Safari Support Africa

Name: Safari Support Africa
Address: Rugarama Road, Kabale, UG
Telephone: +256700314221
Price range: Not applicable

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Safari Support Africa

Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Safari Support Africa, Travel Company, Rugarama Road, Kabale.

A network of Proffessional guides, safari car owners and mechanics across Uganda, Rwanda and Eastern Congo who , at a moment's notice, will spring into action to keep your trip from falling apart.

01/01/2024

Happy New Year from the heart of Africa! Could this be the year when we get to take you on the safari of a lifetime?

This is to dreams come true, and the best year yet!

15/10/2023

Chariots of Fiery Coffee

When we started offering morning game drive coffee on our Safaris, it opened us up to a world of wild Aromas & Flavours. On a standard 18 days best of Uganda Trip, I'll buy the Utensils from downtown Kampala, a plunger from the roaring banks of the Nile in Jinja, and the roasted coffee from Sipi Falls.

By day 18, the coffee is drunk and done, some while seated on Kidepo Valley's rocky outcrops, some at the Nile's Delta in Murchison Falls, & the rest up in the Misty Bwindi just before the Gorilla Trek. At the end of the trip, these utensils will be gifted to someone that has been a blessing to the children in my community; a resilient single mother, a Sunday school teacher or Kindergarten instructor.

This coffee journey has taken me exploring the Elgon slopes of the far East, to the wild rift valley plains of the Congo Basin, and back to the rolling hillsides of Bwindi's terraced spaces. Today, the same journey brought me to the feet of Simon Ocen, Uganda's Coffee King and proprietor of Chariot Coffees & Barrister Academy.

As I waited for my hand grinder to arrive, Simon gave me a crush course in Coffee brewing, demonstrating how best we can make coffee on the move, and what an experience! Simon’s passion for good coffee, entrepreneurship, and mentoring is palpable. He's a man on fire, a chariot coffee kind of fire, and learning from him is an experience in itself. I love this country, so much so that I divide my time between the Law and showning it off to the world. Yet, meeting people of excellence like Simon makes me love this country even more.

As we sat down to the best coffee I ever tasted, he told me about his coffee journey, from being a Journalist reporting for Uganda's leading daily, to becoming Uganda's best coffee Brewer by 2018, and it's foremost barista trainer. His Urban Coffee garden is an open restaurant, complete with open space sockets and free WiFi. It's a wonderful stop for all Kampala City Tours, and one of Uganda's most inspiring business models.

Heading back home tomorrow, I'm a man on fire. The kind of fire that bakes raw passion into building blocks for a future that changes lives. Thank you Simon for living a contagiously great life, and for building a business that challenges & changes lives. Uganda is very proud of you sir, and God speed!

14/10/2023

"It is almost impossible to watch a sunset and not dream." Bern Williams.

13/10/2023

"You can't buy happiness, but you can buy a bike, and that's pretty close."

12/10/2023

“There’s only one place I want to go and it’s to all the places I’ve never been.” Nikki Rowe

12/10/2023

Home

"Nature is not a place to visit, it is home."
Gary Snyder

11/10/2023

A roadside Encounter

As we waiting for the clients to return from the chimp trek, they came to the road & we freely enjoyed them. Their dynamic selves reminded me of a quote by Vanessa Woods

"I love chimpanzees. I love their stubbornness and their strength. I love the way they dig their fingers into life and never let it get the better of them. I love the tenderness beneath their wild tempers. I love them because they refuse to apologize for who they are."

Refuse to apologize for who you are too!

11/10/2023

Bird of Prophecy

Driving through Kibale National Park, we saw this legend of a bird; the Long-Crested Eagle. It is believed to tell young girls in which direction they will be married off, and to predict 'eternal life' or death. Incredible, right?

Well, this mistaken belief has boosted the conservation status of these birds of prey, as no one kills them much. It also helps that they don't normally eat people's chicken, prefering rats, which are regarded as garden pests. This individual was waiting on the roadside for potential roadkills.

