US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing 4 Days Trip
I loved my 4days trip to Queen Elizabeth National Park. It was my very first time to visit this national park.Agnes together with her team planned and organized my safari so well
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Best vacation ever!
I have always wanted to do a safari, ever since I was a child. Rwanda has been a country of interest since I was in high school and seeing gorillas in their natural habitat seemed like the opportunity of a lifetime! I started researching and contacting safari companies over a year ago. A lot of them were far out of my price range, or didn’t seem to respond to my questions or address my concerns in a timely manner.
Umoja Motherland Tours set themselves apart from these other companies immediately with amazing expertise, attention to detail, thorough planning, and fair pricing! Agnes has been answering my questions and planning the trip of a lifetime for me and my boyfriend for over a year! She gave me an inexpensive quote and came up with an incredible itinerary to visit Uganda and Rwanda for 12 days. She responded to all my questions almost instantly and eased all my concerns and had been doing so for about 7-9 months before I even made a down payment or financially committed. She made sure to include the gorilla tracking, but also added amazing stops and activities that I would never have known to include (Lake bunyonyi, Lake Mburo, golden monkey tracking). The amount of care she took with planning our dream vacation showed and the trip ended up being the best I’ve ever had the pleasure of traveling!
Agnes personally picked us up from the airport and introduced us to our guide Phinny. Traveling with Phinny felt more like traveling with a friend who was showing us around his home country than traveling with a tour guide. Phinny was fun and had very interesting and extensive knowledge of every place we went and all the animals we encountered! And we saw A LOT of amazing animals! We saw large herds of zebras (including babies), many different antelope, kobs, warthogs (including baby warthogs), hippos, water buffalo, giraffes, elephants and crocodiles. We saw about 6 different species of monkeys, including baboons and the adorable golden monkeys! We also had close encounters with chimpanzees and gorillas as planned! Phinny was also able to find a Leopard which is very difficult because they hide in trees! He must have the best vision because Phinny would spot an animal from a moving vehicle long before me or my boyfriend noticed anything at all.
Phinny went above and beyond to ensure our trip was memorable. On our last evening in Queen Elizabeth Park, he drove us to a viewing point where hundreds of birds of many different species and other animals gathered to enjoy the water. From this elevated viewing point, we saw a large group of hippos and water buffalo along with crocodiles and warthogs. It was so neat to see so many animals come to one spot. We also encountered a small elephant family (with 2 babies) on this journey and had to stop so that a group of almost 50 baboons could cross the road. It was amazing!
Phinny also looked out for us. On the morning before our gorilla track, both me and my boyfriend woke up with tummy aches! We didn’t say anything but Phinny noticed we weren’t well and negotiated to get us out of the 4 hour gorilla tracking group and into a group that only hiked 45 minutes to find the gorillas. Both me and my boyfriend ended up feeling fine after 20 minutes, but it was nice to have someone looking out for us! Encountering the gorillas was unforgettable and one of the best parts of the trip!
Umoja Motherland Tours planned an amazing life changing trip! They also Did a wonderful job selecting places to stay! We stayed in queen Elizabeth park and could see an elephant bathing in a near by watering hole from our hotel’s lodge! I even saw a baboon run outside my window when I was unpacking! This made us really feel like we were a part of nature! Our favorite place was in Rwanda called Da Vinci Gorilla Lodge. Our room had a lovely fire place and the people who worked there went above and beyond to make us feel like we were honored guests. For the evening, they had a group of local traditional dancers perform. Not only were they talented, but they also informed us about the culture and talked about how their dancing group teaches young children these dances while they are attending school. Da Vinci Gorilla Lodge also has the best food of all the places we stayed. Another place we stayed, Paradise Malahide, had the most friendly staff! It felt like staying with friends as opposed to a hotel. My boyfriend and I would chat with them for hours and they would tell us about them selves and where they grew up and enjoyed hearing about the snow we experience back at home. It’s also impossible to forget the staff at Supreme Adventure Park Cabins in lake Bunyoni! Dinner was typically served in the lodge, however, their staff surprised me and my boyfriend with a romantic candle lit dinner on the dock over looking the lovely lake! They set up lanterns and a bon fire and served us an incredible dinner! It was such a pleasant surprise and was such a thoughtful touch that gave our trip a honeymoon feel!
Our trip was truly amazing! Agnes made the planning smooth and created a fantastic itinerary with amazing sites that created opportunities to see wonderful animals up close and ensured our comfort by selecting wonderful locally owned accommodations. Our guide Phinny ensured that our trip was special and that we were always well cared for.
My boyfriend and I will return to East Africa and we will most certainly do so with Umoja Motherland Tours!
Additionally, after having such a great trip, less than a year later, I tried to plan a trip with my parents with Umoja and Agnes gave me three itineraries with different durations. All three itineraries would accommodate the needs of my parents (Slower pace, nicer accommodations with reasonable prices, plenty of rest time, while still maximizing viewing time of local wildlife). This really showed me the versatility that this safari company can offer! Agnes put all this different detailed itineraries together very quickly without asking for any payment or commitment. My parents, we’re initially not interested and even scared to travel to East Africa, but became excited about the trip after seeing the itineraries and said they would like to go! It helped when I told them how safe my boyfriend and I were on our Trip. You could not find a safer company to travel with! Unfortunately, my mom fell into bad health and is still struggling so we were not able to go. But my mom said, that once she pulls out of this, she would love to go on this trip and I know it will be one my parents and I will never forget!
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
I have never had such a friendly Safari
I traveled with a group of amazing people,so friendly and easy to cope up with.the treatment from Magic African Safaris team was incredible,I can't wait to travel with them again.
CN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
AMAZING FIRST TIME ADVENTURE IN UGANDA
Travelled with family to blow off some steam. It was a thrilling experience with wildlife in Queen Elizabeth. Well planned and satisfactory service delivery. Looking forward to visit East Africa again
RU
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great 4-days long safari
We had a great experience. Emmanuel was super helpful, he did not strictly follow one plan adapting it to our requests and desires. This person really likes what he is doing and that makes the trip unforgettable.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Gave us the best experience we shall keep for a lifetime
A dream come true trip. we had a wonderful unforgettable experience visiting Murchison falls national Park in 2018. Our guide was very professional, knowledgeable responded to us, and we got to see all we had dreamed of. Our guide made sure we never missed anything - from the beautiful scenery, to the variety of wildlife like elephants, antelopes, crocodiles- we saw it all. Our biggest dream was to see the king of the jungle 'Lion'. It was amazing.
Beyond the wildlife, our guide told us about the beauty and history of the Murchison Falls National Park.
Thank you for your professionalism and making our trip a memorable one. We will forever cherish the fun and amazing time we had in Murchison falls national park.
FI
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Wonderful Safari
Going to Tanzania with Snow Africa Adventures was by far the best decision our private trip through Tarangire, Serengeti and Ngorongoro. Timothy our guide was awesome from start to finish. He is a really charming and energetic guide who wore a smile all through sharing his vast knowledge drawn from many years’ experience from one incredible wildlife encounter to the other. Lions were top on our list of must see and by the third day of our trip we had already seen more than 4 prides. We also saw many other species of wildlife taking lots of photos. Comfort and being pampered come close to mind when I recall the wonderful service at the lodges. Florent surely did great in selecting nice lodges and camps that turned out perfect!
Thank you again for checking on us and sorry we took so long to write after such an amazing experience!
US
It was awesome
It was fun and filled with exciting things from the parks, to the tour guide
CO
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
It was an amazing experience to would love to tour again with Hodari Kenya Safaris again.
It was a great joy to travel with Hodari Africa Safaris. We had a good glimpse of the Masai Mara, the Masai culture, and living in the Mara at community level, meeting them. For me, it was an easy decision to decide to travel with these authentic, intelligent, and most friendly, people. They were so open and transparent to us that we trust them for what they say. We felt very close to their tradition moving around touristic facilities, the communities, and the Mara itself. We can´t wait to be back. Highly recommended.
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Incredible experience, it's seems National Geographic!
That was an unforgettable experience for me at Kibale national park! If you are wanting to see wild chimpanzees, I want to tell THIS IS THE PERFECT PLACE!!! The guide on our side was friendly, knowledgeable and spoke decent English. Unlike some other parks with chimp populations, Kibale is amongst the highest in the world so your much more likely to get really good views of them as opposed to just in the trees.