About Africa Adventure Vacations

  We used them for our gorilla trek in Uganda and couldn’t have been more satisfied with their service! They were super nice guys, great drivers (which is VERY important... read more on some of those mountain roads). They were helpful in every aspect of the excursion. We would use them again in a heartbeat!

  I honestly had an amazing and unforgettable vacation in Uganda, and I am glad to tell, that Africa Adventure Vacations was and is the best choice for Uganda. And I... read more already made recommendations within my family and friends.
I was a single traveler and made a lot of research by myself prior searching for companies, who offered tours like that. So my main purpose were the Mountain gorillas, but for sure, I was happy to have some other activities besides that as well.

When I made my request, I was super happy of receiving an answer of Robert the same day.
He never got tired by answering my questions, which made it easy for me to decide. Thank you very much, Robert, for making everything so easy and smooth for me.

When I landed in Entebbe, I hoped to have an unforgettable journey. And now, since I am back home, i can literally tell - it was really "BEST OF UGANDA". I had a lot of fun with my driver guide Arafath and all the information he provided all the way, on our 1600km we made within those 10 days.

For sure, there are sometimes long distances to cover, but I never got tired, as the landscape was so beautiful.
Valleys, so much green, banana and tea plantations. I just loved it, to stare outside the window.

From national Parks, Rhino Sanctuary, Boat cruises along the Kazinga Channel (where you really see wildlife at it´s best) to the unforgettable experience in the "impenetrable Forest Bwindi" where I visited the silent giants, called mountain gorillas in their natural habit.
It was unforgettable, and still gives me goosebumps by just thinking of it.

The market is very competitive...but your journey lives with the driver and information you get.
This is why I highly recommend Africa Adventure Vacations, as they will do everything, to make
your trip an amazing experience and to reach all your expectations and even beyond that.

  Thanks to the perfect an dlexible organisation of Raboert from Africa Adventure Vacations we had an unforgettable 9 day safari. From the very beginning the contact was extremly fast and... read more super professional and nice. All our extra wishes had been fulfilled.The tour was much more than we expected. We had super nice and comfortatble lodges with stunning view and comfart, marvellous impressions of the phantastic nature and wildlife and the best guide: Sam. He made this safari outstanding and unforgettable!
Very good value and highly recommended!

  We absolutely loved our week-long trip to Uganda with African Adventure Vacations. The itinerary was amazing and everything went very smooth and was kept to schedule as planned. Our driver... read more Cesar was amazing and the probably the best driver and guide we have ever had. The hotels were great and we particularly loved the Silverback Lodge and the Bird's Nest on Lake Bunyonyi. The gorilla trek was one of the best discoveries we have ever experienced. Amazing!! A big thanks to Robert who was very professional and kind and extremely efficient in organizing everything. Finally, Uganda is a wonderful country where people are friendly and welcoming and the landscape is absolutely stunning. An unforgettable trip!

  Our India based travel agent had organized our custom made Uganda tour through Africa Adventure Vacations (‘AAV’) for the five of us that included two persons above 60 years and... read more one person above 78 years. Our tour was for 11 days commencing from the third week of December, 2019. AAV asked us to sign the tour programme that was done, we never received a signed copy of the other side, not that we were worried about the same – rather happy that a ‘printed’ itinerary was in place for a custom-made tour.

A couple of days before we left India, we received an e-mail informing that there was a change of hotel in Kibale, as they had “booked a wrong date” and that we were to be “upgraded” to a new lodge. However, we were not required to pay anything more.

As per the programme of AAV, we were to stay at a hotel in Kampala overnight (having arrived past noon) and then proceed next morning to Kidepo. In this, AAV had ‘overruled’ my initial suggestion that we proceed to Gulu directly from Entebbe. Naturally, we thought, AAV being the local tour operator ought to know better than us. However, the first jarring note came from the driver, who had come to pick us up from the airport and was to drive for the entire duration of the tour. During the evening briefing at the Kampala hotel, he expressed his dismay at the long drive the next day – we were to drive through Mabira Forest Reserve and Jinja town to explore the source of River Nile (do a boat ride), see Sipi Falls, trek through the Sipi Falls, then proceed northwards to Kidepo Valley National Park – we must start by 5:30 am in order to be able to reach the destination by 9 pm and that he did not relish night driving- in presence of the representative of AAV who was involved in planning the trip.
We were able to start by 5:45 am the next day, thanks to delay on part of the hotel to provide breakfast boxes. We did the ½ hour Nile boat ride. On way to Sipi Falls it emerged that the air condition of the vehicle did not work. If it was switched on, the engine heated up. The driver stopped the vehicle at one of the towns to carry out certain maintenance related activities. However, the situation did not change, then or during the entire trip. At that point of time we were quite anxious to proceed to the destination with as little loss of time as possible and decided to put up with this inconvenience. At that stage the roads were very good and we could keep the windows open. Later on, we became accustomed to wind-up the glass whenever we were traveling through un-tarred roads and another vehicle was coming in the opposite direction.

