Join Indepth African Safaris on this trip of a lifetime to Uganda, also known as the Pearl of Africa. This lush, tropical country is one of the finest places in the world to get close to primates, including the chimpanzee and mountain Gorillas, as well as a population of tree climbing lions and the bizaree shoebill. This tour has been designed to incorporate all these iconic species and introduce you to a wealth of other wildlife that’s on offer.

The Safari takes you to the primates in Kibale National Park which is the primate capital of the world and also to experience the hidden beauty of nature from Queen Elizabeth National Park together with an amazing wildlife safari. We later cross over to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park for Gorilla trekking. Uganda only has half of the population of mountain Gorillas in the world

Day 1: Arrival in Uganda

Arrival into Uganda and pick up from the Entebbe international airport by our company representative for the trip and later transferred to Entebbe for an overnight. Based on the time of arrival of the clients, a half day visit to Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary can be organized at an additional cost, this requires advance communication.

Entebbe is a very quiet town located on the shores of Lake Victoria and can easily be explored by anyone on foot, cycling (pre-booked) or on motorbikes known as boda. The town offers a wide variety of craft shops where clients can purchase souvenirs or clients can head out to relax in the Botanical gardens with an opportunity to see some monkeys that are always playing in the forest.

Accommodation: Hotel No 5 Luxury Boutique

Meal Plan: Full Board

Day 2: Transfer to Kibale National Park via Fort Portal

After breakfast at 7am, set off to Kibaale National Park through Fort Portal.  Fort Portal is commonly known as the tourism city of Uganda because of its strategic location to most of the tourism sights and its very green scenery, clients will have their lunch in Fort Portal. The drive through Fort Portal takes you through scenic views from the tea plantations.

Accommodation: Ndali Lodge

Meal Plan: Full board, breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

About Kibale National Park

This tranquil tropical forest provides an ultimate chimp encounter thanks to its status as a fully-fledged primate capital, boasting of 13 species of both old world and new world monkeys. These range from black-and-white colobus, blue monkey, red-tailed monkey, vervets, L’Hoest’s monkey, the bonus being bush babies.

Situated in the shadows of Mountain Rwenzori, this 795km2 lush jungle is surrounded by scenic tea plantations on one side, and Uganda’s most beautiful crater lakes on the other side. On its third side, you will find a contiguous wildlife corridor linking Queen Elizabeth National Park. This means you should brace yourself for random elephant turns up, or other mammal species like duikers, forest hogs, bushbuck and even bush pigs.

Day 3: Chimpanzee Trekking and Community tour

Clients will have their early morning breakfast before setting off very early to the park offices for briefing in preparation for Chimpanzee trekking. The trekking takes roughly 2– 4 hours or depending on the location of the Chimps. The walk in the Kibale Forest at times takes the slippery paths and some bit of climbing and therefore clients should have good hiking shoes, enough drinking water, rain jacket, long pants and long sleeved shirts.

Clients will spend more hours observing and taking pictures of the Chimps in the forest a moment which is worth- while. Based on the time clients finish their Chimpanzee trekking, we shall return to the lodge for a hot meal or having it at a new by lodge in case the chimpanzee trekking took long.

In the afternoon, we shall head out for a community experience to see how locals in the area live their life and this will involve a run through how local beer is made, local coffee processing at home, visit to the local medicine man who is one of the most respected man in the community and local cow milking methods. The full community tour experience takes roughly 2 – 3 hours involving visiting different homes and it’s done immediately after lunch from Chimpanzee trekking so clients need to make a decision on it if they are not tired.  Dinner will be at the lodge again.  

Meal Plan: Full board – breakfast, lunch & Dinner

Day 4: Transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park 

After breakfast client will embark on their journey to Queen Elizabeth National Park. One of the common features we shall be able to see during the drive is the famous ranges of Mountain Rwenzori with the highest peak Magherita Standing at 5109M. The drive takes us through community markets ad if clients wish, a stop will always be made for them to take some pictures.

In the afternoon, if clients wish they can go for a Crater drive tour inside the park which is a very beautiful and scenic tour of the different craters in the park

Accommodation: Kyambura Gorge lodge

Meal Plan: Full board – breakfast, lunch & dinner

Day 5: Game drive & Private boat cruise in Queen Elizabeth National Park

In the morning at 6:30am, start off your game drive in the park. Queen Elizabeth boasts of one of the highest biodiversity ratings of any game park or reserve in the world. Located on the floor of the Albertine Rift Valley south west of Kasese, its vegetation comprises of savannah, acacia, euphorbia trees and large papyrus swamps. A number of over 100 mammal species and 500 bird species make this territory and great tourist destination. The maramagambo forest houses a large selection of monkeys and birds with flamingos on the crater lakes. The morning Game drive provide excellent opportunity to see lions, elephants, Leopards, Topi and many other animals ( remember these are wild animals and nature can’t be tamed, so we can’t be 100% sure of seeing all the animals), After the Game Drive  transfer to lodge for lunch  before transfer for the boat cruise at 1:30pm . There is an option of doing the boat cruise at 4 pm in case clients want to relax.

