HK
20-35 years of age
Genuinely unique experience with the gorillas
After hours of labouring up and down muddy, slippery hilltops and cutting our way though the thickest vegetation we've ever seen, we suddenly hear our guide tell us to stop. We rested for a few minutes but it wasn't our needs for a break that he had in mind. Our guide began making a grunting noise, which we quickly learned to be for the purpose of notifying the silverback of our presence.
While we could see nothing but a wall of green and could hear little more than our heavy breathing and our hearts thumping, it was quickly learned that we were now just 4-5 meters away from a family of gorillas. These creatures somehow found this mangle of shrubs, brush and wood suitable for living. I guess this is why they call this place the impenetrable forest. Yet they seemed so at home and so at ease here.
After a couple minutes of waiting, like something out of a movie, a dark and massive creature opened the wall of shrubs and walked towards us a few steps. Now, I’m a decent-sized man (1.88cm, 100kg) but this old boy dwarfed me in size as he walked directly past me, passing no more than 1 meter away, followed by two smaller females. I remained crouched on the ground, trying to keep my camera steady, thinking to myself, ““How could this be? How could we so suddenly be this close to such imposing, dangerous creatures, yet feel at ease?” Had this been some big cat, I think we would have all panicked but instead of feeling of great calm befell upon our group of six, as there seemed nothing threatening about the gorillas at all even as we were in the wild, their home, playing by their rules.
We spent an hour here with a family of eight gorillas, etching memories in our minds that we will not soon be forgotten. The silverback encounter was the highlight for me personally while others in the group enjoyed watching the young, baby gorilla climb trees and play with his auntie. The hour we spent with the gorillas seemed to pass quickly and it was soon time for us to depart.
Then it was a return trip, up and down muddy slopes and through extremely thick brush and shrubs until we had reached our rendezvous point, where a van awaited to return us to our accommodation. We returned with another small group of six that had set off to find a separate family of gorillas nearby. We compared photos and short stories about our day with the gorillas and marvelled at how unique, special and amazing our experience had been. Sadly, we noted and recognized the poor prospects for the gorillas in the long term and felt thankful that we had been able to visit and spent time with them while there was still opportunity to do so. We only hoped and continue to do so to this day, that others, interested in wildlife, conservation and the welfare of the gorillas manage to visit Bwindi Impenetrable NP and spend a day with the gorillas while it the opportunity remains.
HK
20-35 years of age
Review about Uganda by BradJill
The gorilla safari is excellent but it seems difficult to recommend the traditional African safaris in Uganda when you are so close to some of the best animal viewing in the world in nearby Kenya and Tanzania with the Masai Mara and Serengeti National Parks.
SA
20-35 years of age
Review about Amboseli National Park by lslay78
With a backdrop of Mt. Kiliminjaro you just can't go wrong!
SA
20-35 years of age
Review about Masai Mara National Reserve by lslay78
More wildlife here than anywhere else we went. A must-see!
SA
20-35 years of age
Review about Kenya by lslay78
Kenya was an excellent destination for my first safari. We could find a multitude of wildlife to view every day and the accomodations were first class.
US
20-35 years of age
Beautiful Scenery and Relaxing Safari Experience
I spent about three days driving through Kruger National Park on a tour bus as part of a University class trip. I loved that each night we stayed at another one of the campgrounds and we stayed in various types of camping cabin conditions from a nice cabin with a loft to permanent tents to little round huts with just beds.
The wildlife was not always abundant, but I liked the experience of looking for the wildlife and the excitement of seeing it. From the tour bus we saw a several of the Big Five during our trip including elephants, wild buffalo, and lions. I was among the few that decided to take an early morning safari on our last morning and we got to see our only rhino. Best of all we got to see a leopard in a tree right off the road, so we ended up seeing all of the Big Five during our trip. While it can be hard to see all of the Big Five in Kruger, the trip was great even before we lucked out and saw all of the Big Five on our last morning.
The scenery is beautiful and somewhat varied as you drive through the different parts of Kruger National Park.
I enjoyed that we took it slow getting to the campgrounds by mid afternoon and having the evening to relax. There was often still wildlife spotting opportunities at the campground including one that overlooked a large clearing. I enjoy identifying different bird species every morning while most were still sleeping using the little wildlife guidebook I picked up at the first gift shop we stopped at in Kruger. Most of the campgrounds had nice pools to swim in and cool off.
35-50 years of age
Review about Luambe National Park by Andrew W
Good diversity of species but less visited by tourists. The lodge in the park has a great riverside setting. Chance of seeing wild dog.
35-50 years of age
Review about South Luangwa National Park by Andrew W
A great park with a high density of a lot of species. Great diversity of habitat.
35-50 years of age
Review about North Luangwa National Park by Andrew W
This is a wild and exciting place which feels remote from the rest of the world.
35-50 years of age
Some of the best game-veiwing in the world and some of the most amazing lodges
Having visited North and South Luangwa parks several times I can say that they are some of my favourites in south and east Africa.
The north and the south have very different characters and are run very differently. The south has more accommodation options and a greater network of trails and is more vistited but has such an incredible diversity of habitat that it doesn't seem over-developed. There is so much to see that guides don't rush their clients around. The place teems with life and the diversity of species is fantastic. The variety of accommodation provides a variety of prices and most people should find something to suit them.
The north is a much more exclusive place with just three camps within the park. There is a limited network of roads and all the camps specialise in walking safaris. The park is truly wild and exploring it on foot literally brings you face to face with that. Staying in one these places is not just staying in a game park but more case of being part of it. The sights, sounds and smells of the park are unsullied. The stars and the animal chorus at night are sublime. However, with this awsome experience comes an awesome pricetag. If you do manage to do it, though, you will never forget it.
Just writing this review has made me want to go back.