Speke Uganda Holidays
- Located In:
-
Germany
United States
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2008)
- Member Of:
- ATTA, APTA, AUTO & We Are Africa
- Tour Types:
- Customizable private tours and fixed group tours
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $250 to $1,830 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
DE
Email d3rnik0laus | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Impressive experiences, interesting conversations, damn funny car rides. Speke Uganda rocks!
If you want to experience Uganda in many ways and not "only" see great apes, then this is the right place for you. Besides impressive landscapes, a unique animal world and culinary delicacies, our guide made special experiences possible by always conjuring something special out of the hat, simply because we talked about it before. We would love to come back right away!
DE
Email Uwe Behns | 65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Speke Uganda Holidays is a reliable and qualified companion for a holiday in Uganda
Our holiday booking with Diamir was fully realized by Speke Uganda Holidays. We felt welcome and experienced a perfect trip. Our guide Robert Matovu played a decisive role in this, he realised this trip in a competent and entertaining way and gave us insights into a hitherto unknown region. Impressive were his social skills in dealing with the people we met as well as the high degree of entertainment competence to make such a trip impressive. We were able to experience the vacation in one of the most beautiful countries in Africa comprehensively, thanks to Robert and his well-tended and always reliable jeep.
Thanks Speke Uganda
Email Sheila | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Everyone should go!
Briliant unspoilt scenery with amazing wildlife! Uganda is a hidden gem! The tour route ensured we missed nothing. Travelling through such varied landscapes meant that we saw much more wildlife than you would on the plains of Kenya or South Africa. I saw all the animals I expected; lions, leopards, rhino, elephants, giraffe, hippo, chimps, gorillas, crocadilles and various monkeys etc. I also saw a few I didn't expect; 2 chameleon which I got to hold, a gaboon viper, mongoose, a monitor lizard and two otters! All the accommodation was stunning, with either exceptional views or location. All the places we stayed at were completely different with their own personalities, which gave the holiday a feeling of gentle exploration. Generally we stayed 2 nights at each place, which was not too exhausting. The roads are in the process of being upgraded and once completed will open the floodgates to more tourists. The food was european styled but very locally sourced. I recommend the crayfish from Lake Bunyonyi. What made the holiday for me was the quality of our tour guide. Husein was so brilliant! He was exceptional at wildlife tracking in the National Parks and sometimes outside them! (Viper, mongoose and monitor lizard). Husein tracked 5 lions in Ishasha when nobody had seen any for 4 days! He was a library of information about what we were driving through, pointing things out to us all the time, even if we were just driving down a normal road. He was always looking out for us. When necessary he got us up early so that we were at the heade of the queue for the best seats on the river cruises etc. The "extra mile" was when by mistake I left my muddy boots in the back of the 4*4 after gorilla tracking. I got in the vehicle the next morning to totally cleaned boots!!!
Holiday of a lifetime and so pleased I did it with Speke, as they were totally professional. I felt I couldn't have had a better experience.
DE
Email Hana Luise Micha Marlene | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
It was out off this world what a wonderful experience our guide Ivan nsubuga always 100 Prozent
We had the most wonderful time ever not only the country unganda is magnificent also because we had this very special guide Ivan nsubuga . He really did every day his best to look after us
No word it was just the best
DE
Email Sabine | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Uganda really the pearl of Africa
we had a unique time, many impressive encounters, an excellent guide (thank you again Ivan), wonderful accommodations and now a longing for Uganda, forever in our hearts,
Email Simon and Diane Yates | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Mind blowing wildlife and eco tour
Our trip to Uganda was much more than expected mainly as a result of the superb guiding, driving and knowledge sharing demonstrated by the Speke Uganda staff, Francis and Innocent.
The wildlife sightings were everything that we wanted including the Big 5 and of course the chimps and mountain gorillas and the accommodation was excellent
LK
Email Mahinda Ambahera | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
memorable safari holiday with Speke Uganda
The wildlife in Uganda is absolutely stunning. Far exceeded our expectations. We booked with Speke Uganda Holidays and Kasamba our driver was very very helpful through the journey. We were picked up sharp on time from our Hotel in Kigali Rwanda and then drove to Uganda.
Kasamba was previously a ranger attached to Uganda National Parks therefore his experience was unparalleled We were lucky enough to see most of the big mammals at the Queen Elizabeth National Park and got to see many animals up close. The accommodations were great, particularly at Kasenyi Lodge. My wife celebrated her surprise birthday in the bush land Kasenyi Lodge. Being able to wake up and see the animals right outside or hear the lions roar at night is something very memorable. Kasamba knows so much of the animals and has an incredible eye. Since the grass was high, it was sometimes hard to spot the animals and he would see a leaf moving and knew something was there! He made our trip much better! I really recommend Uganda , you get to experience the real thing far away from the maddening crowds of other African National parks. Theres no better way to do that than with SPEKE UGANDA HOLIDAYS.
