I loved Uganda and really loved the people there. Both my husband and I agree that we would happily return. - On day 1 we were picked up at the Entebbe airport by Sula, our guide and taken to the Mabamba Bay Wetlands. Ensued an hour's ride in a hand-built canoe-like boat with a motor that carried us across a small part of Lake Victoria to the area of the Mabamba Swamp. There we transferred to a smaller motorized canoe, that propelled us through the swamp. When it got too swampy the driver and the guide, Brian, used long stick poles to push us along. We saw loads of beautiful and interesting birds, including the evasive Shoebill Stork, of which there are to date only about 20 in this swamp. (There are several more in other swamps in the country.) Gliding along the tranquil swamp channels was beautiful with color from water hyacinths and birds, and Brian knew the names of all of them. Day 2: We set off for Jinja, where the source of the Nile River on its journey north can be found. Traffic and dirt roads make the trip a rather long one, and as we drove we saw beautiful countryside along with abject poverty. There are no paved roads to be seen anywhere, and of course no sidewalks or even yards. Homes in the poor little and big villages along the way range from small buildings of one story set in the dirt to mud brick structures, all with tin roofs or worse. No electricity or running water. The country is one of the poorest in Africa and it is evident everywhere. This took some getting used to on my part. What contrasted with this was the fact that all of the people, children included, that we met were constantly smiling and happy to interact with us. Our cruise on Lake Victoria included a visit to a fishing village, which was fascinating and then on to a view of the source of the Nile. It was lovely. Day 3: After breakfast we set out for a very long and often bumpy ride (about 7 hours) to Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary. We stayed at the Ziwa Luxury Chalets which were wuite nice, but best of all was watching the animals in the evening come to drink from a large watering trough near our room. A family of warthogs with several adorable babies walked right by our front porch and stopped to graze on grasses by dropping down on their front knees. Day 4: First thing in the morning we took a walking tour of about 2 hours to see the Rhinos up close, and we really did get close to them. Though you cannot get close enough to touch, we were only about 15 meters from them. They are habituated to humans in the area and pretty much ignored us. It was very pleasant and exciting. Following the walk we got back in the jeep for a drive to Murchison Falls National Park where we stayed at the Paraa Safari Lodge. (Our first really negative experience with a lodge - the water in the showers didn’t drain and ran from the shower area into the bathroom and out into the bedroom making a big mess.) In their favor though, the staff did offer to let us change rooms. Some of the sights along the way included a local vilage market and very long horned cows. In the evening we went on a game drive starting at 16:00. We saw elephants, giraffes, buffalo, warthogs (Pumbas), Jackson Hartebeest, Oribi and Waterbucks. We also saw many birds, a mongoose, ground squirrel, baboons and savannah monkeys. Then, on our way back to the lodge in the dark, a pride of lions crossed the road just in front of our Landcruiser! Day 5: First activity of the day was a game drive where we saw more of the same animals. In the afternoon we joined about 25 other tourists for a boat safari on the Nile that takes you as close as possible to the base of Murchison Falls. It was a pleasant experience, but not as great as our previous boat rides. The base of the falls was a disappointment since we could not get close to the falls at all due to the very strong currents. We were not even close enough to hear the crash of these mighty falls. We did see hippos from close up though, which is always fun. Day 6: In the morning we drove up to the top of the Murchison Falls where it pours into Lake Victoria. This was gorgeous and we spent quite a while enjoying the views. Following the Falls we headed through beautiful scenery to Kibale, where we stayed at the Kibale Forest Lodge, which we enjoyed very much. Day 7: This morning we headed to the Kibale National Park Headquarters for a briefing on our Chimpanzee Tracking adventure and were surprised by the preliminary activity - a performance by local community tribespeople who sang and danced for us. (Each tribe has its own traditional dances and kids still learn them in school.) It was very enjoyable and the community seemed to be enjoying themselves as well. Our Chimp tracking group was comprised of 6 tourists plus a guide and an escort with a gun. It rained almost the entire time from 8:15 to 11:00. Despite the rain, very quickly we saw chimpanzees, but they were way high up in the very tops of the tallest tree around. We were told they prefer being up above the dripping leaves on the forest floor where it's very wet. After about 40 minutes a few ventured down and we got to see them at arm’s length. Surprisingly, the walk in the forest during the constant rain was not unpleasant and certainly provided a different aspect to our adventure. There were some really cool trees along the way as well. After lunch and a rest we drove to a local community organization where a nice young guide took us on a walk in the area including a walk in the Bigodi Swamp. (On the swamp part we had to walk on a very rickety, often broken wooden boardwalk that was slippery and dangerous, but never fear, the guide held my hand most of the way.) Before entering the swamp we saw black and white Colobus monkeys and Red Colobus monkeys and Red Tail Monkeys, all of whom are “Old World” monkeys with long, heavy, non-prehensile tails that cannot be used to grab like most monkeys. They help provide the monkeys with balance when they make huge leaps from tree to tree. We also saw nutmeg trees, a first for me, Orange Lantanna - I learned that the juice from crushed Lantanna leaves will soothe tooth ache and ripe Lantanna berries, purple in color, are good for upset stomach. (This is folklore and conventional wisdom says Lantana berries are poisonous.) Following the walk in the swamp we visited Banana Man, who makes banana beer and gin and drinks too much but was very friendly and demonstrated how banana beer and banana gin are made. We tasted both. We had another dance performance and weaving demonstration (using dried papyrus) by their local community, followed by a visit to a local woman who demonstrated how to make coffee from coffee beans. We bought from each place: Banana gin, a small woven container and some ground coffee. The coffee, by the way, was very tasty. I was sorry we didn't buy more. I also saw coffee flowers for the first time. Day 8: We started out on our way to the Queen Elizabeth National Park taking the Crater Lake Drive. This drive took us in rolling scenery that was absolutely gorgeous, studded with beautiful lakes formed in volcanic craters. Well worth the detour to take this longer route. When we got to our designated lodge, the Enganzi Lodge, we found the accommodations unacceptable, so our wonderful Tour Company manager, Jesse (Lifetime Experience Safaris - very very highly recommended) arranged for different accommodations at the Aardvark Safari Lodge, which was one of my favorite places. The room was nice and large and it had a shower in a huge enclosure outside, which was a real kick. And best of all, elephants visited our room. Our day ended with an evening game drive. I love game drives no matter what, but I must admit that Queen Elizabeth National Park was my least favorite. Compared to the other game drives we enjoyed on this trip it was flatter and boasted far fewer animal spottings in a less attractive setting. We did see Lake George with some elephants cooling off though. Day 9: We started the day with a morning game drive. Again we didn’t see any leopards, lions or other rarer animals. We did see all of the usual ones. Then, in the afternoon we took a safari channel cruise on the Kazinga Channel which connects Lake Edward and Lake George. We saw loads of hippos, a variety of birds and crocodiles. It was quite pleasant, and the breeze on the channel kept us cool. Day 10: The drive to our next venue, Ishasha and Bwindi Forest, was our morning activity. We left the lower altitude part of Queen Elizabeth Park and began driving into the mountainous area, which is very beautiful. In these higher altitudes it is amazing to see how tea, bananas, beans, sorghum and potatoes are grown on terraces that are almost vertical. And all farming work is done by hand - no tractors or other mechanized equipment. We stayed at Bakiga Lodge in Ruhija Bwindi. In the afternoon not far from our lodge we went with a local guide to visit a Pygmy community, where we heard about their way of life, watched a performance and then went to a school adjacent to the community that served as an orphanage and boarding school for the Pygmy children. It was fascinating to see how these people lived in the forests with no permanent housing up until relatively recently. Day 11: Today was the gorilla tracking experience. We were briefed by a park ranger who then divided us into groups. Our group was the 4 of us plus another couple somewhat younger than us and a young woman. We had a guide, 2 armed escorts, another escort and a porter named Clement that I paid for because I insisted. Boy was that a smart move. He carried our back pack and held my husband's hand most of the time as well as helping me from time to time. (He was only supposed to help one of us, but the going was way too rough for any of the 4 of us to do all of it alone.) The tracking involved a 2 kilometer slip and slide down the mountain side. We all had walking sticks. When we finally encountered the gorilla family we were assigned we discovered that you don’t just stand or sit in one place because the family is generally spread out over several meters in the deep bush and you have to move continuously to keep up with them. It is complete bush with no paths and the guides and escorts use machetes to hack open the way so we can move. There is no solid ground only layer upon layer of leaves and branches on a steep decline. (Oh, and no walking sticks the minute you contact the gorillas. You get them back only on your way up again.) As the gorillas moved selecting places to eat, our guide and escorts moved us with them. Without. the help of our porter and our guide we could never ever have done it alone. It is an amazing experience to be so close to these wonderful animals who are so much like us. All of us experienced their closeness as they whooshed past us, and in the case of Meir and Niki even smacked into them sending Meir sprawling and Niki with a pain in his arm for several days after. Looking back on it, I would have enjoyed it 100% had I not been so fearful of falling and hurting myself. (As it turns out, in other places in this park there are different tracking venues and one at least is in a less mountainous area making the observation much more pleasant in my opinion. We had no way of knowing this in advance.). Following the gorillas we drove to the area of Lake Bunyonyi, which is a pretty lake with lots of islands. Our lodge was on an island in the lake. Our lodge was on an Island in Lake Bunyonyi. The setting was really beautiful and to get to it we had to be taken in a boat with all of our luggage. This presented no problem, however upon our arrival there and