Uganda Safari Reviews | African Pearl Safaris Client Testimonials

We had the most memorable time with the Gorillas and we couldn’t have wished a better companion than Sula to accompany us there. He was very knowledgeable and helpful throughout the trip. I hope he is well and please pass on my regards to him as he as well as the experience as a whole is something we won’t forget. Our time in Uganda was fantastic and passed far to quickly. We will certainly return!
Can you let Sula know that our booking on the island in Lake Bunyonyi turned out to be fine as when he dropped us at the boat the accommodation couldn’t recover our booking. But once there they had another name down and the confusion was settled. Sula seemed worried to leave us which went to show how responsible he was and is.
I will add our positive review now.
Thank you for all your hard work helping to organize our time spend with African Pearl Safaris. We had a fantastic time!!

Roger Shepard Zimmerman & Heather Lynne Zimmerman from USA. June 2015

If you are planning a trip to Uganda, do yourself a favor and let African Pearl Safaris handle it.They did our trip and we had one of the best times of our life.
– Roger Zimmerman.

This entire trip was amazing and i can’t think of a better way to show my dad the beauty of the Pearl of Africa.
– Heather Zimmerman.

Ann Carroll with 4 other Friends from USA visited Feb-March 2015

We enjoyed all of our safaris in Uganda. Moses was an excellent driver, our accommodations and foods were all excellent. Uganda is a beautiful country and we were privileged to see so much and have many wonderful experiences.
I have experienced other safaris in Uganda but the service provided by African Pearl has been the best. I hope to return to Uganda again and hope to travel more with your company.

Thank you and everyone at African Pearl for a wonderful time.

Bob & Milly from USA: Rwanda – Uganda Safari 25th Feb-10th March 2015

APS was nothing short of professional and efficient in arranging and providing for us an exciting and worry-free safari. Our only regret regret is not taking this trip years ago. This was our first trip with an onsite tour company in an African country, and we were wary, but Edris was extremely professional and helpful in the planning stages.
The itinerary included: Rwanda’s Virunga volcanoes, home to 300 mountain gorillas, fifteen of which we experienced up close and very personal, Uganda’s wildlife parks including Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and its 300 mountain gorillas as we experienced another fifteen of these intriguing great apes, Queen Elizabeth Park and the wildlife teeming Straits dividing Lake Albert and Lake George, culminating in the spectacular Murchison Falls Park and its mesmerizing six meter gap in the Nile, the largest rush of water in the world. This was a lifetime adventure and most memorial experience thanks to Edris, sales manager, our outstanding guide/ driver, Fred Sunday, who could spot birds and monkeys in the trees and avoid pot holes at the same time, the excellent itinerary, and the services of the moderately-priced lodges. Be prepared for long rough rides on bad roads however, and the fact the generators are off in all lodges at night meaning no room fan on hot nights.
We highly recommend African Pearl Safaris.

Karyn Obst – Australia – 6 pax East Africa Round Tour 20 Days (Sep 2014)

