Safari

Andrej Brna made his first official visit to Republic of Uganda as the Honorary consul of Republic of Uganda in the Slovak Republic. Because one of his objectives is the development of tourism between Uganda and Slovakia and neighbor countries, he has met with representatives of Tourism Uganda and representatives of travel agency to agree on the future cooperation. During this stay, together with his business partner Martin Drazsky, he experienced ten days safari through the country. 

Mr. Brna was very impressed by the quality of services of the entire trip and services in the field of tourism in the Republic of Uganda. Because of the fact, that his long-term goal is to improve the tourism between Uganda and Slovakia and neighbor countries, he has decided to arrange tours thought reliable partner in Uganda directly at the hand of the Consulate of the Republic of Uganda in the Slovak Republic. In this way, when you will choose to use our services, you will have the guarantee of security and quality of services of our partners in the Republic of Uganda. We cooperate only with reliable partners with whom we have personal experience.

We are providing all kinds of tours around the Republic of Uganda. We have divided these tours into four basic categories, which you can find on our website. You can choose from basic tours around Uganda, where you can choose the type of luxury accommodation in five star hotels or accommodation in three-star hotels with very good quality, tours specially prepared for families, adventure tours or tours for people with disabilities. You can also choose tours tailored to the individual requirements of the client, which we can provide even for minimum of two people.

In the following text the honorary consul, Andrej Brna will describe his 10 days travel in details. To see the photos from the first official visit of the Honorary Consul to Uganda, visit our photo galery.     

10 Days Uganda Tour to Murchison Falls National Park, Kibale National Park, Queen Elizabeth National Park, and Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

July 1, 2012; first day - transport from Vienna to Kampala

We arrived at the Entebbe International Airport at 10:30 PM. Because we had managed to get visa to Uganda back in Europe we didn’t have to wait in line for visa and we could go straight ahead to pick up our luggage. Representative from the travel agency, who was supposed to transfer us to the Sheraton Hotel in Kampala, was already waiting for us at the airport hall. The transfer took 45 minutes and after the ride we could enjoy well-earned rest at the Sheraton Hotel in Kampala.

July 2, 2012; second day - drive to Murchison Falls National Park.

Our safari guide picked us from our hotel and we have started our journey to Murchison Falls National Park. This panoramic drive north-westwards has taken us through the famous war zone-the Luwero Triangle. During the travel, we have visited the rhino sanctuary, before we had a lunch in Masindi Town. Later we made a drive to the top of the Murchison Falls, the spectacular site for seeing the Mighty Nile compressing from up to 1 km while squeeze through a 7 meter canyon dropping 45 meters with a thunderous roar creating a beautiful rainbow and a plume of spray. It was an amazing experience. We spent the night in Paraa Safari Lodge.

July 3, 2012: third day - boat ride to the bottom of the Murchison Falls

We have started our third day with a game viewing session from the northern banks of the placid Victoria Nile. This side has got a number of animals which include elephants, Oribi, Rothschild’s giraffe, lions, Cape buffalo, hartebeest, Waterbuck, Bohor reedbuck, hyena, bushbucks and leopards. Then we have returned to the lodge for the lunch. After the lunch we went to launch cruise upstream the calm Victoria Nile to the base of the falls. On the cruise we have enjoyed the view of the toothsome hippos, the Nile crocodiles as well as a wide variety of birds, for example Goliath heron, Egyptian goose, pelican bee-eater, kingfisher, hornbill, cormorant and the rare shoebill stork. At the end of this incredible day we had a dinner and at Paraa Safari lodge where we also spent the night.

July 4, 2012: fourth day – drive from Murchison Falls NP to Kibale NP

After the breakfast we have driven southwards via Hoima to Fort Portal - a beautiful town overlooking the Rwenzori. This scenic drive passes you through verdant countryside filled with interesting scenery of the Albertine rift as well as the past traditional homesteads and farms along Albertine Rift escarpments. We reached Fort portal by evening and spent the night in Ndali lodge.

July 5, 2012: fifth day - Kibale NP - Nature walk and Chimpanzee tracking

After an early breakfast we were transported to Kanyanchu Tourist Centre where the park ranger guides have picked and lead us in the search for chimpanzees. Kibale tropical moist forest also hosts 13 other primates which include the rare L’Hoest’s monkey, red colobus, blue monkeys, red tailed monkeys, grey cheeked Mangabeys among others. The local guide has provided detailed explanations not only on primates, but also on all the forest fauna and flora and made his best to make our walk informative and enjoyable. After the Chimpanzee trek we had a lunch and then later in the afternoon we went to nature walk in Bigodi wetland. This wetland is famous for the shoe bill stork. We spent the night in Ndali Lodge. I have to say that Kibale NP and also the stay at Ndali Lodge was amazing experience and I definitely like to repeat it in the future.