being shown to our rooms the problems began. Our partners were given a room down by the lake with a very dangerous, entirely unkempt entrance path to get to it, making it uncomfortable to stay there. All rooms were a healthy hike from the lobby/eating area. They changed rooms to a nearer, safer one, however it was not as deluxe as their original room. In the end both rooms, theirs and ours had horrible water pressure making a shower almost impossible. They unfortunately didn’t try to bathe until 9:30pm, by which time there was no hot water at all. After numerous trips back and forth to the lobby they were given buckets of hot water at 11:00pm to bathe with. Then, when they wanted to finally sleep it appeared that the sheets on the bed were not fresh ones. They were too tired to fight it and just went to sleep anyway. In our room the shower didn’t allow you to mix hot and cold water unless you took the shower head off, so we showered using just the hose from which a very small stream of warm water emitted. But we managed. Then I went to brush my teeth. Although we always brushed teeth with bottled water, I did want to use the water in the sink to wash down the toothpaste I had spit into the sink. When I pressed on the tap, which of course was cold only, it got stuck and would not turn off. Niki turned it off under the sink with the water faucet that allows water into the pipe. In short, though the surroundings were very pretty, the terrible upkeep of the place made it sort of lousy. In the morning we moved to a “better” hotel, The Birds Nest. Day 12: Before moving to our new lodgings at the Birds Nest Resort on the shore of the lake we had a 2 1/2 hour cruise on Lake Bunyonyi. It was pleasant, but not more than that. The boatman claimed the water was clean and we could swim in it if we liked, however, it was too cold and overcast to want to try that out. He showed us several of the Islands with silly stories of how they got their names, all except Punishment Island which got its name due to the truly horrible punishment of banishing unwed mothers to the island. Along one shore area of the lake was a resort that featured a ninja park where kids age 10 and up could do a real ninja obstacle course that looked long and dangerous to me including a rickety zip line across a bay. He said that the kids / adults who do it wear harnesses, but the whole structure looked dangerous to me. On our boat ride we also saw a lakeside market with water taxis bringing shoppers back and forth from different lakeside locals. Our new lodge was hotel like in build so we only had to climb 2 1/2 flights of stairs to get to our rooms, which were nice. In this new hotel the water pressure was literally like the stream of pee from a man with prostrate problems, but it was hot, so I had no issues with it. It did have a bathroom set up where there were no doors on the toilet area or the shower area, but there was a half wall separating those areas from the rest of the room, so it was fine. Day 13: We left Lake Bunyonyi and traveled for about 5 hours to Mburu National Park through the Kigezi Highlands. The scenery was lovely and as we neared the Park area we saw more and more animals. We stayed at the Rowakobo Rock Lodge. The Mburu Park and its surroundings are lovely and there are loads of animals throughout the area. We had a game drive on our way to the lodge. Day 14: We had a guided walking safari for a little over an hour with a very knowledgeable and nice guide named Rebecca who brought us very close up to giraffes and we also got sort of close to zebras, though they are more skittish than the giraffes. Following our walk, we headed back to Entebbe where we spent the night at the 2-Friends Beach Hotel. It had the best shower of the whole trip and the rooms were 3 stairs away from the lobby. We said a sad goodby to Sula, and that was the end of our contact with Lifetime Experience Safaris. I cannot say too many times how much we loved our wonderful guide Sula and were grateful for all of the help and understanding provided by Jesse and Lifetime Experience Safaris. They are the best! In the afternoon we took a walk along the beach front which was directly across the street from our hotel. We saw a load of Maribu Storks and Egrets eating fish scraps on the beach and in the water just beside a fish market on the beach. Because I had been bugging Sula for a taste of Jackfruit he had stopped on the way to the hotel and we bought one. At the hotel the very nice and obliging head person took the fruit cooled it for a couple of hours and then cut it up and served us the fruit. It was very sweet and tasty. Just a couple of tips regarding travel in Uganda. 1. The people we met and all of the staff at every single hotel or lodge, including the ones we had problems with, were polite, helpful, friendly and a pleasure to deal with. If I had to say the thing I will remember the most from this vacation it is how much I love the people of Uganda. These people depend on your tips for much of their income, so please tip generously. 2. Maintenance in Uganda is not what we westerners are used to. It is a good idea to keep this in mind for managing your expectations. Water pressure in showers was more often than not poor. It's not a deal breaker for me, but I didn't wash my hair as often as I might have - no big deal at all. I wore a hat most of the time anyway. We found that bringing a good flashlight really helps getting back to your rooms in the lodge at night. 3. You are on a safari trip not a fashion show. Even at dinner time you don't need dressy at all. But you do need warm for the mountain areas. And rain gear is a must even in the dry season. We found that a rain poncho was perfect for going over clothes and jackets and also allowing air in. High hiking boots are needed for any trekking.

