Samuel representing us at the WTM London Expo 2015
Prime Safaris & Tours
- Located In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2012)
- Member Of:
- AUTO, ATO, UTB, UWA & UCF
- Tour Types:
- Custom budget & mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $180 to $800 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
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Email Michelle | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Our tour exceeded expectations in every regard!
Prime Safaris was a pleasure to work with from our first contact with Cate in the office to saying goodbye to Annais and Charles after a fabulous 9 days! We started in Murchison Falls and made our way down the west of Uganda, including incredible game drives, chimpanzee and gorilla trekking and stunning river cruises! I highly recommend this Ugandan owned safari company to anyone interested in experiencing the lovely hospitality of the Uganda people and the diverse and beautiful national parks of this very special country. My group of 11 are well-travelled people and we agreed this adventure was the best of all of our travels!
IN
Email Derwin | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
One of our best tours ever
Everything about this company was first-rate. Cate was exceptionally patient, kind, and professional in helping us plan our 7-day trip (chimps, safari, gorillas, fishing, horseback riding, boating). Ananias was a great guide - very helpful, knowledgeable, funny, and personable. He took great care of us throughout our time there. The van was comfortable, clean, and well-maintained. Our accommodations were clean, comfortable, and as advertised (if not better). Food along the way and at the hotels was very tasty. Uganda itself is an amazing and safe country to visit. The people are kind and friendly. The flora and fauna is breathtaking. And the opportunity to see the gorillas and chimps was special for our family of 4 (2 teenagers). We all agreed that this is one of our best trips ever.
Email Steven Pollard | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A wonderful experience
From beginning to end it was perfect. Cate’s communication was exemplary, the organisation superb and our guide, Jerom, knowledgeable and good company. We did the three day Murchison Falls safari and it exceeded our expectations.
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Email Jeff | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Perfect safari and trek
Our trip with Prime Safari’s was perfect! Godfrey was our private guide for four days and he was very knowledgable and very easy to get along with. We spent a lot of time with him over the four days and we hated to say goodbye at the end. The accommodations that were arranged for us were very clean and comfortable but still very “Africa”. We loved it. The price was very good for what we got and I would say it was an excellent value. We would recommend Prime Safari’s to any of our friends interested in seeing Uganda.
US
Email Carolyn | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Tour operator was knowledgeable, responsive, excellent in every way
Prime arranged for a private tour for me in Rwanda / Uganda to visit the gorillas and the golden monkeys. Everything was as promised. My tour guide was very attentive and took care of everything. The accommodations were very good, i had selected the moderate option. Allof my pre-trip questions were promptly answered.
The trip was amazing. Gorillas were hard to get to but the trip was sooo worth the effort. I added the 4 days on to another group excursion and im really glad that i did.
My tour guide always had my back. He suggested using porters who made the trekking sooo much easier on me. He made sure that everything was good at the lodge before he left.
It was such a wonderful experience! I recommend them as trusted agents.
US
Email Carolyn | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Prime Safari provides fun and very well planned tours
Prime Safari helped make our trip to Uganda amazing! We visited several different parks and out guide Annanais was very knowledgeable and fun. The trip was well organized/planned so we were able to relax and enjoy the sights and the culture. Definitely recommend booking with Prime Safari.
Email Kirit Shah | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Excellent and professional tour operator
We had one of the best safari experiences in Africa via Prime . Right from the preliminary planning , emails and WhatsApp messaging Cate was very professional. Our tour guide and Driver, Annanis, was very experienced and knowledgable and went out of his way in making our trip unique.
we highly recommend Prime Safaris Uganda
Email Franz Opitz | 65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Excellent safari organiser with dedicated staff
This was my second tour with this company and they did not disappoint. Brian Tuhaise was an excellent guide, we enjoyed his company and sense of humour and he often went the extra mile to make this a unique experience. I can wholly recommend Prime Safari. The lodges they booked for us were superb and their general advice and the booking and payment process were useful and user friendly.
CA
Email S Forest | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
What a dream!
What a dream weekend! Lots of animals (lots of babies)! Incredible landscapes! An unforgettable trip on the Nile! All this with a guide generous in information and passionate about his work!
The hotel was perfect with an incredibly varied buffet with several delicious vege options!
