Our guides Paul K. K. and Tim birding at Mpanga.
Terrain Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2008)
- Member Of:
- Association of Uganda Tour Operators
- Tour Types:
- Custom budget & mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $100 to $600 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
Email Richard | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Terrain Safaris, East Africa's wildlife experts.
I recently spent three weeks with Paul Kaggwa from Terrain Safaris and I would rate him as East Africa's No. 1. Wildlife guide. I've searched for birds and animals in over twenty African countries, as well as hiring guides in many of those countries. Most guides talk themselves up and will tell you they're experts and know it all but when you get out in the field with them and start looking for the rarer species, they have no idea.
Paul has memorized the calls over 900 East African bird species and knows where to find them all. He knows his mammals and reptiles and is a genuinely nice guy that has an obvious passion for African wildlife. If you're interested in gaining a more complete picture of Kenyan, Tanzanian, Rwandan and Ugandan wildlife, then I highly recommend Paul Kaggwa from Terrain Safaris, Uganda.
CH
Email Claudio & Sabine | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Source of Nile/Jinja, Ziwa Rhino, Murchison Falls NP, Chimps in Budongo Forrest, Shoebill in Entebbe
The communication before the Safari was very good, i dont know many with a communication like this, perfect!
At the Safari als was as it shout be with a very friendly and interested guide (Paul).
I'm shure that we will book again by Terrain Safaris!
DE
Email Uli | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great 7 days Safari in Uganda!!
We have made the safari for 7 days.
7 woman at the age between 15 to 42. Some told us it were to dangerous to travel only as woman, but we felt all the time very save!
The trip was well organized by Paul and it was very cheap.
Our tour has startet by Kampala, goes to Murchison Falls NP, Kibale NP with chimpanzee tracking, Queen Elizabeth NP and ends by Lake Mburo.
Our tour guide Edward was very friendly and likable. He told us a lot about the country, the traditions and the .
We have seen a lot of lions, elephants, buffaloes, hippos, zebras, chimpanzees and many others.....
The landscape was amazing and we were very surprised to saw the difference between the parks, for example the landscape or the animals.
The native people are all warmheating, friendly and we felt all the time welcomed and save.
Uganda is amazing and you can see a lot of great things and make beautiful experiences.
The tourism is low, so you can enjoy your visit without a lot of tourist, like in other countries.
Thank you very much to Terrain Safaris to show us this amazing country!
Email Tony and Sally | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Safety and attention to detail in the organisation plus brilliant bird and animal spotting skills.
2015 was the fourth year we had booked with Terrain Safaris to take us on safari. The tours included Queen Elizabeth National Park, Murchison Falls National Park and Semuliki National Park as well as some other smaller parks and a very memorable visit to the Mabamba Swamp. At all times we have had absolute confidence in the tour leaders, Paul and Brian, to deliver a very rewarding holiday, safely organised and always going to great lengths to make sure we are comfortably accommodated even in the remotest places. Their animal and bird spotting skills are legendary, we would have missed so much without them. For instance we saw leopard in both Queen Elizabeth and Murchison Falls, notoriously difficult to spot and found the elusive Shoebill Stork in Mabamba. We recommended Terrain to a friend who travelled to Uganda earlier this year and we will definitely be contacting Terrain Safaris when we next visit hopefully in 2018.
Email Michelle D | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Incredible trip to Mgahinga Gorilla National Park
Terrain Safaris were highly recommended to me and they lived up to expectation. I was travelling on my own and looking for a bespoke trip from Kampala to Mgahinga Gorilla National Park on New Years Day. All of the arrangements were made (at very short notice) by Terrain Safari, transport, hotels, permit and it turned out to be one of the most amazing trips I have ever taken. I was picked up from my hotel on time and we made our way across Uganda, stopping of at great places to eat and bird watch. Paul Kaggwa Kibirango, who was the guide, was great fun company on what was a very long drive and very knowledgeable on ornithology. The visit to see the gorillas was really well arranged, we arrived early with all the necessary paperwork and I got to spend the maximum amount of time with a wonderful family of gorillas. Trip of a lifetime - I really recommend travelling with this company.
US
Email Heidi Lundy | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Paul knows his birds
We highly recommend Terrain Safaris. Edith and Paul were uniquely helpful. Every day is a holiday with Terrain!
We spent 3 weeks on a guided birding tour with Paul. Three weeks is a lot of time to spend in a car with a person but every day we found new adventures and were treated to Paul's vast knowledge of Birds, wildlife, Ugandan culture and history. He is a wealth of information!