Well we have had our first week back at work after an amazing holiday. Last night night Steve and I had a good look at our photos and cannot believe the countries we have visited and the things we saw. Everyone in our group keeps “pinching themselves” to make sure it wasn’t a dream!
We all want to say “Thank you Edris” for all your hard work in putting this together for us. (Yes, and I know it took a year!!!) Absolutely everything went to plan, accommodation was fantastic and all your drivers were great. A big thanks to Ronnie in Uganda and Rwanda. He got us to Silverback Lodge in the daylight, the day before our Gorilla trek, even though it was pouring with rain and the roads were horrendous (that part of the trip was a little
uncomfortable for me). I imagined we would be trekking the gorillas in the pouring rain but Uganda was kind to us and it was sunshine all the way thereafter. Ronnie also made sure our time in Uganda was spent wisely like changing our walking tour from morning to evening and then the boat cruise from evening to morning it was perfect. He also made sure we were at the airport in plenty of time for our onward flight to Nairobi. Thanks Ronnie!
Please thank James from your sister company, in Kenya, for his part in putting the next part of the trip together.
Our feast in Carnivore on our arrival in Nairobi was amazing!. We met James and William, our driver in Nairobi the next morning and William was such a knowledgeable gentleman and drove in a perfect manner that suited our age group. He found lots of animals for us in the Masai Mara to photograph and also got us to the Tanzanian border safely. Thank you William!
Godwin met us in Tanzania at the border and made the last part of our trip very enjoyable. Our first stop with Godwin was Spekes Bay Lodge on Lake Victoria which was a welcome change after being in the “bush” and it was also fantastic to visit the fishing village and go in a canoe. The accommodation was perfect and the food great BUT
the manager of Spekes Bay was very rude to us and WIFI didn’t work even though the Manager said it would. This was probably our one and only real real complaint.
Godwin was also a great driver and made sure we got the most out of our safari experience. He also made sure we got to the airport in plenty of time. Thank you Godwin!
A delegate from James’ company (or the owner?) met us in Arusha at the Coffee Shop to make sure everything went to plan. We informed her of our only complaint about the Manager at Spekes Bay, so they are well aware.
Please let “Travelinstyle” know that the Coffee Shop in Arusha was a perfect ending to a fantastic safari experience.
James also phoned us in Zanzibar to see how the Safari went. (We actually missed his call) but please thank him also for looking out for us and let him know we were
very happy.
Everything was perfect much better than we could ever foresee. PERFECT Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania.
Thank you again and we will certainly recommend African Pearl Safaris to any of our friends who want to visit East Africa and also some time in the future I will put a blog on Trip Adviser too.

Hello Edris African Pearl Safaris!!!! (Sep 2014)

I wanted to thank you for the beautiful trip you took us hacer. La true that everything was very very good.
The day we saw the gorillas was unforgettable.
When you want to come to Argentina you will be well come to my city. Thanks a kiss Valeria

We had a fabulous time in Uganda!

We had a fabulous time in Uganda! You live in an amazing country. Sula was just the best driving confidently but safely. While we had very long days and some nights, he was always alert and very knowledgeable. On our last morning the van was making some bad noises, but we thankfully got to Kampala that evening without a breakdown.
The Chameleon Hill was in a beautiful location and the food delicious. We had a hair raising night drive through the pouring rain to get there, but arrived (thanks to Sula) after getting stuck in the mud twice safely. I hope that road gets some improvements soon.
We were within feet of both the gorillas (only an hour hike in!) and chimps (4 hour hike but fun).
Thank you for your attention and organizing a trip that we will surely remember for many years to come.
Renee Williams.

A Group of 15 people from China Visited Uganda, And this is what they said after the Tour with us:

Amazing and memorable trip~we got lots of surprise in Uganda.
All of us have a wonderful and memorable time in your beautiful country. We learn lots of things from your beautiful country and all the warm, virtuous people .
We got lots of surprise in Uganda,
-We are surprise the good air temperature in the hot summer,
-We are surprise all the nature environment, beautiful river of Nile, full of the plants and animals everywhere
-We are surprise all the kind, warm, true penny, virtuous people everywhere, they are the guardian of Nile and the nature,so that god also take care of this land I think,
it gives rain and sunny everyday and there is no winter,That is amazing!
-We are surprise the primitive belief of the local people, they learn from the nature and get lots of truth. We got lots of information of the west people from Monday(
the manager of Ihamba). Great thanks to him.
-We are surprise that the people and animals can get along with harmonious.
-We are surprise all the foods are delicious in Uganda, the fruit,the soup,the rice,the coffee, even a piece of bread. That is amazing!
We love Nile ,we love Uganda, we love every inch of the land and all the local people. That is amazing trip for us.
Thank you so much indeed.

