Great Tour, Great Itinerary, Great Guide
Two of us signed up with Maranatha tours with the primary goal of seeing Mountain Gorillas in Uganda. We accomplished our goal and had a great experience while in country. Bwindi is some distance from Entebbe/Kampala, where we landed, and so we started the adventure with a visit to Queen Elizabeth National Park, passing across the equator along the way. Our driver/guide filled us in on the areas we passed through - the people, the geography, the history, the industry, the politics, etc. We enjoyed a nice boat ride, game drive and vistas while visiting the park. Our path to Bwindi from there took us through different sectors of the park and various low-travelled areas, which lead to additional animal sitings and views of the countryside. The experience in Bwindi was fantastic, and though we had quite a tough hike to reach our designated gorilla family, we did meet them and spend some time observing the group.
Pre-covid, we had planned to go from Bwindi to Volcanoes in Rwanda, for a golden monkey trek and departure from Kigali. Due to travel restrictions, we ended up trekking to see golden monkeys in Mgahinga National Park in Uganda. We also successfully tracked a golden monkey group and had a great experience there. The primary downside was the length of travel to get from there back up to Kampala/Entebbe for departure. We did break up the trip with a stop overnight in Mburo national park. We had a lovely evening and game drive the next day before making our way back to the city for departure.
All in all, Daniel put together a fantastic itinerary. All of the accommodations were excellent, and the food was fresh and tasty. We particularly enjoyed the staff and chef and Ichumbi Gorilla Lodge in Bwindi - very friendly, extremely accommodating, and delicious meals! Our guide John Bob was friendly, prompt, and very knowledgeable. He told us some great stories and really gave us a great feel for his country, the people, and the animals. He is also a great driver and put in a lot of miles!
Overall we had a wonderful experience and Daniel, John Bob, and the team at Maranatha did an excellent job with the itinerary and travel arrangements. Everything went off without a hitch (including the additional Covid testing requirements), and we had a fantastic experience!