Monogram Tours

About Monogram Tours and where it operates

Monogram Tours is a Ugandan tour company based in Rubanda District in the southwest of the country, near Kabale, that plans and runs guided tours, safaris and gorilla trekking. Its footer gives the address as Plot 287, Mulore A, Nyakabungo Ward, Rubanda Town Council, Rubanda District, P.O. Box 460251, Kabale, Uganda. The site describes the business as "an independent social enterprise that specializes in providing guided tours and vacation packages to various destinations around Africa," and its homepage says simply, "Monogram Tours is a provider of guided tours." The safari menu lists Uganda, Rwanda, Congo and Burundi safaris, and the gorilla trekking menu lists Congo, Rwanda and Uganda. The site also has destination pages for parks further afield, including Amboseli in Kenya and Lake Manyara and the Serengeti in Tanzania. Prices are shown in US dollars.

The company ties its tours to a charity. The homepage says "Every profit with us directly contributes to uplifting underprivileged children," and invites guests traveling through southwestern Uganda, toward Lake Bunyonyi, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, the Muhavura range, Mgahinga or Lake Mutanda, to stop in Rubanda Town Council and visit Little Angels Aid School. Guests can give to the orphanage or sponsor a child, and the site carries a Donate Now button and a Charity page.

Tours with prices

The homepage's Special Tours section shows the trips with published prices: a 1 Day Uganda White Water Rafting Trip from Entebbe or Kampala, starting from $320; a 4 Day Mount Kalisimbi Climbing and Golden Monkey Trekking trip, starting from $1800; a 1 Day Shoebill and Birdwatching Trip to the Mabamba Wetlands, starting from $200; and a 1 Day Uganda Golden Monkey Trekking trip in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, starting from $350. The menu also has sections for Tours, Lakeside Tourism and Homestay, and the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park page is featured on the homepage.

The destination pages

Most of the site's detail sits in its park guides. The Kidepo Valley page describes Uganda's most remote park, in the Karamoja region of the northeast, gazetted in 1962 and covering 1,442 square kilometers under the 2,750 meters Mount Morungole. It says the park "hosts over 75 species of mammals and 470 species of birds," and that game drives run in three sessions, morning, evening or night. It also covers birding, cultural visits to the Karamojong, Tepethe and Ik peoples, and hikes on the Lamoj Mountains. On access, it gives the northern road route from Kampala as approximately 570 km (9 hours) and the eastern route as about 792km (13 hours), with charter flights of about two hours from Kajjansi, Kampala Aeroclub or Entebbe, and it lists lodges from Apoka Safari Lodge, which it calls the only luxury lodge inside the park, to Kidepo Savannah Lodge, Kidepo Safari Lodge and Nga'moru wilderness tented camp. The page names the wildlife a visitor might see, from lion, elephant and herds of up to 1,000 buffalo to cheetah, greater and lesser kudu and Beisa oryx, and birds such as the ostrich, Jackson's hornbill and Karamoja apalis. It also suggests stops on the drive north: Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary and Murchison Falls National Park on the northern route, and the source of the Nile, Sipi Falls and the Nyero rock paintings on the eastern one.

The Amboseli page places the park in southern Kenya on the Tanzanian border, covering 392 square km, and says "Amboseli National Park is Kenya's second popular park next to Masai Mara." It describes the park as among the best places in Africa to see large herds of elephants, lists over 80 mammal species and about 400 bird species, and covers game drives, Maasai cultural visits and nature photography with Mount Kilimanjaro behind, plus road access from Nairobi via Namanga (240 km). It gives two rainy seasons, March to April and November to December, and lists lodges by tier, from Amboseli Serena Lodge and Tortilis Tented Lodge to AA Lodge and the Amboseli Campsite.

The Lake Manyara page puts the park 126 km southwest of Arusha, about an hour and a half by road, covering 325 km2 including the lake surface, and says more than 350 bird species have been observed on the lake, with flamingos in large numbers in the wet season and over 180 species of butterflies in the park. It names Escarpment Luxury Lodge and Kirurumu Tented Lodge among places to stay. The Kahuzi-Biega page describes a park of 6,000 square kilometers near Bukavu in eastern Congo, one of the last refuges of the eastern lowland gorilla, with 1,178 plant species, 136 species of mammals and 349 species of birds.

Booking and contact

Destination pages carry a Book a Tour button, and the homepage invites visitors to "Let our experts plan your trip" with "organized itineraries." Contact is by phone on +256782638562 or by email at info@monogramtours.net. The footer links to a Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions, and to the company's Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest accounts.

What the site does not settle

The site does not publish prices for its gorilla trekking or for the multi-country safaris, so the cost of the company's headline product is only known on enquiry. Each destination page lists "All native & international languages support" as its language information, which does not say which languages a given guide speaks. The special tours are priced "Starts from" without saying what the price covers (transport, park fees, meals, accommodation) or how it changes with group size. The site does not state group sizes, cancellation terms or deposits on these pages; the footer links to Terms & Conditions separately. The park guides read as general background (population figures from past censuses, lodge lists, road distances) rather than itineraries, so it is not clear which parks the company visits on a standard trip, especially in Kenya and Tanzania, which are absent from its safari menu. The site shows no customer reviews.

Who this suits

Monogram Tours suits travelers planning gorilla or golden monkey trekking and birding in southwestern Uganda, near Bwindi, Mgahinga and Lake Bunyonyi, who like the idea that their booking supports a local school and orphanage, and who are happy to arrange the details by phone or email. Travelers who want published itineraries and prices for a multi-country safari will need to ask for them.