Nile Explorer - Uganda

Anne-Marie who has been on 29 In The Saddle rides. Great fun with exceptional horses and company | I don’t think I have ever been better matched to a horse, Hunter’s Gold was everything I asked for , forward going but very controllable and calm, the right height for me and just generally a pleasure to be with. The riding took us through a variety of terrain, with some great canters and flat out gallops up hills. The option was available to go slower had we wanted to, but our group was very happy to go faster. The horses are beautifully cared for and in fabulous condition, all credit must go to Natalie , T.J. and the very attentive grooms. Moses the back up guide was also good company.. Natalie made sure everyone in the group was happy with their horses and the rides, and still took obvious delight from finding new routes and meeting new locals along the way. After having had this ride postponed for 2 years due to Covid it was fantastic to find it was worth waiting for.

Do you have any comments about the accommodation and food?

The accommodation was very much as described, we certainly had the power cuts!
Picnic lunches as created by Hannah were amazing, the vegan in our group was very well catered for in these, and we all enjoyed trying what had been created. I will, however, now always think of bananas as the dessert ‘yellow’ as described in one of the lodge’s menus.

How could we improve the quality of pre-holiday information that we send?

Nearly everything was very much as described - just a couple of minor changes needed. The meeting point for drivers to the hotels is outside the airport, not inside as stated ( a helpful taxi driver pointed me in the right direction). Lunch is no longer at the Rain Forest Lodge but is now a picnic lunch. When uploading information for your visa , not only do you need a passport photo, yellow fever certificate but also proof of your return ticket. The application process does not let you save information and go back, but you have to start the whole thing again.

How could we improve the way we handled your booking and payment?

Can’t fault the help I had with it all, Olwen bent over backwards to rearrange this twice due to Covid, and really had to push to make sure we were able to retain our paid for gorilla permits. I was a bit rusty when it came to travelling as I hadn’t been outside the U.K for the last 2 years, but no question ever appeared too stupid and e-mails were answered well into the night.

Do you have any other feedback for us?

Just a big thank-you to everyone concerned for all the hard work in making sure we had a great time. There were many photos of us taken by Peter and drone footage taken by T.J. so we didn’t even have to worry too much about getting our own cameras out , and I look forward to seeing the results once edited.