The Driver was a bit reluctant to go to the Sipi Falls pointing out that the proposed trek took about two hours and that we could not afford to lose such time . However we insisted on seeing the Sipi Falls even as we agreed to dispense with the trek. The drive to Kidepo continued - morning gave way to afternoon, afternoon to evening, then came night….. we kept going on and on. Finally we reached Kidepo at 1:15 am. Yes, we had travelled for about 19 hours, more than it took us to reach Uganda from India. Consider the age of most of the majority of the persons travelling also a drive of such length is extremely strenuous on the driver it was totally a defective planning: plan made by someone who had little knowledge about the drive from Kampala to Kidepo. The road for most part was quite good.

On day#4, we were supposed to do ‘after breakfast, last game drive in Kidepo National Park ... Then proceed in the direction of Murchison Falls National Park…’ As, the driver informed us of another 12 hour drive to reach the next Park, we had to forgo the morning game drive. Once again the reality over-ruled the itinerary

From Murchison Falls National Park we were to go via Kibiro Salt Village to Kibale Forest National Park. The road leading to the Kibiro Salt Village was inaccessible to our vehicle, if we wanted to reach that village, then, we were to either walk down from the road head or ride pillion on the bikes of the villagers, who assembled on seeing our vehicle. We decided against going down that way as we did not feel it was safe enough mode of travel. To be fair to AAV, they organized visit to another Salt Village elsewhere, however due to faulty planning we lost nearly two hours coming and going from the main road to the road head leading to that village needlessly that day. Once again shoddy planning – not being aware of the condition on the ground.

All the above are examples that shows despite being the local tour operator AAV was singularly unaware of local road conditions and how much time it takes from travelling from on destination to the other, even where I had suggested, reading from the net, that proceeding further on the first day that would have certainly spared us that drive on day#2 of the trip.

As if that was not enough, on reaching Kibale for the chimpanzee tracking we received the rudest shock of all- the driver while presenting the receipt evidencing payment for the tickets found that he was carrying receipt for 3 persons – while the group contained 5 persons and entire payment of USD 150/- per person was made in advance along as part of the full tour cost.

We had chosen Uganda as a destination because of the chimpanzee and mountain gorilla treks: and standing at the visitors centre we were pretty much dumbfounded. I was carrying some US currency and was able to fork out fee for one person. So four persons could travel, the fifth person had to sit it out, which the eldest member of the group gallantly offered to do. Later on AAV returned the USD 300/- to me.

On returning to India, we asked for compensation for the various failures on part of the tour operator. An amount was paid by AAV (that was below what we had asked for) with a statement -“ We will also give a discount off their next trip with us in Uganda.”

Uganda is a beautiful country and we found the people most extremely tourist-friendly and we visited nearly all the national parks during the course of this trip. Even if I visit Uganda again, I will certainly not choose AAV. It will be a remiss on my part should I fail to acknowledge that the driver was good: he knew the roads, was skillful and had a decent knowledge of the flora and fauna of the country. However, failure to check beforehand the air condition in the car and tokens for all in the chimpanzee trek left a bad taste.

One thing is certain, the senior most member of the group will never be able to visit Uganda again and her missing out on the chimpanzee trek due to ineptness on part of AAV is something that no amount of compensation can or will ever make good.

  I was extremely pleased with my 10 day trip to Uganda with African Adventure Vacations. The itinerary was great and all details were taken care of. Visited many National... read more Parks with the climax being the gorilla trek in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.Everything exceeded my expectations. Ashiraf with the travel company was easy to deal with and promptly answered all questions. I can't say enough about my guide Najib. In my travels all over the world he was one of the best guides I have ever had. His friendly nature and expertise made my overall experience a great one. I would recommend Afican Adventure Vacations to anyone interested in a trip to Uganda.
Chris Pearson
Austin Texas USA

  We actually started our planning with the idea to do a short trip to see the Gorillas. By finding out more about what Uganda has to offer we soon ended... read more up planning a 13 days trip which also included the big National Parcs that you can furtunately still find in Uganda.
Our trip started with a long ride from Kampala to the Kidepo NP, well it turned out to be a trip of 27 hours because of road blocks nad alternative routes we had to take. Considering all the circumstances in the beginning we were actually overwhelmed with how the trip continued. The distances got shorter and we were able to fully enjoy everything that Uganda has to offer. Of course the highlights were the encounters with the Chimps and Gorillas. But we were blown away by the beauty of the country, the friendly people we met and the fact that they are working hard to protect their wildlife and reintroducing species that did not exist anymore due to heavy poaching. Also, special thanks to our guide Frank who made this trip so unforgettable for us, he really became part of the family. Also, thanks to Robert for organizing this trip for us and for his fast reactions on questions, changes etc.
We will definitely be back one day !

  This was an incredible trip. The people were so friendly and welcoming and opportunities for seeing wildlife were plenty. We saw the Big 5 and the mountain gorillas with Africa... read more Adventure Vacations. I will definitely recommend your services.

  We had intended for safari drives in Tanzania to be the main focus of our East Africa trip but our time in Uganda, especially gorilla trekking in Bwindi, really gave... read more us much more than we had expected. Our tours were organised well and every effort was made to ensure we could enjoy all the wildlife viewing possible, even if that meant doing a river cruise during pouring rain (the hippos didn’t care!). Our itinerary required long hours of driving as we hopped from Entebbe to Kampala to QENP to Bwindi and back all in 5 days, but we always felt confident in the skills and care taken by our driver Najib. It was great fun thank you!