Honeymoon Travel Guide

The trip went smoothly and was well executed, thanks to our guide. It was because of him that the experience was enjoyable, as he was very knowledgeable and resourceful, and had his own network. He was very patient with me and always encouraging. There are not enough words to describe how grateful I am to him for dealing with me for 19 days. 

Starting with receiving me at Entebbe International Airport, he gave me a friendly assurance that I would have a smooth and secure adventure. He kept me very safe and in a few days, I was able to trust him with all my belongings and my life. This was very important for somebody who does not live in Uganda and Rwanda, and was here for just a few days to learn and explore these two beautiful countries.

Let's do a breakdown of each of the places I went to:

Entebbe: I can't comment too much about this place because I only arrived at the airport and stayed at the guest house. The staff and the guest house were nice as I tried to get settled after a long plane ride and prepare myself for the adventures ahead.

Murchison National Falls Park: I won't forget this experience. I saw the wildlife as it is and enjoyed it so much. There are not enough words to describe the beauty of this beautiful savannah and the species that inhabit it. I fell in love with the giraffes, almost got charged by an elephant, and was very lucky to see a hyena, a leopard, and two lionesses in one day. I learned so much about Murchison Falls that I did not know, including that it is the world's most powerful waterfall, and I felt honored to see it in front of me during an afternoon boat ride.

Kampala: Kampala is very congested, but it was nice to see what the capital city was like and I somehow enjoyed visiting the Gaddafi mosque.

Jinja: I will never forget the day I saw the origin of the Nile River. That feeling cannot be replaced. I am proud of myself for celebrating the Nile River by doing bungee jumping, tube river riding, horseback riding, and whitewater riding. I'm so proud of myself for bungee jumping for the first time in my life, and over the Nile River.

Sipi Falls: This is a hidden secret that not many tourists know about and must be seen. These three waterfalls are just one long Sipi Falls flowing in Mt Elgon… breathtaking. The hike was very challenging, but necessary to appreciate the beauty of Sipi Falls. I really enjoyed my time with a nice couple who showed how they process coffee beans and also appreciated the Kapchorwa community for showing me their dance performance in their ancestral mountain cave. The hotel in the Sipi Falls area was not really a resort. They have more work to do to make this a very tourist-friendly accommodation. However, I did not complain much as it was all part of the experience. Therefore, I just made my stay for those two nights the way I could, knowing this was the best accommodation in the Sipi Falls area.

Kibale National Park: It was an honor to cross the equator more than once. My stay at the lodge in Kibale National Park was amazing. I enjoyed my stay and really loved the friendly staff who took care of me. I will not forget my experience of seeing the chimpanzees in the wild at the Kibale National Park. We were told we were very lucky to see all the chimpanzees sitting on the ground before they all headed up in the trees. To see the chimpanzees up close, a few feet from you, and lock your eyes with theirs is an experience you won't forget.

Queen Elizabeth National Park: Again, I crossed the equator at least three times during this experience. It's a different savannah that you appreciate in its own way. I was very lucky that with the help of our guide's contact, I was able to see, in an open spot, two lionesses with three baby cubs. I enjoyed my afternoon boat ride, surprisingly, in the Kazinga Channel, especially with the tourists I was riding the boat with.

Bwindi Forest: I enjoyed my 12km walk into the windy forest and into the Buhoma community to get to a car to drive me to my hotel. The next day, seeing the gorilla after trekking a very steep slope was an unforgettable experience. It was thanks to the porter who helped me trek these challenging slopes that I was able to see a gorilla community that I will never forget. I did enjoy my small amount of time in the Batwa community.

Volcanoes National Park: I enjoyed my stay at our hotel in Volcanoes National Park, as the staff were very friendly and made sure I was warm at night. The next day, I enjoyed my not-too-hard trek to see the golden monkey before heading to Kigali.

Overall, it was a beautiful adventure and I don't think I would have planned it any other way. I do wish I were able to see Kidepo National Park, as I was told multiple times how beautiful that park is.

Thank you so much for helping me organize this wonderful adventure, especially since this was my first African adventure.

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Largely, we had an amazing time and really appreciated many people going out of their way to make it amazing for us. Here is everything we have to share:

Positives:

Guides: Our guides were largely a bright spot. One guide was excellent and having a female Egyptologist also helped us feel very comfortable. She was excellent as a photographer and had many interesting stories to share. We loved her best of everyone who worked with us. Our other guide I also thought was an excellent guide and, overall, I really enjoyed him. It was only the photos thing that I did not like. Otherwise, I thought he was very kind, flexible, and knowledgeable. I really loved that he’d give us a very thorough tour, then free time to explore and a very clear meeting point.

Special Event: As honeymooning couples, there were many spots where our guides really tried hard to make it special for us. We really appreciated this thought and care, and we came away very happy with our experience.

