DK
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
I could not have imagined a better company with better tourguides
Traveling to Uganda? This is why you should consider Cul Tours!
I have been travelling a lot as a backpacker, I aim for the real, cultural and local experience. In a country like Uganda you need a "key" to enter these local experiences and get heart to heart with the people and their culture, and for me, this key was Cul Tours. I have never met a guide, let me say human being, that was so eager to provide the ultimate customer service, so caring and flexible to my wants and needs!
Communication is straight forward and fast, the company is run by Ugandans. It's definitely possible to stitch together a tour that suits you with the things you find most interesting - on a side-note I recommend to discuss with them and listen to their recommendations, they really do have vast knowledge of Uganda.
I asked for local, I got local! They took me to dance in a village, had me taste all the wondrous and peculiar foods, took me hiking in Sipi Falls and Mount Elgon - dined with a local family, drank locally brewed traditional beer (was even offered the full ceremony including circumcision, but humbly turned down the offer). Walked through a fishing community, tasted their dried fish and embraced all the curious and excited children that rarely see white people... I slept in clay and straw huts, they're fantastic to sleep in because they're cool in the nights.
I visited orphanages, there's a particular one in the West Nile Region in Koboko at the border of South Sudan and Congo that stole my heart.
I also went for the safaris, and they are as you might expect if you've watched National Geographic, Animal Planet etc., amazing experience - though you do see many tourists, you don't see them much when on the actual safaris and it doesn't feel crowded, unless it's the boat safari.
When it comes to expectations, I must say they were not only met but exceeded. There are other, larger companies in Uganda but the word goes they're too mainstream and boring, with Cul Tours you'll be sure to be in for an extraordinary experience.
I'll visit Uganda again, and I'll ask for Cul Tours' guide Stephen - the most sympathetic, understanding and smiling man of Uganda.
Love, Martin
AE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
safari
After having a wonderful trip in Kenya, where i booked for 8 day safari through Nature Exploration Safaris.The director of the company Hilary advised to extend my tour for a desert safari in Dubai.
This was a great choice that i made I had two days in Dubai and hilary constantly contacted me how i was faring. The safari was amazing, the food was top norch. Thank you Nature Exploration Safaris for your excellent service.. see you in August again this year - 2013
BE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Stephen the founder of Cul Tours, simply the best!!!
A few years ago we've met Stephen on the fair in Belgium, he was a guide for Matoke, he persueded us to come to Uganda. Once we were in that beautiful country we saw Stephen several times, always friendly and ready to listen. The people who he was guiding were very satisfied with him. Now he has his own compagnie Cul Tours and Safaris, and I'm shore he is the best guide you can have! When we go again to Uganda we will definitely go with him!
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great Guidance and Support
Go2Africa provided excellent service and advice from beginning to end and allow us to fully participate and customize our trip. We're seasoned travelers so we weren't looking for packaged tours, just help where we needed it. The most important advice, as it turned out, was to buy full insurance on our car rental. I did some minor damage to the car backing into a parking space and the experience was really a "no worries" situation when I returned the car in Cape Town. No cost and less than 5 minutes of paperwork. I'm sure this would not have been the case had I not taken the insurance.
RU
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good choice for a safari
Everything was excellent! Especially I would recommend to have Peter as your guide.
NZ
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
A+++ Tour and Tour Operator - you won't do better!!!
This was an extraordinary trip and my husband and I are seasoned world travellers from NZ - our retirement lifestyle while we can! Selma and Ngomi, who own and operate Makasa Tanzanian Safaris, were instrumental in making this such an amazing trip - they provide excellent drivers/tour guides - ask for Kalibi, he was exceptional, nothing was too much trouble and a wealth of knowledge with excellent English language skills (tho talking to other Makasa-ites we ran into at various lodges, they were equally delighted with their guides).