Great trip through Uganda - My trip was amazing, well organised with lovely accomodation and good food. My guide Hillary was a super safe driver, polite, knowledgable and great at spotting the wildlife, we saw so much and Hillary was happy to stop wherever for photo opportunities. I was always escorted to reception for every check in, all activities ran smoothly and the gorilla trek was a fabulous experience. Your guide will outside in the carport waiting for you upon arrival at the airport. Uganda is a truly beautiful country- a must on anyone's travel list. Thankyou Ngoni Safaris and Hillary for a great trip.

Uganda - Best 21 days ever - Our trip was actually 21 days. Ngoni were so organised, experienced, knowledgeable and just plain lovely. Our guides Eddy and Steve couldn’t do enough for us, lots of fun and professional.

The Pinnacle of Safaris - I am late on my review but feel no less privileged and honored to exclaim the glowing attributes of Ngoni Safaris and, in particular, our professional and experienced guides: Eddy, Allanie, and Hillary. We had a trip of a lifetime traveling to several national parks in Uganda seeing and photographing a multitude of land and aquatic animals. We also immersed ourselves in the splendid culture along the way by our welcoming hosts at every community, hotel, and resort. The crowning touch to this 5-star journey with Ngoni is the diligence, thorough preparation, patience, hospitality, and superb wit and humor of our guides. They always went “above and beyond” for us! Thank you, always!

