The Grassrootz Adventures Dream Team 2023
Grassrootz Adventures
- Located In:
-
Netherlands
- Size:
- 1-5 employees (Founded in 2012)
- Member Of:
- UTB, UCF & UCOTA
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $75 to $500 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
NL
Email Rinze | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Amazing guidance for a fair price
We planned the trip ourselves before talking to Grassrootz. With Sanders help we managed to make it the perfect trip. Everything was planned so tight that we were able to get the best out of the trip for the best budget. We greatly appreciate him for all his time. Our local guide and driver Paul was with us during the whole trip. Everyday up early to drive and guide us to our destinations and happy to learn some Dutch words. He knows every road, place and deals with every situation resulting in a fluent trip without delays. He also was very flexible and arranged our local tours and hotels when required. We really recommend a travel with Grassrootz!
NL
Email Wibo | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fast, professional organized; trip of a lifetime !
Best vacation ever…
Grassrootz Adventures Uganda. I highly recommend them for your trip to Africa. We had the best vacation ever!
We’ve taken a lot of wonderful trips but this one is by far our best vacation ever! I must give Sander van Zanten huge credits for that. Sander listened well to our wishes and understood what we wanted and then developed the trip of a lifetime for us! Thank you so much!!!
Before we went we received very professional assistance and advices from Sander of Grassrootz so we were well prepared.
The best thing Sander did for us was to appoint Bob Magezi as our guide. I know, more people write that their guide was great and did the extra mile, not Bob, he did 10 extra.
His knowledge of Uganda, culture, politics, the birds, the plants and of course of all the animals…impressive! His relationship with locals, other guides, rangers and anyone we met, he seems to know them and everyone loves him. Bob always made sure that we saw what we wanted and made us feel like VIP with the best places and best view. I highly recommend Bob Magezi.
Besides his professional knowledge and perfect driving skills, he is great to be with, we had so much fun together and were sorry to say goodbye to a good friend.
In 11 days we visited Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary (where we walked between the rhinos!), Murchison Falls National Park, Kibale Forest National Park, Queen Elizabeth Park, Lake Bunyonyi and Lake Mburo National Park.
We went on foot safari, did river cruises, slept in the most wonderful accommodations, met the friendliest people, enjoyed local food and drinks, went through a variety of different habitats like mountains, tropical rainforest, woodland, freshwater lakes, swamps and savanna and of course were blown away by all the beautiful and impressive animals we met : lions, leopards, chimps, rhinos, crocs, hippos, impalas, giraffes, elephants, buffalos, kobs, many different kind of monkeys and so many more.
If you ever decide to go to Uganda, choose Grassrootz, Sander will build you the itinerary of your wishes and if you ask for Bob Magezi, you will have the trip of your life!
NL
Email Joost | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Professional operator, friendly, helpful, experienced, good communication
Our experience with Grassrootz is very good. The owner is very friendly and helpful. After the first contact, we already had a possible travel plan within a few days, only a few details had to be adjusted to have a perfect plan.
Our driver David was a very good guide and very nice person. Knowledgeable and friendly. We had nice conversations and were able to share many experiences. Even if we wanted something extra or different, he gave us his thoughts about the possibilities.
The booked accommodations met our expectations. Clean, good food, friendly staff.
In short, we had a great trip. We were able to fully enjoy the trip and did not have to worry about anything ourselves. We would therefore heartily recommend Grassrootz.
BG
Email Milen Velkov | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Fantastic arrangement, knowledgeable tour guide, definitely recommend!
It was our first safari in Uganda, our first long safari (two weeks) and all went smooth, everything was very well arranged, although we spend many hours on the road we were on time for all planned activities, all lodges proposed by the agency during initial planning turns to be fantastic with fantastic views and friendly staff. The tour guide were knowledgeable and trustworthy, helpful with all kind different requests from our side(from arranging local SIM card to taking us to best local restaurantes and buying street art).
Definitely will use the company again!
IE
Email Lisa potter | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing, helpful, safe, informative
I did a three day tour with grassrootz in uganda to see the gorrillas! They were absolutely amazing. My tour guides Lamson and Nelco were so sweet, helpful, full of knowledge and great friends! I'm still in contact with then! I booked it with Sanderson and he helped me every step of the way, including what to wear, essential things to bring, had everything arranged all I had to do is get off the plane and everything was organised to perfection for me! The whole team were amazing! I will definitely be returning to uganda and using this company in the future to see what else uganda has to offer! Made the whole trip so enjoyable when I didn't have to worry about a thing! Thank you sooo much for all your help!
BE
Email Harry | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Everything expertly organized and executed
We had an incredible 3 weeks experience! Everything was organized tip-top, and gave an extra dimension to the saying "this is Africa". First, Sander designed a trip based on our wishes, showing great ingenuity in organizing permits and accommodations. Next, our guide Paul not only executed it expertly but he also showed great initiative and flexibility when for instance weather conditions changed and thus chances of detecting animals. In addition, Paul had a vast knowledge of animal and bird behavior, and an incredible eye-sight for spotting. We have seen the big 5, as well as hyenas, warthogs, vultures, marabous, gorillas, chimps, zebras, snakes, giraffes, and so much more. Paul also taught whole-heartedly about Uganda, its people, languages and its peculiarities. Also our 16-years old son was a fan of Paul.
