11 days in Uganda among Mountain Gorillas, Chimpanzees and Predators

Table of contents

Trip map

Travel itinerary

Please note:

Each element can be tailored to your needs and interests, from duration to type of accommodation and activities.

Day 1: Arrival in Entebbe and transfer to the hotel

Upon arrival at the airport you will be met by our English-speaking driver (or Italian- speaking on request) who will take you to the hotel. In anticipation of the adventures that await us in the coming days, we suggest you take advantage of the remaining hours to visit
the city, taste typical local dishes and take a break.

• Mid-range/low-cost accommodation: Lake Victoria View Guest House
• High-end accommodation: Cassia Lodge
• Meals included: none

Day 2: Entebbe – Ziwa Rhino Ranch – Murchison Falls NP

In the morning we will drive north, stopping half way at Ziwa Rhino sanctuary, where we will trek with rhinos; stop for lunch and in the afternoon we are expected to arrive at Murchison falls National Park where we will have a photo safari before checking in at the lodge.

The Ziwa sanctuary, which is currently home to around 25 white rhinos, is designed to allow them to be seen in their natural habitat. The two native subspecies, the northern white rhino and the eastern black rhino, have both been extinct in the wild since 1982. The area on which Murchinson Falls National Park is located is the largest in Uganda, about 5000 square kilometres, and also includes the Bugungo, Karuma and Bugongo reserves. The Park is characterized by typical savannah and forest vegetation. The name of the Park comes from the beautiful waterfalls that rise at a point where the Victoria Nile crosses a crack in the rocks and falls about 45 metres, creating a spectacle of power and rare beauty. In the Park there are about 76 species of mammals: elephants, buffaloes, giraffes, lions, leopards, antelopes, Uganda kobs and many others; there are also about 450 species of birds, some of which are very rare.

• Low cost accomodation: Fort Murchison Lodge, fixed tent, shared bathroom
• Mid-range accomodation: Pakuba Safari lodge
• High-end accomodation: Paraa Safari lodge
• Meals included low cost and medium level: breakfast and dinner – half board
• Meals included high level: breakfast lunch (at ziwa rhino ranch) and dinner – full board
• Hours spent on the road: 6 hours and 15 minutes approximately – 420 km
• Planned activities : Rhino trekking – Game drive Murchison Falls

Day 3: Game drive – Boat ride – Trekking to the falls

Wake up at dawn and photo safari to the north side of the Nile. Here you will find Ugandakobs, buffaloes, elephants, waterbuks, Uganda kobs, hyenas, hippos, giraffes, different types of monkeys and birds, and if you are lucky lions and leopards. You will also enjoy the beautiful scenery of the Savannah and the Albert Nile. Packed lunch on the banks of the Nile.

In the afternoon at about 2 p.m. you will take a ‘cruise’ on the Victoria Nile. Here you can expect to see many hippos, crocodiles, buffalo, antelopes, elephants bathing in the river and many species of birds. This boat tour will take you about 500m from where the Murchison Falls flow into the river and you will be able to admire their power and beauty; from there you will disembark and together with a specialist guide you will go on a trek that will take you along the falls to the highest point and allow you to admire the second hidden falls, the “freedom falls”; our driver will pick you up at the highest point and take you back to the lodge.

• Low cost accommodation: Fort Murchison Lodge, fixed tent, shared bathroom.
• Mid range accommodation : