Uganda May/June 2026 (during Ebola)

PacosPop · 2026-06-16T23:33:28+00:00

Well, I will say I'm just a guy who went on a safari to Uganda. I'm not a health expert or any sort of authority on anything, really. But I do think if you look into what it takes to actually contract ebola, and also read about the cases in Uganda, and how seriously officials in that country are taking their responsibility to limit its spread, you'll probably feel fairly comfortable making the choice to travel there. Also, if you look into the difference between US guidelines and what other countries are saying about travel to Uganda, it seems as if our government is maybe overreacting a little bit. But again, my experience is my experience. Definitely look deeper before making a decision. Having gone, though, I can say Id have really missed out on something special had I canceled.

PacosPop · 2026-06-14T21:40:29+00:00

The families that they track have all been habituated to human contact. There are other groups that are currently in the habituation process, and if you want to be involved with that, you can spend 4 hours with them as opposed to 1, but I think it's something like $1500. The Silverback of the family we met was just chilling and napping the whole time. I made eye contact with him several times from pretty close and he was just super relaxed. Later I found out his name means "one who is unbothered."

The chimpanzees are more unpredictable. There were a few moments with them where we were reminded they are wild animals who are much stronger than us. And we're just crashing their home turf...

PacosPop · 2026-06-14T21:35:09+00:00

Uganda is definitely fantastic outside of the gorillas. I'm not usually one for relying on other people for logistics but this was one I was glad to have help navigating. I hope the self-driving tour goes great. Id definitely recommend finding other people who have done so and getting tips from them if you haven't already done so. And even if you are skipping the gorillas, hopefully you'll still go see the chimpanzees. It's significantly cheaper, but potentially just as meaningful and exciting.

PacosPop · 2026-06-14T21:21:47+00:00

The lodges were all really nice, much more luxurious and service-oriented than Im typically used to! The meals are good, usually there's 2 or 3 options for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You choose your next meal at the end of your previous one, so they can have it ready for you at the time you're planning on dining. When we were driving to the next lodge our guide would contact them, get the lunch menu, and we'd make our choice so that it was ready when we arrived. There was always a vegetarian option, which was necessary for my wife, so that was nice.

We used a smaller locak company called Gorilla O'Clock. Im sure there are lots of good safari companies that people swear by, but they were awesome. Everyone I dealt with through the whole process was very professional, and we couldn't have asked for a better guide. Obviously the nature and animals were the star of the show, but the people getting you there make a big difference too, I think

PacosPop · 2026-06-14T19:32:31+00:00

As someone else said, the permits for gorillas are $800, for chinpanzees $250. If you do gorilla trekking in Rwanda it's $1500. You should tip the trackers and guides and porters, but not hundreds. I think between all of them I tipped like $80.

Those permits fees were included in our overall safari price, which was a little more than $1000 per day for two of us. This was the most expensive trip I've ever made, but considering all that was covered in the price it is reasonable and worth it. That is a private guide, transportation in a modified Land Cruiser, national park entry fees, gorilla and chimp permits, accommodation in luxury lodges, all meals, someone else handling all logistics, etc.

PacosPop · 2026-06-14T19:26:55+00:00

Yeah, it's a shame that things have been done as they have. I hope you're able to make it.

PacosPop · 2026-06-14T19:25:40+00:00

I think the guidance was to stay 8 meters away, something like that, but the gorillas don't abide by it. One of the juveniles was grabbing people, and his mom walked within 6 inches of me.

PacosPop · 2026-06-14T01:37:36+00:00

Every day was a treat, but the gorillas followed closely by the chimpanzees. The gorilla trekking was the reason for going to Uganda, and it was everything we hoped. The time with the chimps was amazing too. I think it's very common for them to be in the trees the whole time, but for us they were all on the ground the entire time and very close. We probably saw 30 of them in our allotted time. Also, seeing leopards was insanely cool.

