Tour Itinerary
Day 1: Kampala to Murchison Falls National Park
After breakfast at your hotel in Kampala or Entebbe, your driver guide will meet you up and brief you shortly about your tour. Later you will transfer to Murchison Falls National Park via Luweero-Nakasongola and Masindi. En route, you can have a stopover at the Ziwa Rhino sanctuary for Rhino tracking. You will reach Masindi town in time for lunch. After lunch, proceed to the park where upon arrival, you will go and visit the top of the falls. This is the most interesting area within the park. At the top of the falls you will experience the beauty of the mighty river Nile where its waters squeezes its self into a 7 meter gorge deep down over 45metres and hence making a thunderous roar. Transfer to your assigned place of accommodation for dinner and overnight stay at Paraa Safari Lodge
Day 2: Game drive and launch cruise
After breakfast early morning, you will go for the game drive in the northern part of the park. The game drive will reward with beautiful and a variety of wildlife in the park such as Elephants, Lions, leopards, buffaloes, Antelopes like bush bucks and water bucks, Kobs, warthogs and so on. Later on you will return to your lodge for lunch as you wait for the afternoon launch cruise along the Albert Nile. During the afternoon launch cruise, look out for water loving animals like crocodile along the river banks, elephants taking water, hippos and many bird species. Return back to your lodge for dinner and overnight stay at Paraa safari Lodge
Day 3: Transfer to Kibale forest National Park
After breakfast, you will set out and transfer to Kibale Forest National Park. En route to the park, the journey will reward you with beautiful scenery especially of the great Rwenzori Mountains in Kasese. You will also pass by different homesteads of local people in Hoima, plantations of tea and bananas and so on. You will have lunch in Hoima town and later proceed to fort portal reaching in the evening. Transfer to the park for dinner and overnight stay at Kibale Forest Lodge or Ndali Lodge for up market
Day 4: Kibale Forest National Park
This 766-square-kilometer tropical rain forest is the natural habitat for an amazing 12 primate species, and contains the highest primate density of an area on Earth. Here, on a guided forest walk, you may find families of Chimpanzees and Red Colobus Monkeys chattering and swinging through the ancient forest trees. Some of the trees are 50 to 60 meters (150 to 180 feet) in height, and provide a majestic canopy for the profusion of rain forest life, including 325 bird species. Even though you may only rarely see them, the park is home to the largest population of Forest Elephant in Uganda, and is also home to Buffalo, Uganda Kob, Genet, Civet, Waterbuck and Bushbuck. This morning we take a guided walk through this fascinating forest, following the well-marked trails to track the wild chimpanzees in the forest. (While the adults are taking a chimpanzee trek, the children will be participating in a guided educational tour – with a guide teaching them about the flora and fauna in the forest, conservation and more.
After lunch, take a guided nature walk in the Bigodi Wetland looking out for plants, birds and monkeys. The tour is organised by a local community. In the evening, you will be entertained by the local community. Dinner and Overnight at Kibale safari Lodge or Primates Lodge or Ndali Lodge
Day 5: Transfer to Queen Elizabeth National park
After a fully served breakfast, you will leave Kibale Forest National Park and transfer to Queen Elizabeth National park. Set out in a southerly direction for the Queen Elizabeth National Park, located on the foothills of the Rwenzori Mountains.
Set in the western branch of the Great Rift Valley, the park is incredibly diverse in the type of terrain it encompasses. Prehistoric volcanic explosion craters now serve as huge amphitheatres across the floor of which troop herds of Elephant and Buffalo. Some of these craters have formed salt lakes in which Flamingo from as far away as Kenya are scattered like delicate pink dust. Wide-open plains support fair numbers of game, both prey and predator. The two large lakes that bound the park – Edward and George, together with the connecting Kazinga Channel are home to large numbers of Hippo, and numerous Crocodile. This evening, we arrive at Mweya Lodge, dramatically located on a peninsula that juts out into Lake Edward and provides excellent views of the Kazinga Channel. We will enjoy our first game drive this evening. Overnight: Mweya Safari Lodge (FB)
Day 6: Queen Elizabeth National Park
This morning, we will go on the first of our game drives. It’s an early start, and we will enjoy coffee and tea out on the rolling plains of the park. We return to the lodge for breakfast, and in time to prepare for our launch trip on the Kazinga Channel. This water system hosts the highest concentration of Hippo in the world, and this excursion brings us up close to them. We will also see crocodile, buffalo, and other game that drink from the Channel, and experience the profusion of bird life that is supported here. We return in the late afternoon, and transfer to our lodge.
