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
ES
Email Andres Prieto | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing birding guide and amazing visits. I reccomend it 100%
Everything was as planned. We enjoyed a 8days safari and didn´t miss any of the things we wanted to do. Our birding guide that was with us all the time was an amazing person, a very good professional with many years of experiences. They took care of us all the time and did their best to make us have an amazing experience.
I reccomend it to everyone.
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.
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
US
Email Marilyn | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Exciting Cultural Adventure in Uganda with Terrain Safaris with Paul as our Guide
Travelers coming to Uganda need to do their homework on the country first. Do not expect all the comforts of the USA while in Uganda. It is a country trying to recover from years of fiscal and emotional abuse from a brutal dictator. Many Ugandans live their lives without the luxury of electricity or running water, not to mention any technology advances. However, the people of Uganda are gracious, nice, caring people. Paul, our guide, from Terrain Safaris did a really good job showing us his beautiful country. The value of our 16 day safari trip was good. We were deeply immersed in Ugandan culture, touring small villages and eating in local restaurants. The tour of Kampala at the end of the tour was nice. The lodging was not as impressive as more visited neighboring countries like Kenya or Tanzania, but after spending days in the country I understood why. Edith's communication with us before and during the tour was very timely. I would suggest she visit more of the lodges in person before booking for clients. The only lodging I had problems with was Trekkers Tarven with no hot water, extremely poor lighting, and safety issues. BUT, the workers at the lodge were very friendly and even baked a delicious birthday cake for two of the travelers in my group. That accommodation was the worst, but with the trekking of the gorillas from there turned out to be the best. I would highly recommend Paul and Terrain Safaris as a great Uganda Safari tour operator. DO NOT EXPECT LUXURY! EXPECT GOOD VALUE FOR THE MONEY. Thank you, Paul!
US
Email Marsha Ambrioso | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Some things were good and others not so good!
Edith was great about getting back to us with any questions we asked, but she often didn't have correct information. For example, she told us that all of the lodges would have Wi-FI, and this was not correct. Often the lodges did not even have electricity and operated only on generators so charging electronics and camera batteries had to be done in the main lodge and not in our rooms. Paul, our guide, was very knowledgeable and he took good care of us. He operated on Uganda time, I guess, as he was often fashionably late from the time he indicated that he would pick us up so often he would be 30 minutes late. Some of the lodges did not have screens on the windows, so if you are concerned about a mosquito bite--oh well! We stayed at one particularly horrible place which I would certainly not recommend and this place was Trekkers Tavern! The food was ok and the staff was friendly, but the rooms had no lighting so it was impossible to see in suitcases without a flashlight. The water coming out of the tap was muddy for the first 10 minutes and had no water pressure. The rooms were cold! Very cold, but they put water bottles in our beds and mine leaked and got the bed all wet! The water lines are run across the walkways and you have to step over them. The curtains don't completely cover the windows. So cold and dark! Not a place where I would keep my dog! The road up to Trekkers is long and terrible! Make sure you don't go there! We saw lots of animals and the gorilla trekking was fabulous, so all in all we had a good time, but lodging needs improvement.
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.