10 Days 9 Nights – Entebbe, Kibale, Queen Elizabeth and Bwindi National Parks

Meet your driver at the airport and transfer to your accommodation in Entebbe for an overnight on Bed and breakfast basis.

If time permitting, extra activities are available like botanical gardens visit, discover Entebbe or on either a bike or on foot, Mabamba visit, Ngamba sanctuary visit, boat cruise among others.

Accommodation options in Entebbe

Luxury
Hotel No.5, K – Hotel , Horizon Hotel, Protea Hotel, Admas Hotel, Lake Victoria Hotel among others.
Mid – range
Karibu Guest house, Boma Guest House, Santa Maria Hotel, Papyrus Guest House.
Budget
Sunset view Guest House, Backpackers Hostel, and Airport view guest house.

Your driver will pick you for a transfer back to the airport for your scheduled flight to Kasese Airstrip where you will meet your safari guide and vehicle to proceed to Kibale Forest National park and your accommodation. Drive time is approx. 2 hours.

Afternoon at leisure. Optional activities available like crater walk visit, swamp walk among others.

Breakfast, lunch, dinner at your accommodation.

Accommodation options in Kibale National Park

Luxury
Primate Lodge, Ndali Lodge, Chimpundu Lodge, Kyaninga Lodge.

Mid-range
Turaco Lodge, Chimpanzee forest guest house, Isunga Lodge.

Budget
Kibale forest camp

After your breakfast, drive to the National Park Headquarters to meet your ranger guides for the day and begin you chimpanzee experience. Follow your ranger guides together with other trackers on an early morning trek into the forest to view wild chimpanzees as well as several other species of primates in their natural niche.

Whilst touring in the depths of the green forest you will be girdled by the chattering of the birds and actually anticipate seeing at least 5 or 6 other types of primates. The walking is fairly easy due to the well- maintained trails and reasonable flat terrain.

For the chimp trackers and researchers, this is the best experience which involves staying with the chimps from sun up to sun down and provides the occasion to really connect with the group and learn about the diurnal behaviours and different characteristics of the chimpanzees.

You’ll witness the chimpanzees within a few metres of these entertaining and veritably social hams, participating in their daily lives and passing through their day- to- day conditioning. Chimpanzees, our closest relatives are extremely risked with only an estimated 5000 remaining in Uganda.

After an hour with the chimpanzees, return to the lodge for a refreshment, your guide will pick you up to head to Tinka’s homestead for the traditional meal. Tinka is a community leader in Bigodi distract and he welcomes you into his home to enjoy a traditional Ugandan meal. Not only will you be able to try the Ugandan diet but Tinka will also describe each dish and give you a background information on the farming, harvesting, cooking methods of the traditional foods.

After the delicious meal, your driver will drop you off at the starting point of the Bigodi swamp walk. Bigodi Swamp walk. The Bigodi wetland sanctuary is a small but impressive wetland project that protects the Magombe swamp and is an important contribution to Ugandan conservation. It is run by the Kibale Association for Rural and Environmental Development (KAFRED) and all the funds received are used to support the local community projects in the Bigodi area. The trail offers one of the best guided bird trails in Uganda and gives walkers the attractive prospect of seeing various different primate species in just a few hours. The swamps are a haven for a huge number of bird and butterfly species and visitors can also expect to see at least 2 or 3 primate species

Breakfast, Lunch, dinner and overnight at your accommodation.

Depart Kibale National park and head to the Mweya sector of Queen Elizabeth National park. The drive is 3 – 4 hours approximately.

Queen Elizabeth National park has been in existence since 1952 and was initially called Kazinga channel national park but later changed to Queen Elizabeth National Park after a visit by Queen Elizabeth ii of England. Queen Elizabeth spreads over 1978 square kilometers in the western arm of the rift valley.

