Tour Operators/Safari Companies in Uganda

Tour Operators: Planning a safari to the wilderness of Uganda? The genuine safari companies below will help you plan your safari for the best price possible.

Achieve Global Safaris
Tel: +256-392-177-904
Email: info@ugandasafaristours.com
Website: http://www.ugandasafaristours.com

Focus East Africa Tours

Tel: +255-764-687-041
Email: info@focuseastafricatours.com
Website: http://www.focuseastafricatours.com

Explore Rwanda Tours

Tel: +250-780-870-670
Email: info@explorerwandatours.com
Website: http://explorerwandatours.com

Explore Tanzania Tours
Email: info@exploretanzaniatours.com
web: https://www.exploretanzaniatours.com

So many safari companies will promise you the best encounter of a safari in Uganda but not all will deliver their promises. It takes a lot to find a genuine company that will offer the exact services you would wish for hence, you have to be extra cautious when trying to choose out an operator to finalize your trip / booking with. Good news is you already have 6 safari operators above that you can trust with your next expedition to Queen Elizabeth National Park, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park or any other tour destination that you would love to visit in Uganda. So what are some of the factors you should consider before choosing a tour operator for your next safari?

Auto Membership: The operator has to be a member of Association of Uganda Tour Operators. This organization has maintained only credible Uganda tour and travel operators in their directory for so many years and has managed to terminate the ones with wrong images during the years. Endeavor to check the updates AUTO members’ list and search for their presence in the directory, if they do not exist then try digging out more information about the company.

Befriend TripAdvisor: Endeavor to check for reviews from past clients about the company and analyze what they had to say. If the negative reviews are many then think otherwise about that company. Good tour operators have several good reviews from past clients hence, it makes them trustworthy.

Experience: Try and find out how many years the company has run for so that you stay away from dealing with inexperienced tour companies. Dealing with an experienced company will guarantee you the best services on most occasions hence, highly recommended.

Uganda Safaris Review

I grew up knowing that climbing a tree can protect you from being eaten by lions. Little did I know that in Queen Elizabeth National Park, this principle does not work? The question is, what do you do when you find lions walking in their jungle?

Safari Companies in Uganda

Queen Elizabeth national park is the second largest national park in Uganda, the first one being Murchison falls national park. Queen Elizabeth national park is located in south western part of Uganda in Kasese District, and it’s endowed with very many creatures, like the Big four game; Lions, Elephants, Leopards, and Buffalos. Other creatures found include; Chimpanzees, Uganda Kobs and Birds.

Lake Edward has supported the existence of wild wildlife in the park. It’s believed that the park habits over 95 mammal species because of the nature of the park

Queen Elizabeth national park has many tourist activities to be done, to mention but few game drives, boat cruises, chimpanzee trekking in Kalinzu forest and Kyambura Gorge forest, Salt mining at Lake Katwe, Community walks and best of all, tree lion climbing experience in Ishasha sector.

The park is surrounded by community homesteads, and this makes its animals vulnerable to be killed by human beings. Wildlife conservation authorities were created to educate people on how they should live and benefit from the animals in the park, some of these practices include; carrying out seminars and community sensitizations. And also the community is given a certain percentage on the money collected from the tourists, never the less poaching practices are still carried out by the community ‘what you believe to be your worst enemy can be your best friend’. The Kasenyi fishing village in Queen Elizabeth national park, where people have to fetch water from Lake George which is full of hippos but once these animals are not disturbed they don’t harm anyone.

Safari Companies in Uganda

Queen Elizabeth national park is well known of its excellent lodging, ranging from Luxury, Midrange and Budget facilities. Some of the best lodges; Mweya Safari lodge, Parkview Safari lodge, Bush lodge, Engazi lodge to mention but a few. Mweya Safari lodge being the best luxury lodge with good ambience of nature and good for honeymoon, and the rest full in the mid-range and budget category.

Chimpanzee trekking is also one of the activities that no tourist ought to miss while in the park. Kalinzu forest is one of the easiest places to see the chimpanzees in a shortest period. Chimpanzees in Kalinzu forest are interesting creatures in that they act like humans; the adults taking care of the young ones, eat and play together. This activity can be combined with other activities to be done like game drives and boat cruises in Queen Elizabeth National Park.