We drive back to the lodge for lunch, followed by a late afternoon game drive. On the game drive, we may run into Waterbuck, Elephant, Giant Forest Hog, Bushbuck, Buffalo, or even Lion or Leopard. Then it’s back to our lodge for our usual evening wind-down.
Overnight: Mweya Safari Lodge (F/B)
Day 7: Queen Elizabeth National Park – Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
Another early start for a bush walk through the Maramagambo Forest. This is one of the largest forests in Uganda, and forms a habitat for a number of primates and forest dwellers. Due to its location, Maramagambo also has a high diversity of butterflies and birds. Our walk culminates in a visit to volcanic caves that are home to thousands of bats, and often, several reptile species. Later, we travel further south to the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. This is a leisurely drive, taking most of the day. We climb out of the Rift Valley at first, and then travel through the Kigezi Highlands of South-Western Uganda. The scenery gets increasingly breathtaking as we switchback up and down the hills. Thirty kilometres (18 miles) before the end of our journey, we see our objective – the mist-swathed mountains of the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is one of the most biologically diverse areas in the world. On arrival, check into the lodge.
We retire to our enormous tents for a hot shower (or a hot bath if you prefer), and meet later around the campfire to recount the day’s activities. After dinner, we retire for the night, lulled to sleep by the sounds of one of Africa’s most incredible natural environments.
Overnight: Mahogany Springs Lodge (FB)
Day 8: Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
These two days activities may be amongst the most exciting and challenging of our entire expedition. The Mountain Gorillas in Bwindi are part of a worldwide population of just 700 individuals. The gorillas we are allowed to track belong to one of three habituated family groups. For up to five years each, these groups have undergone an extremely delicate process that has gradually brought them to tolerate the presence of humans for a brief period every day and allowed a few privileged visitors to interact with them in the wild.
The gorillas are by no means tame, and are completely wild animals. However, experienced guides will accompany us on our tracking, many of who have been involved in the habituation process themselves. The guides will use their knowledge of the gorillas’ habits and information from the previous day to locate the group’s whereabouts.
Because of this, the time taken to track the gorillas varies enormously, from as little as half an hour to as much as 9 hours before one returns to camp. Once the gorillas are located, our group will be allowed a maximum of one hour with them. This is one of the world’s truly memorable experiences – a look into one of these magnificent creatures’ eyes brings home the bond that exists between them and us. It also brings home the poignant fact that they are on the edge of extinction, and that our presence here contributes to ensuring their continued survival. Tracking the mountain gorillas is an awe inspiring experience and as you come across them in their forest surroundings all thought of fatigue disappear! The hour is often over all too quickly, and we slowly make our way back to camp to recount the day’s adventures. In the afternoon take a Batwa Community Tour to experience the culture of the Batwa People, the former inhabitants of the Bwindi Forest. This pygmy tribe used to live in the forest and used bushmen skills to survive in the forest. Overnight: Mahogany Springs Lodge (FB)
Day 9: Bwindi Impenetrable National Park – Lake Mburo
Today we will travel eastwards to Lake Mburo National Park. After lunch in Mbarara, we drive to the park and check in to our camp. We enjoy an evening game drive to view the parks plains game species and birds, followed by a return to the camp to freshen up for dinner. Overnight: Lake Mburo Tented Camp (F/B)
Day 10: Transfer back to Kampala
After breakfast, you set out for a morning nature walk in Rubanga forest after which you will transfer back to Kampala. En route you will have a brief stop over at the Equator for water experiments and also get a chance to stand at a point where the two hemispheres start from. Continue with the journey and have another stopover at Mpambire drum village basically known as drum making village. Have a brief Kampala City Tour – Visit the Kasubi Tombs, Uganda Museum and Ndere Cultural Centre for an entertainment filled evening – with story telling, local African folk tale and more. Drop off will be at your Hotel in Kampala or Entebbe.
End of Safari