DE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Trustfull company and people
Everything was working fine with Gladiola but especially with the owner Didas.
We rent a toyota Landcruiser on self drive to get into Serengeti for 4 days.We took contact with Didas, got a fast answer, payment was made as fast.
Arriving in Arusha i wanted to see the owner, Didas was very friendly, no problem appear, the car was then a few day later brought to Karatu, return was also in Karatu, the driver was punctual, paid me the 300 USD Bond back on return day.
I would recommend Gladiola without hesitation.
Thank you Didas
Jean
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Moorland safaris
Moorland Safari has provided fantastic service. Our expectations have been exceeded in every way. The best part has been getting to know our driver and guide Derick. When the airlines lost our luggage, both Nasr and Derick went way out of the way to get our bags to us. Their knowledge of the area, the wildlife, the people...any subject is unbelievable and makes our time even better. Thank you!!!
Moorland Safaris
UA
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Unforgettable Uganda!
After more than one year of preparation and organisation of this unique trip with Cheetah Safari Uganda and my friend Robert Ntale we started on New Year´s Day 2019 from Vienna to Dubai and arrived on January 2nd in Entebbe which we decided to be our first overnight base in Uganda. John Mwesigwa was our personal guide and driver for these remarkable days through Uganda and to Kigali, where we took my wife to the airport after the first week of travelling. Thanks to the organizers we could plan our very special trip individually. It was our first holyday without our 4 year old son, who stayed with his grandparents in Vienna meanwhile. And we got a WIFI-router in the car to stay connected the whole trip with our family in Vienna. Big thanks to John! He was a great help for us from early morning till late evening and he never seemed to be tired.
Facing a tight schedule of game drives and cultural program we started the same day with visiting a dancing performance at the Ndere Centre for Development Theatre, which was constructed by a grant from the Austrian Development Agency. We experienced an amazing evening at the open air performance with dancers and music of different parts of the country, which was a warm welcome and pleasant introduction into culture, people and country.
The next six days passed in a flash. Places like Bigodi village, Kibale Forest, Queen Elizabeth National Park, Kisoro and Mgahinga National Park where our destinations in this first week. - A lot of highlights in this short time. A challenge for photographers, but fortunately with enough batteries and suitable adapters packed. John stopped our car, wherever I asked him to, to take some pictures or to buy some souvenirs our fruits. On the first day traffic seemed to be a little bit dangerous because of a lot of bodabodas and local manners of driving, but the roads where in excellent condition most of our driving route.
Bigodi village is situated in the highlands of western Uganda, in the shadow of the Rwenzori Mountains, the famous “Mountains of the Moon”. This community is located about 40 kilometres outside of of Fort Portal, that we passed coming from the East and at the borders of Kibale National Park. In Bigodi we learned how handcrafts and baskets are made, coffee is roasted, Matoke – a typical local food - is prepared and Gin is made out of bananas.
Winston Churchill was absolutely right: “For magnificence, for variety of form and colour, for profusion of brilliant life — bird, insect, reptile, beast — for vast scale — Uganda is truly “the Pearl of Africa.” Yes, it is a pearl! From morning till evening we could we were astonished about flora and fauna of this beautiful and picturesque country. The beauty of flowers, trees, birds, even the geckos I met in one of my lodges were fascinating. Absolutely highlights were our booked tours of Chimpanzee-tracking in Kibale Forest and Gorilla-tracking Mgahinga National Park. In Kibale Forest it was our guide Jeniffer Nsabe who took us successfully after a two hours walk to a big family of chimps guzzling and munching on high fig tree in the forest. We took amazing pictures, also when they climbed down with their babies.
In Mgahinga National Park we started early morning to get up to base for Gorilla-tracking, what seemed to be a little bit exhausting for me. I asked a porter for help with my photo-equipment and water bottles, not knowing that even after another hour of walking through the bush we should meet a Gorilla family with three silverbacks and a couple of juveniles sunbathing on glade. We took fantastic photographs with a picturesque background of Virunga Mountains. Pictures we won´t forget our whole life! And as the oldest guy in our group I got a certificate as the “Sliverback of the Day”!
The boat cruise on Kazinga Channel will be also unforgettable for us. I never saw such a huge amount of different birds and animals so close on one place. Only at home, when I checked all my photographs of water birds, I recognized some Nile monitors in the background of my pictures. Different Kingfishers, Bee-Eaters, Cranes, Crowned Plovers, Common Sandpipers, Grey Herons, Great Cormorants and hundreds and hundreds of birds. And of course hippos, elephants, buffalos, crocodiles and antelopes came down to or into the water of Kazinga Channel.
After a one day break in Kigali in Rwanda, visiting the Kigali Genocide Memorial and taking my wife to the airport, we continued our trip in Uganda at Buynonyi Lake, visiting the pygmies-village, a school and a medicine man. Most impressive were two things to me: firstly the view down onto the lake from my Acadia-Lodge. It was so fascinating that I did not want to leave my lodge for breakfast. I cannot remember happening that before. Secondly the people on the islands we met. I took a lot of great portraits especially of children playing. People were so kind and beautiful everywhere we came.
On the road we took a lot of great pictures. We crossed twice the Equator, we stopped at some colourful markets, coffee and tea plantations, a drum maker and souvenir shops, were we could buy tasty Ugandan coffee and some beautiful handcrafts and textiles for friends at home.
Another three highlights of the second part of the trip were the Lake Mburo National Park, the Rhino-tracking in Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary and my stay at the Nile River and the trip to the Murchison Falls and through the Murchison National Park. Also a huge number of animals and the first time I saw a lioness chasing an antelope and catching its prey. Kampala, the capital itself was a one-day-stop including a visit of the huge Gaddafi-National-Mosque, which was donated by Muamar al Gaddafi and opened in year 2007 officially.
Last but not least I want to recommend two sights in Entebbe which I visited on my last day of my stay: The Botanical Garden and the Wild Life Education Centre. - Both worth seeing and not far from the airport.
Retrospectively time in Uganda was too short for me and I have to come again soon. Of course highlights will be different: Golden Monkey tracking and the lions climbing up the trees will be a must for next time. And I will focus on the big variety of birds, which was really fascinating. To do the Ruwenzori Volcanoes would be great, but depends on my physical condition. And I would like to spend more time among people of Uganda. They were hospitable, friendly and beautiful!
Big thanks to Cheetah Safaris Uganda, Robert Ntale and his wife Jaquiline Mutesi, to John Mwesigwa and all our guides and rangers who made this trip possible for us!
Andreas and Hilla
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
7 days safari
Our emails were responded right on time. The customer service was top notch.we would recommend this tour company. Thank you Diana.
NL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Excellent personalized service and eye for detail
Communication with Kichao's was easy and quick. They responded swiftly to my questions. They suggested to meet at my hotel two days before the safari to talk through all the details. Safari car was convenient. Driver/guide was very experienced. Lunch was perfect. I knew beforehand that this was not the good season to see any large herds of zebra or wildebeast (we didn't see any). But we did see a.o. many large groups of elephants and 2 packs of lionesses. And the landscape was stunning. Very convenient drop-off at airport afterwards. Highly recommended!
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A great adventure, well run
Spend the day biking through a national park, with a reliable and friendly guide and driver to follow. The experience was unique, as we saw some giraffe and passed local Maasai herding their animals. It was safe too, we had plenty of water and a driver following us incase something came up. Would highly recommend to anyone looking for a travel fitness adventure.
US
50-65 years of age
Great travel and great attentive service.
I used Genesis of Adventure's tour services when traveling to the remote northern part of Kenya. The company made all of the travel arrangements to visit the western side of Lake Turkana. There are very few tour companies that offer services to this area and I was glad to have found Genesis. Jane was very responsive and answered all of my many questions in great detail. When Jane was not available Jonathan himself stayed in contact with me. Everything was nicely organized from flights to Lodwar to private transport around Lake Turkana and accommodation as well as drive to Lokichogio (even more remote). Jonathan even made some last minute changes to my itinerary as to my request; I appreciated his great flexibility. He was in contact with me on a regular basis throughout the entire trip. I recommend Genesis of Adventure and hope to be back.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great operator - highly recommended!!
We had a great time seeing the gorillas at the Bwindi impenetrable forest. We made a late decision to go to Uganda to do the gorilla hike off the back of a business trip to Malawi. Edris at Uzuri was very helpful in making all of the necessary arrangements for us and the trip went without a hitch. He was always available and very responsive to speak to or message via whats app. The accommodation he arranged for us was perfect for our purposes and set us up well for our short stay in Uganda. He obtained our gorilla permits with little notice and also arranged our internal flight. We arrived late into Entebbe and overnighted at the Karabu Lodge which was just perfect. Transfers both ways were provided by the lodge (as was a packed lunch) and we flew out the next morning to Kihihi. En route, the Aerolink flight flew low over the Queen Elizabeth National Park where we observed literally hundreds of hippos as well as elephants and wildebeest sunning themselves by the river. We met Vincent, our local guide, at Kihihi airstrip. He’s a great guy with a great sense of humour. We did the local community village walking tour at Ruhija before spending the night at the Bakiga lodge. Next morning at 8am, we assembled at the meeting point at the Bwindi forest for our briefing before setting off for what turned out to be a 2 hour 4.5km hike through the forest. Trekkers preceding us had located the gorilla family we were rendezvousing with and we spent a magical hour observing them from very close up… so close that one young gorilla playfully shoulder-charged one of our group who was kneeling down to take some photos.
Although I’m pretty unfit and we were at 6500’ altitude, the hike back was not too bad. It was certainly worth the effort to see the gorillas in their natural habitat. Vincent then drove us to the Birsdnest Lodge at Lake Bunyara which is another magical spot. We could have spent another day there had we had more time. Next morning we set off early for the 7 hour drive back to Entebbe. We chose to drive so we could see more of the wonderful scenery in that part of the country. It was a wise choice .. with the added bonus of crossing the equator and checking out whether water really does flow anti clockwise or clockwise…. What do you think
US
35-50 years of age
An experience of a lifetime
My husband and I went on a five day safari and have nothing, but incredible memories. This truly was an experience of a lifetime. We had James as our driver and he was amazing. Aside from his knowledge, his true love and passion for his country and the animals was evident. While he ensured we saw "the big five", he did so in a way that kept the animals best interests in mind. We never swarmed the animals or gave chase. As much as possible he gave us the experience to observe the animals as they are with us going undetected. We highly recommend Enchanting Tanzania Safaris and hope to join them again in the future!
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Review about Kruger National Park by Karen Louise Boothe
Not many birds migrating at this time