July 6, 2012: sixth day - transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park

In the early morning, right after breakfast we started our transport to Queen Elizabeth National park. We have arrived in lunch time so we could enjoy the lunch and relax by the pool side in Mweya Safari lodge. We had overnight at Mweya Safari lodge.

July 7, 2012: seventh day - game drives and Boat ride on Kazinga Channel

We have started the day with an early morning game driving in the park through its diverse ecosystems. Queen Elizabeth National Park has diverse eco-system of grassy plains, tropical forest, rivers, swamps, lakes and volcanic craters and is home to an incredible abundance of wildlife. On the drive expect animals like lions, cape buffaloes, Defassa waterbuck, giant forest hogs, leopards, Uganda Kob, elephants, Topi and bush bucks. We returned to the lodge for the lunch and then we have proceeded to the Kazinga channel for a launch cruise filled with sightseeing of a vast array of wildlife. This trip should not only pass you through possibly the highest concentration of hippos but also offers an excellent platform for photography, bird watching and game viewing. Then we had an evening game drive before retiring for dinner and overnight in Mweya Safari lodge. It probably depends on luck how many animal species you will enjoy on your drive, but I have to say that we found Murchison Falls NP to Kibale NP much more interesting than Elizabeth National Park.

July 8, 2012: eighth day - game drive (Ishasha sector) Bwindi NP

In the morning we went for a game drive in the Ishasha sector to watch out for tree climbing lions in this area. Later we transferred to Bwindi NP. The drive from Queen Elizabeth NP to Bwindi NP takes around 6 hours, but there are always many interesting things to see. We arrived to the park in the evening. We spent night in Gorilla forest camp.

July 9, 2012: ninth day - gorilla tracking tour

After early breakfast, we have been transported to the Tourist Centre for a short briefing on how gorilla tour is to be conducted. The destination guides had led us inside the deep moist forest to see the shy rare Mountain Gorilla. Gorilla tracking is perhaps one of the most exciting wildlife experiences on earth given that there are only 700 mountain gorillas remaining in the world! Half of this population lives in Uganda. After tracking we had a very interesting meeting in Bwindi community hospital (BCH). The BCH is a non-profit welfare organization that provides medical assistance and hospital services. It began as an outreach clinic under a tree, and has grown into a 112-bed Hospital providing health care and health education services to a population of over 100,000 people. Based on the discussion with Aida Nantege Daphine – Communications Team Leader, Mr. Brna decided to support the hospital and to organize the public collection in Slovak republic named „Uganda Charity 2012“.

The main objective of our fundraising is to raise enough money for the project „Construction of an Incinerator“. The incinerator will manage all hospital and other wastes produced in this area therefore minimizing the undesirable environment impact of the hospital, protect hospital workers from occupational hazards and protect the environment and public health.We had an overnight stay a Gorilla forest camp.

July 10, 2012: tenth day - transfer to Kayonza airstrip for charter flight back to Kampala

After the breakfast, we drove to the airstrip. The aircraft had departure time at 9:30am. This flight was a good experience, but I will prefer to drive through the country because there are lots of things you can see during the drive and you can meet the local people and see how they live. Representative from the travel agency was waiting for us when we have landed and he picked us up to transfer us to the Sheraton hotel. After the short rest I had to prepare for the meeting with representatives of the travel agency. The whole trip and cooperation with the representatives of travel agency was on very professional level so we took agreement on future cooperation. Our schedule was very busy and strict during past few days so we took a well-earned rest at the Sheraton Hotel in Kampala at the end of the day.

July 11, 2012: eleventh day - city tour Kampala

In the morning after the breakfast, our guide picked us up from our hotel at 8:00 AM to start the city tour. We have visited the Kasubi tombs, the Bahai temple and the National museum. In the middle of the day we had a meeting with The Uganda Tourism Board. We have discussed lot of details about the tourism legislative and what are the strong and weak sides of tourism operators in Uganda. The whole discussion fortified us in our opinion that tourism in Uganda in on very good and professional level. This meeting was very useful and we learned a lot of new information. After the meeting we have been invited to a buffet of the local dishes in Uganda. At the end of the day the representative from travel agency transferred us to the Entebbe International Airport.