50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
7-day gorilla, chimp and wildlife safari
Dan from Kisoro Tours arranged a first-rate 7-day trip for me to achieve my dream of seeing the mountain gorillas. He replied promptly to emails and arranged absolutely everything, from arranging permits to see the gorillas and chimpanzees to booking accommodation and meeting me at the airport. Dan is a well-informed guide and excellent driver who is able to tailor any itinerary to suit individual needs. Plus he seems to know absolutely everyone and takes really good care of you so you always feel safe, secure and informed.
My trip started with an overnight stay at the Africa Gorilla Guest House in Entebbe, before heading to the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park to see the gorillas. The Broadbill Forest Camp, where I spent 2 nights, is staffed by really friendly people and the food and accommodation is great. Seeing the gorillas was one of the higlights of my trip. It was hard work reaching them through the steep and densely forested lanscape, but it was totally worth it. Wear long sleeves and trousers as you will get scratched to death by spiky ferns and tree stumps if not. Proper walking boots are also advisable. Depending on how long it takes to find them, you may or may not be exhausted by the time you've finished, but I defy anyone to spend an hour with these magnificent creatures and not be in awe. They were totally relaxed around us, but gave a grunt of warning when one of the small party of 8 tourists approached too closely.
Next stop was Queen Elizabeth National Park for two days of wildlife spotting on safari. Bush Lodge is right on the Kazinga Channel, which is populated by hippos galore. You can get up close and personal with them on a 2-hour boat cruise. The knowledgeable guide pointed out a variety of animals, including hippos, crocs, buffalo, weaver birds, pied kingfishers, malachite kingfishers, African sea eagles, egrets, herons, marabou storks, cormorants and pelicans. After the boat cruise, Dan took me on a game drive and we found Ugandan kob, water bucks, buffalo, hippos, monitor lizards, wart hogs, elephants and lions.
The next day, it was up early for another game drive. We found more lions, hippos in a mud bath, kob, water buck, bush buck, buffalo and wart hogs galore. There are lots of spectacular birds as well, including the hamerkop, which builds a huge scruffy nest and has a head that is shaped like a hammer.
Next stop was Rwenzori View Guest House, which has a fantastic garden to laze in whilst watching the colourful sunbirds and a wonderful chef who makes hearty, delicious meals. Chimpanzee tracking in Kibale Forest National Park, which is just a short drive away, is much easier going than gorilla tracking as the terrain is far less steep. That said, long sleeves and trousers you can tuck into your socks are essential as there are safari ants.
There are more people allowed to visit the chimps than the gorillas, so it's a less intimate experience, but well worth it nevertheless. I had the pleasure of viewing the alpha male gorge himself on honey from a hive before inviting other members of the community to join him. My small group of 4 also had the pleasure of an extremely knowledgeable guide in Africano, who told us about lots of the trees, plants and animals in the forest and also found us a male and female chimp to follow once the other tourists had gone.
After seeing the chimps, you can spend a few interesting hours on a Bigodi swamp walk with an informative guide from the local community who can point out different species of monkeys, lizards, hornbills and numerous other birds that frequent the wetland.
At the end of the trip, Dan will make sure that you get to the airport in plenty of time to catch your flight home. I can't recommend his friendly, tailored service enough. Uganda is a beautiful country to visit and you couldn't wish for a better guide than Dan.
ES
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
WonderFull
The experience was perfect. We feel at all times protected by the guide. Everything was controlled and that allowed us to enjoy Kenya as a whole. 100% recommended for adults and children. Wonderful
CA
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Two Canadian gals complete their 4th safari with Dove Adventure.
Two Canadian gals filled with wanderlust just completed their fourth safari, all with Shaban Jumbe's Dove Adventure in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
We all appreciate the huge expense of taking such a holiday so we want to get it right: finding a travel agent who "walks their talk", who stands out as an industry leader, who is knowledgeable about all things Tanzanian, one who understands what you want, one who is always accessible and one who holds his clients' best interests and their safety as his priority. We found this very person in Shaban Jumbe of Dove Adventure.
Providing us with a comfortable, very reliable safari jeep driven by the best safari guide in the business sealed the deal. "Salim" never got lost, he kept us safe always, he loved sharing his passion for and vast knowledge of Tanzania's National Parks, their peoples and their wildlife. Plain and simple, Salim was always fun to be with. We've been blessed with many very memorable game drives and we've witnessed things that even the veteran Salim had seen for his first time. Thank you, Salim for the best game drives ever.