Hotels: The hotels were mostly all lovely and great choices (with one exception, as below).

Nile Cruise: We felt the river boat was extremely pleasant and the staff were very kind and thoughtful from the first minute we boarded. They took extremely good care of us and were very sweet.

Support Team: A member of the support team, as well as everyone we communicated with online via a messaging app and the Zicasso portal, was truly excellent and very accommodating with almost every single request. Even my minor negatives below, if ever brought up, the team was very receptive to listening to the feedback to fix it mid-trip or for future guests!

Negatives: Overall, very minor! But, these few things could make a big difference in the future!

Promotional Images: One of our guides initially asked us if he could take a photo of our group with the company sign for promotional purposes. Although we’re a bit shy, we agreed to avoid confrontation and wanted to help the team. However, this turned into him asking to take upwards of five to 10 photos and, sometimes, videos of us daily. Then, after the trip, he messaged multiple times asking for these photos and videos. While we sent some, we’re not comfortable with being an advertisement and wish he had been a little more understanding. The more he asked, the more uncomfortable we became, and we still feel a bit uncomfortable now.

Early Flights/Days: Before the trip, I mentioned that it was a priority for us to be able to eat a relaxing breakfast in our hotels prior to early flights. I was assured they were able to move flights to later so we could eat at our hotels, but every single day we were brought to the airports quite early and given "breakfast boxes." This is fine for some, but for us, it wasn’t what we expected/hoped for based on conversations with the team.

Tourist Traps: Although we learned partway through the trip, there were many requests by the guides to take us to "tourist-trap-type" stores and restaurants. This was worst in Jordan, but happened a couple of times in Egypt as well ("papyrus workshop," "stone workshop," etc.), where goods are sold at high premiums, with likely guide commissions. In general, I would have had a much better time if guides were able to point us to more inexpensive souvenir options. One that was recommended to us later in the trip by our guide was the shop inside the Egyptian Museum, which we found very reasonable and nice. Other options like this would have been great!

Jordan Guiding: Our experience in Jordan was very different from Egypt. In particular, our guide was not ideal. He did a few things that bothered us. He was a chain smoker and every single opportunity to stop, even if we didn’t want to stop, he stopped to smoke. He would often smoke with one foot still in the car, but technically mostly "out of the car." The car was fully black above the driver's seat so it was obvious this was common. He would talk to us even outside of the car and be constantly smoking and blowing smoke in our faces, which was extremely inappropriate. His English wasn’t very strong, so he wasn’t able to tell us too much about the area. On the day of us going to Petra, he didn’t even come to the hotel to help us get settled or take us to the ticket office. We could easily handle it, but I wonder if the company even knows we didn’t see him that whole day. He took us to a lunch restaurant on our arrival day that felt like a tourist trap, was expensive, a buffet, and didn’t cater to our dietary restrictions, despite us asking ahead of time.

Our hotel at the Dead Sea did not have the best customer service. They were rude checking us in, provided inaccurate time assessments, delayed in providing us our breakfast boxes in the morning, delaying our trip to the airport, and there were similar delays when ordering food within the hotel (besides their dinner buffet, which came with good food and good service). If you have other hotels you partner with along the Dead Sea at this price point, I would consider sending more customers to your other partners.

Overall, our experience was excellent and five stars, without a doubt! These minor things are just to help guide improvement and we really can’t thank the team enough. The trip was truly magical. We've had many friends from home ask for the trip details and I've shared your information!

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Thank you, Zicasso's travel designer, for planning our honeymoon. We just had the best and most romantic time. The hotels were beautiful and our tour guides were lovely. We also greatly appreciated your dinner recommendations.

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Our trip to Greece was absolutely incredible! We had high hopes for a great vacation and the actual trip far exceeded our hopes.

Zicasso's travel designer planned our two-week honeymoon in Greece (Athens, Paros, Santorini, and Crete) and it was absolutely incredible! All the sites were absolutely gorgeous and the activities planned were great, with amazing tour guides. We had private pick-up and drop-off on travel days, as well as for any of the tours provided. She was very responsive to any questions we had and helped accommodate anything we wanted to change in the itinerary. Everything was meticulously planned and there were really no issues that we ran into.

All the hotels were fantastic, all of them four or five stars and within our budget. They were all beautiful and had great service in desirable locations. We would definitely utilize this travel agency again, especially our agent! We would 10/10 recommend. We made unforgettable memories on our trip, all thanks to the travel company.

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Our trip was just what we asked for and the arrangements were seamless. Zicasso's travel designer was responsive with last-minute requests/questions.

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Zicasso's trip coordinator and the travel company were excellent. The itinerary our trip coordinator put together was exactly what I was looking for. All of the excursions were amazing. The captains, tour guides, and drivers were all extremely friendly and knowledgeable. The hotels were all exceptional. I couldn’t be more pleased with my trip.

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