Overview
This 9 Days Uganda safari is an exceptional package to explore and enjoy the beauty of Uganda. The trip takes you to visit Uganda’s top national parks including Kibale Forest for chimpanzees, Queen Elizabeth for game and launch cruise, Bwindi Forest for the endangered mountain gorillas and Lake Bunyonyi, the second deepest Lake in Africa.
In other words, chimpanzee trekking, mountain gorilla trekking, island tour on Lake Bunyonyi, launch cruise and game viewing are the major highlights of this package. This safari is fully in Uganda starting and ending at Entebbe airport.
Itinerary
On the first day of our 9 Days safari, a specialized driver guide from our company will pick you from Entebbe airport or your hotel in Entebbe/Kampala. He/she will briefly explain to you the flow of the itinerary, which activities to do and when.
Thereafter, start up a 6 hours’ drive to Kibale Forest in western Uganda. Have a brief stop at Nakayima tree to see local people paying and offering sacrifices to their gods.
Proceed to Fort portal for lunch and chill in this new city as you drive to tour the amazing Amabere Ga Nyinamwiru. In the evening, drive to Kibale Forest, home to 13 primates and a primate capital of Africa.
This is the special day to trek the endangered chimpanzees. Wakeup very early, have breakfast, get your packed lunch and drive to Kanyanchu Visitor information center for registration and briefing on the dos and don’ts of chimpanzee trekking.
After briefing, embark on a trek to meet the famous chimpanzees that share over 99% of human genes.
The trek lasts between 30 minutes to over 6 hours depending on your fitness and location of the endangered chimpanzees. On meeting them, you will spend an hour in their company. Learn and embrace the human like characters of chimpanzees, see how adult females nurse babies like human mums, while the adult male watches over the family as a dad in the home.
Take pictures, capture videos and enjoy this thrilling experience. The walk through Kibale forest also offers you a chance to see other primates including Vervet monkeys, Red tailed monkeys, Blue monkeys, Black and white colobus and baboons who call this jungle forest home.
Trek down and drive back to the lodge to refresh. In the evening, go for a guided nature walk in Bigodi wetland sanctuary an ideal spot to see birds like Great Turaco, Kingfishers, Hornbills, Waxbills, Yellow billed barbet, Black and white shrike, Western Nicator and Black Bishop among others.
On this day, wakeup early for breakfast and an optional brief nature walk in the forest. Check out of the lodge and embark on a 3 hours’ drive to Queen Elizabeth National Park.
The scenic drive via tea plantations, bananas, local communities and trading centers watching the Rwenzori Mountains is fun. You will reach QENP in the afternoon, have lunch and chill at the lodge. In the evening go for evening game drives to see animals feeding before retiring for night rests.
In the early morning, embark on game drives in the open plains to catch up with early risers. Queen Elizabeth National Park has a high concentration of wild animals including Elephants, African Buffalos, Lions, Hippos, and waterbucks, Warthogs, Uganda Kobs, Giant Forest Hogs, Leopards and Topis among others.
Our professional guide will help you spot these animals. Return to the lodge for late breakfast, chill at the lodge as you wait for hot lunch.
In the afternoon, go for a launch cruise at Kazinga channel. The cruise is breath taking with great views of the park, wild animals and fishing villages. The banks of Kazinga channel shelter birds like Egrets, Yellow billed stork, African fish Eagle, Kingfisher and Hammerkop among others.
Kazinga channel connects Lake Edward and George and it’s surely a not-miss destination on any Uganda safari to Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Enjoy your morning sleep, wake up at your pace and have a relaxed breakfast.
Thereafter, check out of the lodge and drive out of Queen Elizabeth National Park via Ishasha sector home to the famous tree-climbing lions. Look up in the acacia trees to see the lions resting lazily looking at you.
Have lunch enroute at Savannah resort and drive to Bwindi Forest National Park. A drive via rolling hills, tea plantations, farms, bananas, trading centers and local communities is a remarkable experience you will enjoy.
You will trek in one of the four sectors (Buhoma, Ruhija, Rushaga and Nkuringo), which make up Bwindi Forest National Park.
The long awaited day to see gorillas is finally here! Wake up very early, have breakfast and with your packed lunch and drinking water, transfer to the respective park headquarters. Register with the park and join a brief introduction regarding the dos and don’ts of gorilla trekking. At 8:00am, start up a hike to look for the allocated gorilla family.
The trek 2-8 hours’ trek is undeniably strenuous but worth it. Upon meeting the gorillas, breathe in and enjoy this lifetime experience. Observe how a silverback gorilla guards his family, see how adult females nurse babies and enjoy the playful juveniles who entertain the whole family.
The time allowed with the endangered gorillas is strictly one hour. In the evening if time allows, visit the neighboring Batwa communities to learn and experience their traditional forest life and how the co habited with wild animals in the forest for thousands of years.
After morning breakfast, check out and drive from Bwindi Forest to Lake Bunyonyi, the second deepest Lake in Africa locally translated as a “place of many birds”.
Spend the whole day exploring the beauty of this small lake, cruise to different islands of the Lake including the punishment island where the unmarried Bakiga pregnant girls would be taken and left to die in isolation.
Other optional activities to do Lake Bunyonyi include zip lining, black smith and bird watching among others. Relax on the shores of the lake overlooking local communities and activities.
This is the second last day of this 9-day safari. In the morning after breakfast, check out and embark on a scenic drive back to Lake Mburo National park – located in the heart of the country, between Ankole and Buganda regions. Enjoy great sceneries of beautiful Kigezi hills, Ankole cattle farms and stop at Igongo Cultural Centre to briefly learn about the traditions, norms and customs of the Ankole people.
After here, drive to the shores of Lake Mburo, the biggest fresh water lake in this region; have a 2-hour boat cruise that allows you to watch most of the aquatic life inhabited here, as well as abundant bird species and mammals.
This morning, take one of the optional activities in Lake Mburo national park; either horse ride at Mihingo lodge or an early game walking safari to meet one-on-one with the wildlife.
After these experience, have breakfast at the lodge and check out for a journey back to Kampala.
Have a short stopover at the equator for lunch and some amazing photograph. Proceed to Kampala and connect with your return flight via Entebbe airport.
USD 3600 Per Person
Include
- Gorilla Permits
- Bottled Water
- English Speaking Guide
- Park Entrance Fees
Exclude
- International flight fare
- Entry Visas
- Laundry services
- Tips
- Alcoholic Drink