The Grassrootz Adventures Dream Team 2023
Grassrootz Adventures
- Located In:
-
Netherlands
- Size:
- 1-5 employees (Founded in 2012)
- Member Of:
- UTB, UCF & UCOTA
- Tour Types:
- Custom mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $1,291 to $8,608 per person per day (MXN, excl. int'l flights)
for a custom tour
Your request will be sent directly to the operator
If preferred, you can contact the operator directly
Reviews
NL
Email Rachel | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Knowledgable, pleasant, fullfilling our wishes, creative in organizing the perfect trip and safaris
We have made such a special trip with our family (parents and 2 sons of 22 and 19 yrs) in beautiful Uganda. It is a beautifully varied country and Toon and Sander from Grassrootz have organized a perfect trip for us, even for our smaller budget. In 10 days we did jeep, walking and boat safaris with a perfect guide Emmy. He is super knowledgeable, pleasant to travel with for 10 days, arranges everything perfectly down to the last detail, finds nice coffee and places to eat and is creative in coming up with even more sights. It was great and we saw an incredible amount. Elephants, giraffes, endless hippos, crocodiles, beautiful birds, too many to mention. The country is beautiful and the people are incredibly friendly and helpful. The nature is impressive and varied. From broad savannas, beautiful overgrown hilly landscapes and the most beautiful lake ever seen, Lake Bunyonyi with 29 islands. Chimpanzees a few meters away. We have trekked from Kampala, Murchison Falls National Park ,Lake Mburo National Park, Northern Queen Elizabeth National Park, Ndali Kasenda Crater Lakes and DjaDja Banga. In short, a must for everyone!
Email Amit Kahana | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
An incredible experience in the pearl of Africa
I travelled with my wife and her mum who is 76. We did a nine days safari (eight nights) in the west of Uganda, starting from the north west and finishing in the south before heading back to Entebbe.
I'll start by saying that the trip was one of our top five trips in the world, after visiting 60+ countries. There were two contributing factors to this statement:
1. Uganda
2. Our guide, Paul
We could not have asked for a better guide and we implore to ask for him personally (as you'll see in other reviews). Paul is extremely knowledgeable, pragmatic, experienced, kind, patient and has a wonderful sense of humour. He constantly found the best options for the trip based on the weather, traffic and our interests. He's also an excellent driver and within the somewhat challenging conditions of driving around Uganda he's very prudent and safe.
The tour itself was intense, as we wanted to cover all of the west in a nine days. This is not for the faint of heart with several transfers taking 4-6 hours given the distance that needs to be covered. If you want a more relaxed journey, you should extend your trip so you can stay two nights in each location. We only stayed in two locations for two nights, with the remaining five being one night each which meant a lot of driving in order to get everything done.
For us, albeit somewhat challenging, it was absolutely worth it. Most drives went by quickly as we saw the countryside of Uganda and met interesting people. We also managed to hear quite a few stories from Paul and get to know the country better.
We enjoyed the Gorillas (obviously) and the Chimps, but in general the different national parks were great and we easily spotted the big dive, with some extras like hynas and other exotic animals like the shoebill stork (a must see). We also enjoyed meeting different communities and learn about their crafts (gin making, coffee production etc) and meeting the Batwa was an incredible experience (definitely ask to do that, although it's three hours it's absolutely worth it). For us, this is an easy five stars to give and we'd highly recommend it.
Overall, it was an incredible
NL
Email Rogier | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
tailor made to taste
second time we booked with Grassrootz. I know Uganda pretty well so we clearly indicated what we were looking for and we got - with some very accommodating tweaking and tuning - exactly that: basic but decent accommodations, a great driver/guide who knew a lot and was super helpful and the right balance between the tourist experience and the local experience. Sander did some good recoomendations that perfectly matched what we were looking for.
NL
Email Mieke | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
A good car and great driver is necessary when travelling
We hired for 6 days a car and driver via Grassrootztravel. We had to visit for our work several organisations in different places in Uganda.
The car was comfortable and we had a great driver. He brought us in time to different addresses, even the ones difficult to find. He was always patient and ready to help us and he was also an enthusiastic guide who told us on the road about his land, the people, animals and nature. We did not book a safari trip, but even so, we saw a lot of animals and learned a lot about the country.
BE
Email Harry | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Everything expertly organized and executed
We had an incredible 3 weeks experience! Everything was organized tip-top, and gave an extra dimension to the saying "this is Africa". First, Sander designed a trip based on our wishes, showing great ingenuity in organizing permits and accommodations. Next, our guide Paul not only executed it expertly but he also showed great initiative and flexibility when for instance weather conditions changed and thus chances of detecting animals. In addition, Paul had a vast knowledge of animal and bird behavior, and an incredible eye-sight for spotting. We have seen the big 5, as well as hyenas, warthogs, vultures, marabous, gorillas, chimps, zebras, snakes, giraffes, and so much more. Paul also taught whole-heartedly about Uganda, its people, languages and its peculiarities. Also our 16-years old son was a fan of Paul.
