35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
3 day Gorilla Trekking Tour
Due to some last minute flight changes we arrived at the airport much earlier than arranged. Our tour guide, Tolbert still managed to pick us up 15 minutes earlier than arranged with them and still apologized for being late, which he of course, wasnt! He is a experienced and knowledgeble driver in what proved to be overwhelming peak traffic conditions to us. He without fail pointed out important land marks and wild life to us. He was very informed on all the cultures and shared fascinating facts with us about the resourceful Uganda people we encountered.
The lodging that was arranged for us was of the highest quality in the most beautiful surroundings. We mentioned one small problem we had to Tolbert and he immediately got onto the resort to sort it out for us.
The gorilla trekking was of course the highlight of our short tour, and we left Bwindi park in a state of utter awe of the guides, the porters and of course the beautiful creatures that blessed us with their presence. It definitely was a once in a life time experience I will never forget, and all of this was made possible by the efficient and friendly services of the staff of Encounter Africa, thank you so much!
BE
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Private visit to Selous and Mikumi from Dar Es Salam in 6 days
We booked via Internet a 6 day private tour from Dar Es Salam to visit the parks of Selous and Mikumi in southern Tanzania and had a wonderful week. Our driver Samuel was extremely pleasant, a great driver, a competent guide to animals and good at mechanics. He fixed in one hour a major break down of our jeep (transmission failure) and drove us back in time in Dar. Every detail was taken care of and we really had a great time. Accomodation was simple but nicely located and with friendly management. It was a great value for the price. Two points that you should know if you want to make the same trip:
1) accommodation was near but not in the parks so that we never went for early morning drives in the parks before breakfast. We still saw a lot of animals (20 sp of mammals and 110 species of birds in 3.5 days) but it might be more rewarding to be in the park. Usually this means a much higher cost than what we paid (830 euros per person for 6 days in private car for 2) but in Mikumi this would be possible at low cost. Accommodation in the park is run by the park administration. It is clearly less sophisticated than what we had outside but this might be worth it. To be discussed with the organizers, depending on your personal taste (comfort vs. Proximity with animals at night).
2) you should know that although the parks of Selous and Mikumi are adjacent, they are separated by a large mountain range which means that you need an 8-10 hour drive on bad dirt roads to go from one to the other. Take that into account when planning.
Note however that these are NOT complaints, just information. We had a really wonderful time and warmly recommend Killiholidays for your Safari. A really great value for the money!
Top notch quality!
We had a three safari to Serengeti and Ngorongoro and it was excellent. They made sure we saw all the animals we could and prepared great food. Their prices were very appealing to the budget travellers that we were but they still gave us top quality service. Can't recommend enough!
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Very good
These guys were great and happy to organise a trip last minute. The food they provided was EXCELLENT! Only thing I'd say is, if you spot an animal you are interested in, make sure you let them know.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent Safari
This safari absolutely exceeded our expectations. Mark and Eric were both exceptionally knowledgeable regarding the local flora and fauna. Their knowledge, and exceptional eyesight, helped us to locate both a tree bound leopard and lion. The accommodations and service were also excellent. I highly recommend this tour and will personally be returning.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
An unforgetable Experience with Encounter Africa Safaris
The arrangement of the Gorilla trekking and the booking of the accommodation was done in time and well situated. Although the distance travelled from Entebbe Airport was tiring the stops along the way was well planned and refreshing. The drive through the Entebbe/Kampala area was also alive and unforgettable adrenaline rushing experience with the rush day(hour) peak traffic (rush day traffic - because I think the traffic in this are never slows down) The cultures was explained to us. The history about Entebbe(meaning Chair) was shown and enlightening. The other thing I must mention here is that Uganda/Bwindi is absolutely a beautiful country and park to visit. Now regarding the gorilla trekking:- The following needs mentioning .
1. They guides was experienced
2. The trackers helped a lot in finding the Gorillas
3. Without the help of the porters can I only say this.. Pay the porter fees it is worthit . they are strong , helpful, and you will thank me later if you did hire a ported to carry your lunch/water/pack
4. We were lucky to find the Gorillas within the first hour of tracking and enjoy the hour interaction and photo shoot of the gorillas with a couple of scary interactions with the 2 x silverbacks, mothers, youngsters and 2 x baby's( needles to say me camera was running in overdrive -- shoot +/- 4250 photos with 3 x cameras (head mounted go-pro camera , Canon SLR and 1 x small digital camera) What an experience --
This was a life long dream of mine that realized. Thanks to Encounter Africa Safari, Jones the gorilla guide, Tolbert our dedicated tour guide and driver and Chris the man behind the scene at the office.
Kelley Austen organised us a Fab. trip to Great Zimbabwe and the Chilo Lodge at Gonarezhou
A very well organised, no hassle trip to two amazing areas of Zimbabwe, thank you!
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good budget safari tour for three days/2 nigths at the Maasai Mara
We had a great time at the Lenchada tented camp managed by Jocky Tours and located close to one of the gates of the Game reserve. The driver (Peter) was nice and made an effort to come up close to the animals (i.e lions and cheetah). It was a very wet Easter weekend (rainy season) so there were many safari vans around and a good number of them got stuck in the mud a couple of times.
Despite all this, we managed to see most of the "big five" and some other herds of animals. Overall, the camp was good. We paid for budget accomodation so we didn't expect more than the basic necessities. The food was good throughout our stay, no complaints.
The only downside was that it rained for two days straight which made it impossible to do a full game drive as the vans would get stuck in the mud if we tried to come closer to the animals... I would recommend Jocky Tours as they have been in the business for a long time and offer great budget safaris.
CA
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
An amazing and unforgettable safari experience with Roho Ya Chui! Ute is wonderful!
My husband and I wanted to include a safari, prior to our tour to Cape Town for a cricket festival. After quite a bit of research, I contacted Roho Ya Chui and Ute to help plan our Safari. It was the best decision we could have made. It was our first time on a safari and I can honestly say it was perfect. We saw the big five in the first 24 hours. Arathusa safari lodge is wonderful. Our guide and tracker Roy and Chris were extremely knowledgeable. The accommodation, food and staff at Arathusa are all five star. Ute is a wealth of knowledge, made very helpful suggestions and is a pleasure to deal with. Thanks Ute!
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
short but sweet, great variety of wildlife
We had a very brief visit to this wonderful reserve. The variety of wildlife was great with many amazingly colourful birds. The rangers were very knowledgeable as well as being friendly and professional. I would love to return here and recommend Selous highly.