The Matoke Tours Team
Matoke Tours
- Located In:
-
Netherlands
- Size:
- 20-50 employees (Founded in 2002)
- Member Of:
- ATTA, AUTO, SGR, UTB & UCF
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $300 to $750 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
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Email Renee | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Incredible 12-day exploration of Madagascar
I thoroughly enjoyed my recent 12-day tour of Madagascar with Matoke Tours. This is the fourth country I've explored with Matoke (the others being Uganda, Rwanda & Ethiopia) and I continue to be pleased with my experience with them. I continue to recommend them to friends and colleagues, all of whom have been very happy with their Matoke experiences.
In each country, I have worked with someone different at Matoke (the staff has country-specific expertise) but the level of customer service has not changed. For a variety of reasons, my trip to Madagascar required several major changes - including shifting the trip from a December timeframe to one in March - and Coen, at Matoke, made those changes so easy. I really appreciated his flexibility in moving things around to accommodate my changing needs. Madagascar was also the first solo trip I've taken with Matoke and I was so fortunate to be matched with an incredible guide, Tojo, who really made the trip. He was so good-natured, easy company, knowledgable, funny, and kind. I learned an enormous amount about Madagascar from Tojo in a short period of time. I highly recommend him as a guide for all travelers, whether solo, families, couples, groups, etc.
Madagascar has amazing wildlife and nature. I was lucky enough to see seven different species of lemurs and many chameleons, thanks to the great guides Matoke hired for me in both Ranomafana and Isalo National Park. The overall beauty of the country is breathtaking. I never tired of watching the landscapes change from the window of the van and marveled at the city and village scenes that we both walked and drove through.
The accommodations in Madagascar were more simple than what I had in Uganda and Rwanda, but Matoke successfully managed my expectations about the level of accommodations during the planning stages. I had a very clear idea of what to expect before I arrived. Every place I stayed was absolutely fine - safe, clean, friendly staff, good food - but were not luxurious (with the exception of one more upscale place - Jardin du Roy). Some were in beautiful settings but slightly out of town, making it less easy to do an impromptu walk through town. And you have to be prepared to not have electricity in many places during the night, which can mean some warm evenings.
My Madagascar itinerary was a good mixture of cities, rainforests, beach, mountains/canyons, as well as being both active and having downtime. In retrospect, I probably could have added a few more "active" experiences to my itinerary but also appreciated having downtime many afternoons to read and relax. In my experience, Matoke is very receptive to creating the experience you are seeking. I encourage travelers to let them know up front what kind of experience they want to have.
Overall, another great experience with Matoke. I highly recommend them to travelers genuinely seeking an experience that will be informative, exciting, safe/comfortable, fun, and memorable. I also highly recommend Madagascar as a destination. So many beautiful places to see, creatures to admire, and incredible people to meet.
Email Linda Bates | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
8 fantastic days in Uganda
We have just returned from our 8 day tour of Uganda with Matoke tours and would recommend the itinerary and the company unreservedly. The accommodation throughout was good. Kibale was but more basic than the other two but very atmospheric. Being low season for 3 nights we were the only guests in our hotels! Bothe Marafiki and Chameleon Hill were lovely and the food was delicious in both and staff at all 3 hotels were helpful and pleasant.
The predator tracking in QENP was fascinating and quite exciting as the lions were threatening the cattle of a local community so we were thrilled to be part of that and then to see 3 lions in the trees in Ishasha too was a real bonus. James the researcher was very experienced and it was thrilling to get to see lions at close quarters and that others could not (due to his electronic tracking equipment).
But of course the gorillas were the highlight. We were very lucky to see 2 groups and a confrontation between 4 silverbacks as well as spending some time with some babies - and we only had to trek for 30 minutes before finding the group.
However the star of the tour was our driver/guide Edwin. He was professional and informative and a safe and excellent driver in some challenging conditions. He never seemed to tire of our questions and was willing to go the extra mile to make sure se had the best experience possible.
Anna in the Matoke tours office was speedy and efficient in response to all our queries and we had complete confidence in the company. We chose the mid range accommodation option which we were very happy with and we upgraded to a land cruiser which proved to be a good decision when we encountered some very wet and muddy tracks en route. It was a truly memorable holiday.
CA
Email Maarten | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience
Convenient to have an experienced travel organization to help out with travel to the DRC. Virunga NP was a once in a lifetime experience!
Email Michael | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Well planned and wonderfully executed custom-built 12 day tour
From my initial enquiries about the tour through to the end when I said farewell to my driver and guide I can honestly say that it was all a marvellous experience.
I started out by asking about group tours as I thought a customised tour for me, as a solo traveller, would be too expensive. My communications with Lionel in the office were always very constructive and together we developed a tour that was perfect for me and for the costs I had in mind. In the end I paid significantly more than I had originally expected but the trip was worth it. The payments were all processed very smoothly and my special requests were attended to by Ilse, the manager.
On the tour itself I was fortunate to have been assigned a freelance tour guide and driver; Confidence Matsiko. He was very professional, knew the job well and he had a number of contacts, some of whom he called upon to ease the minor challenges that cropped up. Confidence has a good knowledge of birds and was keen to learn more; so with our shared interest we never tired of conversation. My tour however was to focus on the larger primates and I can honestly say my close encounters with both chimps and mountain gorillas were way beyond my expectations.