Based on my personal preferences we stayed at accommodations that were not so good but then there were places that absolutely knocked it out of the park for me like Neptune Luxury Lodge and the Ndutu Wilderness Tented Camp (my favorite place on the planet during February - migration!). I had very specific dietary needs that were always well managed by all the places that we stayed at. You want to talk fresh and organic? Yup!
I had the misfortune of losing my suitcases in Kilimanjaro right at the start of a 35 day safari. It was through the many acts of generosity and compassion shown to me by my travel agent, Jumbe and the management of both Neptune Luxury Lodge and Ndutu Wilderness Tented Camp that became the bright lights in an otherwise very difficult and challenging time for me. Jumbe had running shoes and other essentials flown out to me in the Serengeti. Jumbe gave his time and worked the phones in his many attempts to locate my suitcases. Hotel management waived laundry fees, etc to ease an already difficult situation for me. You have all left a very special print on my heart. Thank you.
Thank you, Jumbe. Asante Sana Rafiki.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing time!!
We searched a lot of different companies to do our safari.. and very glad with did it with Africa Adventure Vacations... all was well planned.. our Guide Robert was at the end a new brother for us ! Safaris are just the company and guides you have.. there are lots and lots of companies.. we hate group travels! So this was just US two and our guide.. with flexibility to stop, take our photos and very personal touch! We shall recommend your exceptional services to our friends
US
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Went well beyond expectations, Axis Safari will make your trip to Kenya memorable
Lennox did a great job organizing all the details from the beginning and then Alfred, Richard, and Stanley took over to make the 4 day safari an experience I'll remember the rest of my life. Alfred and Richard were fantastic in getting us around the Masai Mara. They managed our expectations in what we could see and how difficult some of the Big Five can be too spot. We did see the Big Five and I attribute that success in large part due to their communication with other drivers in locating the hard to find Black Rhino and Leopard.
Aside from the actual safari itself the accommodations were excellent along with the food and water provisions. My expectations were already decently high going into this trip and Axis Safari went far beyond what I had expected or wanted. Do yourself a favor and reach out to plan an amazing trip.
DE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
wonderful tour to the Falls and into the Natioanal Park, always friendly, competemet and flexible
The tour was planned quite well. As a result all our expectations has been kept. The communications between us was excellent, quick answers to our questions and flexible management of our changed activitties.
Last but not least we can stated that James is safe driver on Sambian's roads.
HK
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great experience
All great managed and arranged. From lunch boxes to dinner to accommodation choices. Guide is professional and experienced. Have seen a lot of wild animals in the safari. Would love to be back again in the future.
SG
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Awesome
Quinton was very responsive in our initial contact and was able to tailor made our travel to our requests. As we were pretty apprehensive about South Africa, Quinton made us feel at ease and took very good care of us during our stay. Highly recommend using a reliable and trustworthy tour operator.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
an exciting and educational experience that way exceeds our expectations
We went on several salaries in southern Africa (South Africa, Botswana, and Zimbabwe) in May 2019 and the safari with Wild Planet turned out to be the best overall -- in communications and service in lodging, food, transportation and game drive. One thing standing out with Wild Planet and we all appreciate most is the sharing of knowledge, from local tourist information, national parks, features and habits of different animals, hunting, animal control-management and people-animal relation, to politics, history, ethnic groups in southern Africa and so on. We were very lucky to have Lance as our tour leader and guide, who is exceptionally knowledgeable, willing, and able to share information about all these topics and to answer all questions we had. As a result, the entire tour turned out to be very educational. Lance responded to our needs timely and effectively; he went far and beyond to ensure that we have the best experience possible in this area.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Well organized trip with great accommodations
From the beginning of the process, things went very smoothly. While I set the dates and general locations, I left the specific details to Ute and was not disappointed. All 3 accommodations were lovely, smaller properties, with excellent service. On out 3 transfers around Kruger (one with a short game drive) one one full-day game drive, we were fortunate enough to have the same driver all 4 times. It felt like having our own private driver. Particularly in Sabi Sand, we saw an incredible amount of wildlife, including one pride of 10 lions.
