15-Day Gorilla and chimps Trekking, Big 5 and Nature Sighting Safari

We had an excellent trip with ngoni and led by our fantastic guide Allan! We did a 16 days trip, 4 nights in Rwanda, the rest in Uganda. We excluded Muchinson falls (one of the highlights) to reduce travel times on the road: we are also safari guides ourselves and we are after the moments, exploring one area fully than many very shortly. Important to note that Ngoni is large in Uganda, reknowned with a good reputation in the country which is a benefit as they manage to get really good accomodations for a reasonable price. Our guide was great, accomodating, for instance when we asked for an extra gorilla treck which requires organisation on last minute (calls, payment, reservation, …), very good in birding (which we specifically asked for - we spotted over 160), with the right connections locally. Highly recommended and we’ll be back!

Before choosing Ngoni we researched many other companies. Sedrick was very helpful with planning our itinerary and delivered not only a great itinerary but all the information that we needed, when we needed it. We chose mid range lodges and all were good and each had their own character, special mention must go to Turaco TreeTops in Kibale and Kigarama at Lake Mburo. We loved the viewing deck & resident elephants at Buffalo Lodge in Queen Elizabeth National Park and the lake view at Lake Mulehe Safari lodge in Mgahinga national Park. Each of the lodges were in great locations for the days activities. Our Driver & Guide Reagan met us at the Airport on arrival and gave us a briefing for our safari the next day before dropping us at our hotel to rest after our long flight, we found him to be a very respectful and caring person Everyday was an amazing adventure and Reagan worked hard to ensure we got the best out of each experience from game drives to chimpanzee & gorilla trekking,, leopards, climbing lions & local villages. He was an excellent and safe driver throughout our 15 day trip with all the different roads we had to endure, highway, winding, lots of gravel & rocks and a million speed bumps ????, along the way sharing a lot about the way of life of Ugandan people. Reagan started as our Safari guide and driver and ended as our friend, we are so happy to have met him and learn about Uganda, Pearl of Africa.

Upon arrival in Rwanda, we were greeted by our first guide, Smith, who stayed with us for the 5 first days in Rwanda. Smith was from the beginning very friendly and when we arrived in our first hotel, it seemed that the booking did not came through, but he arranged it very professionally so we would not notice anything. The next days we were guided by him were very fun. He was always smiling and making jokes etc. Also, as this was a private tour, we could adapt if needed. For example, there was the Mount Bisoke hike foreseen but we were not really fit to be able to do this, so we could easily change this into the Diane Fossey trail. After 5 days we had to say goodbye to Smith and we met our 2nd guide who would guide us for 10 days in Uganda, Stephen. But we could not leave Smith before we had a piece of his birthday cake together. We told Stephen he had a hard job to match to Smith's enthousiasm, but we felt from the beginning that this would not be a problem. Stephen's knowledge about Uganda was from a very high level. In the 10 days we spend time together he NEVER used a navigator and we always arrived on our destinations without any issues. Also did he know a lot about the politcal/historical facts for Uganda and Eastern Africa. Stephen was very flexible in the planning (together with the main office of NGONI Safaris). Because we had some issues due to medical reasons to do a lot of and difficult hikes. So he would do his outmost to get us on the easiest trails to track Gorillas or Chimps. During the game drives, he made it happen for us to see multiple leopards and lionesses. As we forgot a bag with important medication in on of the lodges, he also made it happen that these were brought to us a couple days later together with a guide who was also coming our way (we did the reverse tour of Uganda so it was a bit of a challenge). To sum up the 2 weeks we spend in Rwanda and Uganda, we could not have any better guides who were this flexible and compassionate and who did their job with more than full of their hearts. Big thumbs up to Ngoni putting us in Smit's and Stephen's guidance.