NL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Everything was great
Took 8 Days Masai Mara and some downtime in Zanzibar, The planning and Communication really impressed me. Ernest Came to meet us at the airport upon arrival and made us feel at home. I would recommend them to you.
ES
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing
It was a great experience to visit Uganda together with EBS TOURS. Our guide and the manager were amazing helping us from the very beginning until the end of the trip. Really recommend them to visit the pearl of Africa!!
FR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful
We had spent à very trip at Nyerere camp. It was wonderful. The guide and the driver were very kind.
CZ
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Uganda is an interesting safari destination but its wildlife is obviously under a great pressure
I think Uganda is not for someone who suppose to have just one East Africa safari tour in his/her life.
For such people Kenya/Tanzania are better options.
Uganda is about some special animal (shoebill, chimps, gorillas, other primates, birds) and special landscape (lakes, Virunga, Ruwenzori, a margin of Congo rainforest basin) targets.
We knew that, we are strongly oriented to wildlife but anyway - Uganda was a partial (with the focus on PARTIAL) disappointment.
When I was a child the classical Ugandan national parks like Murchison Falls and Queen Elisabeth were symbols of the African wildlife beauty. They are still here but obviously under a great poaching pressure and some parts of QE (esp. Ishasha sector) are simply dying ecosystems. Without any change in NP management Uganda can expect even further decrease of safari visitors.
There were also 2 and 1/2 disappointments with the activities which were expected to be the Uganda safari highlights:
* Disappointment 1 : chimpanzee trekking in Kibale - IMO this is a cheat from definition - this is no trekking but cca an hour of standing in a dark forest and staring at a chimpanzee back high and far in the trees. I can understand it is made as it is possible but with all the marketing and for the price (a half of the gorilla permit) ... ? But I do believe that for chimps is Kibale a good place to live. Which is a good message.
* Disappointment 2 : tree-climbing lions in Ishasha/QENP - we saw just one older cub which was seriously and repeatedly injured (the older injury from poacher snares, the fresh new injury - as we were told - made by an aggressive male lion ). Add the evening/night shooting at elephants (to keep them out of the crop fields) and the fact that one half (really) of Ishasha sector is completely burnt down. A depressive place.
* 1/2 of Disappointment : gorilla trekking in Bwindi - this is no cheat (compared with chimps trekking in Kibale), it is a real rainforest trekking crowned with gorillas observation from a close distance - we spent a half an hour with a female and cca 10-month-old baby (nice) and we could hear other group members (incl. silverback) in the undergrowth nearby. But when the female with her baby was leaving we were told by our leader guide we could not to continue in observation because of a wasp nest (it was really there but it was there all the time and could be easily bypassed when trying to follow gorillas which were apparently nearby). So we finished our session after a half an hour and returned to the base where we were waiting another half an hour until the "easy group" returned (we were the "medium group"). I suppose the gorilla trekking is no cheat from definition (as I suppose the chimps trekking in Kibale is) but we simply had a hard luck with our leader guide. You didn't travel so long distance and didn't spend so much money to skip a half of the activity for such a vague reason.
But there were also very good points in our Uganda safari tour :
* shoebill in Mabamba swamps
* rhinos trekking in Ziwa RS
* Nile delta boat cruise (private small boat)
* giant forest hogs close to Buffalo lodge/QE
* Kazinga channel boat cruise (private small boat)
* Golden monkey trekking in Mgahinga NP (by far best of the primate trekking)
* Lake Mulehe birding (private small boat)
* Lake Bunyonyi birding (private small boat)
* birding !!!
And the trip organization by Africa Adventure Vacations was excellent. The tour was discussed and planned with Robert and we were guided with Ceasar and Daphne. I can highly recommend all of them, the tour organization was simply great and we would like to thank them once more at this place.
To sum up - I'm far from being sure to visit Uganda again but if we do that we'll ask Africa Adventure Vacations (Robert, Ceasar, Daphne) to organize our trip again.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Mikumi National Park by suj
it is a good size park which is evenley balanced to see the various animals in there naturally habitat without binoculars
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
very friendly and welcoming
country which is freindly and welcoming you feel safe travelling around
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Communicative and helpful throughout. I always felt in safe hands.
A wonderful trip of a lifetime. Would’ve given 5 stars but the late arrival into the park area on day 1 and early departure on day 3 makes me question if this should be called a 3 day safari, in truth it’s a one day safari. That said though, the experience was amazing, the camp was clean and welcoming and the process was smooth.
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Dana was extremely busy. There were questions we had that we needed an appointment to have answered.
We were met at the airport by Joseph, who was very professional and friendly. Our accommodations at Seasons were nice and included a wonderful breakfast.
Humala lodge was a wonderful adventure with good food, excellent staff, and our game driver Tandy was excellent! The Boma Zulu dancers were really fun!
James transported us to Tshukudu via the Panorama route and was very helpful, answered questions and took care of transfers and accommodations questions for us for our Victoria Falls excursion.
Our Tshukudu cabin was nice, but there were ants everywhere. The food was excellent! Our game driver Tyler was excellent as well.
Our accommodations at Victoria Falls at the Ilala Lodge was magnificent! Beautiful room, excellent food and wonderful staff. Lucky picked us up at Victoria Falls airport and transported us to Victoria Falls and the Chobi river package. He was excellent and very helpful.
Our Victoria Falls accommodations only included breakfast. We were surprised that we had to pay for lunch and dinner!
MT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Our tour operator provided us with the best guides ever!
We thoroughly enjoyed our trip in Africa - Kenya and Uganda. Our guides Patrick and Dalson made sure about this - they were very attentive, reliable throughout and did all they could to make sure we had the best holiday possible. I would definitely recommend them.
I preferred Uganda while my friend preferred Kenya. My choice is due to the fact that the programme was more at leisure and more varied in activities - Kenya had some early starts and long hours in jeep and heat; I would have liked a little more time to settle into a hotel and chill a bit especially since the accommodation the tour operator chose for us were great. I would have done either lake Nakuru or Amboseli in a week's trip - not both. Probably would choose Nakuru as less driving. But, I know my friend would want to do it all once again so it does depend on personal differences.
The accommodation was good, comfortable, and clean throughout the trip. The food and service were also very good too. The accommodation close to Bwindi was a bit lower in standards - mostly in terms of the service, lack of warm water, poor lighting, and internet.
Transportation - I hated that mountain road to see the gorillas but I guess that can't be helped :). It is recommended to have a proper safari jeep rather than a van.
Some points for reference:
1. US dollars are preferred and only the new ones are accepted - and papers need to be flat, clean - no tears, no gem marker etc.
2. Despite paying a lot for this trip (a 2 week trip in Africa has cost us as much if not more than anywhere else in the world including the US/Canada; Central and South America; Asia) one is still expected to fork out in tips .... daily.
3. Take some clothes, and sweets for the kids waving by the roadside.
4. Check all plans in detail with the tour operator beforehand since we had one or two miscommunications. However, these were rectified. Communication was regular prior to the trip and the guides could easily contact the operator during the trip.
5. Try to go to a local dance/performance show, it is worth it!
ES
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Professionals
The safari was perfect. Eric is a well experienced driver and we could see a lot of animals. The food was delicius and the campsite, Rhino, clean enough even thoug the staff was no very friendly. Nevertheless i would recomend Axis Africa Expedition & Safaris.