We certainly made the right decision spending that little extra to have our own car and guide all to ourselves - we were able to rearrange some of our time schedules to suit our needs, eg, late starts and also an early sunrise start out of the Serengeti which provided us with much active wildlife observation - during the heat of the day, some animals such as lions, like to nap for lengthy sessions
The lodges and tented camps we stayed in on the mainland advised by Makasa were perfect for us - we would have loved an extra night at the Rhotia Valley Lodge and Orphanage - an amazing setting high up in the hills overlooking spectacular valleys - 1 night here not enough as the perfect place to enjoy a day off, maybe go on a village walking activity, visit the nearby Orphanage the Lodge supports or simply wile away the day with a good book, swimming in their beautifully landscaped pool or just looking at the scenery - great food, luxury large tents and excellent Dutch hosts.
We also spent a night at the Maasai Village, Olpopongi, recommended by Makasa - this is definitely NOT a tourist trap as some of the villages are surrounding the Ngorongoro conservation area - here, not far from Mt Kilimanjaro, you get to experience actual Maasai village life in a real hut, made by the women, with a cowhide bed (no worries, they do provide proper toilets and showers)- the actual Maasai people tend to your needs, cook for you, dance/sing and demonstrate their traditional ways, also take you out on a bushwalk to show you how and where they gather their herbs for medicines, tea making and hut-building materials...the incredible 96-year-old 'grandma' will prepare their special herbal tea for you - delicious! At night sit round a central fire eating BBQ food and sharing stories.
Also we stayed our 1st night at the beautiful rustic, but simple, Kilimanjaro Lodge - Kilimanjaro Lodge is part of Mama Clementina Foundation: A secondary school for young girls in Tanzania. It is a nice friendly hotel with good service and a nice environment. The hotel is located a bit out of the centre of Moshi and therefore very quiet and peaceful. With your stay you will help the school - we had the pleasure of meeting Maria, the Chairperson of the school board, who won Tanzania's Woman of the year, 2013...a special genuine lady who has done much to enhance the empowerment of women in her country.
Have to say tho, with the accommodation, the Kenzan tented lodge located at the Ikoma (North-Western) gate (the Ikoma tribe the smallest of all 150 Tanzanian tribes) was the highlight, even tho, ironically, the most basic - but no better way to experience the Serengeti with wild animal sounds to send you to sleep or as alarm clocks to wake you early - rest assured, they have ensuites so no need to visit outside loos during night-time hours...and local guards to ward off any 'wild' night-time guest who may visit the campsite unexpectedly - the 5 guys looking after us and cooking for us, were delightful, what they cooked in the make-shift kitchen was jolly good fare! You're amongst it all here in the Serengeti - a Ikoma village walk is a treat as well, but if you want to go inside an actual village and take photos of the people and their huts, including interiors, which we did, it is appropriate to give a few US dollars or Tanzanian shillings to the oldest female member to buy some food for her village or treats for the children. While on the Serengeti, this Savannah is amazing, we saw a couple of migrations, wildebeest and zebras, which was beyond our imagination fantastic!! Just the whole area and the animals we saw was quite an overwhelming experience - ask any of the guides and they will tell you, the Serengeti is their favourite Safari to visit in Tanzania.
We also had a couple of weeks visiting Zanzibar, which we organised thru Makasa as well - 2 or 3 nights in Stone Town is a must (we loved Kisiwa House, but a few others are worth staying at as well) and 12 nights at beach resorts - Next Paradise, stunning, ask for a beach cottage - the waters in Zanzibar are turquoise blue and the white sand powdery soft - great for snorkelling, diving and kiting
There were a couple of small issues, one with a car to the Maasai Village and the other with accommodation on Zanzibar that didn't suit us, but both of these issues were rectified immediately - Selma was on to these without hesitation and sorted it all out for us on the spot, so really not issues!
A couple of changes we would make if we were to repeat our trip - 1: forget the Manyara Lake tour, waste of time and boring, for one, the climbing tree lions have not been seen for years and 2, the salt lake with pink flamingoes too far away to see properly even with binoculars - you will see this much more up close and personal at Ngorongoro Crater, plus loads more that you won't at Lake Manyara - request to visit Tarangire National Park instead - the comments we heard from others, a must visit as within the same area location as Serengeti and Ngorongoro.
