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Email Karin Aalbers | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Beautiful country, specially the area close to DRC / Rwanda, lots of mountains and volcanoes
Really like uganda. We have travelled 1,5 years through about 40 different african countries.
Highlight were seeing the gorillas in Bwindi NP ($700 permit, around 850 through an agency with transport) and the chimps in Kalinzu ($40pp).
We’ve been to Murchinson NP but after seeing a lot of national parks, this is not a highlight. The rivercruise doesn’t bring you close to the waterfall and the boat stays to far from the shore to see much. The hike to the waterfalls is nice.
We didn’t go to queen elizabeth national park, was too expensive for us $150 in our overlandtruck.
Very nice people, different sceneries, great campsites (see I overlander app)
FI
Email Hannele | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Very interesting place to visit.
We traveled to Uganda in January to make a tour for two weeks with Maraka Tours and Safaris. We visited seven national parks and saw lots of interesting animals, especially birds, and plants. One of the highlights was watching shoebills in Mabamba swamp. We saw two of them and many other birds. Gorilla trekking was also quite an experience even though it was very hard to walk up and down in the muddy environment. Chimpanzees were also exciting to see in their own environment. All the birds: hornbills, turacoos, kingfishers, bee-eaters, storks, egrets, herons and many others were also breathtaking. In the last day of our safari we visited Rhino Sanctuary which was also a great experience. And wonderful butterflies in many places. The lodges we stayed in were mostly very nice and clean and the personnel very friendly and helpful. Weather was in Southern Uganda quite pleasant, in Northern part very hot. We were taked good care of and felt safe in all places.
CZ
Email Jiri Machacek | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Uganda is an interesting safari destination but its wildlife is obviously under a great pressure
I think Uganda is not for someone who suppose to have just one East Africa safari tour in his/her life.
For such people Kenya/Tanzania are better options.
Uganda is about some special animal (shoebill, chimps, gorillas, other primates, birds) and special landscape (lakes, Virunga, Ruwenzori, a margin of Congo rainforest basin) targets.
We knew that, we are strongly oriented to wildlife but anyway - Uganda was a partial (with the focus on PARTIAL) disappointment.
When I was a child the classical Ugandan national parks like Murchison Falls and Queen Elisabeth were symbols of the African wildlife beauty. They are still here but obviously under a great poaching pressure and some parts of QE (esp. Ishasha sector) are simply dying ecosystems. Without any change in NP management Uganda can expect even further decrease of safari visitors.
There were also 2 and 1/2 disappointments with the activities which were expected to be the Uganda safari highlights:
* Disappointment 1 : chimpanzee trekking in Kibale - IMO this is a cheat from definition - this is no trekking but cca an hour of standing in a dark forest and staring at a chimpanzee back high and far in the trees. I can understand it is made as it is possible but with all the marketing and for the price (a half of the gorilla permit) ... ? But I do believe that for chimps is Kibale a good place to live. Which is a good message.
* Disappointment 2 : tree-climbing lions in Ishasha/QENP - we saw just one older cub which was seriously and repeatedly injured (the older injury from poacher snares, the fresh new injury - as we were told - made by an aggressive male lion ). Add the evening/night shooting at elephants (to keep them out of the crop fields) and the fact that one half (really) of Ishasha sector is completely burnt down. A depressive place.
* 1/2 of Disappointment : gorilla trekking in Bwindi - this is no cheat (compared with chimps trekking in Kibale), it is a real rainforest trekking crowned with gorillas observation from a close distance - we spent a half an hour with a female and cca 10-month-old baby (nice) and we could hear other group members (incl. silverback) in the undergrowth nearby. But when the female with her baby was leaving we were told by our leader guide we could not to continue in observation because of a wasp nest (it was really there but it was there all the time and could be easily bypassed when trying to follow gorillas which were apparently nearby). So we finished our session after a half an hour and returned to the base where we were waiting another half an hour until the "easy group" returned (we were the "medium group"). I suppose the gorilla trekking is no cheat from definition (as I suppose the chimps trekking in Kibale is) but we simply had a hard luck with our leader guide. You didn't travel so long distance and didn't spend so much money to skip a half of the activity for such a vague reason.
