Life Experience
I visited Uganda 3years ago, as a student in order to work on a project about their living standars. Because of the project I met a lot of people and I have to admit that they are very friendly and hospitable. The weather in Uganda is normal, not dry but warm. The food is cheap and tasteful. They mainly offer goat sticks, soup with rice and vegetables and mattoke which is a traditional plate made by bananas. The accommodation was good as the staff was very willing to serve you, but it was a little bit slow. As far as the transportation is concered, they have "boda-bodas", which are motor bikes where you sit behind the driver. They also have buses and vans which are like taxis. The scenery is green and magnificent and there is a great variety of wildlife to explore by selecting this country as a safari destination. This safari had been arranged by the hotel where I stayed, situated in Mbarara district. We woke up in the morning and a bus booked by the hotel, took us to "Queen Elisabeth National Park". Approaching to the park we were astonished by the beautiful sunrise. Then we left it all to our communicable guide who was explaining all only in english, as the official languages are english and swahili. Small safari vans took us to indiscribably places in this huge park, driving among a lot of animals. The feeling that you get when you are so close to them cannot be discribed. It is unbelievable that you are in their natural living place. Elephants, lions, hippos, crocodiles, monkeys are just a few of what you can see. This is a life experience that you have never imagined!!!
Great "off the beaten path" destination away from the usual tourist traps
Though it is a country that is tourist friendly, it can be experienced in an "off the beaten path" way. The people are very friendly where ever you go. In Kampala there are low cost guest houses and hostels i.e. Makerere University Guest house for the thrifty traveler to 4-5 star accommodations like the Sheraton and Munyonyo Speke resort on the shores of Lake Victoria. The weather is moderate for the equator (low 80s during the day with about 30% humidity) due to the elevation which averages around 4,000 ft. Transportation is pretty much like anywhere you pay for what you get but generally it is a lot cheaper than other safari destinations like Kenya. The food is good especially the fruit. For fine chinese cuisine in Kampala I recommend Fang Fang restaurant which has two locations in the city. For good African fare any of the nice restaurants in the hotels will do. The scenery especially around Lake Victoria and in the west as you head to the Ruwenzori Mountains is exquisite with tall grass savannas with undulating green hills and terraced farming plots winding around the hills and valleys.. On the way to the north you will cross the Nile at Karuma falls a real spectacular site. The source of the Nile at Jinja is another must see. Uganda is a great place to see and experience. It's one place where the old and the new seem to thrive side by side in a tenuous yet complimentary harmony
CA
20-35 years of age
Murchison Falls National Park: Wishing I was back there...
There is one very visceral feeling from my time in Murchison that I hope never leaves me...we were maybe 40 minutes into our game drive through the wildlife reserve having already seen a number of giraffes and , the sun was on it's way to being fully up, but there was still a hint of the pinkish orange sky that enveloped us as the sun rose earlier that morning. The rest of my group had taken their seats again in our pop-up top van as our most excellent guide, Park Ranger Patricia was explaining we were heading to a different area of the reserve, in search of the big 5...it was a rare quiet moment with my normally chatty group (they were all friends/colleagues). I stood up, bracing myself against the side of the pop-up and with a clear view in all directions, saw that there was not another soul on the red dirt road ahead and no one coming behind us, the wind was blowing in my face and in the moment I felt like I was in a different world...
As you will see, I have given Uganda as a safari destination an "Excellent" rating.
While I do not have a frame of reference as this has been my only safari, it was everything I hoped for even in my most wistful imagination moments.
Wild Life:
On our game drive we saw 3 of the big 5...including a male and female lion...only the leopard eluded us, and as we were in north of the river, Rhinos are not found in the area we were in, and unfortunately my groups travel plans did not allow for another day of game driving on the reserve. There were numerous giraffes which were my personal favourite with their graceful necks and gentle eyes. Buffalos, Elephants and Hippos were also plentiful. Though part of being in Uganda for me was to disconnect from technology - it has its purpose...the drive was most exciting when our Ranger got a call on her cellphone of a lion spotted. Our great driver told us to hold tight as we took off to try and get a siting of the lions. We were very fortunate to come upon the lion pair after they had just mated (!) and made their way across about 100m open field to a thatch where they hid out and relaxed, post, ah coupling. There were also many other types of wildlife, the beautiful Ugandan Kob, the tini, very cute Oribi, the mighty looking waterbucks, slightly strange looking Jacklope as the Ugandans called them (aka Jackson's Hartebeest), warthogs, baby crocodiles were spotted as well as
Scenery:
From the view of the Nile Delta as we made our way through the park to our rest camp, to the sunrise as we completed our ferry crossing at Paraa to start the game drive, to the vistas across the wildlife reserve, the scenery was serene and breathtaking.