DE
Email Christine | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
It was a great adventure with a wonderful guide
We were spoiled from the very first moment we came into the country. Charles was a wonderful caring und very friendly person. He took care of everything, we had wonderful talks and he tried to answer every question. Uganda is worth going there and we never felt uncomfortable. Our guide tried his best (and never gave up) to show us the wildlife and we saw nearly every animal we wanted to.
10 days are much to short to get a good impression of the country. Up to now it isn´ t a very touristic spot and hopefully it will stay authentic.
Meeting the chimps and the gorillas is outstanding! After that experience you will never think of them as just animals - they are so close to us!
If there was one thing I could complain about, I would say: after a while I found the lunchpackages a little bit boring.
CH
Email Hans | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Uganda 2 week Safari during Covid-19
We had decided to take a rather spontaneous escape from Covid-19 over Christmas/NYE to Africa. Uganda was not even on our radar and we rather accidentally stumbled across this amazing country, rightfully referred to as the „Pearl of Africa“. Speke Uganda was the local tour operator on behalf of the german Diamir Erlebnisreisen, through which we had booked our trip. The main motivation to visit was seeing mountain gorillas, only possible in this region (Rwanda, DR Kongo, Uganda. Tip: Watch the Netflix docu „Virunga“ to get some more appetite). After this trip, I need to say that Uganda has even more to offer. Chimpanzee tracking was an absolutely amazing experience as well. Among our other highlights were leopards and lions. In fact, we had the Big 5 (lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, rhino) covered after less than half our trip!! Our trip covered Zhiwa Rhino sanctuary, Murchison Falls NP, Kibale Forest NP, Queen Elizabeth NP, Bwindi Impenetrable NP, Lake Bunyoni and the very remote Kidepo Valley NP (plan with many driving hours). During the driving through the cities and villages, and the additional explanations of the guide, we got a impression of the daily life in Uganda.
David, our native Ugandan guide, was amazing. He is very knowledgeable, well educated, sympathic, professional, flexible and polite and he took very good care of us and went many extra miles to realize our extra wishes we had. Ask the boss Tony to arrange your trip with David as your guide! Speke Uganda provided a very spacious, reliable, well maintained open-top Safari vehicle (custom 2017 Toyota Landcruiser) with serious off-road capabilities. Compared to other trip operators that operate sometimes crammed mini-buses (some without open top) that can only maneuver the parks main roads, Speke is a premium operator.
We were booked on a midrange trip and accommodation and food quality was mixed. Most lodges were good, with some very good or exceptional (Kidepo Savannah Lodge). Food quality ranged inbetween ok to very good. But again, the choice of accommodation depends on the trip type/the budget.
As this might be interesting for many - about the Covid-19 situation:
Uganda has opened its borders and during the time of our visit, neither Germany nor Switzerland had Uganda on the „quarantine list“, which was the condition for us to travel. For traveling to Uganda, we got a 6 hour Covid-19 PCR test at Frankfurt airport for about 140€. For traveling back, we needed another test that was done in Kampala for about 65 USD. You will need additional travel time for going and coming back, but other than that, that‘s it. We don‘t need to quarantine and there were no other negative surprises from travel perspective.
To be fair, it needs to be said that Covid-19 might affect your experience in Uganda, however. In our case, David was rightfully extremely careful where to let us interact with locals. For this reason, we were not able to walk through markets, dine out, walk through cities or villages, which is normally something we would do to get a better feeling for the people and the country. Hand sanitization and masks were provided by Speke. Those Ugandan‘s in the hospitality sector we interacted with mostly at the hotels were also extremely careful and disciplined (temperature screenings done almost everywhere, handwashing or even once a shoe-washing stations).
On the other hand, Covid-19 has caused the cast majority of tourists so stay at home. Gorilla and chimpanzee permits were available on a less than 2-week notice (normally >6 months) and for half the price as usual (!!!). The parks we visited were amazingly empty, which is a true blessing if you have experienced looking at a lion with 20 other cars fighting for the best photo spot in South Africa.
After all, we have made the very best of the Covid situation by escaping the madness in Europe to this beautiful country.
AT
Email Sandra&Stefan | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent tour company which is by your side every step of the way
What a trip! The main goal of our Uganda holidays was to see the Gorillas, of course. But this country has so much more to offer. Thanks to the people in the office I managed to put a trip together with stops I wanted to see and lodges/hotels I wanted to stay in. All of them were high standard and the hospitality was next to none. Our driver Tony was super-friendly, a very good driver and never tired to share even more knowledge about his country with us. Also, the price-performance ratio for our trip was very good. Only one advice: Go to Uganda and do it with Speke!