APS’s Latest Trip Advisor Reviews;

Jenna A:
“Excellent Trip, Professional and Friendly Service!”
My husband and I had the fortune of visiting Bwindi to see the gorillas with APS in March 2012. From the start, our contact Edris was prompt and professional, and arranged our tour without hassle.
Our driver/guide Daniel was lovely and knowledgeable about the area. We stayed at the community bandas (budget option) but were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the accommodation.
We would highly recommend APS to anyone planning a trip in Uganda!

Lex2012:
“Highly Recommend APS.”
We recently visited Uganda and had done a lot of research before hand on which safari company to use to visit the Gorillas in Bwindi. APS (particularly Edris our main contact) were very impressive in terms of prompt responses to emails, ability to cater a package to our needs and work to our timings. We were initially a bit nervous
about transferring such a large sum of money before the trip but our minds were put at ease from reading various reviews online.
The trip itself was amazing! Grace our drive/guide was fantastic. He was informative and able to answer any questions we had along the way. We opted for the budget trip and stayed in the Buhoma Community camps which was more than adequate and nicer than we had expected. An amazing trip made very easy with the help of APS.

Recent 2012 Testimonies;

Danielle West:
Dear African Pearl Safaris,
I would like to thank you for an amazing holiday in Uganda.
Myself and 3 friends were in your beautiful country for a week (17 – 22 February 2012) on tour with your company.
We had a wonderful time and saw and did so many amazing things! The Gorilla tracking was one of our favorites!!
We were lucky enough to have Drake as our tour guide and I would just like to compliment APS and Drake himself!
Not only was he professional, knowledgeable and accommodating he was informative (we learned so much!), friendly and in general a pleasure to be around!
I cannot imagine our holiday without him! He was always making us laugh or entertaining us with interesting stories and history about Uganda. Everywhere we went, Drake was met with smiles and handshakes we could tell he is greatly respected in his industry! We will all be recommending APS and Drake to all of our friends!
My 3 friends and I have sent him a small gift, which will arrive in Bwindi next week. I have asked the person who is delivering it to leave it with the people at the Bwindi gorilla tracking office. Please could you pass on this information to Drake so that he can fetch it the next time he visits the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.
Please also tell him that we have also sent a bag of pens, pencils, crayons and notebooks for the children of Bwindi.
If Drake has the time, could he inquire if these things have been handed out to the children who need them.
Once again, many thanks for the spectacular holiday, I look forward to visiting Uganda again!
Kind regards
Danielle West

Recent 2012 Uganda Safari Testimonies;

A number of Tourists who have had their tours with African Pearl Safaris in 2012 Have said that;
Arista Burke
Thank you so much for organizing the wonderful safari. All of us thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and I’m sure we will be talking about this holiday for many years to come. Drake was a fantastic guide that took really good care of us. He went out before and after our safari and for the certificate APS made for us.
We have all fallen in Love with beautiful Uganda and would like to go back to visit there again in the future.
Kind Regards.
Arista

Beverly Moore
I have intended to send you a message and let you know what a wonderful trip I had everything was perfect thanks to all of you at APS! I am still trying to catch up on all the e-mails and work that accumulated while I was enjoying your beautiful country! I will be happy to post a review on
TripAdvisor soon.
Thanks again for everything. I hope to return to Uganda again someday!
Kindest regards,
Bev

Peter Arnoff Nielsen:
Most people I know book their safari through an agent in their home country. I opted for a direct contact with an agency in Uganda. Certainly I had considerations sending a relatively large amount of money to a company I only knew through the internet.
I must say however that all the correspondence I had with African Pearl Safaris went very smooth. They immediately picked up upon my requests and put together a trip that fully incorporated my expectations to a safari in Uganda. The prime sensations obviously being the primates. The different monkeys, the chimpanzees and not least the gorillas. Safari in Uganda differs from most other African countries by much more variation in the experience. Not just two game drive per day; but also boat trips and must importantly walking safari. Though; but extraordinary rewarding. African Pearl Safari had selected superior accommodation with excellent meal programs and not least outstanding locations for me. Every morning saw a new and fantastic sun rice. They also provided an experienced and punctual driver with a good command of English and knowledge of locations and wild life. Since we spend a lot
of time together his forthcoming personality was essential in making my trip a smooth and fantastic memorable experience.
Peter Arnoff Nielsen
Best regards