The home to the big five including tree climbing lions in the ishasha sector, buffalo, elephant, hippo and leopard is the most visited park of all Uganda national parks, its rich eco system with diversity of flora and fauna from the savannah grassland, humid forests, lakes, wetlands has made it an ideal habitat for so many wild life including mammals, reptiles, primates and over 600 bird species

The park offers sighting to some of the most famous physical features in Uganda like the kazinga channel which joins Lake Edward and George with its banks lined with elephants, hippos, buffaloes and different bird species, sight of Mountain Rwenzori steep escarpments, numerous crater lakes flooded with flamingos, maramagambo forest one of the largest surviving natural forest.

Return to the lodge for lunch and rest before proceeding for an afternoon game drive.

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and overnight at the Lodge.

Accommodation options in North Queen Elizabeth National Park.

Luxury
Kyambura Gorge Lodge, Mweya safari Lodge, Elephant plains, Katara Lodge

Mid-range
Buffalo Safari Lodge, Ihamba Safari Lodge, Marafiki Safari Lodge

Budget
Bush Lodge, Mazike Valley Lodge

The Kyambura chimpanzee tracking is a search for the wild chimpanzees in the forested gorge which is 100m deep and 1 km long. Most of the chimpanzees in the gorge are habituated and they are used to human presence. The overall population of chimpanzees is estimated to be 80 members, however, the gorge is also a home to other wildlife like birds like Bee eaters, Horn bills, kingfishers etc., monkeys, and baboons, elephants, hippos among others. The gorge has a river in the middle that attracts both resident animals and many of the park.

The chimpanzee trek starts from the park headquarters where you are briefed about the chimpanzee trek guidelines, rules and regulations by the ranger guides. Proceed on your trek down to the forest with your ranger who keeps informing about the daily life style and behavior of the chimpanzees like the fact that they stay in groups of about 35 – 40 individuals of all genders, they like cracking nuts from roots of trees, they like chewing leaves, they like jumping from one tree to the other and the food they like most – fruits, young antelopes and goats. You also be to see the chimpanzees swing from the trees, prepare their nests to rest and overnight in, mating, nursing their babies among others.

The Kyambura Gorge chimpanzee trek occurs twice a day starting at 0800hrs and 1300hrs and it is done in 2 groups of four hence a maximum of 16 people are allowed to trek the chimps a day and trip takes about 3 hours depending at the time of sighting the primates. Both timings are satisfying and rewarding.

Return to the lodge for lunch and later proceed for the afternoon game drive through the savannah wilderness in your safari vehicle on the lookout for the diverse wildlife such as buffaloes, elephants, Uganda kobs.

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and overnight at the Lodge.

Embark on the morning lion tracking experience in the kasenyi plains found in north of Queen Elizabeth National park. Queen Elizabeth National park is a cat family sustainable and conservation unit with over 250 large cats spread in both mweya and ishasha sectors including lions, leopards. Apart from the usual lions, QENP is a home to the rare but famous tree climbing lions in the world in the southern sector of the park that can be seen on a game drive. However the predator tracking activity is done in the north peninsular of Mweya in the kasenyi plains.

After registration at the Park Entrance with the rangers, meet your researcher and proceed to look out for the cat family in Queen Elizabeth National Park. Lion tracking in Queen Elizabeth is more of a researcher activity done in 3 sessions like the early morning, afternoon and night and goes for about 2 – 3 hours with your researcher who informs you of the rules and regulations of the tracking before you proceed to the savanna regions.

The researcher uses the radio collars to track the predators and their movements on and off the demarcated tracks. It being a research project the number of people is limited hence an advance booking is important.

Upon sighting the lions, the researcher will turn off the vehicle engine to avoid disrupting the lions, you will learn and monitor how they feed, behave, defense mechanisms and watch how the juveniles play among others. The data collected is used to better understand the lives and ways of the predators.

Return to the lodge for lunch and later proceed to the southern sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park famous for the tree climbing lions. The drive time is approx. 2 to 3 hours.