2 - as mentioned above, definitely 2 nights, not 1, at Rhotia Valley Lodge and Orphanage
We can't recommend Makasa highly enough - and to top it all off, extremely competitive prices for the quality of service, accommodation and touring we received compared to others we researched - also, Selma and Ngomi as a husband/wife team, with the extra personal touch come FREE! We would not hesitate to use Makasa again should we venture to this part of the world.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fantastic trip and memorable experience
My husband and I climbed Kilimanjaro followed by safari (camping) in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater. Excellent organisation by Imran who made sure out itinerary was well organised and met all of our needs. He was quick to respond to our queries before the trip and ensured we were well taken care of every step of the way. The guides were very experienced and knowledgable and made us feel very warm and welcome.
We have no complaints and would highly suggest this company to everyone planning a trip out there.
Thank you Safari Big 5 for the amazing and unforgettable experience!!!
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Meeting all expectations & achieving all goals ! A month of excellent varied Safaris & Treks
See the great Migration, visit the mighty Ngorogoro Crater & Serengeti again Climb Kilimanjaro , walk the Ngorogoro Highlands, Climb the Masai Mountain of God " Eldoinyo lengai" Climb kilimanjaro all these and much more. Its a few months since my trip of a lifetime with World Tours & Safaris and now the whole experience has time to set in. What are my first thought ? Wow ! When can we come again. I have travelled 9 countries in Africa and close to 70 worldwide & there are only a handful of places I would bother return to, Tanzania and the Galapagos islands top the list. Why did I return to Tanzania of all African countries and use W T & Safaris.
1. Achieving your goals. I believe it has the greatest number of the top attractions and best natural animal photographing opportunities in Africa.The greatest chance of seeing the greatest biodiversity of mammals in any one spot in the world ! Just Ngorogoro Crater for all the big 5 is just amazing. landscapes a huge selection of other parks including favourites like Serengeti. The worlds highest freestanding mountain(on my bucket list) . As a serious photographer I needed to know I was in the best place for the best opportunities in the least amount of time.
2. Safety and reliability. Taking all things into account Tanzania is a place I would feel happy taking my family to when supervised by a great reliable team like Richards. Richard is a wealth of knowledge and an expert on where to go what to do ,when and how to do it safely.
3 Money and Value . I found Richard had an excellent range of options from budget and camping through to the top end magnificent lodges and luxury camps. I will never forget the the views lodges overlooking Lake Manyara the crater and throughout the Serengeti and many other parks. Knowing your money is going where you send it is utmost importance. Its a catch 22 , big overseas agencies out of Africa may offer security but at a huge extra price for the same product and the unknown lower end of the market agencies could be fly by nighters. I found Richard great to deal with and competitive in all aspects of my tours and he was always contactable.
4. Food was always good and plentiful. I never once had any problems and had some great culinary experiences.
There is so much more but now what remains beside are those vivid memories the landscapes & animals is the team the family I felt a part of there with Richards Crew. I would like to thank them all for making my dream a reality. Yes I am giving him a big plus because he was able to make it happen safely efficiently and economically and i know he will look after me again should I decide to return to Tanzania which is highly likely.
Couldn't Have Asked for a Better Trip
Everything was incredible. The wildlife was extraordinary and diverse, the scenery was amazing. Definitely stay out late to see the stars and get up early to watch the sunrise. I have no complaints with the accommodations. The food was delicious and never ending, the bush babies were warm, and the outlets were a-plenty. The guides were very well informed, trained, and professional. Search "Kwando Camps Ethan Chapman" on YouTube to see a documentation of the wildlife.
BE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The beauty of nature
It was our first safari, so we were overwhelmed, but in our jeep several participants had quite some experience. They stated they never saw such wildlife in other parks in other countries (number of animals as well as diversity). We wonder now what this park looks like during the rain season...
Curiosity : due to a flat tyre we were late at the gate to leave the park. In spite of clear evidence (pictures and the spare wheel in place) the guards rewarded him with a 300 US $ fine (taken care of by Sunny Safaris). My conclusion is that the gate keepers of Serengeti are wild animals as well...