Bella Africa safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2015)
- Member Of:
- Association of Uganda Tour Operators, uganda wildlife association & licensed guide by uganda tourist board
- Tour Types:
- Custom budget & mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $40 to $500 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
Email Hugo Cura | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing Uganda and Rwanda
My experience with Bella Africa Safaris was excellent throughout. Right from the moment when I first got in touch with Bella until the very end of an amazing trip. Together with my wife, we had an unforgettable time visiting Uganda and Rwanda in the company of a very knowledgeable and friendly guide.
Communication was very efficient (which is not always the case with other companies) and we quickly agreed on an itinerary tailored to our interests. Bella was very flexible and made great suggestions. It also proved to be an excellent value bearing in mind all the places we visited and the quality of the accommodation and food.
Having a great guide is extremely important and we couldn't be happier about ours - Ben! He's a marvelous guy, and guide, with a lot of knowledge about Uganda and the wildlife. He knows what he's doing and you can't go wrong with him.
Uganda is a beautiful country with some stunning locations to visit and lots to see and do. Visit now!
I highly recommend Bella Africa Safaris and Ben.
NL
Email Emmely, Manon, Laura | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Beautiful experience!
Together with two friends I went on a safari with Bella Safaris in May 2017. We did spend 3 days in Murchison Falls with our tourguide Ronnie. We had a really special and beautiful experience! We've seen a lot of animals (rhino sanctuary, game drive, chimpansee trekking), the accomodation and the transport were very fine, the hike to the top of the falls was nice and everything was very well organized by Bella and Ronnie. While planning the trip, before we left, we had a lot of contact with Bella to make our travel plan, because she really wanted to make us satisfied about it. She took our budget into account. During our trip our guide Ronnie also tried his best to make us feel happy. He was a nice, funny and relaxed person to have with us and we had a lot of fun. The safari was even better than I expected, so we really recommend Bella Safaris to other people! She is a nice person who wants the best for her visitors in Uganda.
Email Stephen Lawrence | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
you will not find a better Safari Experience
I booked a 13 day safari with Bella after reading reviews and checking all the lodges in the safari details that were sent to me.
when i booked my flights i asked if i could extend to 14 days and was offered several options for my extra day
I specifically asked for a safari where i could take picures of as much as possible, locations, views, and animals.
I arrived at Entebbe for the start of my Safari and was met by Bella at the airport, little did I know what was in store for me.
Bella has created this safari company and instills her love for Uganda in everyone that works for her, creating such a friendly atmosphere for all of her tours.
she regularly checks in with all of her tour guides and also her customers to make sure everything is what each person needs.
To accomodate multiple tours, they do not always follow the same direction which meant we were lucky to run into another Bella Africa safari, with one of her guides, when i met the guide, she was just as enthusiastic as Bella, asking how my safari was going and was i enjoying myself.
Bella is well known in all of the lodges we visited. when she arrives the lodges make sure that everything is in place for her visitor.
During my trip I quickly understood how much Bella loves not only her job but Uganda too.
Some of the journeys are quite long and we had no trouble with conversations, discussing anything and everything, Bella is so easy to get on with,details of our safari, where we were going, what to expect when we got there and details of the lodges we were going to stay at.
Each location we arrived, we would set a time for Dinner and would discuss the following days activities whilst eating.
Bella planned everything to perfection.
while I was taking pictures, Bella would never rush, always asking me when I was ready to move on.
people who go on safaris always expect to see "the big five" it seems to be a requirement these days, even though its mother nature who decides what you see.
Bella called on all of her knowledge and contacts to make sure i saw much more than just the big five.
This was an amazing Safari, much much more than i could have expected.
It started out a safari, guide and customer, it ended a safari with two good friends, nothing was too much trouble.
if you are reading this review deciding whether to book a safari with this company, believe me you will not find better.
DE
Email Paul and Sara | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Incredible - Recommended!
We took a safari tour with Bella Safaris and it was one of our best holidays ever. Our guides were Ben and Grace (Ben was training Grace), and both were amazing company for our trip. Knowledgeable, funny, relaxed and able to accommodate any of our wishes, we couldn't have asked for better treatment.
We also really believe Bella's mission is an important one. Supporting women in this field is essential, and hope Bella goes on to inspire many talented female guides (like Grace) to enter the field!
The trip was also very reasonably priced, although considering the level of service we received you would expect it to be much more!
I really can't recommend Bella Safaris enough. We had the time of our lives :)
NL
Email Robert-Jan | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Pleasant and Carefree Safari with Relaxed and Expert Guidance
One of the reasons for us to choose Bella Africa was the idea that they only work with female guides. When a male guide showed up in our Entebbe Hotel on the starting day of our safari we were unpleasantly surprised. Bella seems to have intended to tell us that our female guide was not available but for technical reason the message did not reach us. During the 15 days of our safari Ben Aloysius Kyenyune (our guide) proved to be a nice guy and a good and expert safari guide. We have visited beautiful places and saw a great number of animals. We especially enjoyed the tranquility at some remote locations, like Kidepo NP. The accommodation was quite simple but good. Recommended!
DE
Email Annika & Susanne | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A perfect and absolutely beautiful tour with the best driver Lilian and personal organizer Bella!
Our 16-days-tour through the Western and Southern parts of Uganda with Lilian as our guide was simply amazing! Every day was well organized and planned by Bella just the way we wanted it to be, she really knows how to give her travelers a unique and perfect possibility to explore the pearl of Africa, Uganda.