Safari Companies in Uganda

Kyambura Gorge forest is another forest with in the park also well known for Chimpanzee tracking. However tracking chimpanzees in the this forest is a bit tuff and chances of seeing chimpanzees is limited and requires a lot of time as you will be tracking through steep and thick forest. Both tracking chimpanzees in Kalinzu forest and Kyambura have the same proceed where you report, register and pay for your permit at the park offices and later be given ranger guides to take you through the experience. Finding the creatures is usually breath taking and fascinating however you are only allowed to spend an hour with them.

Hiking mount Rwenzori is an activity embraced by visitors to Queen Elizabeth given the fact that Rwenzori national park is close to Queen Elizabeth national park. Hence some tourists desire to combine the two parks’ activities in one trip. For example after hiking mount Rwenzori national park for about 5-10 days given your travel period, you will then continue to Queen Elizabeth national park for a game drive and boat cruise at Kazinga Channel as the best way of relaxing and chilling after hiking the highest mountain in Uganda and second highest in East African after Kilimanjaro mountain located in Tanzania.

Again, the reason as to why Queen Elizabeth National Park has been the most preferred park in Uganda is because of its being close to Bwindi impenetrable forest national park. Most tourists prefer combining a wildlife experience with a gorilla experience. So they trek the endangered mountain gorillas then after precede to Queen Elizabeth National Park for game drives and boat cruises. Hence most visited national park in Uganda.

5 Days Chimpanzee Trekking

Uganda safaris are unique from the rest of other African tours because of Gorilla trekking in Bwindi impenetrable National park and Mgahinga gorilla national park and Tree climbing lions in Queen Elizabeth National park.

Queen Elizabeth National park has also attracted tourists from Rwanda and Congo for the same reason of being unique in its activities including; Chimpanzee trekking in Kalinzu forest and Kyambura forest, Tree lion climbing in Ishasha, Boat cruise at Kazinga channel, Game drive in the park and definitely community walks of Bakonjo tribe.

In addition to attracting Rwanda tourists, Queen Elizabeth National Park is close Rwanda boarder so this alone attracts Tour companies based in Rwanda to bring their clients to the park because of its multiple activities. For example Tourists start their tours from Volcano national park in Rwanda for Golden monkey trekking then proceed to Uganda – Bwindi impenetrable forest national park for gorilla trekking experience and finish the tour in Queen Elizabeth National park. This tour requires about 5-6 days.

Queen Elizabeth National park has a many of activities however prices vary according to the activity someone wants to do. Below are some of the prices;

Entrance fees for non-residents are USD40 per person to be able to access the national park.

Chimpanzee tracking in Kyambura gorge forest and Kalinzu forest is USD50 per person

Launch cruise/ Canoe/ motor boats at Kazinga Channel are USD30 per person.

Night Game drive for non-residents with UWA vehicle is USD 40 per person and it’s a must to have UWA ranger guide along.

The entrance fees lasts for only 24 hours, and if your time exceeds, you will be charged for another day in the park. For Foreign residents, a valid identity and passport is needed to validate residence status.

To be able to exhaust Uganda tourist attractions especially visiting the national parks, you need a minimum of 10 Days Uganda safaris. This tour will help you cover about 4-5 national park out of the 10 existing national park. For example you can start the tour with Murchison falls national park, Kibale forest national, Queen Elizabeth National park, Bwindi impenetrable forest national park, Mgahinga Gorilla national park and finally Lake Mburo national park. To cover all those Uganda national parks, you would have completed 80% of Uganda’s main tourist attractions.

Other Uganda national parks you can choose from include; Kidepo valley national, Semiliki national park, Mount Rwenzori national park and then Mount Elgon national park.

How to go to Queen Elizabeth National Park

Lake Katwe Explosion Crater

The park can be accessed both by road and by air. By road; on arrival at Entebbe, you drive through Masaka – Mbarara road and finally connect to Kasese. It’s basically a 6-7 hours drive with stopovers for refreshments. By air; Aerolink Uganda limited is an airline that operates in Uganda national park and they have daily flights from Entebbe airport and landing either Kasese airfield or Mweya airfield. They have both direct and connecting flight to national parks and these flights are scheduled twice a day, the 7am and 12pm. So you book the flights according to your schedule.

I highly recommend to all tourists worldwide to visit Uganda especially Queen Elizabeth National Park.