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
NL
Email Sandra | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Prefessional organisation, working close with local guides and professionals
Our family of 4 booked a round trip with Matoke tours together with two close friends, so we had a private tour with six. Our friends visited Uganda before, also with Matoke, so Matoke arranged another round trip: From Jinja, to Sipi, Moroto, Kidepo, Murchison falls and back to Entebbe. We had to have patience: the trip was postponed 2 years, due to the Covid lockdowns. This was no problem with Matoke, they also booked our flight for this reason.
Since we had a private visit of a school project the week before our tour, we were picked up by our guide/driver Caleb at our hotel in Kampala.
The car was a huge four wheel drive safari car, where we fitted in all six. Caleb was a skilled and safe driver. One day we had to drive a very wet and muddy slippery road, and he managed to get us through safely. Caleb could tell us really much about the country and its history, culture and the different people inhabiting Uganda. He used to be a ranger, so in the Safari parks he drove us around spotting game really skillfully, with a very sharp eye, and visibly enjoying it himself. Matoke can be happy to employ good dedicated guides like Caleb.
The Lodges that were booked were all good. Unfortunately in Kidepo savannah lodge the luxury safari tents were booked full, so that we had a tent with a public sanitary unit. It was clean enough, but really a bit scary in the very dark night, with roaring lions in the neighbourhood... The view though was magnificent. The next logde, Murchison River logde became our favorite: Luxury tents with private bathroom, at the border of river Nile, with a small pool, and an excellent restaurant. Every meal had also a vegetarian option, good for our vegetarian daughter.
The Chimpansee tracking was unforgettable, though the Budongo Eco Lodge was a bit aged, but with very friendly staff.
In Moroto we stayed at Karamoja Safari Lodge. It apeared that they were overbooked, and our friends were installed in another hotel, but using the meals of Karamoja. So this little problem was solved properly. We found ourselves uncomfortable visiting the local tribe, as if we were going to the zoo, but these are living free people...
Uganda apeared to us a very hospitable country with really kind and cheerful inhabitants. We felt welcome and safe during the whole trip.
In the end, we had two fantastic weeks enjoying the beautiful countryside of Uganda, travelling safely with a Safari jeep and a joyful skilled driver and guide.
DE
Email Martin Duerr | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Super friendly, an expert about the history of his country, the culture and the animals
Hi there at Matoke Tours,
we did a Uganda safari with Matoke Tours, starting from August 09th to August 21st.
Our driver has been Agabe Trevor.
What we have to say .... such an amzing experience, we never exptected in our wildest dreams. :-)
We saw everything that we could imagine and much more. Super friendly people, amazing landscapes and
a cornucopia of wild animals. From Zebras, Hyenas to the Leopard. This leaves us almost speachless.
Plus Agabe Trevor as our driver. So kind, with a lot of knowledge about the country, the tribes, the animals,
everything we asked him. He made the 4000km we drove a great adventure we will never forget.
Whenever we needed his help, he managed that, combined with a great sense of humor.
Of course we will share the experience we did with our friends and via Instagram with our commnunities.
Hopefully more and more people. will visit Uganda and get aware of this hidden gem in the middle of Africa.
All the best from Germany
Kerstin and Martin Duerr
and our complete crew
NL
Email Frans Jan Burkens | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Great tour operator that more than lives up the expectations !
With our family of 5 we had a superb trip of 3 weeks to Uganda. Right from all the preparations/planning and all the communication surrounding that phase to the final execution itself Matoke Tours did an excellent job. Their decades of experience in the country was very clear as they were very capable to translate our wishes into a really memorable trip. As our party split-up half way we had two guides/drivers where again it was very clear that they are all very well trained to really provide their guests with a great holiday. Very attentive and always in great spirits they both were a joy to have as our guides. Hence I certainly want to mention their names as I can highly recommend both: Sam B., a very seasoned guide with a lot of knowledge of all animals and birds and very well respected everywhere we came which always made for a very easy landing after our drives and not to forget Kassim Kamya, a young and enthousiastic guide, super protective of his clients wanting you to have the best time ever. And above all and maybe most important, they are very safe drivers.
DE
Email Walter | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Professionell
We travelled with Matoke during 2 weeks in Uganda starting in Jinja, heading to Murchinson National Park and passing south to Ruanda border and back to Kampala. Preparation of the trip with Sven was great. Easy, quick, friendly and very reliable. The same with our guide and driver David. He is very professionell and knows every animal and plant with surname and is highly involved in all matters regarding wildlife and nature conservation. The trip was a great experience and we will book Matoke again in case we have the opportunity returning to East Africa again.
