US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Everyone Should Visit Uganda/Highly Recommend Augur Tours and Dauda!!!
I had an opportunity to go on a tour along with a couple of friends to a number of different places in Uganda with Dauda and I had an absolutely incredible time. I would wholeheartedly recommend him and his tour company. I felt that the trip was a very authentic Ugandan experience and I really appreciated that it didn’t feel like a canned, touristy experience. Dauda was very knowledgeable not only about the flora and fauna within the national parks we visited, but also was able to shared general information about the towns we drove through and different ethnic groups within Uganda. Dauda certainly knew his way around the national park and had numerous contacts that he was in touch with during our game drives to learn about the best spots to see animals. From his numerous trips there, Dauda even knew about things such the specific trees that the lions often frequented. Dauda remembered things that we said and followed up on them. He also went out of his way to do the things that we liked and make sure that we felt safe and comfortable at all times. I felt very safe driving around the country with Dauda and he did an excellent job driving on the challenging roads.
BY
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Helpful people
My friends and I hitchhiked through QENP for see wild animals on the road and mister Kennedy was nice to pick up as and drive around 80 km through this park. Also he is knowledgeable about gorilla trekking in Uganda and Rwanda. Thanks for help!
Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Orange adventures is simply amazing, its services are out of this world
Orange adventures is one tour company that's doing the unimaginable to make their guests feel at home and enjoy their safari. All communications are done in time and in a polite and friendly way, the customer care is great! From neat tour guides to comfortable tour vans and great discounts. Orange adventures takes you to new places, amazing destinations you never knew existed! Indeed, thank you so much for the experience.
I'm planning another trip soon, can't wait. Orange adventures is my choice always
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Spontaneous safari
We came to Uganda a bit unprepared so that we booked it (8 days through Uganda, 1999 US$) only fife days before the tour started.
All in all it worked out pretty well. We had the most amazing experiences visiting the Gorillas and having all the other experiences.
The accommodations and the food that was provided three times a day were very good. Being two university students we most likely would have booked less comfortable lodges and hotels and eaten less often and in less expensive restaurants.
The transport was mostly good. We had a very kind and caring driver who even picked us up from Jinja which was an extra two hour drive for him. Unfortunately, the car broke down twice within the eight days which caused some irritation and made us wonder about the State of our car .
Even though they handled both breakdowns pretty good we would have enjoyed a better communication about how it might affect our plans for the day.
In addition to that we would recommend to read the program carefully. At two occasions the guides forgot about smaller activities mentioned on the program.
The payment has been quite stressful for us as we did not bring that much cash to Uganda an the ATMs wouldn’t let us withdraw more than two million a day (of course this a problem that occurred due to our spontaneous booking). Nevertheless, we would have enjoyed to be able to pay with either credit card or by money transfer.
All in all it was a good experience and we would mostly recommend it.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Guide was fine. Tour was different to the itinerary. The mattress, tent & sleeping bags were gross
Advise if the tour is different to what is proposed . Advise us to bring sleeping bags as those were disgusting and we both had bed bugs
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Its was wonderful and customised just to ensure that my experience was memorable.
The level of service and the way they handle their clients is personalised and thats what travellers like i are looking for. I will choose orange adventures anytime to be my travel partner and recommend it to everyone
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Tour operator is good. The fact that they subcontract out the driving/facilitators creates problems.
We got what we paid for, so the following is not a complaint, but information that you may wish to use to improve your experience. Please note: subcontactors/drivers are not usually directly employed by the tour company, so get phone numbers that you can use in each country, and use local SIM cards.
1. Communications can be improved significantly, as we did not have a local telephone number to call when we went from Kenya to Tanzania - the border crossing "facilitator" was hopeless and left us to stand in the sun waiting for a bus we did not personally have tickets for. A local was kind enough to ring the Kenya phone number we had, and the company then verbally kicked the "facilitator" into fixing the issue.
