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
BE
Email Eric Lahey, Wildlifebrothers.com | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Mdonya Old River Camp, bushlife at its best
Mdonya, bushlife at its best.
Knowing our expectations and our desire to find interesting spots to make great pics, Matoke Tours adviced us to stay at Mdonya Old River Camp.
If you are looking for an authentic bush experience, don't look further ... Mdonya has it all. At Mdonya the impossible is made possible.
After more than 10 African safari's and having visited even more camps, lodges,..., our stay at Mdonya was a blast!
It was our second stay in Ruaha, which is one of the best remote wildlife parks we have ever been to, and this time it exceeded our expectations once again. Ruaha, same size as Switzerland and one hour and a half bushplane flight away from Dar Es Salaam is one of the parks that is least invaded by tourists in Tanzania and is known for its density of wildlife including several packs of Wild Dogs.
We arrived at the end of the dry season and we had a marvelous stay.
First of all, the Mdonya camp itself is so authentic that you imagine yourself being Dr Livingstone. The Camp is composed of 12 authentic bushtents. No electricity inside but candles, petroleum lamps and comfortable beds. The toilet and shower are located outside the tent. The dinner area is just a big long wooden table under the African sky. But heck, what else do you need? The reception area does have a charging station (to charge your batteries, phones,...). Life at Mdonya is mainly spent in the open air which is beautiful! The food is fantastic. You taste the Italian "cucina" mixed with the finest African delicacies.
The camp is completely focused on pleasing its guests. That is the sole mission of superb camp manager Mary and her staff. Whether you want the standard gamedrives in the morning or in the evening or whether you want to go on a full day gamedrive, everything is possible. We did a fullday gamedrive every day, got breakfast in the bush and got lunch in the bush. Every day, we left before dawn and arrived back at the camp after sunset . We never heard a complaint from our overtired driver or guide. Neither did we get a remark from the camp manager that we had spoiled too much fuel. :-)) Not to mention that the on-the-go meals were mouthwatering! Living life to the fullest!
Ruaha is a national park but the area where Mdonya is situated offers the opportunity to go offroad if something interesting is spotted. We arrived at the end of the dry season, meaning that all wildlife was concentrated around the few waterponds in the dried out riverbeds (the Mwagusi & Ruaha river) which was the sign for OMG sightings during our whole stay. We saw at least 7 different Lion prides. One pride had cubs, the other one had killed a giraffe 30 minutes before we arrived, another one had killed a baby elephant just minutes before we arrived, another one did an attempt on a herd of buffalo's,... Every day we saw lions and not just passive ones but the very active ones. A real photographic peak! Apart from that we saw the rare sable antilopes and bat-eared foxes, hyena,elephants, giraffes, impala, gazelles, duikers, dik dik's and more than 20 different birds of prey (Martial Eagle, Fish eagle, Verreaux eagle owl, tawny eagle, ...). But the real highlight of our journey was the "live" kill of a leopard that we followed during a few days and that killed a baby impala just in front of us. What an experience! Every night, satisfied and well-fed, we fell asleep accompanied by the sound of roaring lions or hyena calls.
Unfortunately, we did not see Wild dogs and the Tse Tse flies - especially in the Jongomero area - were annoying, but these were only a minor inconvenience in what was overall a truly fantastic trip.
For more reports, movies or pictures, please watch our website wildlifebrothers.com. More to come soon!
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Very helpful, knowledgeable and great value - Uganda trip
Juma from Matoke was extremely patient and helpful providing an itinerary which met our requirements. Our driver/guide Dan was friendly and knowledgeable. Our vehicle was not top of the fleet but v sturdy and perfect for our requirements. Kibale forest camp and Entebbe airport guest house were both wonderful. Rihuja gorilla accommodation was disappointing by comparison although still clean and friendly - it just didn't have the wow factor that the others did. The gorilla tracking was amazing - I wish I could do it all over again. I have already recommended Matoke tours to two colleagues.
NL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Private trip Uganda
We have been on a short trip to Uganda in November. Because the short time Matoke tours made custom program for us, with just a few things on our list Matoke understood perfectly what we would like to do. Kibale forest, Bwindi, Ngamba Island. We had our own driver who was very nice and did a excellent job. The hotels where we stayed where lovely. Great staff at all places. The comfort was real high, so we could relax at the lodges we stayed.
We miss the wake up call with coffee at home!
The trips where a succes. At Bwindi we received the greatest gift after visit our Gorilla family on our way down hill we meet a second family of Gorilla's.
And Ngamba Island, what a unique experience!! Sleeping on the Island and making the forest walk with the Chimps. What a way to end your holiday.
Thanks for all the good care!