We are definitely going to recommend Uganda, Paul and Grassrootz to all our friends.
IE
Email Lisa potter | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing, helpful, safe, informative
I did a three day tour with grassrootz in uganda to see the gorrillas! They were absolutely amazing. My tour guides Lamson and Nelco were so sweet, helpful, full of knowledge and great friends! I'm still in contact with then! I booked it with Sanderson and he helped me every step of the way, including what to wear, essential things to bring, had everything arranged all I had to do is get off the plane and everything was organised to perfection for me! The whole team were amazing! I will definitely be returning to uganda and using this company in the future to see what else uganda has to offer! Made the whole trip so enjoyable when I didn't have to worry about a thing! Thank you sooo much for all your help!
BG
Email Milen Velkov | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Fantastic arrangement, knowledgeable tour guide, definitely recommend!
It was our first safari in Uganda, our first long safari (two weeks) and all went smooth, everything was very well arranged, although we spend many hours on the road we were on time for all planned activities, all lodges proposed by the agency during initial planning turns to be fantastic with fantastic views and friendly staff. The tour guide were knowledgeable and trustworthy, helpful with all kind different requests from our side(from arranging local SIM card to taking us to best local restaurantes and buying street art).
Definitely will use the company again!
NL
Email Joost | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Professional operator, friendly, helpful, experienced, good communication
Our experience with Grassrootz is very good. The owner is very friendly and helpful. After the first contact, we already had a possible travel plan within a few days, only a few details had to be adjusted to have a perfect plan.
Our driver David was a very good guide and very nice person. Knowledgeable and friendly. We had nice conversations and were able to share many experiences. Even if we wanted something extra or different, he gave us his thoughts about the possibilities.
The booked accommodations met our expectations. Clean, good food, friendly staff.
In short, we had a great trip. We were able to fully enjoy the trip and did not have to worry about anything ourselves. We would therefore heartily recommend Grassrootz.
NL
Email Wibo | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fast, professional organized; trip of a lifetime !
Best vacation ever…
Grassrootz Adventures Uganda. I highly recommend them for your trip to Africa. We had the best vacation ever!
We’ve taken a lot of wonderful trips but this one is by far our best vacation ever! I must give Sander van Zanten huge credits for that. Sander listened well to our wishes and understood what we wanted and then developed the trip of a lifetime for us! Thank you so much!!!
Before we went we received very professional assistance and advices from Sander of Grassrootz so we were well prepared.
The best thing Sander did for us was to appoint Bob Magezi as our guide. I know, more people write that their guide was great and did the extra mile, not Bob, he did 10 extra.
His knowledge of Uganda, culture, politics, the birds, the plants and of course of all the animals…impressive! His relationship with locals, other guides, rangers and anyone we met, he seems to know them and everyone loves him. Bob always made sure that we saw what we wanted and made us feel like VIP with the best places and best view. I highly recommend Bob Magezi.
Besides his professional knowledge and perfect driving skills, he is great to be with, we had so much fun together and were sorry to say goodbye to a good friend.
In 11 days we visited Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary (where we walked between the rhinos!), Murchison Falls National Park, Kibale Forest National Park, Queen Elizabeth Park, Lake Bunyonyi and Lake Mburo National Park.
We went on foot safari, did river cruises, slept in the most wonderful accommodations, met the friendliest people, enjoyed local food and drinks, went through a variety of different habitats like mountains, tropical rainforest, woodland, freshwater lakes, swamps and savanna and of course were blown away by all the beautiful and impressive animals we met : lions, leopards, chimps, rhinos, crocs, hippos, impalas, giraffes, elephants, buffalos, kobs, many different kind of monkeys and so many more.
If you ever decide to go to Uganda, choose Grassrootz, Sander will build you the itinerary of your wishes and if you ask for Bob Magezi, you will have the trip of your life!
NL
Email Rinze | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Amazing guidance for a fair price
We planned the trip ourselves before talking to Grassrootz. With Sanders help we managed to make it the perfect trip. Everything was planned so tight that we were able to get the best out of the trip for the best budget. We greatly appreciate him for all his time. Our local guide and driver Paul was with us during the whole trip. Everyday up early to drive and guide us to our destinations and happy to learn some Dutch words. He knows every road, place and deals with every situation resulting in a fluent trip without delays. He also was very flexible and arranged our local tours and hotels when required. We really recommend a travel with Grassrootz!