Big Predators Tours are now a fully registered company in Uganda and licensed with UTB (Uganda Tourism Board). License No:- UTB/BTT/TO/2023/100819

About: Musinguzi Apollo and Big Predator Tours

Born and still living in Fort Portal – Uganda’s ‘Tourism Capital City’ – Apollo discovered a passion for guiding and informing visitors to the region from a very early age.  Whilst still at Primary School and only eight years old, Apollo noticed that overseas visitors would be taken for guided walks into the Rwenzori Mountains and other local tourist attractions. Out of a natural curiosity he started to follow some of these guided tours and became a familiar site to the guides; often they would even ask him for directions and assistance, for which he would sometimes get tipped by the guides, and so the passion to become a professional guide was born.

Quite often the visitors would also give him tips as he entertained them with songs he had learnt and also for offering some traditional stories accounting for the stunning natural landscapes.  For example, his parents believed that the crater lakes which are found in abundance in and around Fort Portal were actually footsteps of giant ancestors which had, over time, filled with water… Apollo also believed these traditional stories until he learnt at school that they were actually formed as a result of volcanic actions!

Later, when Apollo was studying for his ‘A’ levels, he became an official guide as he had become firm friends with many of the existing guides who encouraged him into this, and also his English had improved and he felt more confident about conversing with international visitors.

After approximately eight years of guiding Apollo took the decision, again with encouragement from fellow guides and tourists, to gain full accreditation in this, his chosen field of profession.  This saw Apollo enroll at Kihingami Vocational Eco-Tourism Training Institute in Fort Portal for a two-year course in ‘Tour Guiding and Driving’.  Graduating successfully from this course in 2010 Apollo embarked as a freelance tour guide and for the next twelve years worked for a variety of different tour companies all over Uganda, all the time gaining in experience and confidence. 

However, whilst working as a freelance guide provided a great opportunity to gain experience Apollo always had the urge to branch out on his own and work independently, and this seed of ambition manifested itself in the launching of Big Predators Tours in 2023.  With Big Predators Tours Apollo now has the opportunity to shape his own itineraries and tours, calling on the experience of working for all those years in a multitude of accommodations and destinations all across Uganda and Rwanda.  This means that Big Predators Tours really can offer international visitors the very best safari experience regardless of your chosen specialities, be this birding, ‘Big Five’ safaris or primate trekking of Chimpanzees and Gorillas.

Apollo has so many stories and experiences to call upon and any tour excursion with Big Predators Tours will be extremely rewarding, educational and entertaining… you may even be ‘lucky’ enough to view Gorillas mating, one of the many highlights of Apollo’s career to date, and if you’re really lucky you may be able to persuade him to burst into song as he used to all those years ago; ‘Belle’ is one of his favourites which he learnt while grazing cattle!

Apollo has big plans for Big Predator Tours and aims to add more countries to those currently offered in the near future, aiming to include Kenya and Botswana itineraries amongst others…watch this space!

Booking your Ugandan or Rwandan safari with Big Predator Tours will reward you with an experience you will remember for life, so go ahead and book your safari adventure now!