Weather:
Unbeatable - I don't know if we were just extraordinarily lucky, but the only time it rained was as we were driving from Masindi and as we entered the park in the late afternoon the day prior to our morning game drive. We were treated to a lightening show in the afternoon off in the distance over the river delta, and later again that night the lightening was off in the distance over the river. The days were sunny and warm but not too hot (coming from a Canadian), the nights were comfortable. I would say you need long pants and a light sweater at night and for the early part of the game drive as you will likely start just before or around sunrise.
Accommodation and Food:
We stayed at the Red Chilli Rest Camp approximately 70km inside the park from the Kichubanyobo entrance gate. The rest camp was staff were very friendly and welcoming, our group stayed in the Rest Camp tents which were also very comfortable. They were the heavy canvas army style tents, 2 regular twin sized beds were in each tent. There were also Yerts (fixed structures) available, or if you are prepared to camp, they provide a camping area to pitch your own tent. The food was also very good, while I do not have a picky palate and enjoyed more local authentic Ugandan cuisine, the Red Chilli does cater to a more westernized palate, you certainly will not go hungry as portions are usually quite large. And if you enjoy good coffee, make sure you try the "filtered African coffee" at some point, somewhere in Uganda, they have excellent coffee. (You must specify filtered coffee or they will give you regular instant coffee). Food prices were very reasonable and there was a good selection of beverages and beer!
There were clean, well kept, bathrooms with regular flush toilets and sinks as well as showers if you needed. Make sure you bring a flashlight or miner's headlight for night time. At the Red Chilli Rest camp, due to it's proximity to the river, Hippos come up and graze on the grass at the camp at night - so you need to be careful if you are making any night time bathroom trips. Baboons and warthogs are around during the day, so do not leave any food in your tent!
Important note - the Red Chilli rest camp has a charging station where you can plug in your various electronics and/or charges - i.e. camera, lap tops etc. Power can be an issue in Uganda as it seems a lot work is being done on their power systems so there are periods of power shedding/blackouts. When the Red Chilli had to switch to generator usually the charging station is off, but it is good to know, as I was worried about keeping my camera batteries charged after a long day of shooting on the game drive.
Transportation:
We were fortunate to travel in a pop up top mini van, this was perfect for the game drive, the side windows opened wide so for the photographers out there you had options to get good shots from all sides of the vehicle. As we were out on our drive, it was clear the limitation for others who may have been in a jeep type vehicle such as a Land/Range Rover with no open top capability, as you cannot get out of your vehicle on the reserve for obvious reasons (except one designated area at the river where hippos were resting) if you are not in a pop-up top vehicle, you will definitely be limited in photographic opportunities. Our vehicle was comfortable and we had a great driver, Phineus who seemed just as knowledgeable about the park as the ranger who accompanied us . He made sure to remind us to be up and ready early so that we could be first on the first ferry out of Paraa, as there were a number of vehicles and the ferry can only hold so many, late comers have no choice but to start their game drive later and of course there tends to be more animal movement earlier in the morning. The Red Chilli happens to be quite close to the crossing at Paraa.
Other Highlights:
We also took a boat tour on the White Nile with Nile River Tours (I think-hope that is the name of the operator). At any rate there were of course big boats, however, our group of ten preferred the smaller boats, easier to get closer to the shore and see the wildlife from that perspective. Our group was divided 8 of us were in one boat, and 2 paired up with another foursome in a smaller boat of 6. Our river guide was excellent, knowledgeable, funny and interesting. He was able to not only talk about the wildlife but the geography and history of the park and the immediate area. The boat left from just south of the Paraa ferry dock, travelled up the river to Murchison Falls and then back down again. The trip was about 2-2.5 hours, it could have gone on longer, I would not have minded, though there were not bathrooms on board so, my bladder may have eventually complained.
The boat tour was fantastic and I would highly recommend it, especially if you are a photographer, amateur or professional - but as I said, try getting on a smaller boat. I was able to get some fantastic shots. There were a couple of huge herds of elephants that came down to the river to drink, buffalos as well and in the smaller boat we could get quite close to the shore to get a close look. Though I wasn't fast enough to get a photo, we saw a massive crocodile take down a baby hippo on the river bank.
