DE
20-35 years of age
Well organized Kili trekking
We took the Machame route to climb the Kili and it was a really nice experience. We were picked up at our hotel by the team of Afrishare and after the Kili we also got dropped of at the hotel. Afrishare had good equipment and our guides were really nice and professional. During our trekking we could always stop for taking pictures or to ask questions about animals and plants around us. They also had always a look at all of our group and when some of us were faster than other it was possible to split the group.
Also our porters were really friendly and they always offered help.
It was also incredible to see how the cook was preparing all the nice meals with so less things. We always had a lot of nice food.
All in all I can really recommend the Kili Trekking with Afrishare trekking and safaris!
NG
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
It was Wow experience. I will recommend them to anyone any time anyday
yes it was. They are really nice and have good customer service
HK
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Trustworthy, responsive, professional, planned per client’s expressed needs
Pre trip:
Chris the responsive front line contact with whom I worked out the itinerary was an indispensable asset. He was the first to respond to my email enquiry sent out to several companies. Having a whatsapp call the same day helped to understand from the start what I wanted and more importantly, allowed exchanges on options and constraints and setting realistic expectations (this is afterall Africa!) I asked for 8 days, But after more research and discussions (not pressure from Chris) to 12 days. Chris often responded in his middle of the night or wee hours due to international time differences!
Itinerary:
We ended up starting from Kigali to Kampala. Started with golden monkeys (very enjoyable; saw lots close up), then the AMAZING Bwindi gorillas (one hour trek awesome, and 4 hours habituation trek totaled 9.5 hours up and down steep dense mountains); Queen Elizabeth National Park (long drive, no lions on trees sighted but amazing boat cruise and relaxation with beautiful views and pool at riverside hotel), followed by chimpanzees (thanks to Tolbert and Martin who suggested changing from early habituation trek to a normal one starting 11:30 mid day so we saw many interesting chimps of various ages feeding on the ground rather than just swinging high up between trees - this is priceless tip!!); then Murchison Falls (amazing game drive and boat cruise with sights of giraffes, lions, elephants, crocodiles, hippos, tobies, etc etc), ending with adventurous white water rafting at Jinja. So glad we included Murchison Falls and Jinja as both proved to be wonderful experiences despite the hard drives.
Accommodations:
I asked for between budget and above average accommodations and compared them from the listings provided by Chris. Most important was to read through reviews and decide what I wanted and was prepared to pay for.
Tips: eg air conditioning is hard to come by in lodges in the wilderness, water from showers often small, sometimes need running to wash out the brownish, maybe colder than wished, expect mosquitos and maybe ants or insects, rooms perhaps further away from main lounge, solar power could run out, fewer power sockets, unavailable or unreliable network and WiFi ... All this is part of safari adventure!
Also some preferred lodgings were on wait list so expect last minute changes.
Transport:
We had two very clean Toyota vans, one for four and another for two people which worked out very well. I am happy to lie flat on row of seats due to poor back and very bumpy roads (called “African Massage”). The driver guides Tolbert and Martin were great drivers on the challenging roads especially in Uganda! They also pulled skills to catch greater sights of lions and other wildlife.
Tip: ask for vans with padded sides along the game viewing top. Also suggest Encounter Africa provides cushions for sitting on top in front for greater comfort for vans with such fittings.
All in all, a super, memorable safari adventure with Encounter Africa who was very professional. Very flexible, responsive and kind. We had lots of fun and laughter together with Tolbert and Martin. Would recommend highly and will use them again in the future.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Amazing
Excellent services with remarkable guides. Their patience and courtesy was unrivalled. We will come again and again!
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Skywide Delivers
Our trip to Masai Mara went exactly as planned. David Thumbi is commmunicative and professional, and I cannot say enough praise for our guide and driver, Wachanga. His knowledge of the roads, the animals, and the park comes from 28 years of guiding tours through all of the parks of Kenya. He is friendly and thorough, and an excellent driver, an absolute requirement in Kenya. We stayed in the Mara Leisure Tented Camp, another good decision. Giraffes and baboons hang out right by the camp entrance. The accommodations are exactly what you want after a day of driving over dusty roads: comfortable, immaculate, and relaxing. The staff is excellent and the buffet has all kinds of food.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful and smooth long safari!
We just ended our two-week-long safari through Kenya and Tanzania and, as we are going through our photos it seems hard to believe how much we had experienced and seen in the past two weeks.
From the start, Anne was always promptly communicating and checking for every idea and wish we had, being that this was our first safari trip ever. Ours was a budget safari, which means we chose to stay at tented camps for two weeks, and were only treated to a lodge on our final night (Manyara Serena). The camps were excellent, clean, comfortable and some were even romantic.
