Budongo Eco Lodge

I spent 5 hours at the Budongo Eco Lodge while my friends did Chimpanzee trekking. It was a nice and peaceful cafe well suited for waiting, coffee and lunch. The staff was so nice and caring. I will recommend this place for others in need of a peaceful place to rest, wait or have lunch.

We directly booked this lodge with the reservations team per email confirming that we can pay by card on the spot.|Upon on our arrival, before occupying our room, we verified with the staff that a card payment is possible, we were reassured.||Entering our room, we noticed straight how run down the establishment is. The door wouldn’t open properly; the corners and the selling in the bathroom are molded and eaten away by time. The curtains are fully dirty and some even half broken. When checking the bed, the duvet sheets were dirty with stains over it, showing that they were definitely not washed.||This would be something that we would be willing to look over in a budget forest lodge paying 30 to 50$ for a night but not in a “wannabe” highly rated lodge with a price range of 130$ for a night. |We stayed in lodges and accommodations cheaper and more expensive all over east Africa but this establishment offered the poorest price/quality range.||The cherry on the top of the cake, was the morning check-out. We ordered breakfast for 7:30 to be able to leave as soon as possible since the lodge is already inside the park and we had to pay the park fees the night before and the entrance is only valable for 24h.|After several failed attempts for card payment at the lodge, the manager proposed to walk to the main road to try to catch network connection with the terminal. This also failed.|So we ended up not only walking up to the main road but continuing for over one kilometer where he believed to have connection. From here, he called the central reservations where someone proposed to go back to the main gate (about 10km away). At this point, when we had already lost 1h30 from the National park time with this situation, I proposed to make an online payment via a link as soon as we have internet connection. ||We find it extremely disappointing that a big brand like Uganda Lodges cannot be up to their promises regarding their payment methods and in case of a situation like this, they don’t offer their clients a convenient and rapid solution (like the online payment that we actually had to propose at the end).||Later in the evening, as soon as we had connection, we made the payment of the 130$ and sent a print screen as confirmation to their central reservations. |When we thought this was all over, we got an email stating that we missed to add 3% of the surcharge fee for the online payment.|However, until now, we have not even received an apology for all this inconvenience.||On a positive note, the manager was friendly and tried to help but clearly not up to the situation.||We wouldn’t recommend to stay at this lodge if you’re expecting a quality accommodation worth 130$; just drive the extra 40km and stay in one of the lodges closer to the river.

The chimp tracking is incredible! After a walk through the beautiful rain forest you may get really close to them. Our guide was very good, he explained a lot and took us in the middle of a group of at least 8 chimps. The sound they made was amazing. I can highly recommend this tour to everyone who is interested in nature and wildlife.

We had a great one night stay at the lodge. The food was lovely and so were the team, who looked after us very well. The lodge was clean and spacious. It was really cool going to sleep with the sounds of the forest. We also did chimpanzee tracking with Robert, which was unforgettable. He taught us so much and is one of kind!

We didn’t spend the night here, but we visited the park to see Chimpanzees in the forest and it was an amazing experience. Chris our gide was friendly and very knowledgeable. Highly recommended!

Chimpanzee Trek: We did a chimpanzee trek with a guide (James) and it was an excellent experience from the moment we arrived. All of the lodge staff is knowledgeable and friendly and James patiently answered all of our questions and offered interesting detail and information about plants, animals and insects we saw along the way. He alerted us to every fireant trail, for which we were grateful! The hike itself was not too challenging if you are reasonably fit. There are very few small hills and it only requires a little root scrambling. Occasionally the pace picked up to catch up with the chimps but James was very aware of our comfort and abilities. This was a real highlight in our trip to the area and I highly recommend it.

We have just visited the Budongo Eco Lodge during a visit to Murchison Falls. Having traveled throughout Uganda, we can say that this was the worst lodge experience we have had. The lodge is ramshackle, ill cared for and badly managed. We were given two dormitory rooms for our family. We found one room to be infested with huge spiders (talking about hand size) and musquito netting on the beds which were far too small and ill fitting, and did not cover the beds which were bolted into the walls. Having gone to complain about this room, we found that the other room we had been given, after the lights had been turned off, was invaded with ants--as in a wall covered with a moving, seething mass. Its clear that the management and staff do not make the effort to keep the rooms clean and bug free and as the clientelle is mostly foreigners, their complaints are considered transitory (whereas their money remains). Its a great shame as the lodge is the departure points for walking to see the chimpanzees in Budgondo Forest. Do go to see the chimpanzees, but, be sure to stay elsewhere!

Our chimp trekking experience was AMAZING. Our guide, Joseph, and the trackers put us in the middle of a chimp group that was in the trees AND on the ground. He also helped us identify trees, birds, berries, and dung beetles at work! If you are just looking to track chimps, this is your place. If you want chimps and more -- they will exceed all expectations! The Eco Lodge also has an amazing gift shop!