But there were also very good points in our Uganda safari tour :
* shoebill in Mabamba swamps
* rhinos trekking in Ziwa RS
* Nile delta boat cruise (private small boat)
* giant forest hogs close to Buffalo lodge/QE
* Kazinga channel boat cruise (private small boat)
* Golden monkey trekking in Mgahinga NP (by far best of the primate trekking)
* Lake Mulehe birding (private small boat)
* Lake Bunyonyi birding (private small boat)
* birding !!!
And the trip organization by Africa Adventure Vacations was excellent. The tour was discussed and planned with Robert and we were guided with Ceasar and Daphne. I can highly recommend all of them, the tour organization was simply great and we would like to thank them once more at this place.
To sum up - I'm far from being sure to visit Uganda again but if we do that we'll ask Africa Adventure Vacations (Robert, Ceasar, Daphne) to organize our trip again.
Email Sarah | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Beautiful green lush country with friendly people
After spending some time in Kenya (dry and rough in most places), it was refreshing to travel through Uganda for a few days. The landscape was breathtaking, so many green hills - not to mention the incredible Bwindi Forest where we had the opportunity to see Silver Back Gorillas in the wild! The roads were much better than in Kenya, and the people were friendly - especially towards women who seem to be well respected in the Ugandan society. The amount of wild life can't compete with Kenya's huge & abundant national parks though. Overall I had a lovely time in Uganda and I'd be happy to return!
ES
Email Mariana Pereira | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing experience watching the gorillas in their natural habitat
The accommodation, the food and the guides were pretty good! We had a great time!
IT
Email Josephine | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
excellent experience
the country - which is called the "Pearl of Africa" is a gem, the western areas in particular.
I had a 4 day safari starting from Jinja in the east and including Lake Mburo, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Lake Bunyonyi. The places are wonderful and they deserve visiting.
I booked my trip through Tourist Centre Safaris' agency in Jinja and the program they submitted was simply super.
The accommodation chosen were great, all set in wonderful places with magnificent views.
I recommend Tourist Centre Safaris in Jinja for their skills and care with customers
US
Email Prathima | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Perfect!
This trip was exactly what we were looking for. Someone to take care of all the logistics and an incredibly guide to take us along the way. We still talk about this part of the trip and our guide.
US
Email Kyle | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great for Rainforest. Not as great for typical safari.
The tour was fantastic.! Not as good as other east Africa countries but still a wonderful place to visit
Email Douglas | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
It was the best safari ever
Africa has the best wildlife especially Uganda, i visited Murchison falls and would strongly remmend it
Entebbe Zoo is also another good place to vist as there also very nice resort hotel beaches if you want to spend a nite
The weather in the tropics is fantastic .Accomodation-we stayed serena hotel which is just in the middel of the capital kampala
40 miles away from international Airport.serena provided us the best 5 star service one could dream of.
food(most hospital provide english breakfast served with fruits so you can't go wrong
Transport is cheap and there is Uber realiable
I recommend any one to visit safaribooking.com Hails Tours Uganda
CH
Email Andrea S | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
great program, not the best guide ever
The service provided a great plan. Kidepo valley in November is great for the nature and wildlife. Sipi was nice too. They tailored the program following my need. Locations and activities were great. The management of the holiday was not the best: they booked one month before doing a mistake (if it would have been 1 month later, it would have been a great problem), and they did not help with a problem of delayed luggage. The guide was not the best, not knowing well where to go, what to see and where to stop. He was just a driver with scarce ability and not funny at all.
The company has a great plan, and uganda is beautiful, but the staff is not at same level.