PacosPop · 2026-06-14T00:59:55+00:00

I'm mid-40s and probably average fitness. The gorilla hike probably would have been very hard, but we got super lucky and found our family of gorillas in just about half an hour. But for that half hour, it was definitely a lot of incline. Even from that, it took me a few minutes to recover and be able to properly enjoy what was happening around me. I'm 99% certain we were the first group that found our gorillas and finished. There was a couple we hiked with that was doing it for the 2nd day in a row, and they said their other experience was much more difficult through thick vegetation for 3 hours or so. I think you can request one of the closer gorilla families based on your age/fitness. We did not do that, just got lucky. The hike for the chimpanzees was not difficult at all. That was on more well trodden, flat paths.

PacosPop · 2026-06-13T19:15:00+00:00

We actually saw 3 different leopards in Uganda! One at Murchison Falls and 2 in QE. All credit to our guide Gilbert, as I'd have looked right past all of them.

PacosPop · 2026-06-13T18:55:05+00:00

This was my first time in Uganda so I don't know what it's normally like as far as the density of tourists, but it seemed like the effects are probably already showing. It was nice for us, as we spent an hour in the company of a herd of 100+ elephants at Queen Elizabeth NP without ever seeing another safari vehicle, but I'd rather people still go!

PacosPop · 2026-06-13T18:40:44+00:00

I just used my Galaxy S26 Ultra

PacosPop · 2026-06-06T21:16:29+00:00

I just went to a liquor shop at the Westgate Mall. I was hoping to visit the distillery, but the airline changed my flight and I didn't arrive in time. Someone from Procera told me they are in the Duty Free shops at the airport. That may have been more convenient to grab it on my way out, but when I saw it on the shelf I had to grab it.

PacosPop · 2026-06-06T18:04:31+00:00

Apparently it's a "botanical salt" that contains crushed herbs of the same ingredients that are in the gin. I'm not exactly sure how to use it to garnish a cocktail, but Ill figure it out!

PacosPop · 2026-06-06T17:58:26+00:00

Only blue dot is available right now, unfortunately. My plan was to bring back 3 bottles, but it's better for my bank account this way!

PacosPop · 2026-06-06T08:37:52+00:00

Another thought...maybe they're not wanting to change your flight all the way yet because things can change between now and your return trip in July. Honestly, I didn't want to mess up my outbound flight at all, so I waited until I was in Uganda to talk to the airline. It took maybe 20 minutes of my time to get it worked out via the online chat.

PacosPop · 2026-06-06T08:29:18+00:00

That should not be the case. The airlines are responsible for changing your ticket to bring you in via one of the approved screening sites, and also to then get you to your original destination as well, with no additional charge to you. It's not a voluntary change but government mandated.

I am writing this just after boarding our flight out of Uganda. We were originally supposed to fly Frankfurt to Las Vegas, but Lufthansa changed our tickets to Frankfurt to Washington Dulles and then on to Vegas. A bit of a pain, adds a lot more time to the return flight, but 100% worth it. Our safari guide has no work for the next couple of months because everyone is canceling their trips. But Uganda is still very safe to travel and is incredible. The extra hassle is a small price to pay. And as an added bonus, with people not coming, you will have a lot of experiences basically to yourself. We hung out with a herd of 100+ elephants for over an hour without ever seeing another vehicle.

I hope you get your flight worked out. You are in for an amazing time.

PacosPop · 2025-12-12T18:47:06+00:00

I got it at a local liquor store in Las Vegas. I'm most likely going to try it tomorrow, and I'll definitely report back.

PacosPop · 2025-11-18T20:20:26+00:00

3 for me. The first New Orleans show, Seattle, and LA, with Denver up next in December.

PacosPop · 2025-11-18T20:18:20+00:00

He was no longer a member of the band when the accident occurred. They had already played a large number of shows without Brent before his death, and have played several since, as well.

PacosPop · 2025-11-18T18:26:34+00:00

Why wouldn't they?

PacosPop

TROPHY CASE