Finally, on the morning before our departure, we took a relatively short hike, about an hour total, up the top of Murchison Falls. We drove up to a certain point, it was not a long drive. The hike was not too physically demanding and you have a choice actually to skip the hike and just go straight to the falls. But the path again allowed for some more interesting photo opportunities to shoot down river, where we were on the boat the day before. The path has a steep point, that is short, just make sure to wear sturdy shoes (i.e. no flip flops/thongs), but even those who are less fit can easily do it, just go slowly. Once at the top their is a level foot path that goes along the river canyon that you can follow, they we turn back, the path diverges and we had towards the top of the falls. Be Careful - there aren't really any barriers or fences, so you can essentially walk right up to the edge of the falls - the water is extremely powerful and mesmorizing.
Uganda on a whole was a wonderful experience, the purpose of my trip was in part work/volunteering with an NGO, so I was constrained with how much time I could spend, but I definitely could have spent at least another day on a game drive. Overall, I would have loved to have spent more time in Uganda but alas I had to return to Canada. I would have also been very interested in visiting one of the other parks, to the south east where the zebras and rhinos can be found. I heard wonderful feedback from some of my colleagues who were able to stay longer and head to southwest for some rest and relaxation at Lake Bunyonyi and do some gorilla tracking/trekking in Bwindi NP.
I cannot say it enough, I would go back in a heartbeat.
US
50-65 years of age
Review about Queen Elizabeth National Park by mmorse1034
See above comments
US
50-65 years of age
US
50-65 years of age
Review about Bwindi Impenetrable National Park by mmorse1034
How often do you have to step out of the path of an oncoming Mountain Gorilla and have him look you in the eyes as he goes by?
CA
20-35 years of age
Review about Uganda by Dena
I am not really in to birding, but I did notice quite a few different types of birds and some interesting coloured birds and our guide, a Park Ranger was able to tell me about them; but as I said, as I am not a birder not I'm not sure if this what one would be looking for. Having said that, if you have an interest in birds, I would assume you have an interest in wildlife in general, so I think it is still a not to be missed destination.
US
50-65 years of age
Fabulous primate destination
Primates were great. Inches away from Mountain Gorillas and 20 feet from Chimps on a walking safari. The River Cruise on the Kazinga had amazing views of hippos, elephants, birds, etc.
Food was surprisingly good. Very uncrowded. Accommodations were very good. Queen Elizabeth safari not up to Serengeti or South Africa standards but still ok. Guide was great. There were two of us and a guide and Land Rover for a week. Rarely saw other tourists. The locals were colorful but not sure they really liked us being there, esp if we took photos of them.
All in all, not on the beaten path but the experience is one not to be missed.
CA
20-35 years of age
Review about Red Chilli Tours by Dena
They made it really easy, they have their own transport (they use the pop-up top mini vans which are key while actually on the safari). The driver was very friendly and knowledgeable, everything ran smoothly. Also the food was good, the accommodations were comfortable and just rustic enough to feel like we're not.
US
50-65 years of age
A fantastic opportunity to view wildlife and scenery from the Nile River.
I visited Murchison Falls with Red Chili (out of Kampala) during a short break while I was in Uganda shooting photos for an NGO called One School at a Time. The trip was excellent. We stayed at the comfortable Red Chili camp, where the food and accomodations were comfortable (tent cabins and a large dining cabana), and where a short stroll from camp afforded opportunities to see warthogs and monkeys or the Nile River. The rolling landscape in the park includes forest and savannah vegetation, with large herds of giraffes, groups of elephants, many antelope, hippos, buffalo, monkeys, and occasional predators (lions and leopards), among other African animals. The highlight of the trip was a long boat ride up the Nile River to the base of Murchison Falls itself, where Ernest Hemingway once survived a plane crash that killed his companions. On the boat, one enjoys a fantastic vantage from which crocodiles, elephants, cape buffalo, families of hippos, and exotic birds can be observed in comfort, while sipping Nile Beer and enjoying the cool river breeze. The boat takes you to the very base of the spectacular falls before returning downriver to your starting point. In addition to the park, the drive from Kampala to Murchison is a chance to see a cross section of the Ugandan countryside, and to enjoy lunch and a walk around one of the towns en route. Overall, my trip to Murchison Falls with Red Chili was a highlight of my time in Uganda. Photos on flickr under my username: kdriese.