Overview
| Accommodation | Confirmed together with you — see the Rates tab for general comfort levels we work with. |
|---|---|
| Meals | Full board on safari days; meals as specified for any city/beach nights, per your final itinerary. |
Day by Day (6 days)
ARRIVAL IN ENTEBBE
You arrive at Entebbe International Airport and are met by your driver-guide, who takes you to your hotel in Entebbe or Kampala. The Uganda Wildlife Education Centre has rescued animals, including rhinos and chimpanzees, and is a good stop for beginners. If you arrive early, you can visit the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre, the Entebbe Botanical Gardens on the shore of Lake Victoria or the craft markets in Kampala. Your guide gives a briefing on the route, the permits and the trekking rules, and checks your equipment and clothing. The rest of the day is free to rest after your flight. Yellow fever vaccination certificates are required for entry, and your guide can advise on any other health questions. Tonight you stay at a clean, comfortable budget lodge or camp with simple rooms, hot showers and generous home-style meals. Coming up tomorrow: Chimpanzee tracking in Kibale Forest.
CHIMPANZEE TRACKING IN KIBALE FOREST
Kibale National Park near Fort Portal is the best place in Africa to see wild chimpanzees. You can hear the chimps before you see them, since their calls, called pant-hoots, carry far across the forest. The forest is humid, with trees up to 55 metres tall, and the trails can be slippery, so waterproof boots are a good idea. At about 7:30 am you report to the Kanyanchu visitor centre for the briefing, then enter the forest with a ranger guide and a small group of up to eight people to track a habituated community. A Chimpanzee Habituation Experience allows you to spend a full day with the chimps as they wake, feed and move, at an extra cost. You sleep in a modest tented camp or guesthouse chosen for its location and value, with meals included. Next on the route: Queen Elizabeth National Park and the Kazinga Channel.
QUEEN ELIZABETH NATIONAL PARK AND THE KAZINGA CHANNEL
Queen Elizabeth National Park covers about 1,980 square kilometres of savannah, crater lakes and forest between the Rwenzori Mountains and Lake Edward. A morning game drive on the Kasenyi plains looks for lions, elephants, buffalo, Uganda kob and warthogs, and the area is one of the best places in Uganda for big cats. African skimmers, pied kingfishers and malachite kingfishers are among the birds you can spot from the boat. Lions in the Kasenyi sector hunt the Uganda kob, and the open plains make it easy to follow the action. Hippos here number in the thousands, and the channel is said to hold the largest concentration of hippos in the world. In the afternoon a two-hour boat cruise on the Kazinga Channel brings you close to one of the highest concentrations of hippos in Africa, along with Nile crocodiles, elephants at the shore, and a huge variety of water birds including pelicans, kingfishers and African skimmers. More than 600 bird species have been recorded. Accommodation tonight is a budget safari lodge, simple and practical, with good food and a quiet place to rest. Looking ahead to tomorrow: Ishasha and the tree-climbing lions.
ISHASHA AND THE TREE-CLIMBING LIONS
The Ishasha sector in the south of Queen Elizabeth National Park is known for its tree-climbing lions, which rest on the branches of large fig trees in the heat of the day. Topi and Uganda kob graze in large herds on the plains here, and are the main prey for the lions. The Ishasha sector lies in the southern corner of Queen Elizabeth National Park, near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. You also look for topi, Uganda kob, buffalo, elephants and hippos, with large herds around the river bends, and the birdlife is good in the riverine forest. After the game drive you continue south to your lodge near Bwindi, about 2 to 3 hours on winding roads through the highlands. You rest at a standard budget camp, with a hot shower, a comfortable bed and a hearty dinner after the day outdoors.
MOUNTAIN GORILLA TREKKING IN BWINDI
Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to about half of the world's remaining mountain gorillas. The trek takes from one to six hours through dense, steep forest, led by trackers who locate the group. Once you find them, you spend one hour with the gorillas, watching the silverback, females and playful juveniles, from a few metres away. After lunch you can visit a Batwa community for a cultural experience, take a nature walk to the waterfalls around Buhoma, or simply rest at your lodge. Wear long trousers, waterproof boots and gloves, and bring a rain jacket as the weather changes quickly. Hiking sticks, gaiters and gloves are worth bringing, since the ground is muddy and there are stinging nettles on the paths. Each gorilla family has a dominant silverback, so called for the grey fur on his back, who leads the group and protects it. The park limits visits to eight people per family per day, and a trek lasts up to one hour once you reach the gorillas. After an early breakfast you report to the park headquarters for the Uganda Wildlife Authority briefing and are assigned to a habituated gorilla family. Porters can be hired locally to carry your bag and help on the slopes. You sleep in a modest tented camp or guesthouse chosen for its location and value, with meals included.
DEPARTURE FROM UGANDA
After breakfast you check out and your driver-guide takes you to the airport for your flight home, or to your next destination. We hope to see you again for a visit to Rwanda or a climb in the Rwenzori Mountains. We hope you leave with wonderful memories of your safari and look forward to welcoming you back soon. Entebbe Airport is close to Kampala, but traffic can be heavy, so your guide plans the transfer with extra time.
Rates Per Person
The Overview tab explains the accommodation and meal options. Send us your dates and group size for an exact price.
Next: Inclusions →Inclusions
Included
- Private vehicle with your own driver-guide
- Park entry and conservation fees
- Accommodation as specified in your itinerary
- Meals as specified per day (full board on safari days)
- Airport pickup and drop-off
Excluded
- International flights
- Visa fees
- Travel insurance
- Tips and gratuities
- Personal expenses and souvenirs
Getting There
Tour Start & End
This trip starts in Uganda and ends in Uganda.
Airport Information
Entebbe International Airport (Uganda) is the most common arrival point for this trip.
Transfer Information
We meet you at the airport and handle every transfer between destinations throughout your trip.
Accommodation Before/After
Want an extra night in Arusha, Moshi or Zanzibar before or after your trip? Just ask and we will arrange it.