Thursday, September 26, 2013

Tour groups

It's a gamble with tour groups. You can end up stuck for days on end with whingers who complain that the food is better at home and the hotels are dirty, or endless orators missing their mobile phones who have to keep their heads aloft with jabbering mouths lest they collapse from the vacuum therein.

Of course, you don't have to do a tour. Uganda can be travelled independently, but it takes time, patience and pluck. Once you get out of Kampala, finding guides requires research or local knowledge, and accommodation in villages can be an eye-opening experience in poverty and sanitation. So for most travellers, including the independent-minded Solonaut, a tour group is wise. The Association of Ugandan Tour Operators credits umpteen dozen, and after researching opinions and comparing costs I settled on Gorilla Tours.

The upside of tour groups, of course, is the best part of travel: meeting people and, even more, befriending them. I've been lucky with my tour groups around the world, and lucky again in Uganda. I've hooked up with four Dutch and a Pole (my second time of this unlikely combination; and what is with all the Dutchmen everywhere? We repeatedly run into them; it's become a standing joke). They're good spirits. We have a lot of laughs.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanx Wayne!

Howareyou??

It was nice to meet you too!

Gudi & Menno

G. Wayne Meaney said...

Hey! Friend me on Facebook!

Anonymous said...

Just got back from Zanzibar and had a look on your website, love the way you are writing!!

It was great meeting you! enjoy ethiopia!!
Alex&Inge