10-daagse Wildlife Big 5, Murchison Falls en Gorilla Safari

We zijn net terug van een fantastische ervaring met onze 14 daagde reis door Rwanda en Uganda. Elvis heeft alles tot in de puntjes verzorgd en onze gids Samuel was fantastisch en een geweldige chauffeur en gids. Dankzij hem hebben we een geweldige tijd gehad en ik zal zeker weer met hem op reis gaan als ik terug kom. Hopelijke duurt dat niet te lang want Uganda is een parel en Rwanda is zeer speciaal.

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 and we hope to remain friends (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.

Ja. . . terug in Europa willen we toch nog terug naar Oeganda met zijn aangename klimaat en exotisme. . . We begrijpen dat het dagelijkse leven in dit land niet zo mooi is als het lijkt voor toeristen, maar dat is al zo bij bijna elke toeristische reis. De momenten met Lulu Safari in Oeganda waren geweldig. . zelfs ondanks het feit dat ik plotseling ziek werd met hoge koorts (advies - draag maskers op luchthavens) - reageerde Lulu Safaris snel en veranderde de route, waardoor extra verblijfsdagen in andere hotels werden geregeld. . . Al in de eerste dagen zagen we bijna alle grote dieren: neushoorns, giraffen, buffels, olifanten, nijlpaarden, chimpansees. . we hadden geen geluk met de vertegenwoordigers van de kattenfamilie, maar waarschijnlijk hield de ziekte ons tegen. . we hebben niet het hele programma voltooid. . . Over valuta - het duurt enige tijd om het UGX-bedrag in USD of EUR te begrijpen, eind januari bedroeg 1 USD ongeveer. 3800 UGX, het is tijd voor wiskunde :) Dankzij de gids Samuel - een zeer responsieve, deskundige en professionele gids, is blijkbaar het hele team met Elvis Masiga aan het hoofd zo! Tijdens de reis verliep alles precies, de accommodaties zijn geweldig, het eten is zelfs te lekker, het niveau van de organisatie van de reis is veel beter dan in sommige Europese landen. . . We zijn van plan terug te keren naar de gorillatrekking, wat we tijdens deze reis niet hebben gedaan:) Oh Oeganda, land van schoonheid!