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
DE
Email Martin | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A absolute amazing 3-day-trip to Murchison Nat. Park incl. Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary and Budongo Forest
First of all I have to say, that the communication with Matoke Tours via Email was really excellent from the beginning of my enquiry. The company was very open and helpful to make all our wishes possible concerning the 3 day programm as mentioned above.
Pick up at our hotel in Uganda was right in time, we had no problems with the car and all our activities were 100% the way, the company Matoke Tours promised us in our itinerary before.
The choice of the 2 lodges (Pakuba Safari Lodge, Budongo Eco Lodge) was absolutely positive: we had a nice room, great food, friendly staff people and the locations were perfect. Especially Pakuba Lodge is a great place to stay!
Our Driver/Guide Richard, a former UWA ranger, made a real good job; a very friendly person with a sense of humor, a good driver, and with a brilliant knowledge concerning animals and plants!!! We can really recommend him very much! Our expectations were fulfilled a 100%! :-)
Email Richard | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
100% in everything
"Ilse" was my communicator by email and was always fast to reply and gave me the extra information I asked for very precisely (where to buy trekking boots in Entebbe). I was looked after from pick-up at Entebbe Airport to drop off at my hostel in Kampala perfectly. There were actually 6 in the group, and our driver David, a complete gentleman, who drove for all those hours with total professionalism. The overnights in the lodge, at Mutanda Lake Resort, were perfect. I have never been in any hotel anywhere with such a magnificent 360 degree panorama. The accommodation was right at the top of the "moderate" range - the food superb. The showers were hot. Now about the actual gorillas...
We were with them for 1 hour 35 minutes, mainly because they were blocking our way out after an hour!!! Thank you gorillas. Seeing them and being so close is a mixture of humbling and overpowering.
We stopped en route both ways for lunch at a really good restaurant too.
A faultless 3-day expedition - keep up your superb work, Matoke Tours!!!
CH
Email Dr. Gottfried Hirnschall, Othmar Traninger | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
so much more than we expected! professional, friendly and competent!
We had a wonderful vacation. Our luggage didn't arrive, and while Brussels Airlines and the Airport in Uganda were completely unhelpful, Matoke's Sven organized a driver who followed us with our suitecases through the country. This really saved our vacation. The drivers and guides were all superfriendly, flexible and helpful. From the beginning at home to the return everything was perfectly organized to really reasonable prizes. Would do it immediatly again with Matoke and can only recommend them. Bravo!
NL
Email Nanda and Piet | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Matoke tours offers you the best possibility to see and experience Uganda!
Matoke tours has perfect transport, drivers, guides and accomodaton. In three weeks we saw 5 of the 10 national parks with all the wildlife and lots of possiblities to interact with the locals. A plus for us was that Matoke stimulates local projects for tourists. This is good for the locals but also for tourists to see and experience communitylife.
US
Email Travis | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
An experience to remember
The experience of dealing with Matoke from the U.S. was flawless. Lionel Meguma answered our many questions immediately by email and we always felt he was on top of things. The tour was just as we had planned, with some suggestions from Lionel, and our driver/guide was exceptional. Richard Gurisha was a wonderful host from the minute he picked us up at the airport at 2:00AM until he returned us to the airport two weeks later. He was incredibly knowledgeable and helpful, always positive and patient with our many questions. He made this a trip to remember.
US
Email Maura & Jim | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Matoke and Easy Travel together made our safari fabulous!
We booked this 12-day tour with Matoke from the USA and all our questions were answered on line. We had a very popular tour company near us in Boston, but they were not flexible with the itinerary, the groups were larger, and more expensive overall. We had a group of 7 in one safari truck. Matoke was very accomodating with our requested itinerary. We had a good mix of accommodations, mid range B&Bs/small hotels and wonderful tented camps. We had a guide that was so fabulous we wanted to take him home! He was attentive to our every need, was extremely knowledgeable, and always made us feel safe. Thank you Richard from "Easy Tours"! Next time we would organize a minimum of 2 night stays in an accommodation, the tour is wonderful but exhausting so packing less often is better. A better daily schedule may have been going out for an early morning drive, return to a hotel for lunch/ rest, then head out again mid- late afternoon/ evening. We were not able to do this because the hotels were too far from the park and if you leave admission may need to be paid again. Something to think about. Overall, the safari was a dream come true!
NZ
Email Jason Turner | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Disappointed with tour organization and transportation issues
My partner and I did a 4 day Gorilla Tour in Uganda and while I would like to say the tour was great, I just can't it was filled with disappointment from Matoke Tours..