Sue and Bernard Wyld:
We just wanted to say thank you for organising such a wonderful holiday- you included all the things about animals and people that we wanted and we couldn’t have had a better itinerary.
The places we stayed in were all v good with excellent food and no tummy Upsets. We weren’t v keen on Arcadia cottages- a bit run down and no character in main shed probably not helped by rain and being only guests! Garden and views were great though!
We also enjoyed all the boat rides where we saw lots of animals. We had a good rest at Mihingo Lodge- a beautiful and peaceful place in a stunning setting with lovely rooms and ambience.
Sula, our driver and companion, is a lovely, kind and attentive man as well as being a very careful driver. Those roads are certainly hard work! He was always cheerful
and looked after us so well. We miss him!
A very personal and attentive service which made for a fantastic holiday!
Many thanks again
Best wishes

Recent Testimonies on TripAdvisor

MikeDavis79 – Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates: “Truly professional outfit and Sula is the best driver in the world”
Reviewed 19 October 2011, MikeDavis79 has been to 69 destinations
Somewhat nervous before we arrived on how this might go, all our concerns were laid to rest from the word go. Was a fantastic 8 day trip that Edris from APS planned perfectly. The highlight for us, apart from the obvious of the safari and the gorillas was our driver Sula. One of the worlds truly great people who went out of his way to make our trip so so special. He has so so much knowledge of the region and such a warm and huge heart. WE LOVE YOU SULA! If we we are to return to East Africa we wouldn’t hesitate to use Africa Pearl Safaris again. Thank you

Dr. Dwain – Bloomington, Indiana: “Gorilla trek, game viewing and Lake Edward cruise”

Reviewed 21 September 2011
I selected African Pearl based on reviews such as this. I have been to Africa many times and done safaris multiple times in East Africa and a number of countries in Southern Africa. African Pearl rates very high with me. The driver/guide Sulu did an excellent job. The Gorilla trek is much more difficult than advertised. Hire a
porter to carry your small pack and assist you up and down some very difficult and slick areas. Trekking shoes are strongly recommended. Garments are not as important as those shoes. I don’t hesitate to recommend this group.
Dr. Dwain
“Excellent company”
I actually visited in 12/09, and Sula was my driver. I chose African Pearl because of Phiona, who arranged all tour details and was an outstanding communicator. This
is an amazing country, with various opportunities to trek (and in the sanctuary, more closely contact) chimpanzees, see big game, and trek gorillas, as well as see a
beautiful and exotic countryside. You can be very confident with African Pearl Safaris, as Sula took very good care and was very cautious with me.

A group of 6 people who went for a safari of 5 days;

This 6 people group visited Bwindi and Queen Elizabeth, for 5 days from 10th – 15th Sep 2011 and this is what they said after their tour;

Dr. Dwain Clark Ill man: “I and my friends enjoyed the tour immensely. The office people have been so kind. I would emphasize the difficulty at Gorilla trek to need for more technical hiking shoes. Clothing is important but shoes are the key”.

Pamela Jean Roberts: “I have been on safari 3 times, this was the best”.

Yulanda Burley: “Sula was wonderful! Efficient driver/guide and one of our team. He took good care of us and we loved every minute we spent with him”.

Jill Lynn Buffenbarger: “Sula was an excellent driver, he became our friend and trusted advisor”.

Pamela Roberts: “Sula, thank you for your care, you gave us a safe trip. Sula I will pray for you, Jesus loves you, and I will always remember you. God put you in our life; you are a blessing from God”.