I found this great site a couple of weeks ago and I must say, I am truly addicted. My husband and I traveling to East Africa for our 20th wedding anniversary next February. We will have 11 nights and 12 days. As it is our first trip, I am trying to pack in as much as possible. I have a couple of questions:

1) Does it really take a couple of days getting to Bwindi from Nairobi?

2) Can I fit in Kenya, Tanzania and the gorillas? Or am I just trying for too much? Darn, I might just have to plan a second trip...so sad

3) I am working with my agent and I originally picked Micato to put together our trip, but it seems to be on the high end. We are looking for a luxury trip, but nothing crazy. Micato suggested a place called Sasakwa Hill Lodge for a few nights, but it seems over the top. Any feedback?

Thank you all for your help!!

1) No but depending on flight schedules from Nairobi to Entebbe, you may need to overnight in Entebbe or somewhere between Entebbe and Bwindi as I believe this drive takes 10+ hours. There are charter flights available from Entebbe but this can be costly. Are you planning anything else in Uganda besides gorilla trekking? If not, consider trekking in Rwanda as the drive from Kigali to PNV is much shorter (2-3 hours) and there are daily flights between Nairobi and Kigali.

2) With 12 days, I'd stick with Kenya OR Tanzania and gorilla trekking. Kenya is logistically a bit easier to combine with gorilla trekking only because the flights route through Nairobi.

3) Micato is very expensive and there are far less costly options in the Serengeti than Sasakwa Lodge. Even if Sasakwa is what you want, I'd price it through a different agent or operator than Micato.

Monica, I had the same question as you when I started out planning our safari this July.... I couldn't decide on Kenya or Tanzania plus Gorilla Treck. In the end we decided on Kenya plus Rwanda for a couple of reasons; As Patty mentioned above, it is easy to get from Nairobi to Kigali by flying and also Rwandan trecks are 'easier' if you get a group other than Susa. Also, it is less humid in July in Rwanda than Uganda. We only have 9 nights and there really is sooo much to do and see in Kenya I would EASILY have filled another week in Kenya alone. As it stands we are doing the following; 2 nights Rwanda, 1 night Lake Nakuru, 4 nights Masai Mara, 2 nights Nairobi. I would have loved to fit another night in Lake Nakuru and added on Samburu but it was not to be... We will have to come back to do those
Hope this helps,
Imelda

Monica,

I don't think you'll ever get an endorsement for MICATO on this site. Undoubtedly, they provide a quality product, but they are just MUCH too over-priced to be endorsed !

There have been some recent, favorable posts about Micato, and if you are looking for a more social tour (instead of your small, personal group) and want to avoid planning (many prefer to have a professional plan the tour), and basically enter East Africa and know you will receive a high quality product, a high-end operator, like Micato, may be worthwhile (to me, the planning is a significant part of the fun so I wouldn't want to outsource the planning to an operator).

If you send the Micato itineraty to an East Africa based operator (many are recommended on this forum), they likely could duplicate the trip with significant cost savings.

I just got back from a trip with Micato and I highly recommend them. I was totally impressed with the level of service; as was my husband, who is pretty hard to please. We had a fabulous trip and would not have wanted to go any other way.

~Mary

I have to agree with mrm512...I was on a MICATO trip in September -October 2006 and could not believe the level of service. The guides were amazing! If you think about it , most of the payment the guides receive are from tips.. if a driver has two people in a van vs six he is going to make three times the money for spending the same 8 hours with his group. It would stand to reason that the better guides would prefer to be paid more, and an outfitter that can keep them busy would be more desirable than one that books only singles or doubles in their truck. I lurked on this site for several months prior to my trip, but I didn't regret spending a little more money for quality. Our Africa trip was the only "tour" type trip I have ever planned as we generally travel overseas as a couple or with one other couple independently. It tends to be more expensive than some packaged trips but allows more independence driving our own automobiles etc.. For Africa I appreciated the experience of MICATO and will travel with them again. You will have a great trip either way..

Thanks for all your feedback. I ended up using CCAfrica. I am flying into Nairobi (using up some miles) then head to Rwanda for two nights. After that I head to Tanzania and go to Tarangire (2 nights at Swala), Ngorongoro Crater (2 nights at Crater Lodge) and then to the Serengeti (4 nights at TUC). Going mid February 2007. I passed on Micato only because of the cost, although we are still spending a nice chunk of change through CCAfrica. But as the commercial says….spending my 20th wedding anniversary in Africa…..priceless!