The boat trip on the Mweya Peninsula along the Kazinga channel which is a 41 km stretch of water and believed to be the longest natural water channel connects Lake Edward and Lake George. Here you have an opportunity to see crocodiles, hippos and birds that inhabit the Shoreline. The boat cruise takes roughly 2 hours. After the boat cruise, transfer back to the lodge

Note: Nature can’t be tamed, we can’t assure you on the kind of wild animals you will see.

. (Full board at the lodge – All meals)

Optional Activities:

 Night Game Drive can also be done at 100 USD per vehicle and 20 USD for each spot light to be used during the night game drive ( 2 spot lights are recommendable) . This gives you an opportunity to encounter a few nocturnal animals that are active during the night. However nature can’t be tamed and it dictates what kind of animals you will encounter.

Day 6. Transfer to Bwindi via Ishasha

Clients will have an early morning breakfast before transfer to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park via Ishasha sector in Queen Elizabeth National Park which is famous for the tree climbing lions. The drive to this area takes approximately 3- 4 hours on dusty roads. In case of a previous lion sighting, clients will enter the park in search of the tree climbing lions. These lions are not sighted every day so clients should be aware that it will depend on nature.  After proceed for lunch before transfer to the accommodation in Bwindi Ruhijja. The road is strictly bumpy and dusty as we shall be driving through the national park.

Accommodation: Gorilla Sanctuary lodge

Meal Plan: Full board- Break Fast, lunch & Dinner

About Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

Bwindi is all a 25,000 year old rainforest should be. It is mystical, dense, ever green and very wet. Sitted on a mountainous landscape on the edge of the rift valley, it is renowned for gorilla trekking as it has the highest number of habituated groups, numbered at 50 groups. This is a huge advantage compared to Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park and Congo’s Virunga National Park that have 10 and 8 groups respectively. On the part of population, Bwindi has roughly 459 gorillas now, basing on projections made during last year’s gorilla census. 95% of the park is made of a lush tropical forest that cover 321km2. The remaining 5% is made up of marshlands like Mubwindi, a piece of paradise where you can pursue the park’s 350 recorded species, inclusive of 23 endemics, 6 of which are ranked among the 10 most sought birds in East Africa.

Bwindi is divided into sectors where Gorilla trekking is done and these include Buhoma, Ruhijja, Nkuringo, Rushanga and Kigezi. It depends on the availability of Gorilla permits.

Day 7: Gorilla trekking in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest

Clients will be transferred to the park offices at 7:30am for a briefing about the whole process. While here, they are also told about the major safety procedures to follow while in the forest to ensure a successful jungle expedition and to get the best of the mountain gorilla tracking experience. We shall leave the lodge with packed lunch boxes to prepare for the Gorilla tracking because we can’t be certain what time clients will return from the tracking.

After briefing from the Ranger guide, traverse to the Gorilla sanctuary to start tracking these lovely creatures. It takes approximately 1-2 hours or less to find the gorillas based on where they are located. Clients spend 1 hour observing and taking pictures of a particular Gorilla family. The time you spend observing these endangered species is worth a trip to any part of the world and can never be forgotten.  Clients are expected to have enough drinking water, good hiking shoes, rain jackets in case it rains, gloves if necessary, long sleeved clothes. Time spent with these Gorillas is very priceless.

It’s also very wise for one to be in good physical shape because at times there are very steep slopes and muddy at times which requires one to be in good shape. . There are however porters for hire who can carry luggage or the tourist on a stretcher in case hired. They are hired for about $10 to $15.

At the end of the Gorilla tracking, retire back to the lodge to rest or take part in a community experience tour that can be organized by the lodge at a cost. 

Meal Plan: Full board- Break Fast, lunch & Dinner

Day 8: Transfer to Airstrip for domestic flight

After an amazing time in Uganda, clients will be transferred to the airstrip for their connecting international flight out of Uganda. Below are the timelines for the domestic flights

Departure Kihihi 0945 Arrival Entebbe 1125

Departure Kihihi 1140Arrival Entebbe 1330

Departure Kihihi 1445 Arrival Entebbe 1615

Note

However, time can vary based on the routing of the day, clients should ensure their connecting international flight are some hours away from the domestic flight arrival

If you wish to be picked from the airport for a lunch outside the airport in Entebbe, this can be planned upon earlier communication before start of trip.

Meal Plan:  – Breakfast

                                                    *End of safari *

Gorilla trekking Tips

Package Includes,

Package Excludes,

Extra Notes

Accommodation named in the itinerary is based on availability during the preferred travel dates. In case of non-availability, similar types of accommodation will be recommended.

The Safari is done in 4WD Safari cars with a pop up roof for Game Viewing. Each client has a window seat for better travel moments

164A5787Where half board meal plan has been indicated, clients will be taken to a restaurant on a en-route our destination where they can have their lunch

                                            SIT, RELAX & ENJOY YOUR SAFARI