Product developer.
Epic Uganda Vacation
- Located In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2017)
- Member Of:
- Uganda Tourism Board
- Tour Types:
- Custom budget & mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $150 to $1,500 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
AT
Email Pietro | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Epic Uganda Vacation was a lifetime experience!
Our holidays in Uganda with Epic Uganda Vacation were outstanding. We were surprised not only by the quality of accomodations and experiences we had, but especially by our guide Moses, who shared with us his deep knowledge of nature and let us feel at home during our whole vacation.
Highly recommended to everyone!
DE
Email Felix Bauer | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Spontaneous well organized trip operator
The trip from Kabale to the national park was well organized although I decided just one day in advance to see the gorillas. I got picked up from the hotel in the morning dropped at a different place of my choice in the afternoon. I got all necessary information in advance so it was all in all a really good trip!
FR
Email Lisa Longo | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Do not go with Epic Uganda Vacation
Travel from February 14 to February 23
Agency: Epic Uganda Vacation
Driver/Guide: Moses Niwamanyaa
Flight: Luxembourg – Kigali – Entebbe by KLM
Planned route:
• Entebbe
• Murchison
• Kibale
• queen elizabeth
• Bwindi
• Lake Bunyonyi
• Entebbe
Hello
Here is my feedback following a trip with the local agency Epic Uganda Vacation as well as my feedback on the lodges and my itinerary.
Every year, I travel with my dad. Not living in the same country, we meet somewhere in the world for an average vacation of 8-12 days.
This year, we chose Uganda, from February 14 to 23.
I chose Epic Uganda Vacation and talked with them to put together an itinerary that met our expectations.
3 weeks after paying for half of the trip, the agency told me that 3 of the lodges I had selected were finally fully booked. At the time, although disappointed, I found new lodges that we liked and was able to confirm these with the agency. After having been able to check the tourist influx in Uganda, I doubt today that no lodge was really full. First disappointment.
Having to work every day for about an hour, I asked the agency for confirmation several times that internet access would be possible on our itinerary. They assured me that was the case. And… that was not the case at all. The lodges generally have a router at the restaurant but these only work very slightly. I bought a sim card with internet data, but without 4G (or very little) during our itinerary, it was not useful.
The agency also told me that they had internet at all times in the vehicle. The router had an autonomy of about 30 minutes in the car and had to be recharged on mains plug after that (thus completely useless during road transfers of several hours).
If the agency had been honest with me, I could have managed not to work during this period, but that was not the case. Second disappointment.
Moses, our guide, supposed to be fluent in English but we had a hard time understanding him. Third disappointment.
My father arrived in Entebbe on February 14th in the early afternoon and I in the late evening.
Our departures were scheduled as such: my father had to leave at 3 pm on February 23th (and be at the airport by 1 pm at the latest) and my flight was leaving at 11pm on February 23th (so I had to be at the airport by 9pm).
ENTEBBE
We spent the first night after arriving at the Airport GuestHouse hotel.
Very well located (close to the airport), quiet, spacious and very pretty rooms. The service is pleasant and the food ok.
MURCHISON
The next morning we drove to Murchison with a stop at the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary. The walk is pleasant and the park well maintained. The proximity to the rhinos is original, impressive and is a very good experience.
Arriving in Murchison, we settled in at the Twiga Safari Lodge.
The rooms are spacious, clean and the view right at the foot of the Nile is splendid. The service is very good, the food excellent.
The next day's program was to take us to the base of Murchison Falls, by boat cruise and then up the falls to see them from above.
We finally stopped more than a kilometer from the falls for a short minute, after 2 hours of boating and returned to the starting point.
Explaining this disappointment to our guide, he finally took us to the top of the falls.
The Nile is breathtaking, powerful, the view is magnificent. This place is not to be missed under any circumstances.
KIBALE
Depart for Kibale with a stop at 'Amabere Ga Nyinamwiru. A stop with a visit to the caves and the wonderful waterfall.
Arrived at Kibale, we settle in at Turaco Treetops. Spacious, magnificent rooms, in the middle of the forest, with a breathtaking view. Very good service, good food.
The next morning, we leave for the chimpanzees trekking. An experience to live absolutely, which is indescribable. We were lucky enough to be able to find the family very quickly, and to observe them on the ground, in the trees, eating, playing, preening, …
Following this magnificent experience, we did the Bigodi Wetland nature walk, which I also recommend. The different village houses, the tasting of banana beer or banana gin, and the walk in the swamp allow us to discover this ecosite which is absolutely splendid.
QUEEN ELIZABETH NATIONAL PARK
Transfer to Queen Elizabeth for a day of game drive and installation at Pumba Safari Cottages. A hotel well below the range we had paid for. A new disappointment. The view is beautiful, the bed comfortable, but the room is tiny. The service is very bad and the food too.
The next day, we drove on the way to the Ishasha sector to continue our game drives and hope to find the trees climbing lions (bad luck, we did not find them). Installation at the Topi Lodge. Beautiful rooms, impeccable service, very good food.
In general, the landscapes of Queen Elizabeth NP are splendid, but if you are used to safari in Kenya or Tanzania, the fauna is poor.