I'm no prophet, and neither is this bird, but I look forward to a world where all children are protected and all birds are safe. Uganda is blessed with so many birds and millions of wonderful children.

10/10/2023

Sheep Justice

The African Safari is not all Safari, and one of my most recent finds for a stop-over is the Rwenzori Founders Art Centre. This place is legend, casting cultural totems in bronze, and going the extra mile on excellent art.

The other day, this sculpture caught my attention. It's a sheep's head, with a judicial wig, titled 'Sheep Justice.' The guide tells us that it's a summary of the Ugandan Justice system. It took me the rest of the trip to convince the clients that such was not completely the case.

Well, Uganda has come so far, from transplanting English Law, to a wonderful body of indeginous Laws. We have been blessed by some of Africa's bravest legal minds, the likes of Kanyeihamba & Sebutinde, and a wonderful crop of Lawyers. The 'Thief', 'Cheap' & "Sheep" brands of Justice are inevitable in a country 61 years young, but we thank God for how far we have come!

Happy Indepence Day!

10/10/2023

Of African Elephants & Grandmothers...

The world's most fascinating classroom is not at Harvard, or Yale, or even at the other wonderful Universities of the world. It is my grandmother's soot-coated smoking kitchen, across from the cooking stones, all the kids and I bare-bummed seating in the grey ash. See, when my grandmother is story-teaching, she has the memory like of an elephant. She's now blind with age, yet her mind is still razor sharp.

Elephants transmit their wealth of knowledge from generation to generation through the dominant mothers. They are able to recall the path to sources of food and water across great distances, and even the alternative routes to the same just in case. Even more impressive, they adjust their schedule to arrive just in time for the fruit they are seeking to be ripe.

Well, the encounter of these water-bound elephants on Independence day flooded my mind with those grassroom stories. Happy Independence day, to all our grandmothers. It's because of them, and their priceless wisdom that we have come so far...

📸: Phone, Settings Unknown.

22/03/2023

“There’s nothing like a beautiful sunset to end a healthy day." Rachel Boston

And our's was better than your's,wasn't it? Happy to be representing Wildfoot Safaris last minute, at Murchison Falls National Park. Indeed, nothing beats a beautiful sunset.

15/03/2023

Bunyonyi

My dad was born on the other side of this lake, and I was raised on this one. Yet, it still takes my breathe away every time I come down here. Today, it made for a perfect journey break on our 3 days birding tour of Echuya Forest.

It serves us well too, my colleagues & I, as we prepare to participate in Herbert Byaruhanga's Birding training at Lake Mburo & Kibale National Parks begining Monday next week. One surprise already was seeing the Northern Masked Weaver here at Lake Bunyonyi, a bird that officially is not surprised to be here, or anywhere else in Uganda. So wish us luck.

Ps. If there's a highland forest bird whose photo you'd like to see me post, please let me know.

14/03/2023

A Shoe for a Bill

The shoe-bill stork has fascinated people across civilizations, appearing in wall paintings and hieroglyphics of ancient Egyptians. It's however now classified as Vulnerable, meaning the species is at high risk of becoming extinct.

See it at Mabamba Wetland in Uganda on your next trip to Africa.

13/03/2023

Thanx Wyco

He's a great preacher, but an even better businessman. Two years ago, Wyclef Rushaju a.k.a sat me down, bought pork & encouraged me to start my own Safari Company. At the time, I was working for a number of other tour operators and I told him how the conflict of interest might get in the way. He persuaded me anyway, and I started the kind of company that assists other tour companies to serve clients better.

For his first year with Gorillas & Beyond, he says, his goal had been to make nine (9) excellent review. A few years down the road, he's at 60, most of which he has scooped up himself. Well, Wyco, I want to thank you very much for encouraging me to begin my own hustle. It took me twice as long to hit your 9, and today a 10th rave review came through, and I have you to thank for the inspiration (hopefully you still eat pork).

