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Email Donita R Clarin | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Amazing people, gorgeous landscapes, and wonderful wildlife viewing.
I did a budget tour with Home to Africa and Benon was our guide. Just an amazing experience. I went for the gorilla trekking and came back with so much more. Once in a lifetime experience. Saw so much other wildlife! The Batywa community was so interesting. All staff at our accommodations were so welcoming. Benon our guide was amazing always looking out for our best experiences. Go to Uganda it’s an amazing experience!!
PL
Email Dagmara Stefan | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Nature!
First of all I have to thank you Karumuna Safaris for exciting time. We spent two weeks together. We visited Murchison Falls, chimpanzees, rhino sanctuary, gorillas, Bunyoni Lake. The operator even helped us with tickets in Kenya.
We felt safe, although there had adventures, malaria and repaired cars. Richard took care of everything! And we will remember this wonderful adventure forever!
DK
Email Alexander Bolotakis | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
This is what biodiversity means.
If wildlife is a passion of yours, then this is the place to go. Everywhere you look, a new colourful bird will show it self. Rolling, green hills everywhere. The gorillas are an experience that can only be understood when you see them for yourself.
CA
Email Jeff C | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Beautiful scenery, abundance of wildlife, good tourism infrastructure
Toured Murchison, Queen Elisabeth, Bwindi, Lake Bunyonyi, Mburu, Kazi GA Channel Ziwa sanctuary. 8 days 7 nights. Ecovic and our tour guide Frank was flexible and very accommodating. From Canada where it is colder so be prepared as mosquitos and heat/humidity can be more than you may be used to but some repellant fine. Be prepared to do some hiking up and down to see chimps and gorillas. Maybe bring a fan. Don't forget sunscreen. Bush tents are very luxurious for a tent but rooms are better. But you are there for the wildlife and adventure which you will certainly get! Food was fantastic at all accomodation. Leopards are probably the hardest to find but if lucky you will. We did. Guides talk to each other to help know where the animals are which is good. Roads in west were all great. Kampala city roads not good off the main highway but you aren't there for that. Felt safe everywhere we went, (even checked out the DRC border south of QE which was very quiet!). 8 days for all that would be minimum time required. Prices are cheap for food and souvenirs, especially just off the main tourist trap of Bwindi. Sometimes menus don't have all the items on the menu but they still have good food options. I had steak a few times that was very good and was only $10. Fruit is plentiful and cheap. Drink bottles water which is readily available. Good cell service everywhere although wifi can be limited to only certain areas of a hotel.
It was my second trip to Uganda in 3 months and thought my visa was still good but had just expired. Was able to be issued a tourist visa upon arriving thankfully at immigration in airport for usd$100 so that was a big relief.
Our guide Frank was fantastic and highly recommend him.
Lifetime highlight: baby gorilla at Bwindi held my hand!
In towns we didn't go out after dark and in Kampala watch out for pick pockets. That said, there is a nice mall in Kampala called Acacia that is like anything in Canada, even a KFC! Uber works in Kampala and is fairly cheap. Bring some toilet paper as if you have to stop in a small town bathroom you might just have a hole in the floor. If you forget something you can always buy whatever you need in Uganda. There are hundreds of small pharmacies everywhere in towns if you need malaria pills or get a bought of watery diarrhea.
Stop at some roadside markets for souvenirs, food, etc. Bring lots of usd $1's and $5's for tips. USD is pretty widely accepted. Just ensure they are clean notes as the banks will discount what Ugandans receive in exchange rate if they are marked or dirty and Ugandans will give you a lower rate as a result if paying in USD, (10% discount). Remember that prices are usually negotiable and tourist prices for regular goods are 1.5-2x that of Ugandan prices but still very cheap by western standards. Overall a fantastic trip! And much cheaper to see Gorillas in Uganda than in Rwanda. Plus English is spoken everywhere so communication is no problem.
DE
Email Franziska | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Wonderful and diverse country
Uganda is a fantastic country with lots of different wildlife and nature. We especially liked all the different kind of monkeys and of course the highlights of getting really close to chimpanzees and gorillas. But also just doing a nature walk in the national parks and suddenly standing in the middle of a big group of giraffes, meeting some of the very friendly local people, eating a lot of fantastic fresh fruits, hiking in the forrest or to waterfalls and doing bird watching on the lakes - there is something for everyone there if you enjoy wildlife and nature.
In February we were very lucky with the weather and there was almost no rain. And just before the rainy season many animals have babies, so that we also got to see a lot of young animals of all different kinds. I would recommend also stopping at a local market sometime along the road trip and trying some of the local food. We did the trip with Tubale Safaris and had a wonderful time in Uganda. During the whole trip I felt very safe and welcomed. I have recommended Uganda as a travel destination to everyone.