BWINDI IMPENETRABLE NATIONAL PARK
After breakfast, direction Bwindi by a catastrophic road. Off the tracks, the road to access Bwindi is a mountain road with a huge gap on the side, huge crevasses, significant road insecurity (and yet I have traveled before in a lot of countries where the roads were neither finished nor started).
Installation at Bweza Gorilla Lodge, which is one of the most beautiful lodges I have had the opportunity to see. The rooms are spacious, splendid and the view breathtaking. The food is good and the service is great.
The next morning, departure for the Gorilla Trekking. We hiked about 6 hours, including one with the gorillas. The forest is aptly named impenetrable. A good physical condition is necessary to enjoy this trek but seeing a silverback is a reward that has to be earned. The flora of this forest is also a splendor.
We loved meeting the gorillas and observing them.
Unfortunately, unlike the trek with the chimpanzees where THEY were our guides, the rangers disturbed the gorillas a lot during this “hunt”. By dint of wanting to please the tourist by removing the branches behind which the gorillas settled (including a female with her three-week-old baby), one of them must have come to get angry and hit the ground in front of a ranger.
I think despite everything that it is an experience to live, hoping that our case was isolated and that most guides and rangers are more respectful.
We leaved the forest with wet feet (you have to walk in streams, in the mud, …) and clothes full of mud (we fell a lot ah ah).
BEGINNING OF BIG PROBLEMS
After our visit with the gorillas, we were supposed to go doing our PCR tests in anticipation of our departures the next day and then reach Lake Bunyonyi for a relaxation before the return route to Entebbe and our respective return flights the day after. This whole part (had to be) had been organized by the agency.
Arrived at the laboratory in Kabale (still being dirty and with wet feet), it is explained to us that I could have my results before my departure the following evening but that my father could not have his before his scheduled departure the following day at 3pm. Big panic!
Our guide tries to negotiate but fails. For more than two hours, we stayed there watching our guide making calls and talk with the lab technician, hardly speaking to us anymore, not keeping us informed of events or what solutions we had. In the meantime, I took my test on the spot since they assured that the results would arrive no later than 4 pm the next day and that I had to be at the airport by 9 pm.
Also, we found a flight for my father that could leave the following evening, which would have allowed the tests to arrive on time. Our guide refused this option and forced us to take the road to Entebbe at that time for an express test there, open 24 hours a day. We fell from the clouds.
We of course had no choice and left for 9 hours of driving, always with wet feet and disgusting clothes, without even going to the lodge which was planned at the lake and which we had paid for, after 6 hours of hiking + hours waiting at the lab.
We arrived at the express laboratory at 4 am, after an extremely dangerous 9-hour drive (trucks driving with full headlights and coming straight at us, for example) where our guide refused to pay the difference between the standard test and the express test at first. He finally accepted full responsibility and paid the difference.
We arrived at the hotel (Airport GuestHouse, the same as on arrival) at 4:45 am and my father received his results at 6 am.
After having slept for 2 hours, we had breakfast and the spirits had calmed down, reassured to know that my father was going to be able to take his flight.
The guide apologized, refunded me the lake lodge we hadn't been to, and seemed sincere in taking responsibility.
I had planned to normally go visit the Mabamba swamp after my father left at the airport, for $100, to be given to the guide. Counting on the sincerity of our guide's apology, I decided to keep this plan and go with him. I asked him to call the lab before leaving for the ferry to make sure my results would be there as planned, between 3 and 4 pm. The lab apparently confirmed.
To get to the peninsula, you have to take a ferry. Count at least half an hour for all cars to board, cyclists and pedestrians (passengers cannot stay in vehicles during boarding and crossing).
The Mabamba swamp is absolutely beautiful and I had the opportunity to see a shoebill there as well as a lot of other birds. Do not hesitate to go there, it is really worth it. And this little canoe safari is really soothing.
At 5 pm, as we head back to the mainland, I asked my guide to call the lab back because my results had still not arrived. From the tone of his voice, I immediately knew there were a problem. After hanging up, he told me that my results are not ready and that they will not be ready until 9:30 pm (I had to be at the airport at 9 pm).
I was then completely panicked, alone in Uganda, and asked him to rush to the ferry to take an express test (the results of which normally arrive in 2 hours). We arrive at the ferry, fortunately there is a place for us. The time of boarding, crossing and road to the hotel, we arrive on site at 7 pm and my guide has still not taken the responsibility to call the express lab. He finally does it, summoned by the manager of the hotel to whom I tell my problems.
The laboratory assistant arrives on site, gives me the express test and my guide refuses to pay it. Exasperated and absolutely wanting to go home, I handed him €100 to pay for my test (he had to go to the bank to change them into shillings, the lab not accepting euros).
So they go together to the bank, him and the laboratory technician, each in its car. Arrived at the bank, the technician gets out of her car, and my guide leaves with my money…………
Despite the warnings of the laboratory, the hotel manager and mine for more than two hours, he will not return. The manager took his license plate number and threatened to call the police.