My traveling partner, Kirk is an advanced birder who has been birding for 40 years. I am a novice birder. Paul managed to bridge the gap in our interests by being patient and helpful with me but never missing a moment to wow Kirk with his bird identification.
The driving was hard and often we were in four wheel drive but Paul is a very good driver and I always felt very safe. He was always up for the adventure even though he drove all day most days he was always taking us out of the way on some small road or path in search of spectacular wildlife.
It was a wonderful trip made more wonderful by our newly found friendship with Paul.
If Uganda is the Pearl of Africa, Terrain Safari's is the pearl of touring companies.
Email Ali | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Would definitely use again
We visited Uganda back in January and would definitely recommend Terrain safaris to friends who were thinking of visiting. They're prices are great and they tailored our trip exactly how we wanted it. Edith was a great help in organizing our trip and answered emails promptly. We ended up doing a 12 day tour and had Moses as our guide. The 4x4 land cruiser we had was great and Moses drove very safely and got us everywhere on time. He also gave us a bit of a bonus game drive one day as we were unlucky not to see any tree climbing lions so Moses really made the effort. As for Uganda itself, it's a beautiful country. So much wildlife to see, the highlights for us being the chimpanzees and gorillas, and it's so green everywhere! Would definitely recommend a visit! Thanks again to everyone at Terrain Safaris who made this trip possible.
Email Pauline | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good Communication, Very Enjoyable Safari, Well Paced Tour, Friendly Efficient Guide!
My husband and I did a 12 day private tour, and our guide/driver was Moses. Communication during the booking process was good.
The tour was interesting, well-paced and included several different experiences to help ensure we saw a wide variety of wildlife and sights. A great deal of time on the road was necessary some days, but when not travelling the time was used wisely, either with game drives, boat cruises, rhino sanctuary tour, and also the chimpanzee and gorilla trekking, which was amazing!
We enjoyed our time in Uganda, and can highly recommend Terrain Safaris, in particular Moses, who is friendly, kind, knowledgeable and very efficient (also a very safe driver!) Thanks for everything!
JP
Email Nono | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Very exciting birding with Paul/Terrain Safari
I was very good birding time at Semuliki and Kibale National Park, Uganda.
I saw many birds were my targets like Green-breasted Pitta, White-bellied Kingfisher and Black-bellied Seedcracker and more.
Also I was very fun at Night Walk at Kibale to see Bushbaby.
Itinerary for mine was perfect that was met my request.
When I will come back to Uganda, I will ask to Paul/Terrain Safari again.
Thank you very much, Paul.
NL
Email Vincent Douwes | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A great 3 weeks of birding and nature exploring
What a great trip did we have!
Communication before the trip was great, very nice and friendly people and proper English most of the time.
Paul himself was our guide and responded before the trip on every email quite fast after sending it. In the field when we were out he probably did the same; great for his new customers but a little less great for us at that time. My advise would be to try to do this when you're not out with clients.
Paul is a great guy, he has good knowledge about the wildlife, the areas (he knows Uganda by head) and especially about the birds, although there is still room for improvements eg. when waders and swifts concerned. A lot of bird calls remain very difficult but I can't blame him because it is quite difficult indeed. I think we might have missed some species because of that but you can't know them all. On a number of occasions we were accompanied by some great guides who were a nice addition.
I think we really did not o.k. at Semliki birdwise; we missed too many birds so you might be more clearer to future clients only 10 to 15% of the birds mentioned are likely to be seen (in 1 or 1,5 days of birding). But luckily we did see some good birds and I appreciate the persistance Paul showed from time to time to find some good birds for us!
We had a really good car, we had no troubles with it whatsoever and Paul was always willing to put the rooftop up. He's a very careful driver and doesn't take any unneccesary risks. He knows how to handle the car when we wanted to take photographs and he is very friendly to fellow traffic users.
His equipment is o.k. and his eyes are really great; he sometimes saw more details with his bins then we did with our swaro's. Sharp eye!
When you're a hardcore birder with the aim to see as much birds as possible (no matter what) you should hire Paul together with Raymond (the royal Mile), Roger or Gordon (to name a few)... that's a combination which is great!
At the end we had a fantastic birding trip with a lot of nice mammals on the side. We saw 520+ bird species which is a good number in November I think. I'll have to come back in July to try to see some Broadbills, Antpitta and Semliki goodies. I definately recommend Paul and Terrain Safaris and probably hire them myself as well. Thank you Paul and Terrain Safaris for this wonderful experience! I wish you all the best!
Vincent
The Netherlands