And friends, if you ever want to come to Bwindi, Wyco runs it's most excellent lodge, in the mid-range category. The three times i have taken my guests there, they were blown away by the service, the food and the views. Very highly recommended.

Thank you Sylivia for the excellent feedback. It was a great pleasure serving you & your husband. Your five star review has taken us to dreams come true. Glory to God!

11/03/2023

In school, I was taught that to every rule, there's an exception. & for a while, I have been wondering, what about Suzy Kassem quote;

“The smaller the creature, the bolder its spirit.”

Ladies & gentlemen, here is the exception. The consummate outlier of the Animal kingdom.

📸: Enjojo. Kazinga National Park. Uganda.

09/03/2023

What a Woman!

For this year's women's day, I want to celebrate a lady who I met & guided two years ago. Once every 10 years, every person meets someone who changes his/her life. For my turn, providence brought Kristin Taylor Ebersold my very first client at Safari Support Services Ltd. Two months after registering this faith-filled safari outfit, deep in the heart of COVID lockdowns and grounded airlines, she inquired about a Uganda trip. She was travelling solo, with a million questions and the biggest heart in the world.

While we went along, she taught me how she finds the cheapest flights online for her clients, and how to use things like Google sheets for business, and even introduced me to amazing business podcasts like 'How I built this.'

Yet, the biggest thing she taught me was 'purpose-driven adventure.' She wore a YOLO wrist-band which she left me with, as I had offered to pray for her friend who had cancer. "Every time you go somewhere amazing, or do something daring, take a picture and send it to me, for my friend," she said. And so I went Ziplining on Lake Bunyonyi, Bungee Jumping on the Nile in Jinja, and Absailing over Sipi Falls, inspired and praying that said friend would get well, and he did, for an extra year.

While on safari, she always insisted on cost-friendly lodges, in order to give luxury tips (mine helping to pay my last semester of business school). And when she left, she wrote such a good review on tripadvisor that it alone, has been responsible for more than half our clients so far. She now travels with her family to the most amazing places in the world, and her advice to members of her community has birthed YOLO Adventures, one of the best small tour companies in the world.

Friends, this is yesterday's post, today, because I didn't want it lost in the overwhelm of women's day messages. So please help me to celebrate this life-changer of a woman; the most helpful, generous, good-willed tourist I have had the honour to guide in this paradise of a destination.

08/03/2023

Another 5 stars to Celebrate!!!

Our latest review is written in moving prose, the first of it's kind, and there could not have been better feedback on a day like this. As women's day roars on, our team at Safari Support Services have more cause to celebrate. Happy women's day, from our grateful hearts.

Thank you Counsellor Eron Kiiza for your wonderful words of recommendation.

Friends, for more of our client feedback for our guiding services, check:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g673829-d23731290-Reviews-Safari_Support_Services_Limited-Kabale_Western_Region.html

07/03/2023

Atlast...

“Home is the starting place of love, hope and dreams.”

Today I travelled with two amazing men, Pr Nathan David, a missionary from the US, and my superstar friend Joe. The conversations we had in the car, and at our coffee breaks were superb. I could do with this kind of travelling, everyday, all my life.

Yet, nothing beat the feeling of my kids running out of the school gate screening "daddy!" When I held them in my arms, I knew that we needed to celebrate. Celebrate what? I wasn't sure, but an impromptu picnic was born right there in that moment.

We drove up the hill, and looked for a vantage point we hadn't been to yet. There we laid a mat, and chopped our 12k worth of goodies. And then we went home, hearts brimming with love, hope & dreams. I love safaris, but this home atlast feeling is my greatest yet.

06/03/2023

Strong-end

After a tour, guides needs to rest & unwind, and for me, since my children were hundred of miles away, I improvised by going birdwatching in the Mabamba wetland. As we were hanging out with the shoebill, Dixon, Balaam and myself, Chairman Davis & his clients came along, and even stayed long enough to see her catching the mamba.