CA
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
excellent, reliable,informative and professional safari group!
My father and I booked our safari through matoke tours in November/December 2014. We booked pretty last minute and changed our itinerary several times. Juma was able to accommodate our requests and changes every time and was very professional and super punctual about getting back to all my emails. Our safari in northern Tanzania was great. Our guide and driver, Gilbert was super friendly, professional. safe and could answer all of our (many) questions about everything! I would definitely recommend Matoke tours, and particularly Gilbert for any tours. We had no problems and had a wonderful safari! All the accommodation and staff at the hotels were really great as well. Thank you Matoke tours and Gilbert!
BE
Email Mieke Verschueren, Belgium | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Tanzania was marvelous
Thanks a lot Matoke Tours, our tour in Tanzania was SUPER!!! we had to do nothing but enjoying, everything was excelent organised.
Our guide was the best ever, thanks Lawrence.
We have seen everything you can dream, 99 lions for instance, nobody can believe this, but it is true.
3 leopards, 3 cheeta's, wild dogs, you name it. A lion hunting on a warthog ( and he got it ), fighting elephants, fightings grirafs, sometimes we had the suspicion, our guide was telepathic, he could see what would happen, almost every time.
Ofcourse we have seen the big 5, we are travelling every year to Africa, but this was the best, we have never seen this, it was the best organised the most exciting travel ever,I don't have words enough to discribe !!!!!!!!!!
BE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Unforgettable Journey
From the beginning very well and personally organised by Nicole.
When we arrived, we met our travel companions from holland and our tour guide Bella and the two drivers Fred and Richard. All of them where very nice people. We booked a 15 days tour through Uganda and everything was well arranged. Bella was a perfect tour leader, so we only have to enjoy the views, experiences, animals, people and landscapes. We recommend this trip to everyone, because Uganda is the most beautiful country we've ever seen. Bella informed and helped us very well, so we've learned a lot of the religion, the political situation and the way of life of the Ugandan people. It was a trip with lots of adventure and the Gorillatracking as highlight. If you are planning a tour through Uganda, please contact Matoke tours and you will have an incredible journey.
DE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Thank you Matoke Tours !!
We have enjoyed our 2 weeks trip through Uganda from the beginning to the end - it was perfect! We went home with memories of unforgetable moments and impressions!
the best tour opererator in Uganda. Perfectly organized!!!!!!
A very friendly driver who had an answer to every question about country, people and animals. Memorable experiences in Kibala, Queen Elizabeth and Biwindi National Park. And fantastic lodges!!! The whole journey a dream. Thank you Matuke Tours!!!!
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing 12 days in south-west Uganda.
Our driver and guide was Anatoli - he was perfect! He drove us from Entebbe - Kampala - Kibale forest - Queen Elizabeth NP - Lake Mutanda and back to Kampala. It was one of the best journeys in my lifetime! Everything was very well organized by Matoke Tours! Anatoli our driver was always patient and very friendly, he told us a lot about the country, interesting and sometimes funny stories about birds and animals and life in Uganda. He knew the best places in order to take stunning pictures, he helped me with my broken shoes, organized the best rangers for our safari trips and was always on time. It was really good to be with him which I think is important as we have spent a lot of time with him together in the car. We really enjoyed all of our lodges, chosen by Matoke Tours. They were all clean, had good bathrooms (for example the outside shower under the amazing stars in QE), always with wonderful views like over Lake Mutanda, or the jungle with the sound of the monkeys, or over the canal at Queen Elizabeth´s, with eagles and the sound of the hippos etc. Uganda is so beautiful, so green, there are few cars on the street, the people are so friendly!!! And i am very impressed by this great jungles. We saw a lot of animals, gorillas, chimps, a lion, a big group of 8 female lions - one of them was even hunting a kob, elephants, a lot of baboons next to the streets, hippos - one even passed close to the restaurant in the evening while we were sitting there :-), so many birds and warthogs.. So many..! For me the best stop was Lake Mutanda, it´s such a nice place, we were able to swim, walk around, we did a canoe tour and we spend some more days just for relaxing. The food was always very good, everywhere they asked us if we have any special requests - for me as a vegetarian very important and we have enjoyed every dish. For sure we will visit Uganda again for further tours with Matoke Tours!! They really did a perfect job!
DE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Perfect organised Safari in Uganda!!
The chimp and the Gorilla tracking were the most amazing and well organised part of the tour. It was so beautiful to see this big friendly Animals in their well protected natural habitat. The Guide and Driver was well trained and fulfilled us every wish. We can recommend The Lake Mutanda Lodge as it was such a beautiful accommodation! Many Thanks MATOKE TOURS for this unique trip!!