Upon our landing in Nairobi, Anne and a couple of guys from the office welcomed us and took us to our hotel. On the first day of safari our Kenyan guide, Daniel, was waiting for us and from that point on it was a smooth breeze of a safari, without a single glitch whatsoever for the entire two weeks! Daniel was AMAZING, just as everyone and everything else about this trip, and on top of being a fenomenal guide and tracker in parks, he is also an interesting interlocutor and discussant. We had a fabulous time with him on the road. At the end of our Kenyan leg Daniel took us to the Tanzanian border and transferred us to the care of our TZ guide, Charles, a great, courteous guy, who managed the African massage roads along our route and managed to find leopard on multiple occasions for us, given that leopard was probably the only animal we did not encounter in Kenya. Charles also patiently helped us ship some of our bulky and excessive souvenirs back home, to make the rest of our trip, well, lighter.
The entire trip was spectacular; the employees at all places were the embodiment of courtesy and kindness; we saw many, many parks, but perhaps a few absolute highlights to help other people in planning their trip:
- Amboseli: Kili + tons of elephants - enough said.
- Naro Moru River Lodge, close to Ol Pajeta Conservancy: an overlooked but spectacular place from colonial times. It is old but is very well kept, clean, and safe from mosquitoes. The cottage we got had a fireplace and a bathtub, both of which we enjoyed very much, beautiful grounds for walking, and a breathtaking view from the swimming pool. The grounds teem with colobus monkeys as well, and give you plenty of opportunities to photograph them. In Ol Pajeta you will see and meet the most endangered rhinos, and we saw a big pack of lions as well.
- Maasai Mara NP - do not miss it even if you are visiting Serengeti! MM teems with animals, and even though the migration seems to be late this summer and we did not see much of it, there are animals in big numbers everywhere, big pack of cats, like the famous group of 5 cheetahs (Tano Bora), families of lions, 15 giraffes at a time, etc, etc. We also took the balloon ride and it was spectacular even though there were no millions of migrating animals underneath. I can only imagine what it is like with them.
- Hell's Gate NP - most likely the only park where you are safe walking or biking and taking selfies with animals, plus at the end of the bike route you get to hike into an exciting gorge. This was one of the very few times we got to use our legs on this trip and it was very much needed.
- Ngorongoro - needless to praise this spectacular place, but just to point out that Anne's choice of a coffee plantation as our accommodation was wonderful, with clean air and another opportunity to walk around coffee and bean-dotted hills.
- Lake Natron- we were lured by the famous photos of red water, only to get disappointed that those photos were taken nowhere near the NP, YET, what we experienced here took the blues away and made it our final highlight. We got to hike into a river canyon to the secret waterfall from which the surrounding Maasai villages and lodges take their clean water; swim and tobogan down the river, and enjoy a really exhilarating and wet hike. The next morning we took another 2-hr walk from the camp to the lake itself through villages and made friends with the local ladies who told us took their goods to the market - only to realize that we were the market itself, as they were trying to sell their good to us for most of the trip. Nevertheless, it was all fun and in good spirit.
Overall, AMAZING indeed and we can only recommend AMAZING to everyone.
TN
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing 12 Days in Kenya and Tanzania Safari
This guys made our honeymoon to be one to be remembered for a very long time. From day one of our enquiry Tyson responded each and every question with great knowledge and no one time he was tired of our endless questions. We had to be sure of what we are asking is what we shall get while on ground. They delivered each and every aspect which was listed in our itinerary. Fabulous driver guide in John, very friendly and he has an extra eye to spot wildlife. The lodges and tented camps were top notch but my favourite was Gibbs Farm, very nice property. Thanks ADM team for a trip worth our money and our honeymoon. Guys book with ADM you won't be disappointed.
US
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
An outstanding and very memorable experience. Ulinda Safari Trails is the best!
This was not our first safari, having done several in Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia, South Africa and Botswana, but it has been our most memorable. Jane’s many years of experience makes her safaris outstanding. Ours was a private safari (just my wife and I) with Jane and her staff of three.
We chose Ulinda because of Jane’s experience. She is a photographer and positions the vehicle for best photos and light. Her vehicles are custom made, closed in with a pop up top and seat no more than four. Everyone has a window seat. They are very comfortable, especially on cold mornings and long dusty drives.
We are not campers and Jane has the option of upgrading to a large Meru tent with spring beds and private shower and toilet which we found very comfortable.
Excellent food and good variety. The camp grounds were in spectacular settings. The animal experiences were amazing.
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Explored the park for 4 hours (50 km) and saw Elephant, Giraffe, Buffalo, Hippos and lots more
Left Mbabane early in the fog and arrived at the Hlane National Park at around 9am. Explored the park for 4 hours (50 km) and saw Elephant, Giraffe, Buffalo, Hippos and large herds of Impala, Warthogs and lots of birds. Unfortunately, no Rhino or Lions. It was a good drive and I saw no other vehicle in that four hours – I think I had the park to myself.
