimes it was not entirely reflecting of what was happening or included in each day.
Overall we definitely recommend to visit Uganda with Bella Africa Safaris.