50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
We dealt with Pennina who was very efficient and responded to our many queries with patience
We had excellent experience. They suggested locations for our preferred holiday destination in Mombasa and made bookings with professionalism. Pennina was patient as we kept changing preferences and her invaluable knowledge of alternative ideas came handy for us. We highly recommend Oakland Tours and Safaris and look forward to using them again for future holiday plans.
Lantana Galu recommended by the Oakland Tours and Safaris was one of the best locations I have had the pleasure of visiting.
LU
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Perfect safari experience
The pick-up was at the hotel and in time, good driver/guide who brought us to Selous and Mikumi in a 4x4 Landcruiser. Food during the 4 nights was above expectations and we enjoyed it very much. Lot to see in the reserves, quite a long drive from Selous to Mikumi, but interesting.
Overall very good safari experience, Thanks.
BE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing once-in-a-lifetime experience, perfectly organiseed by Encounter Africa!
Here's my thoughts on our recent holiday in Uganda:
1. First of all, if you are hesitating whether or not to travel to Uganda .. don’t, please just go! It's an amazing experience in a beautiful country, with warm and friendly people. It's not unsafe at all (taking the ordinary precautions when travelling in Africa, South America or Asia for that matter). It’s not too touristy (yet) so the other tourists you meet there are generally very also very nice and open-minded people.
2. I struggled to find decent reviews of safari operators causing me quite some stress given that you have to book your permit through the company (and gorilla spotting is not exactly cheap!). I spent hours looking for reviews online. We ended up choosing Encounter Africa Safaris (mainly by luck I think) and could not be happier with our choice. Its strengths include: fast response times to emails, very clear and to the point communication, great value for money proposition and perfect execution at destination. We corresponded with Chris re the booking, which went very smoothly. He also helped us at destination to get a nice(r) hotel (with pool) for our last night at a reasonable price. Joseph, our driver/guide, played a very big role in making this trip an unforgettable one. Impeccable timing. Made sure we got into the right groups and had the best guides to see the chimps and gorillas. Truly went above and beyond to ensure we enjoyed our holiday. Very knowledgeable. Gave the relevant level of detail/information whilst travelling (you don’t want too much information nor do you want too little, right?!). And also .. just a really nice, funny and friendly guy (important when you spend ca. 10-12 hours a day together). Encounter Africa also booked us into very nice accommodation (we did the mid-range travel but they got us an upgrade by lake Bunyonyi) and we had lunch/dinner in great restaurants.
3. I don't have experience that allows me to compare our gorilla tracking in Uganda with a tracking in Rwanda, but my impression is that you get a tracking in Uganda is more genuine (including the drive through the Bwindi forest which is amazing as such and definitely puts you in the mood!). Don't believe any claims that the percentage of seeing gorillas is higher in Rwanda than in Uganda - it's not. Our team in Bwindi was extremely professional and well-organised. Whilst there are no guarantees when you want to spot wild (albeit habituated) animals, considering how well the families are tracked/monitored, I think the default position is that you see them. No words can describe it when you do ... it's simply amazing.
4. One last tip: if you do go to Uganda, don’t limit yourself to just seeing the gorillas. There’s also other primates (Kibale is the best place to see chimps!) and beautiful nature (source of the Nile, hiking in the East, secluded animal parks in the North etc.). We were however told to avoid Kampala due to its manic traffic.
Excellent service throughout
My wife and I would like to express our appreciation and thanks for what we consider to have been the holiday of our lifetime! The whole experience was delightful - your representatives were excellent as were the various Lodges where we stayed during our Safari. Our driver, could not have been more helpful - providing us with innumerable opportunities for our cameras. Altogether, it was a really wonderful holiday and with many thanks to Somak!
Oakland Tours & Safari's is Home when it comes to Travel & Reservation Arrangements !
They are Excellent, Great Reception and Quick in Response.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
A superb venue for dramatic landscapes, scenic hikes, and superb birding.