All the Nationalparks we visited were great, our Chimp and Gorilla Treks were fantastic and memorable! Uganda has so much to offer, the landscapes keep on changing everywhere you're going, and the people are so friendly and helpful whenever you face a problem. Also the wildlife is great, we saw so many animals including elephants, lions, hippos, crocodiles, giraffes, buffalos, zebras, warthogs, hyenas, so many different birds including the famous shoebill and of course a lot of primates including gorillas, chimps and many other kinds.
Our guide Lilian always tried to make the best things possible and she knows her country so well. Whenever there occurred problems (for example a flat tire), Lilian knew someone in the area or somehow found a way out. We always profited from her and it was a pleasure to have her with us on our tour, she is a very nice, funny and intelligent woman. We had so much fun and felt comfortable with each other from the first minute on which really made our tour through Uganda so great! :)
Also the accommodations were well picked and not only the bandas or rooms, but also the tented camps were a nice experience.
We can recommend Bella Africa Safaris to anyone who is looking for a personal planned, affordable and most important unique and unforgettable tour to Uganda! We would go with Bella Africa again anytime!
Thank you again for everything, Bella & Lilian! :)
US
Email JT | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful experiences with a great driver and many opportunities to explore Uganda.
The experience was wonderful! It is a well rounded adventure thru Uganda. Spending time with mountain gorillas was the highlight, although, all the animal sightings as well as the opportunity to experience nature, (including the people) was a fabulous opportunity. All the activities were wonderful, and the accommodations were appreciated. I probably would have preferred a ramp up of the accommodations- some were more spartan than others, and I like to leave on a high note- however, all had wonderful parts to them, especially the wildlife that were all around us and all the employees accommodating. We were not surprised by the BBC ranking of Uganda as the #1 most welcoming country in the world. Air conditioning in the van would have been nice, especially when on the red dirt roads where it had not rained for a while- SO much dust. However, I would do it all again, and most likely will.
US
Email Peter | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing 7 Day Chimp/Gorilla Experience!!!
It was a pleasure to work with Bella Africa Safari's from start to finish. We were on the road when we booked and did not have access to our banks back home to wire money for our deposit. Bella went ahead and set up a way for us to pay with a credit card. We also had a complicated itinerary in which members of our group would be arriving in Uganda at different times. Arranging separate pickups at the airport for both groups was not a problem at all. That was great customer service!
A few days before our safari Bella informed us that she had gotten sick and was no longer going to be our guide. We were disappointed at first, but as soon as we met our guide at the airport, we knew we were still going to have an unforgettable experience. In Kibale Forest we had an amazing encounter with the chimps. We got to see a group of about 10 chimps (including babies) descent from the treetops to the forest floor around up. Our experience trekking for the Gorilla's was definitely the highlight. We got within mere inches of the Gorilla’s. One ever charged us for a moment giving our group an awesome thrill!
The reason I gave 4 stars instead of 5 is because communication between our guide and our group could have been a little better. We actually trekked for chimps one more time in addition to the experience above. The second time was supposed to be in the gorge but the chimp trackers cancelled the trek because of extreme heat. Instead of telling this up front, it seemed as if our guide was trying to convince us to skip the trek and rest up for the following gorilla trek. He ended up working really hard and found us another area to do some chimp trekking for that afternoon, but he never told us why we did not go to the gorge. We found out the reason (extreme heat) from the other couple who was trekking in our group. If instead of trying to convince us not to trek, he just let us know that the chimp trackers cancelled the trek and that he was having a hard time finding a replacement trek, we would have been very happy.
On our Gorilla trekking day our guide never let us know that he was anxious to get to the gorilla trekking headquarters and eventually drove off without any of us and told a member of our group that we could walk. Luckily, we were staying only about a 15 minute walk away. We concluded later that he ended up leaving so that he could get us a spot trekking for a family not too far into the forest. If he just told us that he needed to leave to go get us a good gorilla family to trek for, we would have been so grateful and happy that he left to secure us a good gorilla family. Instead we were confused about why our guide would take off and make us walk right before we were about to spend hours walking to find the gorillas. In both of these instances, clear communication about that was going on would have made us very happy.
However, I will say those are minor things, we still had an unbelievable, unforgettable experience. We chose the mid-range option and all of our lodging was superb and included fantastic meals. If I were to visit Uganda again, I would not hesitate to contact Bella Africa Safari’s to arrange my tour. They offered a great tour, at a great price, with great customer service from start to finish.
US
Email Elane | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Surprised by the allure of the wild life and the care and information provided by the guide.
Spectacular safari! Seeing the birds and animals in their natural habitats was fascinating and I was intrigued by all the details the guide was able to convey on animal groupings and habits. The guide brought quality binoculars, which were a big plus. If there were many on the journey, it might be advisable to bring one’s own. For accommodations, I sought comfort and cleanliness (not luxury) in scenic settings and was pleased by the company’s arrangements. I did a 4-day trip to Lake Mburo and Queen Elizabeth National Parks and in retrospect would have preferred an additional day in Queen Elizabeth Park vicinity as most of the first and fourth day were spent driving. Though it was super interesting to drive through towns, villages and countryside, it was a lot of driving time. As a woman embarking on a solo safari, I valued the opportunity to make the journey with a woman guide. And I was impressed by the proficiency, responsiveness, attention to detail and fun loving orientation of the company and the guide.
CA
Email Caroline | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing Rwanda trip!
We booked a safari to Rwanda with Bella Africa at the last minute due to an unexpected change in plans. Everything was set up so easily and smoothly I wondered if it was really going to happen as it seemed too good to be true! From the moment we met our guide Lilian everything was fantastic! We had a wonderful experience and would highly recommend this company. We stayed a few extra days and they found another guide Kenneth for us who also was a delight. Very knowledgeable staff and a great tour.