2. The 2WD small vehicles used in Kenya are very uncomfortable for tall people like me (195cm or so), and get bogged easily - pay for an upgrade to 4WD Landcruiser safari vehicle if it is offered at a fair price. 2WD is adequate, incidentally, but expect the driving to be faster on the rough roads than you would expect. There were only 4WD Landcruisers in the Tanzania part of the trip, and they are much nicer, with plenty of head-room when the pop-top roof is open for animal viewing and photographing.
3. Water is supposed to be supplied on safari - it often wasn't in Kenya. I got a dozen bottles of water for myself and my wife, and the other passengers were so thirsty that they nicked most of them. I do not blame the passengers, incidentally. Water in Kenya was a problem, not in Tanzania.
4. Hot water was not often available for showers.
5. "Eco" camps that we used TRIED to do well, and in Kenya were at lease moderately comfortable (with beds) - but did not care that the roof leaked water onto the bed during a storm. The ones in Tanzania were camps (i.e. tents that were not waterproof , sleeping bags that needed fixing and washing, no hot water for showers, oh, and no towels supplied if we decided to have cold shower). Pay for upgrade in Tanzania, please.
6. i.e. Kenya basic cars, adequate accommodation; Tanzania much better cars, terrible accommodation. Even in the Serengeti there are proper hotels near the camps - pay for an upgrade if you hate tents and boring food, trust me. The tour company can juggle just about any request.
7. Finally, some changes were made without our permission, such as the order we saw some parks, and where we were staying or camping. We did, however, go to each and every place we were supposed to see, just out of order a bit.
Overall, I have to say that the tour operators are extremely competent, offer good value for money, and can accommodate almost any changes within reason.
(It was not my first safari, but the camping issues and my age has made it my last, as I am not a kid anymore and I have now seen what I want to see in Africa - don't let this affect you, as I am just commenting. Also 2 fellow travellers were a pain in the arse, complaining again and again about everything from not seeing lions feeding (they mostly rest during the day), to not getting the photos up close that they wanted IMMEDIATELY, wanting to change drivers because he could not arrange for a pair of binoculars to be returned {left, by them, in another vehicle} IMMEDIATELY, and so on. Animals move, so opportunities change, they were carrying a 65x zoom camera so should not be bitching about the photos of animals being too far away. My Nikon and 200mm lens was more than enough, and sometimes we were so close to animals (especially lions) that I had to change to a 18-55mm lens. I got photos of everything from lions in trees, leopards, cheetah, spotted hyenas, all sorts of herbivores imaginable, flamingos (2 types, up close) and more. In fact I photographed even more variety of animals than I expected (and expectations were high), and was simply blown away by the Serengeti migration. The animal numbers are simply staggering over a vast area. Seeing Kilimanjaro is fantastic, as was the photographs of elephants with Kilimanjaro in the background. Good trip, recommended highly, and my comments are just for your information should you want to do a similar 2 week Kenya/Tanzania budget trip.
PL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great experience
We had very good experience with this operator. They organized for us the gorilla trek and transfer to Kigali. Richard was always very responsive and went an extra mile to help us with additional things like buying bus tickets or arranging lodge transfer. Thank you very much Gatatu crew, you rock!
CH
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A trip of a lifetime with Home Rwanda Safaris
We booked our 7 days Safari with Home Rwanda Safaris; from the first mail till our Arrival in Rwanda I knew that Aimable (the Managing Director) was professional. He contacted me with additional information and the booking process was fairly straightforward. Our itinerary included trips to the Kigali Genocide Memorial Center, the Volcano National Park, a Gorillas safari, a trek up to the Bisoke Crater Lake at 3,711 m, as well as a hike in the Nyungue Forest Park and its Canopy. We loved it!
This involved traveling from the center of the country all the way north and then all the way south. Thanks to Aimable great logistical arrangements, the trip went without a hitch. It was very comfortable with great guides and security arrangements. Overall, I was very impressed with the organization of Home Rwanda Safaris very professional team of staffs and very happy with my trip. If you are looking for a lifetime adventure full of memories then I highly recommend this tour to anyone considering a safari in Rwanda.
IL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Great tour guide
Great egency great tour guide greay car. Recommend very much