How to plan for a good safari vacation
Overview
Organising a pleasant trip One of the most thrilling and fulfilling preparation strategies for guests to have a good safari vacation is safari. This is a resource to assist travellers in organising an African safari vacation.
Establish your safari objectives and preferences:
To save time, it is crucial to establish your safari objectives and preferences. These include the kind of experience you hope to have, the time of year you wish to travel, the wildlife you hope to see, your level of physical fitness, and your preferred safari style.
Select the Best Safari Location:
Africa offers a wide range of stunning safari locations, such as Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Kenya, that provide a remarkable, one-of-a-kind experience with a wealth of wildlife. Selecting the ideal safari location, such as Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park, the Serengeti for wildebeest migration, or Bwindi for gorilla trekking, guarantees an enjoyable safari experience.
Choose the Safari Experience Type:
The kind of safari experience that tourists select—from midrange to budget and luxury experiences—determines the quality of their safari vacation. Travellers can opt from Accommodations such as tented camps, bush breakfasts, walking safaris and mobile safaris thereby delivering a rustic and immersive safari experience.
Choose your safari pursuits:
Hot air balloon safaris, chimpanzee trekking safaris, boat safaris, gorilla trekking safaris, night game drives, and cultural safaris are some of the methods to get the finest African experience, even if game drives are the most common way to see African safari places.
Budget for your Safari Experience:
Setting aside money for your African safari is one of the best strategies to ensure a successful trip. Travellers who intend to go on an African safari should budget for their safari experiences because the majority of safari experiences range from low-season offers to high-season offers.
Select a Reputable Tour Operator:
The tour operator who plans the safari experience has a significant impact on the quality of your safari vacation. It is recommended that tourists reserve their safaris through trustworthy tour companies that have been planning safaris for a while. You can also contact us with questions, and we will assist you in organising your African safari trip.
Choose When to Go
Deciding when to travel is the next step after selecting your location. The dry season and the rainy season are the two best times of year to visit Uganda, according to most tourists.
The majority of tourists often visit Uganda between June and September and December and February, which is known as the Dry Season. For gorilla trekking activities, this is the ideal time of year. This is when the forest floors are less wet, the routes are manageable, and the heavy rains won't soak your shooting gear. When hiking in Uganda's rainforests, it would be smart to keep rain in mind.
The best time to visit wildlife savannah areas and observe herds of animals roaming across expansive plains is during the dry season. Clear skies, more sunshine, less rain, and more greenery make this a great time of year to shoot wildlife. Animals congregate near major water sources, which facilitates the identification of animals.
The greatest time to go on a boat launch safari on the Victoria Nile in Murchison Falls National Park and Kazinga Channel in Queen Elizabeth National Park is during the dry season.
If employment commitments, school breaks, or world health concerns mean traveling is a restriction during particular periods of the year. Before choosing which activities to perform, you should carefully consider when on your calendar you can travel to Uganda.
Reserve Your Accommodations and Tour Activities
Next, you need to select if you’re going to go solo or with the help of a tour guide. Additionally, would you hire a tour operator to handle the local travel arrangements or will you organise the trip yourself?
The majority of foreign visitors prefer an all-inclusive guided safari. Your tour operator uses it to plan the specifics of the schedule, including lodging, meals, transportation, activities, and guides. Your entire trip will be managed by the tour operator, who will also pay the service provider and drive you around.
Even if you want to make all of your own reservations, you will most likely need to work with a specialised safari firm to arrange transportation and permits, particularly if you are a foreigner.
Unless you live there and are familiar with the local languages and travel procedures. Additionally, it is simple for a self-planner to organise a self-game drive to easily accessible locations such as Queen Elizabeth National Park or Lake Mburo National Park.
I would like to suggest you to search for a reliable local operator to provide you with an amazing experience when organising and running your safari vacation in Uganda.
They own award-winning eco-lodges in prime locations for visitors to Uganda and have been running Ugandan adventures since 2007. The quaint Nkuringo Bwindi Gorilla Lodge in the southern section of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and the Papyrus Guesthouse at Entebbe, close to the International Airport, make a great starting point for gorilla trekking trips.
