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
US
Email Gerald | 65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Attentive and professional
We are an older couple visiting our son and his family who live and work in Kampala. We will be here for several months so we expect to take several short excursions around Uganda while we’re here. I researched tour companies, selected what I believed to be the five best suited to provide what we wanted, and I contacted them, asking for itinerary proposals. Of the five Grassrootz was by far the most responsive and professional, and their representative here in Kampala, Anne, provided us with exactly what we wanted at a very competitive price. Although they were not the least expensive, I felt they were definitely the most professional, and I was confident in my choice.
Our first excursion included my wife and me plus our son, daughter-in-law, and grandson. We did a five day trip to Murchison Falls with Moses as our driver and guide. We were booked at the Murchison River Lodge which we found to be adequate to our needs, but not luxurious. It was quite acceptable. During our stay we did two game drives, a guided game walk, river cruises both upstream to the falls and downstream to the delta, and a drive to the top of the falls.
Although we were very happy with Grassrootz overall I have given them only four stars instead of five for what we felt was one shortcoming in their service. It is true that due to Covid 19 tourism in Uganda has been severely impacted, and lodges and services are only now recovering. As a result we felt that Grassrootz was not quite on top of the situation existing at Murchison Falls which impacted our overall experience. Highway and bridge construction through the park has seriously limited access to the game tracks north of the river, and the river is at perpetual flood stage due to a disastrous water management project. Bridge construction combined with discontinuation of ferry service due to flooding severely limited our ability to do game drives at optimal times as our lodge was on the south bank of the river. The flooding of the river has not only closed the hiking trail from the base to the top of the falls, but it has completely drowned the delta causing much of the birdlife that was there to relocate. I will reserve comment on these joint Chinese/Ugandan projects other than to say that I fear for the future of the park. In any case, I believe Grassrootz should have been more aware of the situation at Murchison, and they should have provided us with this information ahead of time.
In spite of this I continue to have confidence in Anne, and I look forward to working with her in planning more short excursions in Uganda during our prolonged stay. She has already given us a proposal for a trip to Lake Mburo and Kibale which we expect to do next. I believe Grassrootz is a five star operation with quality people, so I will continue to utilize their services, and I will write off our experience at Murchison Falls as just one more casualty of the Covid pandemic.
DE
Email Sina | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Unforgettable Adventure in the North of Uganda!
Sander created a customized 8-day tour for our family (12 people). We can really recommend Grassrootz for their fast response and considering our wishes. Compared to other service providers the price and service was excellent. Thanks to the detailed itineray we were able to imagine our trip. We headed from Kapmpala to Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary and to Budongo Forrest for Chimpanzee Trekking. After visiting the Karuma Falls and a Game Drive in Murchison Falls we had a stopover in Gulu. The next days we stayed in Kidepo National Park were we made some Game Drives and a Walking Safari. We also visited the Karamojong who are still living in a traditional way. After a stopover in Moroto we went to Sipi where we joined a coffee tour which included the whole process from growing to drinking. We hiked to the different Sipi Falls and enjoyed the Sundowner Walk with a great view. Our last night we spent in Jinja. Some of us did a wild water rafting tour and the others took a boat cruise to the source of the nile. As you can see we had a very varied tour.
Our drivers "King" David and Peter made our trip memorable and joyful. They were very competent as we could see in their way of driving without navigation and on muddy roads, knowledge about the national parks, animals and history, spotting animals - none of them were able to hide, motivating our lazy family members and always being in time unlike us. We had experienced a lot of adventures with you by repairing a broken bridge, getting stuck in the mud, driving close to the rocks to see a lion and the break down of one of our vans a few kilometers before the airport. Especially the men enjoyed this parts of the tour!
Thank you and Weebale nyo!
In case we are planning to do another Safari we definitely would choose Grassrootz again!
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.
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!
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.
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.
NL
Email Inger | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Reliable
We arranged privat transport via Grassrootz to visit projectorganisations in different cities in Uganda for our work. Our driver was always in time and was willing to stop wherever we wanted it. He drove save which is very important as the roads are sometimes very tough.
I also booked a gorrila and chimpansee track with Grassrootz. I was happy with the Gorilla track. I asked for the same driver and he put me in a group of people who visited the gorilla family who was most habituated. So I was really happy. For the chimps I was slighly less lucky. I only caught them sitting in the very top end of the tree so it was very hard to have a look at them. So for me this chimps trach was not good value for money, but I understand that this is part of nature!
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.
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!
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!