My wife and I recently camped for two nights at Augrabies Falls National Park, whilst on a three week road trip in South Africa. The campsite has a peaceful and pleasant atmosphere with excellent facilities. Lots of Rock Dassies and birds made for some fun and easy photography. Apart from the Dassies, I got great close-up photographs, in the campsite, of the Village Weaver, Red-eyed Bulbul, ad Glossy Starling, but saw plenty more birds while out walking. A troupe of monkeys kept us entertained in the campsite - the youngster's antics often hilarious to watch. We did a very early morning walk to the falls, which was great - especially as no one else was around. That morning was a solar semi-eclipse - and I had great fun photographing the sun: a bright orange disc, but like a biscuit with a bite taken out. The light was superb and I got great photos of the gorge and waterfall. Another walk later that day took us to Moon rock. This spectacular granite whale-back hill rises out of a lunar landscape carved with jagged rocks - as far as the eye can see - and was one of the great highlights of the entire road-trip for me. The park has a lovely swimming pool and a wide range of accommodation options. There are also several long drives through the park, and some dedicated 4x4 trails as well. Take your camera and binoculars, and whether you walk or drive, you'll wish you had more time at Augrabies!
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about South Africa by Errol
The South African National Parks are superbly managed, and cater to every possible taste. All the national parks have fabulous birding and photographic opportunities, as well as excellent game viewing. Many of the parks have the big five.
PT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
An experience of a lifetime
Uganda is a fantastic country with exceptional and genuine landscapes and wildlife and Katona Tours made our days in Uganda an experience that we will never forget. Jackie was always very efficient in back office, very quick with replies, trying hard to clarify and please us. During the safari she phoned every day to check if everything was going ok. Jack, our guide, was local, very friendly and truly learned in animals and local habits and he did his best to give us the best of time.
Although we opted for the budget accommodations, we loved all the places we have stayed since they all had a very special atmosphere. They prepared us excellent cooks and we dine under the stars (fantastic sky) and close to the fire. Yes, it was cold in equator…and also hot…could you imagine it?
The gorilla safari day was a hard walk, and we had the greatest heavy rain of our life, but it was very well rewarding to be so close to those humbling and awe-inspiring animals. But Uganda has much, much to offer and to pick a favorite moment it is very difficult… we also loved the chimpanzee safari, all Queen Elizabeth safaris and the close-up with the tree climbing lions. Thanks Katona Tours!!! We will treasure our Uganda trip, always!
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
At least once in your life
This was our first safari and will not be the last one. It started in Africa is a quite young safari company in Arusha and already one of the best. The owner, Joao is very kind and support you by email or by phone to organize and plan the trip, trying to match your requests as much as possible at very competitive prices. The rest of the staff is also great, such as Mathias, the office manager, great welcoming from him. There are no words to describe the experience, we visited Tarangire, Serengeti and Ngorongoro. All of the them are worth a visit, but Serengeti is definitely the best one, it is exactly like in the movie, the Lion King. In the tented camp you really feel the savana. We have seen hundred of animals, all the Big 5, and very cool scenes thanks to our guide, Michael, what an amazing guy. He is very kind and he can see animals from the top of Ngorongoro crater while driving. You should definitely ask for him as guide. Go for It started in Africa, no doubts.
FR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Wonderful experience with Rodrick Ndemfoo
Rodrick took care of us during our 9 day safari trip through Tanzania. We visited Arusha, Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Serengeti, Ngorogoro Crater and the Masai people.
Rodrick has plenty of knowledge he likes to share, has the answers to all your questions, is very good with children (he was very kind to our daughter of 14 and son of 11) and is very pleasant to be around with. He is very cautious, friendly, knows his place if you want privacy with your family and he's big fun when you share a pick nick lunch in the fields. He knows the perfect spots and has the best eyes to point out all kind of animals (while we had to use sunglasses and binoculaires). We met another couple with private guide and they followed us during our safaris because it was even clear to them that Rodrick was the perfect guide!
If you want an unforgettable safari experience ask for Rodrick Ndemfoo.