Contact the local operator of your choice no later than four to twelve months in advance. Since only a small number of people are allowed to witness the mountain giants each day, it is advisable to reserve your gorilla permit well in advance.
Reserve Your Flights
Flights to Uganda can be costly depending on where you're flying from, and because there aren't many carriers, tickets tend to fill up fast. Make your reservation as long in advance as you can to get the best prices.
Verify whether the airline in question operates to Entebbe International Airport (EBB), Uganda's sole international airport, if you have air miles. If not, to ensure the lowest price, utilise a website that compares flights, such as Skyscanner.com.
When making your reservation, try to let your local operator know about your foreign flights so that the ground handler or first-night hotel can handle airport transfers.
Purchase travel insurance.
You will have spent a substantial sum of money on flights, tours, and lodging at this point in the planning of your safari vacation to Uganda. It would be nice if you had protection at this stage.
Particularly in Africa, where airlines frequently cancel flights without warning and public hospitals are hardly the places you want to end up after an emergency, travel insurance is crucial.
Your insurance should cover theft, baggage loss, trip cancellation, and loss of possessions in addition to medical expenses. Make sure medical evacuation is covered by your insurance if you're going to a far-off place.
Check Your Visa Requirements
Ask your consulate if you require a visa many months before to your planned departure date. Your nationality—not your place of residence—determines that. Instead of depending on advice from out-of-date travel websites, it is crucial to check with an official government source as Uganda visa regulations are subject to change at any time.
All individuals planning to visit Uganda for vacation, tourism, etc. must apply for and receive a visa online at https://visas.immigration.go.u..., according to Ugandan immigration laws.
There can be specific requirements for your passport, such as the fact that it must be valid for at least six months from the date of entrance, even if you do not require a visa.
Plan Your Travel Drugs
You must contact a travel clinic and find out what immunisations they recommend for Uganda at least two months before to your trip.
It is beneficial to have rabies, typhoid, and hepatitis A. Since malaria is common in most areas, Ugandan immigration will need confirmation of yellow fever vaccination as a condition of entrance.
All anti-malarial prophylactics have distinct adverse effects, so be sure to speak with your doctor before choosing one. Expectant mothers should be aware that in certain places, the Zika virus is also a concern.
Purchase Your Travel Gear
Purchasing all of your specialised gear is the most exciting aspect of organising your upcoming safari vacation to Uganda. Items like bug repellents, a decent pair of binoculars, and sturdy hiking shoes might be on your purchasing list.
Be ready for any weather conditions. Even during the dry season, nights in the southwestern highlands can be extremely cold. However, days are erratic, with strong sun flashes and sporadic tropical showers.
Consider saving your memories by purchasing a scrapbook and an extra set of pens, upgrading your smartphone's camera, or investing in a high-quality camera.
A first aid kit, which includes all the supplies you'll need to treat minor wounds and pains as well as any personal drugs, is another crucial investment.
Learn More About Where You're Going
One of the best ways to boost your enthusiasm and enhance your local knowledge is to do some research about Uganda before you travel there.
You can learn a lot about a country's history, culture, and lesser-known sights and activities by consulting an online travel guide like Destination Uganda Traveller or a quality guidebook.
It's also a good idea to use phrasebooks because it will help you make friends if you know even a few lines in the local language. Try using Luganda-English or Swahili phrases for tourists.
Determine Your Financial Course of Action
Make financial decisions a few weeks prior to your trip. Although it is not safe to carry significant quantities of cash around in Uganda, not every street corner has an ATM. Avoid travellers’ checks, as they’re rarely accepted as a genuine cash.
Generally speaking, your best option is to use your credit or debit card to make a sufficient cash withdrawal at the ATM when you arrive to cover your expenses. Keep in mind that ATMs might not be able to deconstruct the bills. Upon arrival, contact a Forex Bureaux to convert part of your cash into smaller notes and Uganda Shillings (UGX). Tipping service staff can be done using local cash.
Thankfully, debit and credit cards are accepted at practically all of Uganda's contemporary safari camps and lodges. Before your journey, check with your local safari operator.
Divide your money and keep it in multiple places for security. Verify that the Visa or MasterCard logo is on your credit card. Notify your bank when you are organising your safari trip in Uganda so they won't cancel your card on suspicion of fraud when you use it overseas.