Fortunately, the laboratory still agreed to do my test, seeing the state I was in and sent me the results. I offered to pay them (so I would have paid for 3 tests in case) but they refused, the fault being entirely that of the guide (and moreover, everyone had seen that I had given him the 100€ for the test – and not to settle the walk at the swamp as he seemed to justify after the threat of the police).
At 9:45 pm, while I was waiting for boarding at the airport, I received a message from the hotel and the laboratory telling me that he had come to apologize for his bad decision, that he had paid the test and wanted to take me to the airport. A few minutes later, he was also texting me apologizing.
CONCLUSION
Uganda is an absolutely beautiful country with splendid landscapes. The encounter with the great apes is an incredible experience.
The country is, I think, the poorest and saddest I have seen and the roads in a catastrophic state and a great danger, especially when there is a void of several hundred meters nearby.
I have always used Tripadvisor to choose my local agencies and itineraries, but it seems all the more important to me today after this experience.
I recommend this itinerary if you are in good shape and physical health, if you are adventurous and if you have the right guide/driver.
The country will certainly have changed in a few years and if I had known, I think I would have waited before going there.
Of course, I absolutely DO NOT RECOMMAND Epic Uganda Vacation.
Do not hesitate if you have any questions.
Lisa
Email BaElias | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Life time trip in the pâradise!
I contacted several tour operators but Epic Uganda Vacation came ôut to be my partner for my long waited trip to see gorillas in Uganda Specifically in Bwind N park since they already have another park with Gorillas. This is a trip that i have been dreaming about since my last exchanges with Jonathan who helped me to organise everything and he kept me informed about covid 19 guidelines in this beautiful country. I contacted Epic in early 2019 hoping to run this trip in 2020 but Coron virus disorganised all plans i had and this caused me to postpond the trip to 2022 .
Now this is how my trip went,when i arrived in Uganda at Entebbe international airport a guide was arleady waiting for me and drove me to the hotel where he briefed me through the tour program and also explained to me about all the border controls which i would not figre out by my self .James who was my chauffer not only that but he knew alot of different facts and good at spoting animals always happy,friendly and this made my trip great.
In Uganda we visted different beautful places including Murchson national park,Queen Elizabeth national park ,Kibale national park ,Ziwa rihno sanctuary and Bwindi national park for gorillas.the drives through these places was always beautiful and Uganda is the most beautiful country i have ever visted
I would ôfcourse recomend Epic Uganda to anyone looking to visiting Uganda.
US
Email Walter & Susie | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Excellent
Excellent Ugandan trip with Epic Uganda Vocations. Our best tour operator yet. The itinerary was carefully thought through and well balanced. The trip represented great travel for the cost in the Ugandan countryside and towns like Entebbe and Queen Elizabeth National Park. Our booking was easy, the pre-information packet was timely and thorough. Interim questions were handled promptly and thoroughly, including going out of their way to help us with some hard to get reservations at some lodges. The Entebbe airport transfers were perfect and done with a 4×4 customised Safari vehicle. Lots of delicious organic food especially the the fruits. Everything worked like clockwork. The staff at the lodges were also friendly and professional. However, it was the genius of the itinerary, coupled with our passionate professional tour guide Moses, that put our trip to Uganda the Pearl of Africa into the A plus category.
Walter & Susie
Email Jwilliams | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
"Very Accommodating "
We booked 10days with the Jonathan of Epic Uganda, he was very responsive as we asked many questions before our decision.
Uganda is a small country however well packed with different things to see. We wanted to gorillas, chimps and visit popular Murchison and rhino sanctuary as well. Kenneth our guide is encyclopedia in that he knows where to find each creature. Should u book with them request Kenneth to be your guide. He is very linguistic and he knows better what he does! I would definitely recommend EUV to anyone looking forward to visiting this beautiful country.
US
Email Steve | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
great experience of a great country
Okay, this is Africa…and that means a certain level of discomfort, and some uncertainty, is a given. Dust, bad roads, bland food, bottled water only. Driving times are always underestimated. That said, Uganda is beautiful. The wildlife and birds are amazing. Epic has great guides who do their best to accommodate the needs and wishes of their guests, and who know the country and wildlife well. At the most popular locations (Gorillas, chimps, etc.) you are in the hands of local guides and rangers who are also first rate. Overall an excellent and authentic African and Ugandan experience! Recommended.
Good tour operator
I booked a 3 week trip around Uganda with Epic Uganda Vacation. I can recommend Epic Uganda Vacation. Here it is also possible to put together the itinerary yourself. For German speaking travelers I recommend Kenneth as a guide. He speaks German very well and has always discovered many animals that I would not have seen myself.
The tour was very well organized. The country is beautiful. There are beautiful varied landscapes, many birds and animals to discover. The lodges were all well chosen, the rooms were good and the food was good too.
(automatic translation from German)
US
Email Erica | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience
Moses and his team helped us organize our Chimpanzee Permits last minute and was a huge help to the process. The system at UWA had changed but with his help we were able to see the chimps!
Thank you Moses and the team for helping us while we were in Uganda!
IT
Email Brunet | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Made me feel home away home. Thanks Epic.
I was safe in your hands and made sure that I received what I paid for.
Keep it up.
Thanks for being transparent and committed to us.