Embark on an evening game drive in the ishasha sector that can be concluded with sundowner experience, where a mini buffet is arranged inside the park with different hot / cold drinks and snacks prepared for you. Enjoy the beautiful views of the sun setting as the animals descend to their sanctums for the night and the nocturnal animals begin to come out of their hide outs.

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and overnight at the Lodge.

Embark on a game drive through the savannah wilderness in your safari vehicle searching for the diversity of wildlife in Queen Elizabeth National park including buffalo, elephants, Uganda kobs and of course the famous tree climbing lions who are normally sighted lazying on the branches of fig trees in the park.

Conclude your game drive with a wild breakfast in the jungle in a secluded spot, a fine dining experience is set up for you with different snacks and drinks laid out on the table with a personal chef at your service for any hot meal you could need.

Return to the lodge for lunch and relaxation and later head out for the evening game drive.

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and overnight at the Lodge.

Stop over at Agatha’s homestead on your way to Bwindi National park. Agatha’s project also known as Ishasha community project takes you through the daily life of an African woman like how food is prepared for example roasting maize, brewing sorghum, making porridge among other things. Continue on your journey to Bwindi National park with an estimated drive time of 2 to 3 hours.

Bwindi National park is situated at the border of the Great Rift Valley, in the south-western part of Uganda. In the early 90s, Bwindi Forest was just a reserve but it was later changed to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in 1992 and awarded the world Heritage site status in 1994 due to its rich eco system.

Bwindi impenetrable forest is one of the few large expanses of forests in East Africa on 327 square km2 covered in dense vegetation of shrubs, trees, vines, all these draped over the steep, haughty ridges and slippery valleys of Bwindi Forest terrain.

The Bwindi Impenetrable forest is a habitant to over 120 mammals like monkeys, wild pigs, forest elephants, baboons among others, and 345 different birds, insects of all kinds inclusive of over 200 species of butterflies and about 160 tree species that help in the continuous rain formation. Bwindi receives rain throughout the year and guests are requested to move with warm clothes.

Accommodation options in Bwindi National Park.

Luxury
Bwindi Volcanoes Lodge, Gorilla forest camp, Buhoma Lodge, Mahogany springs

Mid – range
Engagi lodge, Ruhija Safari Lodge, Buhoma Haven Lodge

Budget
Buhoma community rest camp, Ruhija Gorilla mist lodge

Breakfast, Lunch, dinner and overnight at your accommodation.

After your breakfast, your guide will transfer you to Uganda wildlife Authority (UWA) Park headquarters. While at UWA park headquarters, you will be requested to register in the UWA book before proceeding for a briefing by the ranger guide about the dos and don’ts during your trekking like no flash lights when photographing gorillas and after you will be allocated a gorilla family to trek and you will match out with your ranger on your day’s excursion.

Get ready to face the gentle giants of Africa, dream come true right! You will set off from the park headquarters through the demarcated trails in the dense forests with your ranger to search out for the gorillas, the gorillas are wild animals that move from one location to another looking for food which makes the trek sometimes go on for 9 hours, however this could be different because you might find the gorillas a few hours after the start of your trek. Although the gorillas are always on the move, the chance of seeing the gorillas is at 95%.

After you have located a family, you are allowed to spend an hour with them, take photos of them, and observe them go on with their daily activities, a very life changing moment and feeling that many have expressed as exhilarating, enthralling and indeed humbling.

Although the trek mainly focuses on the gorillas, you will sight other primates like monkeys, birds and rare tree species.

After the time with the gorillas, return to the Park headquarters for your certificate of participation and your guide will return you to the lodge.

Tips for trekking

• Wear long trousers and a long sleeved shirt with a t-shirt underneath.
• Wear walking boots with long socks.
• Day bag to carry your waterproofs, water (2-3 litres) and packed lunch.
• Gardening gloves can prove useful to protect your hands from thorns and stinging nettles.
• Secure the services of a porter to carry your day bag and help you with the terrain.
• No flash photography is allowed when photographing the gorillas.

Breakfast, picnic Lunch, dinner and overnight at your accommodation.

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