Bucket list trip ✅ - Our drivers were outstanding taking the time to make sure we were able to experience as much as we could from the safaris, grills, chimp and golden monkey tracking to local cultural spots. Hillary, my driver, Eddy and Allanie were so attentive. We began the trip as strangers and when I left I felt we were close friends. So if you are considering a trip to Uganda, check out Ngonisafari tours 💙🦍🐒🇺🇬

A trip on a life time! - Eddie was amazing!!! Along with Allon and Hillary I felt very safe and taken care of. Fantastic trip. Fun and very knowledgeable.

blown away by the beauty of the country - Review: 24-Day Uganda Trip Our 24-day trip to Uganda was nothing short of incredible. Every single day was packed with activities and offered something new and exciting. The itinerary was wonderfully varied, ranging from wildlife encounters and breathtaking nature to thrilling safaris and challenging hikes. The program was so well thought out that we truly feel like we’ve experienced the essence of Uganda. We were absolutely blown away by the beauty of the country—it’s simply stunning. A big highlight of the trip was our guide, who took excellent care of us from day one. He made sure we had everything we needed, kept us well-informed, and ensured we felt safe throughout the journey. This trip exceeded all our expectations, and we cannot recommend Uganda enough as a destination for adventure and natural beauty.

Africa utmost - A group of 8 from Russia, experienced Africa visitors, had been blessed by gods and weather to see and admire the pearls of Central Africa - Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi with gorillas (exciting!), chimpanzee (closest relatives!), elephants, hippos, rhinos etc. - with plenty of encounters with Mother Africa’s wonders (Murchison Falls, game rides, river cruises, cultural villages, Burundi drummers etc.). Guide Eddy was most helpful and effective - driving hundreds of km per day and giving profound info; guide Hillary is on his way to be as effective (but this will take some time!).

Monumental Trip - Exceeded All Expectations! - My sister and I had the time of our lives! We had great expectations for this trip, but you never know what reality awaits when you set foot in a foreign country and a new culture. The trip exceeded our expectations! Our guide - Eddy the Elephant Son - was gracious, kind, and well-versed on Ugandan history, wildlife, and culture. He was easy to be around, but also allowed us plenty of alone/down time. Just when we thought we saw the most magnificent wildlife or sunrise or vista, the next day would be even more spectacular. We spent an hour in the jungle with a family of mountain gorillas, including a silverback and a 3-month old baby. We were inches from the gorillas and chimps. We saw countless giraffes and elephants on the savannahs. We rafted the Nile, which was exhilarating beyond belief! Generally, Ugandans were hospitable and kind. It was a real treat to tour some of the communities and visit with local artisans, a coffee maker and a medicine man. The food was outstanding and almost every lodge accommodated my gluten allergy. I highly recommend ALL the pumpkin soup. We both recommend Ngoni and Uganda. What a gorgeous country!

A trip of a lifetime! - After initial good contact with Sedrick back in 2020, but cancellation due to Covid, we had decided to do our honeymoon with Ngoni Safaris this June. We did not do this 13-day trip but a very similar itinerary. We opted for a 12 days Gorilla, Chimps, Big 5 and nature sighting Safari and what can we say, this trip was incredible. We trusted Sedrick and his team in arranging this trip for us and selecting and booking the accommodations and permits for us. Contact prior to the trip was mainly through WhatsApp, with updates and further info provided upon request. After all, everything went very smooth and this trip exceeded our expectations (first time travelling in East Africa). With the Gorilla trekking being the main reason to come to Uganda, we can now conclude that every day was a highlight. Our guide, driver and new friend Eddy was one of the main reasons for this. Eddy has a lot of knowledge about the country, the culture, national parks and the animals, and was very happy to share his knowledge with us. He knows every speed bump in this country, is an excellent spotter of animals and overall, a very friendly, social and caring person. During this trip we visited Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, Murchison Falls NP, Kibale NP for Chimp Trekking, Queen Elisabeth NP, Bwindi NP for Gorilla Trekking, Lake Bunyonyi and Lake Mburo NP for a walking safari. The selected accommodations were great with very attentive staff. At two occasions, a candlelight dinner had been arranged for us which was lovely. Buffalo Safari Lodge in Queen Elizabeth NP was the most spectacular accommodation with elephants coming very close to the cottages and the pool area in their search for water and food. A few short-notice changes were made to our itinerary, but all were made in our best interest. We can 100 % recommend Ngoni Safaris and travelling with Eddy. Hope to see you again very soon!