The time I was there it was quite dry (in the middle of a drought) so probably saw fewer animals than might otherwise have been as many of the waterholes were dry.
I stopped at the Park Restaurant for lunch and had a delicious Impala and Cheese Jaffle, chips and salad.
The park was a great place to see animal. I self drove through the park. It could have a few more sign posts as it was not always clear from the map, exactly which track one was on. You do need at least half a day to see the park properly - unfortunately, my schedule only allowed me to spend half a day in the park.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
mind-blowing
The Volcanoes National Park (in conjunction with the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Uganda) is renown as a haven for the rare and endangered mountain gorilla and golden monkeys
Based in Kigali we drove first to see Golden Monkeys.
These fascinating primates are quite used to tourists and, as such, one can approach to within a metre or so before they move away. The golden monkey is found in the Virunga volcanic mountains of Central Africa, including four national parks: Mgahinga, in south-west Uganda; Volcanoes, in north-west Rwanda; and Virunga and Kahuzi-Biéga, in the eastern DRC. It is restricted to highland forest, especially near bamboo. They live in social groups of up to 30 individuals, their diet consisting mainly of bamboo, leaves and fruit, and insects. Due to the gradual destruction of their habitat and recent wars in their limited habitat, the golden monkey is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List.
Then to Iby'iwacu Cultural Village, Kinigi.
This project known as "Gorilla Guardians" is a Non-Profit umbrella organization that aims to improving the lives of reformed poachers and their communities around Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park through provision of conservation incentives, supporting community enterprise development and livelihood-based projects.
It is an unashamedly tourist-oriented enterprise which helps to fund the Gorilla Guardian work.
The village is fascinating, with a variety of cultural experiences where the visitor can learn about traditional agricultural working practices and participate in food preparation and processes such as: millet grinding using stones: carrying potatoes and water on their heads and preparing a local dish. Every evening the village members gather around a campfire and begin a session of storytelling and dancing.
The staff at the cultural village, the guides and porters who navigate tourists to the golden monkey sites and the trackers who take tourists to the trek the gorilla families, are almost exclusively ex-poachers (and their family members) who have been trained to use their former skills more productively in the development of tourism in the area and conservation that this funds.
As a result, gorilla poaching has declined to minimal levels over the last 10 years and the gorilla and monkey groups are thriving
Finally we crossed the border into Uganda, staying in Kisoro in preparation for gorilla trekking on mount Muhabara.
Muhabura, or Muhavura volcano, is the third highest peak and the steepest among the 8 volcanoes of the Virunga massif region. Located at the rim of Uganda and Rwanda, mount Muhabura lies both in the Volcanoes national park of Rwanda and the Mgahinga national park of Uganda.
The trek to find a gorilla family, can take 5-6 hours depending on the movement of the group of gorillas you are trekking - there is a briefing beforehand explaining the parameters within which you are permitted to interact with the gorilla group.
Once leaving base camp the climb is steep but can be accomplished within a single day. We left base camp at approx. 7:30 am: - our gorilla group had been spotted by trackers earlier the same day.
Within 2 hours of leaving base camp at about 10,000 ft. we came upon part of the group : - a female and two youngsters (a baby, about 11 months and a juvenile, about 4 years).
'Mum" was resting, the 4 year eating and baby was being a total pest to both of them as he climbed, fell down, and thumped his sibling.
These beautiful creatures, whilst wild, are habituated and treated us (2 porters, a guide and a guy with an AK 47) with total indifference. The 'baby', however did show interest, approaching us on a number of occasions and attempting to steal a small shiny camera!!
Within 10 minutes of our arrival - we were crouched in against trees silently taking photos - the silverback father arrived, checked us out and then proceeded to sit further up the slope and demolish branches from the small tree he had chosen to feed from.
Watching the small family, we saw reflections of humanity. The interaction between the individuals was intense, often tender and intensely moving. The silverback was magnificent, weighing approx. 250 kg, with a dark intelligent frown. Branches gave in to him without resistance.
Forty-five minutes later, the group became bored with us and wandered off to find further areas of vegetation on which they might graze. The trackers then took us to see two other (solitary) silverbacks, who were part of the same family, but not dominant, and thus not allowed to mate with the female.
We found all three trips: monkeys, cultural village and gorilla trek comparable with any other wild life experience, having previously been on safaris, dolphin watching, diving on the barrier reef etc., but the gorilla trek was undoubtedly the most rewarding and satisfying. We could talk about nothing else for days - I suspect that the gorillas were less impressed with us, pasty, skinny, humans.