Our driver David was a good driver, and drove sensibly throughout the very long drive. However my partner and I didn't really know what was going on. David's communication with us and the other 4 tour guests that traveled with us was a bitter disappointment. He failed to give us any detailed itinerary of the day.... Yes he was only the driver but when you pay a lot of money for a trip of a lifetime I do expect some professionalism with all staff from reputable tour company.
It gets worse though.
We asked our driver to drop us off at Entebbe Airport along with another guest (so 3 of us travelling to airport) instead of going to Kampala and then going to Entebbe which can add another 1.5 hours to 2hours. The driver said he could drop us off and a Taxi would pick us up to take us to the airport. No mention of cost or price here. So one would assume that cause our driver didnt want to drive via Entebbe that Matoke should accomdate us and include this in our tour cost which was $1890 USD for the two of us.
When we got dropped of at the pickup point the taxi driver had been waiting for us for over 2 hours. We were then shocked that he was told to tell us the cost is $40 USD to take us to the airport from there. Which was a crazy price. We paid $23 USD from Entebbe airport to Kampala when we arrived, they charging over double the price and it was 15km shorter distance. We refused to be extorted like this and so the driver then called Eric one of the managers from Matoke to say we wouldnt pay that. He dropped the price to $30 USD which we had no choice to accept, it was late and we had been driving for 12 hours. When we got to airport I got driver to call Eric back and I spoke to him directory and said how unhappy I was with the situation and very disappointed and there lack of communication. He promised he would have someone email me the next day to recity the situation..... now 5 days later and nothing. Just confirms the type of company you are dealing with. You pay a lot of money and then they are trying to rip you off with a taxi.... Transport should really be included, pick up and drop off. Dont try and rip people off to make a few dollars so you can benefit more for tours that already cost us a lot of money.
The Gorilla Tours with the rangers at the National Park was perfect. But it should be and this part of the tour actually had nothing really to do with Matoke Tours as you get dropped at the national park and do the Trek with the rangers and scouts.... This part was great.. The Accommodation and the dinners we had was also amazing.
However the driver and logistics issues left a very sore taste in our month and really resent choosing Matoke Tours for our Gorilla Tour. My advice choose another company that has reliable communication.
Reply from Matoke Tours
Posted on Dec 2, 2015Dear Jason,
I am sorry to hear you were disappointed in the services of Matoke Tours during the 4-day budget group tour to seeing the gorillas. Basically I read that you expected more information from the driver/ guide and you were not pleased with the airport transfer at the end of the tour. As well the way Matoke Tours handled it afterwards should have been better. I regret this had such a negative impact on a tour that should have been a "once in a lifetime experience" indeed. I am glad you did have a good gorilla tracking and you liked Mutanda Lake Resort and the food from there.
I am really sorry that the airport transfer and communication around that did not go well and had such a big impact on a trip that seemed to be good up to that point. I have sent you an email to ask for your bank details, so I can refund you the full amount of the airport transfer. I hope this will restore a bit of faith in Matoke Tours.
Regards,
Wim Kok
Owner/ Managing director Matoke Tours
Email David | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent trip around Uganda. Well organised and planned with great mid-range accomodation
Excellent trip. Really listened to our needs and produced an itinerary line with exactly what we wanted. Level of accommodation was excellent and the activities included were perfect. Gershom, our driver, was very friendly and knowledgeable.
A perfect trip and highly recommended.
NL
Email Miranda van Nikkelen Kuyper | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
This adventure is one i will never forget,i love uganda!
Every day was a highlight for me,even the long drives we've had were fun. The gorilla's i will never forget. The hike was very hard,but when you see those animals you immediately forget the pain. The people in our group were fantastic,we were very close and everyone enjoyed this adventure. Very nice lodges and our guide Jeoffrey and drivers Mike and Sula were the best you can have,they are really fit in our group.
Thank you Matoke!
NL
Email Janny | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
What a great holiday
We visited Uganda in september 2015 for a three week tour, organised bij Matoke and this was the best holiday I ever had. As from the oriëntation and booking in Holland, everything was very well organised. We had a group of 9 people and drove with two Toyota landcruisers with excellent drivers, and the tour guide made sure we didn’t have to worry about anything. They learned us a lot about the country and the wildlife. The lodges were very luxurious, the food was excellent and the wildlife incredible. We saw many mammals and birds and especially the chimpansees and gorilla’s were so beautiful and impressive, that they filled my eyes with tears. I also enjoyed birdwatching very much, there are so many species!. I feel really privileged to have been able to do this holiday. The people of Uganda are friendly and the children were waving all the time, what made us feel like a queen or the national football team. So all together I would sure recommend Matoketours. I think they do a really good job over there. Thanks for everything Matoketeam!