We are definitely going to recommend Uganda, Paul and Grassrootz to all our friends.
NL
Email Mieke | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
A good car and great driver is necessary when travelling
We hired for 6 days a car and driver via Grassrootztravel. We had to visit for our work several organisations in different places in Uganda.
The car was comfortable and we had a great driver. He brought us in time to different addresses, even the ones difficult to find. He was always patient and ready to help us and he was also an enthusiastic guide who told us on the road about his land, the people, animals and nature. We did not book a safari trip, but even so, we saw a lot of animals and learned a lot about the country.
US
Email Jean | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Stellar service
We very recently did a 3-day safari trip with Grassrootz during our brief stop in Uganda on our East Africa tour. Our main objective was to see the gorillas at Bwindi, but since that's only a one day activity, we were also scheduled to go chimp tracking on our first full day, and on a game drive in Lake Mburo national park (NP) on our last day.
Planning with Grassrootz was quite easy. Sander, the owner, is very responsive and helpful in his suggestions without being pushy. I had actually contacted 8 different companies, all of whom offered fairly similar packages at fairly similar price points, so Sander's responsiveness was the main reason we went with this outfit. It only got better from there.
To be clear, Uganda is still pretty rough around the edges as far as tourism infrastructure. We saw a lot of development in the works, but as of October 2017, we can report that the roads are awful and the hotels low quality. Food was the worst of any East African country we visited. There's a lot of pollution and everything is very very spread out so you're spending hours upon hours bumping and rattling along those terrible roads getting what the locals jokingly refer to as "an African massage."
I say all this bc without David, our local guide, I think the 3 days in these conditions would've been somewhat miserable. But David is a gem of a person and really made our journey one I'll look back on fondly. And here's why. He's deeply knowledgeable - e.g. it was obvious to us that he was more knowledgeable about animals at Lake Mburo than the park ranger who did the game drive with us. He also gave us advice that served us well and left us feeling well prepared before the chimp tracking and gorilla tracking, which we did with the designated rangers at Kalinzu and Bwindi, respectively - e.g. he told us what to look out for with the chimps in terms of safety, how to "slope" (hike downhill) safely, how to ensure the rangers kept our pace etc. The rangers themselves covered none of these subjects.
He's deeply passionate about, and proud of, Uganda and committed to educating the rest of the world about it and East Africa (he also guides in Tanzania and Kenya etc). He's very friendly in a completely disarming and unassuming and tactful way.
And he's beyond resourceful. Uganda had heavy rains both before and during our visit, which made the roads 5x worse by enlarging potholes and causing rockslides. On multiple occasions, David figured out ways to navigate past seemingly impassable roads to keep us on track. Most critically, the morning of our gorilla trek, we found our way blocked by mud and logs. Another truck already stood empty and abandoned at that spot. As far as I understood, they only allow one set of persons to go track gorillas each day at 8 am, and the $600 permit you buy is good only for the specific day. In case of an act of God like the one we were experiencing, I suspect they would have given a partial refund or told us we could come back the next day, but even the latter would not have helped us as we were slated to fly out the next afternoon and still needed to drive all the way back to Entebbe, which was an all day drive again. Without hesitating, David got out of the car and rolled up his sleeves and somehow miraculously got us through by shifting one of the unbelievably heavy logs out of the way (with a little help from me), putting rocks under the tires to provide traction, and some very skillful driving. Had it not been for David's refusal to just throw his hands up and wait for help, and willingness to physically put himself out there to push us through when at least one other driver had given up and just left his truck behind in the middle of the road, we would certainly have missed our opportunity to see the gorillas.
Later that same day, we came across a similar situation where another tour company jeep was waiting by a much larger rockslide, unable to pass. David got out and went to examine the situation on foot, and then came back and said he was going to give it a go. Again, with his skill behind the wheel, he got us through on the first go, which encouraged the other guide to follow. I don't know how long those other tourists were sitting there until we came along, but it was clear their guide was not willing to even try without first seeing David succeed.
Also among David's resources are the relationships he's cultivated with people at the various stops we made, which seemed to be to our advantage as his clients insofar as getting small advantages like assignments to the best gorilla tracking group (our ranger appeared very knowledgeable, spoke excellent English, and we saw gorillas within an hour of setting out).
In short, if you want to see Uganda with a guide who is going to go above and beyond to get you safely everywhere you need to go, then you should book with Grassrootz and ask for David specifically.
DE
Email Niklas | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Well organized tour!
I really enjoyed my Trip to Uganda.
Sander from Grassrootz Adventures planned my trip very well and there were no problems at all. I got a quick response on my Emails from the first offer until the end of my trip.
I had close contact with the local people and the staff were helpful and kind. Especially my driver Paul tell and show me a lot of Uganda.
Full recommendation!
CA
Email Aleda | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Sander is a fantastic tour operator he will ensure you have a fabulous trip!!!
I have been emailing Sander and he has been creating an itinerary that fits our needs perfectly, his patience is incredible as I am kind of fussy about everything and he has not always answered my tons of emails and changes. I would without a question trust this company to provide you with a once in a lifetime trip, they are so knowledgeable and give great suggestions.