The Matoke Tours Team
Matoke Tours
- Located In:
-
Netherlands
- Size:
- 20-50 employees (Founded in 2002)
- Member Of:
- ATTA, AUTO, SGR, UTB & UCF
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range & luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $300 to $750 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
Email Julie/Yasmin | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Trip of a lifetime!!
We have just returned from the most amazing week in Uganda. Our holiday from the start of booking with Matoke Tours was completely stress free and communication was very quick and efficient. As Uganda seems to be so under marketed in the UK we were a little unsure what to expect we certainly need not have worried, Our driver/guide Antoli met us at the airport with a huge smile!he was friendly, so knowledgable and a pleasure to spend our week with. We feel we have learnt so much about the country from him. A credit to Matoke.
The itinerary of our tour was perfect for us,the diversity of where we visited was astounding and the gorilla trek was magical. The sometimes long drives in between each location we were staying were both really enjoyable and seemed much quicker as there was so much to see and talk about.We felt very safe and completely at ease throughout our trip.
We could not have asked for more and would certainly book with Matoke again. Thank you all so much!
Email Jodie | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Stop looking start booking!
Thank you so much to Ilse and Matoke tours for providing such outstanding service, recommendations, tours and guides. From the first email I received after requesting details about a safari and gorilla trekking the information I received was so prompt and professional that I stopped looking at any other tour companies and booked with Matoke tours. From the booking process, being welcomed at the airport and accommodations the staff were professional, welcoming, friendly and incredibly helpful to ensure our stay was perfect.
The gorillas were absolutely incredible and one of our all time favourite life experiences. The gorillas are magnificent and I couldn't believe how close we were able to get. We had a guide called Francois on the day who was absolutely fantastic - he has been a tour guide for 30 years and was so knowledgeable, funny and passionate about the gorillas he made the trip even more special.
Words can't describe how amazing this experience is we were just in awe of these majestic, magnificent animals, everything else faded away and nothing else in life seemed to matter except for that moment right there being in the Rwandan jungle sitting less than a few metres away from a magnificent silverback whose commanding presence and sheer beauty was breathtaking. Seeing a mother gently hugging and kissing her newborn baby with such tenderness and radiating so much love was absolutely heartwarming. The experience is life changing as it reminds you what is truly important in life. The conservation work being done by all the people involved in protecting these endangered gorillas is nothing short of outstanding.
The Serengeti was just amazing. Our driver from start to finish in Tanzania was Jackson and he was the best! He was always fun, friendly, incredibly knowledgeable not only about the Serengeti and all the animals and Masai but also about the local culture and history of Tanzania and was able to answer any question we asked. He was always on time and did his utmost to make sure that our experience was the best it could possibly be. He found the big 4 every day in the Serengeti for us and the black rhino in the Ngorogoro crater. It was all so beautiful it was surreal. Jackson was also so incredibly patient and happy to wait 10 minutes or an hour… he would stay anywhere for as long as we wanted in any area so that we could enjoy our experience to the full of watching the animals. He was passionate about making our trip as special as he could which he certainly did. The Tortillis camp in the Serengeti was fantastic, all the staff there were absolutely wonderful, there was nothing they wouldn't do to ensure our stay was as comfortable as possible.
We absolutely loved the safari and seen such an abundance of wildlife. I couldn't pick a favourite as everything was so spectacular to see. At one point Jackson had a radio call and he asked us to sit down and raced off down the road, he didn't say why but we knew we were about to see something amazing! Not long after we came around a bend and there were 3 lionesses in the distance walking towards us down the road! He stopped the car and I quickly started taking photos expecting the lionesses to take off in to the grass but they just kept coming toward us it was absolutely incredible as they continued down and right past our car!
I highly recommend this tour as it is a trip of a lifetime and Matoke Tours made it perfect from start to finish!
US
Email Julie | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great gorilla trip
We chose Matoke based on recommendations from friends living in Uganda, and were glad we did. Everything was very well organized. We chose a mid-range booking, and stayed at Lake Mutanda Lodge. The views were breathtaking, the food was great and the staff were extremely friendly and helpful. It was somewhat rustic, which was fine with us, but perhaps a bit more rustic than expected (cabins with canvas walls, very basic bathroom, beds not great, electricity during limited hours). That said, we would definitely choose it again because the positives far outweighed the negatives. Our driver was friendly and knowledgeable. Our arrangements were somewhat last minute, and Matoke was very understanding of the time it took us to arrange the wire transfer. They brought our permits and flight itineraries to our hotel in Kampala, which was very helpful. Of course, the gorilla trek was an amazing experience and totally worth the cost.