I'm so glad Lionel persuaded me to go for the Chimp habituation rather than chimp tracking. My full day with the chimp group enabled me to experience them successfully hunting a Colobus monkey. The insight into this aspect of chimp life would not have been possible had I been tracking them for just 2 hours.
The Gorilla experience was equally rewarding. Confidence had managed to put me into the group that was to locate the Bitukura group out of Ruhija. His friend was to be the lead ranger for the eight-person group. The Bitukura group were known to have silverbacks and youngsters in them so, when we finally located them after quite a tiring climb up through the forest, I was thrilled and delighted to find a huge silverback male with two young playing and tumbling with each other on his back. He was completely ignoring them until the babies moved off to join their mum after which he set off to find some more food to fill his enormous belly. To watch all of this and to experience the smells and sounds as well as the sights was just fantastic. No TV film could ever match the reality of sitting so close to these wonderful animals.
The choice of accommodations used was also entirely appropriate for me but next time I think I would opt for more homestays rather than the less-friendly lodges.
The only aspect that I offer as a helpful comment is to make customers aware of the journey time between locations. The 12 hour trek between Murchison Falls NP and Kibale was exhausting and I hadn't realised how long it would take. Perhaps in the itinerary some indication of travel time would help clients appreciate what is required and thus prepare themselves accordingly.
I'd like to thank Matoke tours for enabling me to enjoy such wonderful wildlife-filled experiences. All the other game-viewing and birdwatching days of the trip were equally enjoyable and I reckon that I managed to identify, with the help of Confidence, nearly 230 species of birds despite not really working hard for them. If you choose Matoke as your tour operator I think you will almost certainly be very happy with your experiences. Having travelled extensively across Africa I think my Ugandan trip was one of, if not, the best.
Email Alicja | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Unforgettable experience !!
Ilse organized our personalized trip to Uganda, DR Congo and Rwanda and that was not the easiest thing to do!
This trip exceeded my expectations and I have already recommended this company to my friends.
Every day of our trip was wonderful!
We manage to see Big Five in one day ( I recommended to visit Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary).
Murchison Falls National Park is beautiful with abundance of wildlife and birds ( strongly advice to to go on river cruise and hike waterfalls).
We did gorilla tracking in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Chimpanzee tracking in Kibale National Park, experience that I will remember for a very long time!
If I have to say what made biggest impression and impact on me, that was part of our tour in DR Congo.
This is so beautiful but yet so deeply wounded country.
Virunga National Park is magical place , not only because of wildlife, but mainly because of dedication and hard work of rangers and park management in order to preserve park and support local communities.
Part of our group hike Mount Nyiragongo ( for very fit only ) and that was very unique experience.
Our tour guide Richard was very knowledgeable , friendly and very professional , thanks to him our trip was safe and funny and very interesting!
Overall we had trip of our life and thank you again Ilse, Richard and Matoke Tours!
PS
I will be back one day!
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Email Cynthia | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
We couldn't have made this trip happen without Matoke! Excellent itinerary for Uganda!!
Matoke was incredibly helpful for us during the safari planning phases. They responded quickly and answered all of our questions. They were also responsive while we were in the country :-)
The Uganda portion of the tour was incredible. Chimp trekking in Kibale and gorilla trekking in Bwindi were absolutely amazing. Definitely a bucket list experience for us!
The accommodations were also quite nice! We were very comfortable the entire time :-)
Email Emily | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Our tour was so well organised, and our guide was so knowledgeable and friendly!
Matoke was such a great company to tour with. Our days were packed so we made the most of every day, our guide seemed to know everyone and everything- he was so knowledgeable and taught us so much about Ugandan wildlife and culture. The tour exceeded all expectations, we will be using matoke again!!
CH
Email Zuzanna | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A great experience
Our 3 day tour from Kigali to Lake Mutanda, gorilla tracking and back to Kigali was amazing!
The gorilla experience was fantastic, we really didn't expect to be able to be so close to them, the Mutanda Lake Resort was really good, we enjoyed every second of our stay there. The new managers of the place are very nice and helpful. And our driver Ronald was a great company, we enjoyed talking to him and felt safe and well taken care of all the time.
The email communication and assistance from the moment of sending my first query to the email detailing recommended packing list were of high quality, professional and always timely.
I highly recommend booking with Matoke.
Email Nick Swift | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Fly-In Safari
Ilse organised our tour and it was really great. We have three kids of 13, 11 and 9 so didn't want to do too much driving, so we pretty much flew everywhere. That was amazing. It was super easy and a lot of the airfields are really close to the hotels. All of the vouchers and tickets that Matoke had organised worked perfectly and they seemed to be very well known in the hotels etc. so the staff 'knew where we came from' as everything was prepaid. I strongly recommend them.
Magical with upmost professionalism
Our trip started with the upmost professionalism when we were greeted by our driver Ronald at Kigali airport. Ronald turned out to be fantastically professional, warm, insightful and very fun to spend our three days with and he kept the whole process running very smoothly.
We then drovee from here up through Rwanda and across to the Virunga mountains in Uganda - we stayed nearby at the magical Chameleon Hill hotel which overlooks the beautiful lake Mutanda.
The gorilla experience was as magical as we hoped it would be. Ronald was also very helpful in organising a mountain biking and coffee plantation experience on our last day. He enabled us to customise this experience and reduce it down from the half day activity to a few hours which enabled us to still catch our evening flight.
Once again thank you to Matoke tours, from start to finish the communication and overall execution was five star. I encourage any reader of this review to visit the Ugandan countryside as it is simply stunning and full of amazing people