Joseph,Our seniorguide always ready to welcome you
Crystal Safaris
- Located In:
- Size:
- 20-50 employees (Founded in 1996)
- Member Of:
- ATTA, ASTA, APTA, AUTO, SKAL, UTB & UTO
- Tour Types:
- Customizable private tours and fixed group tours
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $77 to $800 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
US
Email Jo | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent experience - highly recommend them
I booked an 8 day safari with Crystal Safaris November 25 – December 2, 2016 as a solo traveler. I am a retiree with 33 years as a travel industry professional and I could not have been more impressed. From my first contact with Barbara she was very responsive answering all of my questions and creating an adventure that met all of my requests. She showed a great deal of patience and professionalism as I had to make numerous changes over the course of our correspondence. From the moment Jonah, my guide/driver picked me up at the airport everything was taken care of and the trip not just met, but exceeded, my expectations.
During the 8 days I was also lucky enough to stay at 2 of the lodges owned by them, the Gorilla Safari Lodge near Bwindi and the Crater Safari Lodge near Kibale. The locations and accommodations were first class and the staff of both lodges made me feel pampered.
I would not hesitate to book with them again or to recommend them with full confidence.
TH
Email Moragot | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Memorable Experience
Thanks Crystal Safari for helping me realising my dream of encounting the mountain gorillas. Thank you Joseph for taking such good care of us, making sure that everyone was happy. 'Til we meet again, beautiful Uganda.
Email Jenita | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
We had an amazing experience from Kigali to Kivu to Bwindi national park
Our guide who drove us to kivu, Kennedy was good. Then our 2nd guide Hannington took us from Kivu to Mwindi Uganda. He was very knowledgeable calm and helpful always.
We really enjoyed our gorilla trekking experience
Email Sabira | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Tour guide n operator review
A very experienced and knowledgeable tour guide Hannington did an amazing job of managing our trip and guiding us as required and working with us to meet our changing requirements given that we were a large group.
The vehicle was decent but could benefit from some investment as we did have a low battery situation once and the vehicle needed to be pushed...part of the adventure but need not have to happen...
Hannington has great personality and is very easy to get along with and is very sensitive to people's moods and adjusting the tempo accordingly. Very important to have good EQ.
Email Felicity | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing 3 day Tour
We booked a 3 day tour for a couple based on recommendations from a friend to visit Uganda.
The booking process was easy, however leading up to the tour, before departing our home country, we needed to request our itinerary, and when it was sent, we were really advised of how the guide / tour worked.
On arrival, we were greeted by our Guide Hannington. We then discovered our guide would be with us the whole time, which was a delightful surprise.
We have nothing but wonderful things to say about Hannington. His knowledge of the area, and the wider Uganda and Rwanda, along with his friendly personality made it such a pleasure to spend 3 days with him.
Once in Uganda we learned of all the amazing places to visit however sadly our flights and schedule were booked- our only feedback would have been great to know in advance all the other options to add on, as we could have spent 7 days in Uganda instead of 3.
We highly recommend requesting Hannington as your guide if you can - absolutely amazing!
CA
Email Tony | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing trip! Beautiful Country
My wife and I just returned from a 12 day tour in Uganda with Crystal Safaris. The mid range lodges exceeded our expectations. Our guide was very good, although his english needed some work. The vehicle we had was a few years old, and experienced a major mechanical issue (not surprising given the state of the roads!!). However, a replacement vehicle was delivered later that evening, so the breakdown had very little impact on our trip.
We booked the Chimp Habituation experience, thinking we would spend more time with the chimps -- this was not the case, and we had to alter our itinerary as we booked a chimp tracking the following day which was much better for people having never seen Chimps!!
We stayed at 2 Crystal Safari lodges, and Crater Safari Lodge was beautiful, Gorilla Safari lodge was nice!
Satisfactory safari provisioning
I chose Crystal Safaris after reading reviews and comparing prices for safaris on this website. They seemed to be solid value for the price, which was the case. I had booked for 3 days to Murchison Falls, then expanded to 6 days. My email interactions with Barbara were fine; she responded quickly with information. However, I wish that more information about the hotels would be included in the package description. I was not prepared for the quality of the room in Paraa Lodge - I expected to have AC and a view, but neither was provided. Knowing more about the hotel prior would have allowed me to manage my expectations, and not be disappointed.
Our driver, George, was very good and attentive to our needs. He did a great job on the game drive to find nearly all animals present in the park - the only one he couldn't find was the leopard, which is not surprising. On our last day with the tour, in Entebbe, George was needed for another tour, so we got a different guide. This guy must have been new to the company, because he did not have quite the same skills and personability as George.
Overall I was satisfied with the tour and would recommend Crystal Safaris.