(automatic translation from French)
NZ
Email Joanne | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Disapponited with overall attitude of company
Booked to go on safari in MARCH 2020 for a 25 wedding anniversary. We had planned to travel but sadly our borders were closed one week before our travel date., sadly being in New Zealand our Borders were closed for a considerable amount of time. When trying to reschedule this safari the price increases were large, some aspects of safari such as internal flights could not be confirmed or prices increase confirmed, we were told a refund was not possible and because they had already paid the various hotels a refund would not be considered. Several times in order to get a response messages had to be left on the facebook page. An e mail was sent to Prime Uganda Safari several times stating the price increase was substantial per person and that we were doing our best to confirm rebooking. In all e mails it would be re iterated to us that it was our fault as we only postponed the safari one week before travel, the International orders were closed one week before our safari commenced so we had very little choice. An e mail was then received stating our safari had been cancelled by Prime Uganda Safari and could not be rebooked so the total cost of our safari has been lost and cannot be rebooked. Whilst the e mails from Cate were polite no consideration was given at all to this mile stone safari that has been booked or the fact that an extra $7000 could not be found immediately to pay the increased costs or indeed borders were closed one week prior to our safari so we had no choice but to postpone. I would not recommend booking with this company at all, sad fact is other people have had their safari's honoured with other companies with no price increases, not the case with this company. Our only way forward is to complain officially. I would recommend being cautious and book internally within your home country as this company have had little compassion or consideration to our covid situation as we are abroad.
Reply from Prime Safaris & Tours
Posted on Nov 10, 2022I’m honestly shattered that after all the efforts over the years in postponing your trip and giving a credit note to try ensure that you enjoy your safari once travel resumed has ended this way.
We’ve never been a fan of “he-said she-said” situations, but given that this review is public, I feel the need to respond and help shed some light on what happened here.
Change in Rates;
Please note that following were your changes in dates for your 15 days Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania safari that amounted to an increment of 3000$ not the 7000$ you indicated in your review, yet you did not even pay it since you were supposed to pay upon arrival.
Original safari dates : 23rd March to 6th April 2020
1st Rescheduled to Dates: 2nd to 16th Oct 2020
Final Dates: 27th September to 11th Oct 2022
As explained to you in my email dated, 24 March 2020 , the season rates that applied to your original safari quote were based on the low season rates for 2020.
When you rescheduled, the new dates given fell in the peak season for lodges in Uganda ,Kenya & Tanzania, which peak season starts from 1st July – 31st Oct 2020 thus the additional charges communicated to you on 9th June 2022.
The increase was due to seasons and the time difference of 2 years during which all operational costs increased worldwide.
As you are fully aware Covid-19 and other global challenges increased operation rates in all travel related operations. This was 2 years in between and inflation has affected most sectors worldwide.
Additionally, Gorilla & Chimpanzee Permits fees were revised by the Government of Uganda, starting July 2020 from 600$ to 700$ for Gorilla tracking permits as well as 150$ to 200$ for Gorilla tracking permits.
I have also noted that the increment figure you indicated in your review is exaggerated and not true, although you were supposed to pay it upon arrival but did not show up for your safari.
Flights & Communication:
Please note that since your trip was an inter country trip connecting from Uganda , Rwanda Tanzania then Kenya. You were to cross from Uganda to Rwanda using the land borders to take your flight to Kilimanjaro International Airport. Unfortunately once most countries closed their air space and land borders due to Covid-19 all flights including yours were cancelled .
As we constantly kept updating you, the Rwanda Uganda border remained closed up until Monday 07th March 2022.There was no way we could utilize the flight before the border reopening.
Our efforts of getting information from the airline during that time to ascertain the new dates you had suggested to us didn’t yield much to give you immediately responses since all boarders were closed and people were in quarantine.
Most public offices were closed, we couldn’t committee on anything until we had heard from the service providers.
Lastly, regarding communication, we have a track record of giving fast responses to our emails and all our other social media platforms, I have personally been handling all company emails and have answered back immediately as testified by other travelers that have reviewed previously.
For your case, I don’t know why you preferred/personally chose to send communication on both email and Facebook as you did so even after emailing you back that I was working on you and would get back to you after getting the required information.
You always wanted immediate confirmations from all the 14 lodges, spread in the 3 countries, yet I would have an immediate response from them since majority were under lock down. Like I kindly explained to you always, the conditions were difficult due to forces out of my control, but I endeavored to pass on to you the needed information whenever I got it.
COVID 19 & Refund:
Covid 19 was a nightmare and came as a shock affecting all sectors worldwide and everybody. It wasn’t anyone’s fault thus we didn’t mention it as being your fault like you stated above.
As a company we had about 50 affected booking but did our best to ensure that ALL our clients didn’t make losses.
As explained in the various emails, I really wasn’t intentionally refusing to refund back the deposit of the money paid for the safari but due to our Terms & Conditions and those of the partners with whom we operate these safaris.