What was supposed to be a week-end, became a strong-end, inspired by nature, and sponsored by passion. How would you like to go bird watching with guides for whom birding is not just a job, but a passionate therapy?

03/03/2023

Celebrating with another Birding Five Stars...

Today we celebrate the World Wildlife Day with another rave review from Paul & Janice about a recent birding trip. "This was an excellent tour that we highly recommend," Paul writes .

We thank you, friends, for your generosity, recommending us to the world. We wish for you to return, for longer, & get to see the other amazing regions of Uganda, and their birds too.

25/02/2023

Home

Today I was in Kigali, and then I was in Kisiizi, yet, this sprawling valley in the gorilla highlands is home to my heart. Back when I was in high school, driving home from Mbarara, this hill (inset) held a very special place on the journey. I would just about ask the driver to let me off right there, so I could remove my shoes & walk the rest of the journey barefoot. It was sacred ground.

For those who leave, this hill is called "Kabaraga" (the hill of those who say farewell). For me it's always been the Hill that says Hello, in the biggest way possible. Those roadside rocks rise to let me in, & that mountain peak in the background stoops to hug my wildest imaginations. For me today, Kigali, Kisiizi, home is best!

24/02/2023

Silence

“The silence of nature is very real. It surrounds you, you can feel it." Ted Trueblood

Walking on the forest floor, in the depth of Africa, is a delicacy to the soul. The silence there is not a strange quietness, but an orchestra divine. The soprano of whistling scadars, and the bird song altos, are spiced with the tenor of monkey, squirrel and a hundred other sounds. It's a pregnant silence of sorts, bringing forth a fresh serenity.

It's loud, yet the polar opposite of the noise of a busy city street. It's messy-littered, yet fresher than the fanciest workplace. The Bwindi forest floor is actually cold, yet, it hugs you warmer than the dearest of friends, saying, 'welcome home, to yourself.' Here is one of it's loudest callers...the "camera-operator"...

📸: Grey-backed Camaroptera
(Camaroptera brachyura). Bwindi. 23.02.13

23/02/2023

Taller

“I took a walk in the woods and came out taller than the trees.” Henry David Thoreau

I just came back from a 2 days meditative birding excursion of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Ruhija Sector. Out there, the still nights ring with the calls of nightjars. The morning air is pierced through with the duets of wood owls. But my highlight are the days, punctuated by Turaco calls, at an hourly rate, and the calls of a million birds.

If you are feeling any 'shorter,' metaphorically, take a walk in the woods. I just did, and I feel taller...on serenity, on hope, and on joy. And here is one for the memories...

📸: The Great Blue Turaco (Corythaeola cristata), Bwindi, Today.

22/02/2023

Weave & Leave...

"There is nothing in which the birds differ more from man than the way in which they can build and yet leave a landscape as it was before." Robert Wilson Lynd.

Today I returned to Bwindi, and walked around with my camera. It is strange to think that had it not been for the conservation of this forest for the endangered mountain gorillas, this once upon a time Impenetrably 'dark' forest would be a shell of it's present self.

As neighbours to this gem of a park, it's our responsibility to protect it from everything harmful, and especially from ourselves. Strangely, this is the last picture I took before the light became too bad for any photos.

📸: Strange Weaver (Ploceus alienus ), Endemic to the Albertine Rift. Bwindi, Uganda. 22.02.23

21/02/2023

International Guides Day

We celebrate this day with a rave review from Dr Barack. A very fulfilling birding trip, and some of the most generous words of recommendation is all we could have asked for. And coming from one who has been in Uganda for close to 3 years, they sinks much deeper.

Thank you for giving us business & then some. Guiding you was a real pleasure, sir. May God bless you very much, good doctor.

It's indeed happy International Guides here at Safari Support Services Ltd

20/02/2023

Adversity...

“Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records.” William Arthur Ward

When you are on the road in Uganda, anything can happen, and that, we understand first hand. That's why, at Safari Support Services, we are your number one emergency partner in times of need. Don't get stuck, helplessly.

Call us, and we will rush to your rescue at a moment's notice, anytime of day or night. The very DNA of our company is Crisis Management with a Smile. We are cut from a cloth called service, and we will go the extra mile better than anyone in the industry.

📸: My fan belts broke this morning and had to replace them, on the way back to Kabale.

19/02/2023

Mercy, Love & Providence

"Trust the past to the mercy of God, the present to His love, and the future to His providence." Saint Augustine

I believe that every tour should begin with prayer, and end with Praise. So when I got to this Cathedral of Peace (Namirembe), someone was playing 'Come ye yourselves apart and rest awhile' on the organ. I sat in the car & sang along, my local rendition of the same.

The fourth stanza particularly makes a serious appeal to journeymen like myself;

"Come ye and rest:
the journey is too great,
And ye will faint beside
the way and sink:
The Bread of Life
is here for you to eat,
And here for you
the Wine of Love to drink."

And so eat & drink I did, as I meditated on how it all had worked out great. On how some things could have gone wrong, but didn't. On how we had a great time on the road looking at the birds. It was fitting to rest awhile, & like St Augustine aptly put it, to trust the past to God's Mercy, the present to His Love and the Future to his limitless providence. Hallelujah!

17/02/2023

The End

Today we left the "Karo Karungu" (Beautiful Village) Game park. Birding here, even in the scotching sun, is an experiment in pleasant surprises. We even had a leopard cross the road in front of us as we watched a lappet-faced vulture. Even with the small pockets of remnant water from the November rains, you go from Glossy Ibises, to Whistling ducks, to Pytilias, and Finfoots in quickly succession.

Starting out as choice grazing lands for the Ankole Long-horned Cows (hence the name Karo Karungi), this place became hunting grounds for the King. He forbade the pastoralists from grazing there except in times of drought. From the 1890s, however, it experienced the toughest 100 years that any park can survive, from Rinderpest epidemics, to Tsetsefly outbreaks to Killing all the wild animals, to burning down every living thing there. Yet, it bounced back, and is presently one of the biggest strongholds for the Zebras (the most dazzling), the Giraffes (the tallest) & the Impalas (the prettiest).

Everytime I come to Lake Mburo National Park, I am refreshed on its Resilience. It's nature's way of telling me: You can bounce back from just about anything, if you don't give up. Our birding trip ends on the best note, doesn't it?

16/02/2023

5 Star Birding

Our 3 days Bwindi Birding Trip has brought good fruit. Thank you Tim for generously recommending us to the world. Your kind words are highly appreciated.

And thank you Dr Barck for always introducing me to great people. Henry & Jack wrote for us the review of the year, and now Tim. I'm richer for the people you send my way, and I will forever be grateful.

13/02/2023

Safari Eve...

“Everything in Africa bites, but the safari bug is worst of all.” Brian Jackman

And for our rest tonight, we are at Enganzi Lodge. It's a gem of a lodge, right on the rift valley escarpment overlooking Kazinga Game Park.

Photo credit: Bird Guide Extraordinairè Prossy Nanyombi.

Address

Rugarama Road
Kabale

Telephone

+256700314221

Website

http://www.safarisupportservices.com/

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#For_Merry_Christmas_Sightings... "Christmas is like candy; it slowly melts in your mouth sweetening every taste bud, making you wish it could last forever." Richelle E Goodrich. In the wild, we make no appointments. We just work hard, and hope for the best. Yet, all year round, we've had great sightings, including today's (inset) by the Grace of God, with the Bakiza Family. From my guests & I, in Queen Elizabeth National Park, we wish you a Merry Christmas wherever you are. And for all our guests, thank you very much for trusting us, and coming to the front row seat of wild adventure, at Safari Support Services Limited! #ChristmasSafari #Uganda #Celebrations