Overview
The 10-day Uganda Wildlife and Gorilla Safari is a memorable adventure where you visit savannah national parks and primate national parks. Visiting Murchison Falls and Queen Elizabeth National Park for game drives and boat cruises with rhino trekking at Ziwa rhino sanctuary.
Visit Kibale National Park for chimpanzee tracking and then visit Bwindi National Park for a gorilla trekking adventure. The adventure is accompanied by community walks in Kibale and Bwindi and has stopovers like that one at the Uganda equator in Kayabwe.
Detailed Itinerary
Day 1: Arrival and pick up from Entebbe airport, Uganda
On arrival at Entebbe International Airport, the driver guide welcomes you and he will take you through a briefing about how this great q0 days Uganda wildlife safari can be conducted. He will take you to get all the necessities that you might not come with such as the Ugandan currency to be for easy transactions and many more. Head to the booked hotel in either Kampala or Entebbe for your night’s stay after dinner.
Day 2: Entebbe / Kampala to Murchison Falls National Park, enroute rhino trekking
Be served with breakfast and then head to Murchison Falls National Park a home to four of the African big five animals. This park is unique in a way that it’s comprised of two distinct vegetations which are separated by the river Nile where the falls are found. The northern part has savannahs and the southern part has forest.
The falls are the world’s most powerful and they are next to Uhuru Falls. While on the way, have a stopover to trek the rhinos at Ziwa rhino sanctuary an experience that will last for about 2 hours while on foot. Lunch enroute will be served followed by a journey to the mighty Murchison Falls National Park. Arrive and head to the lodge booked.
Day 3: Morning game drive and afternoon boat cruise.
Take a morning game drive after breakfast where you expect to meet animals like Elephants, lions, leopards, giraffes, buffaloes, Uganda Kobs, waterbucks, oribis, warthogs, hippos and more. The break will be at the Hippos pool to enjoy Uganda’s fresh fruits such as passion fruits, papaya/pawpaw, pineapples and many more others.
After the game drive, take a boat cruise after lunch where you expect to meet hippos, crocodiles, elephants, buffaloes, waterbucks, and a variety of bird species such as African fish eagles, kingfishers, herons and more. Head back to the lodge for your dinner and night stay.
Day 4: Leave to Kibale National Park
Have a leisurely breakfast at the lodge, check out and head to Kibale National Park home to large numbers of primates especially the chimpanzees. The journey to this park is amazing as you pass through the natural forest, tea estates, Crater lakes, views of Rwenzori mountain ranges and more. Arrive and head to the lodge for checking in followed by an optional activity like homemade coffee processing and tasting.
Day 5: Chimpanzee trekking and Isunga Community Tours
Head to the Kibale Park office after breakfast for briefing. You will be told precautions to follow while in the forest like don’t mimic, avoid using a flashlight camera, always keeping distance, carrying gadgets like the camera, Binoculars and recorder and more. The trek will begin with the park guide ranger and escorts after cross-checking the trekking permits.
While in the forest, expect to meet monkeys like the Varvet, colobus monkeys, Grey checked mangabeys, baboons and many more others. Birds like blue turaco, cascade hornbill, doves, and eagles will not be missed. Meet the chimps and spend an hour following them as you learn about their movements and behaviours while performing their daily tasks.
Later on, head to the lodge for your lunch followed by visiting Isunga Cultural Community Tours an association at the edge of the park aimed at promoting wildlife conservation and conserving the two cultures (Batooro and Bakiga) that leave at the edge of the park. Learn about how people live in this community through a community walk which will take you to discover some crater lakes. Later, return to the lodge for your dinner.
Day 6: Depart to Queen Elizabeth National Park
Have an optional tour like the Bigodi Swamp walk or boda boda tour with Isunga Community Tours association to visit crater lakes, Isunga cold springs and the vanilla gardens. After, head to Queen Elizabeth National Park in western Uganda a journey with a great view of Rwenzori mountain ranges, banana plantations and more. Arrive with a game drive where you will be able to spot animals like elephants, hippos, buffalos, Uganda kobs and more. Head to the lodge booked and this will be the end of the day.
Day 7: Game Drives and launch trip
Take an early morning game drive where you will spot different wild animals such as hyenas, jackals, lions, leopards and many more such as elephants, buffalos, Uganda kobs, warthogs and many more.
The game drive will last for 2 hours and this will create everlasting memories this will be followed by an afternoon launch trip on the Kazinga channel where you will encounter animals and birds like pelicans, Egrets, hamerkops, fish eagles, elephants, buffalos, duikers, Uganda kobs and many more others.
Day 8: A journey to Bwindi National Park through the Ishasha sector
Wake up early and take a journey to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park the protected area that falls under the world UNESCO heritage site due to home the rare mountain gorillas. These live together with other mammals like elephants, buffalos, golden cats duikers, bushbucks, bat-eared foxes, civet cats and many more others.
Depending on your arrival time, opt to take an afternoon Batwa community walk to enjoy the cultural experience through learning the traditional music and dances, tasting the local dishes, storytelling and more. Head to the lodge for your dinner and prepare for the next day’s experience.
Day 9: Gorilla trekking experience
Wake up excited to meet the endangered mountain gorillas in their natural setting an experience which will begin with a briefing after breakfast. A briefing exercise is important because you get to learn about the rules and regulations which will be the same as those in Kibale National Park for chimpanzee trekking, crosschecking the gorilla trekking permits, allocations of the park ranger and escorts and more.
The search will begin under the guidance of the park ranger as you penetrate the Impenetrable Forest while meeting duikers, baboons, colobus monkeys and many more others. Trekking will last for 4 to 6 hours including an hour spent with the gorillas recording lifetime memories. The gorilla family visited will be performing different tasks such as searching for food, beast-feeding young ones, playing and more as the Silverback perform its leadership skills.
Day 10: Bwindi National park to Entebbe airport
Have breakfast and head back to Kampala with a stopover at the Uganda equator for photos, equator experiment, lunch and purchase some souvenirs.
The journey takes about 9 hours’ drive with different stopovers and on arrival, be dropped at Entebbe International Airport and this will mark the end of your safari.