terrible company
I was unfortunately really disappointed with this tour company. They are almost con artists and extremely unprofessional.
I was doing this tour as a solo female traveller. I requested to be part of a group and waited until other people were booked before booking myself. I was told that there were other people booked in for the same dates and I could join that tour. When I was collected by the tour company, I was very casually told that everyone else had cancelled and I would be alone for the entire trip. This was never communicated to me before being collected in Entebbe. I specifically asked when booking to be a part of a group as I wanted to meet other people on my travels and wanted to have company for meals and long car journeys. Eddie’s attitude about this was very disrespectful and casual, as if it was not a big deal. It appears this company does not understand that a tour is supposed to be more than one person.
Day 1 of the itinerary was a 40 minute drive from Entebbe to Kampala. I was not offered a city tour. Day 1 started at 10am and was finished at 11am and I was in the room alone until day 2. As I was the only person on the tour, I couldn’t go for a walk with people or eat in company and meet new people as I had planned and had to stay in my room all day. When checking out of the accommodation on day 3, I had to very uncomfortably ask my guide to pay for my dinners numerous times as I was told these were included in the price. There was a breakdown in language here that meant I had to go back and forth with him to get him to pay. A very uncomfortable situation that could have easily been avoided if the tour company communicated with their staff better.
On Day 3, it was a total of 11.5 hours to get to the accommodation. We stopped for 15mins at the equator to take a picture and use the toilet. There was no informative talk as it said in my itinerary. My driver got lost twice and asked me to use my Google maps for him as he had no data? When I eventually arrived at the camp and began check in, my guide told me that a different camp had called to ask where we were. Then Eddie called to say we were at the wrong camp even though I had the name of the camp in my itinerary from Northern Fox. My accommodation had been changed without any notice and we then had to drive back the way we came from to get to the new accommodation. I was then texted by Eddie to say that I would only be staying for 1 night instead of 2 and I was being moved to a different accommodation again for the last night which was not the plan I was given. I was told the new camp would be “better” but I was the only person staying at the entire camp and again, did not get to meet any other travellers.
Day 4 was finished by 3pm and I was taken to my accommodation which looked nice and I was happy to hear there was a pool. The pool was absolutely filthy. I could not swim in it. Again, I was the only person from a tour staying at this accommodation so I ate alone again in an empty restaurant and did not get to meet anyone.
On Day 5, while travelling back towards Entebbe, my guide mentioned we were 2 hours from the Forest Cottages. I asked how far that was from Entebbe and he said “no we are going to Kampala”. I told him I needed to be dropped at a specific hotel in Entebbe, as I had an early morning flight, and I had already told Eddie this prior to booking the tour. I had also told my guide this the day that he collected me. Again, he just laughed casually and said “no problem”.
I am very disappointed with this tour and I am very confused why it cost $1540. I know the gorilla permit cost $740, but given the poor quality accommodation on day 1,2 and 3 I don’t know why this trip was so expensive. There were no bottles of water available for me in the car either, which I always had on my tour in Kenya so this was very annoying as it was supposed to be covered in the cost and I had to keep asking for it to be provided.
A warning to people considering booking this - this is NOT a 5 day itinerary. It is 2 days of activities and 3 days of travel.
I had good intentions to support a local company rather than an international travel company but I will not do it again. This company were very unprofessional and treated everything very casually when it was clearly causing me upset. If this were an international company I would be seeking a partial refund but given how carelessly Northern Fox treated my custom, I know they would not provide it. I understand there is a large cultural difference and that Ugandan people are very calm and take things very easy, but this approach does not meet international or European standards for service. You do not get what you pay for here. The issues I encountered while traveling alone were stressful and I would never book with them again. The two days of activities were fun, but this company ruined my trip.
7 augusti 2023
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