Uganda Gorilla Trekking & Botswana Safari

✨ Uganda Gorilla Trekking, Victoria Falls & Botswana: A Couple’s Africa Travel Review

What does it mean to go back to Africa when you have already been once?

Today’s travellers are a couple in their fifth year of marriage, and Ahmo Travel planned their honeymoon four years ago too. After that first journey to Tanzania, they chose Ahmo Travel again for their second trip to Africa.

This time they took a very different route — starting in Uganda, home to wild mountain gorillas, then on to Victoria Falls and Botswana.

💬 We wanted to meet animals living exactly as they do in the wild

The biggest reason the couple chose Africa again was, quite simply, the wildlife.

They have always loved animals, but they wanted to see them living freely in nature rather than in a zoo or a staged animal encounter.

With that in mind, Ahmo Travel suggested destinations where they could observe wild gorillas and meerkats up close.

The result was an itinerary linking gorilla trekking in Uganda, Victoria Falls, and Chobe and the Makgadikgadi salt pans in Botswana.

🦍 Meeting wild gorillas in the jungle for the first time

Asked about the most memorable moment of the trip, the couple did not hesitate: seeing a gorilla for the first time. Pushing their way through the dense jungle to find them was special in itself, but the moment they spotted a wild gorilla in the forest was breathtaking.

They were able to watch a silverback from remarkably close range. Sitting perfectly still and seemingly deep in thought, his expression looked so human that it made the encounter even more striking.

“If you are wondering whether to do the gorilla trekking, don’t hesitate — just do it. You get so close that it genuinely takes you by surprise.”

Seeing gorillas in photos or on video is nothing like meeting them face to face in the middle of the jungle. It was the part of the trip they had looked forward to most, and it more than lived up to their expectations.

🍝 The mighty Victoria Falls and dinner on a clifftop

After their extraordinary encounter in Uganda, the couple travelled on to Victoria Falls, one of the three great waterfalls of the world.

The sheer volume of water and the mist rising from it created a scene far too vast for any photograph. The hotel they stayed at by the falls was another highlight of the trip.

The room, the pool and the breakfast were all to their liking, and it was comfortable enough that they wished they could have stayed longer.

Dinner at The Lookout Café, perched on the edge of the gorge, was another lasting memory. The food was excellent, and arriving before sunset also means you can take in the spectacular view over the cliffs and the valley below.

“Go to The Lookout Café before sunset. The cliff views while the sun is still up are absolutely stunning!”

🐆 An unexpected leopard in Chobe, Botswana

In Chobe, Botswana, the itinerary continued with game drives and a Chobe River cruise.

They spotted impala, kudu, elephants and much more — and this time they finally saw a leopard, the one animal they had missed on their previous trip to Africa.

Seeing a leopard in the wild takes a good deal of luck, which made the moment all the more special for them.

The peaceful scenery around the Chobe River left an impression too. Looking out over the wide river and grasslands and the animals living among them, they discovered another side of Africa’s natural beauty.

🏠 Planet Baobab, where both the food and the lodge delivered

On the way to the Makgadikgadi salt pans, they stayed at the wonderfully distinctive Planet Baobab.

The rooms were spacious and full of character, and the restaurant on site won them over as well. They ate breakfast, lunch and dinner there, and every dish they ordered was delicious.

The friendly cats that wandered by the restaurant became one of the small joys of the trip.

“Planet Baobab was great — the rooms were big and unusual. The restaurant food was really good, and the cats that came around at mealtimes were so cute!”

Makgadikgadi salt pans, filled with stars from horizon to horizon

Along with the gorilla trekking, the night they spent sleeping out on the Makgadikgadi salt pans is what stayed with them longest.

On the vast salt pans, with no city lights anywhere, the night sky looked as though the stars were pouring down on them.

A whole world of stars stretching from the left horizon to the right is not something you see easily. Spending a night in the middle of that landscape became an unforgettable memory for them both.

Bedding warmed with hot water bottles kept them cosier than they had expected, and it turned out to be the deepest sleep of the entire trip.

“I think I understand now why so many people say this is the most memorable place they have been. Looking back, every moment of that night became a truly special memory.”

🐱 Wild meerkats right in front of us

At Makgadikgadi they also met the wild meerkats they had been looking forward to all trip.

Specialist trackers located the group first, which let them observe the meerkats from close range. The animals came so near that it felt as though they could reach out and touch them.

They are wild animals, so touching them is off limits — but simply watching them move about and scan their surroundings from a few steps away was special enough.

“The meerkats were so close that I almost reached out without thinking. They are even cuter in person!”

Because they met the meerkats out in the open wild rather than in a zoo or behind a fence, the experience matched exactly the kind of trip the couple had hoped for.

A second trip to Africa, again with Ahmo Travel

Four years after their honeymoon in Tanzania, the couple travelled with Ahmo Travel again for this journey through Uganda, Victoria Falls and Botswana.

What reassured them most the second time around was how quickly they could reach someone at any point during the trip.

“Knowing that someone was standing by to answer 24 hours a day while we travelled was genuinely reassuring!”

Itineraries that move between several unfamiliar African countries can throw up situations you did not plan for. Being able to communicate in Korean straight away and ask for help makes an enormous difference to how safe and relaxed a trip feels.

🌿 If you want to see Africa exactly as it is

Locking eyes with a wild gorilla, the roar of Victoria Falls, the leopard in Chobe, stars stretching to the horizon, and meerkats just a step away. This was a trip built around a single wish: to meet animals living exactly as they do in the wild.

If you would rather build an itinerary around the animals you want to see and the places you want to experience than follow a fixed package route, talk to us at Ahmo Travel.

A first trip to Africa that led to a second — we will help you plan a journey that stays with you, shaped around what you love.