CA
Email Dean Drysdale | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Spectacular experience and service
We were treated extremely well from start to finish, well organized, great accommodations, stunning scenery, we saw 27 gorillas on our trek. Safaris by Jon did not disappoint. I would recommend a million times over.
Email Salimah | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Uganda is a peaceful country with good creatures and favourable weather
Uganda is a peaceful country with good creatures and favourable weather
Email James Furdas | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Incredible see ‘the big six!’ (See review) once in a lifetime gorilla and chimpanzee trekking
8 Day Safari with LuLu safaris, guided by Audence and Simon.
Firstly our guides were incredible. I would definitely recommend requesting them in advance if you book with LuLu safaris. They were amazing at spotting wildlife, really easy to get along with (we still message now weeks after we came home), very knowledgeable about the wildlife and local customs, full of facts, happy positive people and extremely flexible changing the plan where a better option was available or if requests or needed for any reason at all.
We started out tour with the Ziwa rhino sanctuary and walked on foot to get a close encounter with 3 sets and a total of 12 rhinos. We were blown away that we did this on foot and got so close. On the same day we went up to Murchison falls national park and saw the waterfalls and river at sunset. We got time the next day to take a river safari to see hippos and crocodiles.
We then spent time at the national park and saw 4 of the big 5 and even had an evening encounter with hyenas. We didn’t think we could get and more lucky.
After this we had time in queen elizabeth national park and saw all the big 5. Our guides going the extra mile with hours of driving to track one down. We also got up close and personal with two male lions and had our own private spot with them for about 10 minutes until another car turned up.
After this we went chimpanzee trekking. After two attmepts and 10km of trekking we had only seen one or two chimps in the far distance and that was our time up. However the ranger wasn’t happy and arranged with the national park office and our guides to come back after lunch and try again. This was no problem for our amazing guides who changed the plan without a moments hesitation. And the next 4km trek we had the most amazing encounter with a group of chimpanzees that have been filmed on the BBC planet earth program. Again we felt so incredibly lucky.
Off down south we went to the Bwindi impenetrable forest for our gorilla trekking. On the way we had another lake/river safari and had the most amazing time seeing beautiful birds, hippos and over 100 elephants coming and going. We just didn’t expect to see so many. We got to stop and relax watching them all drink, play and trumpet.
On the day of the gorilla trek were allocated a group that started with an incredibly challenging hike. They look at the abilities and any requests people have made and assign the groups accordingly. Some had a long drive but short trek. We had no drive but a long trek with a big elevation change. However it was really worth it. We had just over an hour with a group that included a tree felling silver back, two tiny babies and a female that strolled past and brushed against the leg of my partner. We just couldn’t believe what we had experienced.
Due to our flight times our guides changed some of itinerary to accommodate more safari experiences and actually get us to the airport on time. Changing accommodation to suit the day before, wanting to give us the best experience possible. They would answer all our questions, stop whenever we wanted to. Help us buy stuff from the locals and stop for all the amazing photos. Honestly they were incredible. On the drive to the airport their binocular vision spotted something in the distance. So they stopped, reversed and got the actual binoculars out to show us a distant bird. A very rare shoebill. It looked like something from the Jurassic period. Our guides told us we can now go home and tell everyone “we saw the big 6 in Uganda”.
We did the entire time in a tourist 4WD van. If possible I would request to do it in the Land Cruiser as the roads are very bumpy. I’m not sure how Audence managed to drive along some of the roads it was a sight to be seen and felt…the African massage. Lucky to not have many biting flies at the time of year we were there but still take lots of bug spray as they are around. We are both vegetarian and have the rare bit of fish. We were amazed at how well catered they were for vegetarians. The food was honestly really good everywhere we went. One more recommendation would be to probably have a bit more time there. It was absolutely jam packed with amazing experiences and got better and better a day to relax and enjoy the scenery would have been nice.
Visit Uganda and book LuLu with Audence and Simon as guides. You won’t be disappointed.
BR
Email Bernardo Mello | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent trip and destination
Tour operator was excellent! Friendly and professional.
Highlights of the trip were the Chimps and Gorillas. Must do!
Trip of a lifetime!
Ronnie with Dav Safaris was awesome. The people and weather was great. We always felt safe. Gorilla and chimpanzee trekking was amazing. We paid extra to spend time with the chimps that were less acclimated to people. Don’t do that because they stay high in the trees. We LOVED the time with them on the regular trekking tour.
All the tours were worth every penny. Lots of animals to see. We visited the Shoebill birds as a side trip. So glad we did!
We’re def coming back!!