As you are fully aware, a refund when the safari trip date was only a week away was impossible because;
1. It was past our refund period. All terms and conditions of service providers like lodges, flights etc. don’t allow refunds once its within 15 – 0 Days to the safari start dates and for this case yours was just 7 days to its start date.
2. Since it was a pandemic session and borders where closing, they termed this as being under “force majeure” / forces beyond their making thus couldn’t make any refunds.
Kindly note that it was for this reason that we lobbied for ALL our affected clients and Government of Uganda plus other stake holders accepted reschedules.
Again as you are fully aware, we utilized this opportunity for and we rescheduled your trip until it was impossible for you to determine your most suitable travel dates. We then went ahead and asked for a credit note for you to do your trip when you were ready.
As earlier explained to you, the credit notes had Terms & Conditions which varied based on the various destinations.ie. for Tanzania & Kenya, it was valid until June 2022 and for Uganda it was valid until Dec 2022. That is how after you failed to get back to me with new dates I managed to request them to extend it to until October 2022.
All this was aimed at ensuring that you could utilize the safari deposit that you already paid.
As you can tell from the rest of our over COVID-19 inconvenienced clients' reviews on this platform and other trip review platforms, it is clear that I put so much effort into making ALL our affected travelers have their safaris successfully at later dates unconditionally.
Together with them we kept on tailoring their trips to accommodate their challenges until they ALL enjoyed their safaris successfully apart from you.
Your Trip cancellation:
You went silent for long after being given the credit note. On the 14th June 2022, you emailed me and informed me that you will be starting your safari on 21st September and I went ahead to reinstated the safari to start on the date communicated.
On 15th June ,you emailed me again and informed me that you were to re- confirm availability of your home keeper and that you were to notify me by 8 July in case of any changes of dates.
I didn’t hear from you again, but remember that everything had been moved to the new dates and all lodges notified about your coming.
On the 16th September 2022, I wrote a follow up email to you regarding the status of the booking since you hadn’t communicated your arrival time for the 27th September and days were really getting close. I still got no response.
On 4th October 2022, a week after not showing up for the safari that was scheduled to start on 27th September 2022, I sent you an email explaining that the trip had been cancelled because you didn’t showing up which got you very upset and you informed me then that you had been hospitalized.
It was very unfortunate to know that you hadn’t been well although this was the first time I had been informed of your sickness as previously you had mentioned that you had a challenge of getting a house keeper/sitter to confirm if they would sit in for you and that this was to be confirmed by 8 July, unfortunately you didn’t get back to me.
As I earlier explained to you, on the 4th October 2022, unfortunately, we couldn’t reverse the decision made by ALL stake holders including lodges of featured countries whose credit statements had expired due to your no show, lodges that had kept the rooms for you as well as the flights for which you didn't show up.
This therefore meant the trip had expired due to your failure to come OR even get back to us with new dates onto which to shift the trip had you realized that you were not able to come for the 4th time in 2 and a half years.
As explained in the various emails we exchanged earlier, rescheduling a trip required that you provided us with new dates, determined independently by you the traveler. Had you done this, though it was difficult, we would have still done our best to try reschedule your trip, but this didn't happen and hence it was beyond our control. Your trip was therefore regarded a 'no show' by all stake holders.
Please remember that our company operates these trips together with other partners/suppliers that provide services that we can’t provide independently e.g. accommodation facilities, government wildlife entities, airlines etc. and thus we came up with some booking polices/ terms and conditions based on theirs since we have no control over them despite us working together.
In your case they couldn't push your safari for a 4th time in 3 years worse still without and timely request from you and dates to which to reschedule. You only started to think of dates after I wrote to you requesting to know why you didn't show up for your trip and to officially let you know that it was cancelled.
After receiving your review, we have reviewed all guest who had trips affected by COVID and all of them have successfully been done, the last one being the family group of 13 people, and 1 of the traveler's review is just below yours, why would we exploit you!!
In inclusion, We regret that your trip was cancelled after all we did to make it happen. We did what we could to reschedule your trip 3 times, but you did not show up for your safari and didn't notify us before it's expiry either, to plan for a 4th reschedule in close to 3 years time.
Even if you had booked internally with a company within your home country, I am most certain they too would have cancelled your trip for not showing up. How I wish you had notified me in time before the trip dates expiry that you weren’t going to make it, I would have tried to do something about it!!
We share your pain and are willing to organize a memorable trip for you in future should you want one and surely we shall ensure that you get the best African safari experience as we always do for all our clients the world over.
Kind Regards,
Cate