NL
Email Bianca | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Very enthusiastic team, well organised
The team, guide & drivers, are very enthusiastic, helpfull and very good in their job. They help you with all your questions and do their utmost to fulfill your wishes. They drove safe and were superb in the safari's, which were excellent, we even went 2x a day, making the most out of it! Service is great, they also organised for our lost luggage to be sent up to Jinja, where we stayed at the time it was found. I can recommend them to organise your trip to Uganda !
CA
Email David F. | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Custom Safari Trip to Tanzania to view game and Uganda to view primates.
Matoke Tours exceeded all of our expectations from initial booking to after tour debriefing. Our service representative responded promptly to all of our questions, concerns and other communications. The accommodations they provided for us were exactly what we wanted, mid range in price but comfortable and more important, interesting. We mainly stayed in tent camps near the animals we wanted to see. All in all Matoke arranged a great tour for us.
US
Email Danny Selik | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing Matoke Tour
Deciding to use Matoke Tours was by far the best decision in my safari vacation. Anatole was our driver and guide during the 7-day tour through Murchison Falls, Queen Elizabeth, and Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. Always with a smile on his face and a deep concern for our comfort and positive experience, Anatole represented Matoke with excellence.
NL
Email Eric & Margot | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Incredible and fantastic Uganda & Tanzania journey with amazing wildlife and beautiful people
Matoke made our 30-year wedding anniversary trip in Uganda and Tanzania a once in a lifetime experience; overwhelming nature and wildlife, great lodges and resorts, beautiful and friendly people with a beutiful resort on the island of Zanzibar to enjoy a relaxing week afterwards. Don't forget to take a balloon-trip in Queen Elizabeth National Park; unforgettable.
Great indeed!
Email Belinda and Helen | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Heartwarming glimpse of Ugandan life lead by a professional team
From start to finish Makote tours were extremely professional in their approach with quick and efficient communications. The tour was mind blowing ,way above our expectations. A large part of this was due to our excellent guide / driver Anatoli. I have never met someone so passionate about his country. His scope of knowledge was vast and we learnt so much from him everyday ( including his love of a good goat stew). He really made the tour so special and we feel privalaged that we were lucky enough to spend almost 2 weeks in his company, what a great person.
Thanks must also go to Lionel and his team back at the office who handled every aspect of the tour so well.
I would not hesitate to recommend this company who wishes to see the real Uganda.
US
Email Al Friedman | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
I sincerely doubt you could find a better tour company than Matoke.
This review is long overdue, and for that I apologize. I’ll skip to the conclusion first and then fill in some details: Matoke Tours is wonderful!
My wife and I cannot recommend Matoke more highly. In cooperation with Tanzania’s Easy Travel company, Matoke Tours took us on a 24-day private safari (mid-range accommodations) in Tanzania in October, 2015. We went through eight national parks/wildlife/conservation areas: Selous, Mikumi, Ruaha, Saadani, Arusha, Tarangire, Ngorongoro and Serengeti.
When making arrangements to book the tour, we had told Matoke that we were amateur birders. To our delight, they made sure to provide us with guides (two of them; one for the southern and one for the northern parks) who were themselves accomplished birders— and not all guides are. They study terrestrial flora and fauna in college, but not birds.
Both of our guides, Herman Kiriama and Hubert Ngoty, were fabulous! Hawk-eyed, they spot wildlife at amazing distances, even in tall grasses or shrubbery. Both are well-educated professionals, very personable and a pleasure to be with.
Herman and Hubert were always attentive to our needs, our comfort and our safety. Importantly, both always obeyed the speed limits on roadways, whereas many vehicles operated by other tour companies sped past us. In Tanzania roads are populated by other vehicles (including large trucks), bicycles, motorbikes (often overloaded), mini-taxis— and lots of pedestrians. We appreciated our Matoke guides’ expert driving skills and constant attention to safety on the roads.
Herman and Hubert were very knowledgeable not only about flora, fauna and terrain, but also about the peoples and cultures of Tanzania. (There are 123 tribes in Tanzania— living in harmony!) Our guides already had cordial relationships with the staff of the places we slept at, so they were able to make sure that those folks took good care of us. Hubert even made sure to arrange for one park ranger in particular to give us a 2-hour guided tour in Arusha NP, because he felt that ranger was the best explainer— and he was right! That park ranger was super-knowledgable and wonderfully good-natured.
I could go on, but you should get the point by now. If you’re going to Tanzania (and you should; the people are wonderful and the terrain and wildlife are magnificent), I honestly don't think you can do better than Matoke Tours.
AT
Email Giacomo | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The unforgettable Ugandan experience!
Our tour in Uganda with Matoke Tours was far above our expectations, which were already very high! I cannot describe how amazing every single experience was, so I am just going to say that we were 100% satisfied from the tour in general. Our guide was not only extremely friendly and polite, but he also proved to be very competent and experienced. With him we felt safe at all times, both on safaris and on the roads. We really felt him trying hard to make our experience unique and he definitely managed to achieve his goal!