NL
Email Maaike en Jeffrey | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Special trip to remember
We had booked our trip with Matoke in December 2019. Because of the COVID Matoke managed to rebook it 2 times without any problems, so that we could finally go to Uganda this year.
Three days before departure, my wife developed a bursa infection in the knee. The doctor indicated that we were allowed to go on holiday, but that we should not put any strain on the leg and that we should rest as much as possible. We have informed Matoke of this situation. They indicated that they would look at everything per day and that they would discuss with our guide what was and was not possible.
So we flew to Uganda using crutches and met our guide Kassim there. A very calm, helpful and thoughtful guide.
During all activities he consulted with the rangers beforehand whether it was possible to carry out the activity with crutches. And if necessary, he arranged for us to have a private supervisor, so that we could carry out the activity at our pace.
This way we were able to enjoy a wonderful holiday where we did a rhino walk and chimp tracking and various game drives with crutches.
Kassim was good at spotting game during game drives, having seen a leopard before the rangers noticed it.
His knowledge about nature, wildlife and all birds is enormous and definitely had an added value. But the conversations on the road about life in Uganda were also very interesting.
Thanks to the medication and sufficient rest, we managed to do the Gorilla tracking without crutches at the end of the holiday.
We would like to thank Matoke and specially Kassim for a special trip!
US
Email Cris F | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Wonderful experience! Booked through them for our gorilla tracking experience in Uganda
We had a great experience booking our recent trip to Uganda for gorilla trekking with Matoke Tours. We opted for a fly-in tour from Entebbe. I got in touch with Pleunie via safaribooking.com in January 2022. We just finished our trip last month. Miss Pleunie was very responsive and accommodating with our request and she made sure that everything was in order from the initial deposit all the way up to the end of our unforgettable trip. Our flight coming into Entebbe was delayed for 2 hours and although I wasn't able to reach Miss Pleunie via Whatsapp to give her an update (she didn't have power in her house that night and her phone had apparently died); our wonderful guide John who was waiting to pick us up in Entebbe airport on arrival tracked our flight and waited for us past midnight. It was such a relief to see him at the arrivals area holding a sign with our names after such a stressful journey. He then took us to our hotel for the night and helped us get settled in. The flight to Kisoro the next day went smoothly without any hitch. Our guide met us a Kisoro with their 4x4 SUV to take us to this beautiful hotel at a remote peninsula about 45 minutes to the airport. Valance was helpful in getting us registered for the gorilla tracking experience the next day and he waited for us for 4 hours to take us back to our hotel once the tracking was done. Overall, for our last trip, we had utilized the services of 5 tour companies across 5 different countries and Matoke Tours probably planned and coordinated one of the most complex legs of our trip and did they a wonderful job! We highly recommend this tour company for your gorilla tracking adventure!
NL
Email Sven | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Unbelievable experience
Starting with a chat about travelling and holidays in general and our wishes with regards to a holiday in Africa we got a proposal for a trip to Kenya. After some discussions we ended up with what seemed a great 3 week trip.
And a great trip it was. We saw all the must see things (incl big five) in a very relaxed way. Travelling with kids is usually a challenge but due to the relaxed schedule it was a great experience.
Thanks to our fantastic guide we had a great experience!
Organized, Understanding, helpful
Matoke helped organize an fantastic trip for us. Their guidance along the way regarding activities, lodgings etc…was spot on.
Our driver/tour guide was excellent: intelligent, helpful and patient at all times.
Several in our group had special dietary needs which were accommodated at each of our lodgings.
DE
Email Isabelle | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Absolutely great, our expectations were surpassed and we loved the whole trip to Uganda
Great itinerary proposed by Matoke with a lot to see, but also some pauses towards the end of the 10 days; wonderful lodges (mid budget) - one nicer than the other incl. great food; very well organized, there was not a single hick-up during the 10 days; great, freindly and knowledgable driver and guide. Matoke can be 100% recommended. We (mum and son) felt cared for and safe every minute of this trip. Plus, Uganda is a wonderful country and all our expectations in every sense were even surpassed by the reality.
DO
Email Beatriz | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent service
We had an amazing experience with Matoke Tours. We booked before the pandemic started, tried re scheduling 1 year after and we postponed again because airlines were cancelling. Finally after 2 years we made the trip happened and the service from beginning to start was excellent. Our guide Edwin delivered everything on our bucket list and took care of us and everyone of our needs. I recommend Matoke 100% and will use them again in the future. Thank you Pleunie and Edwin for making our trip perfect.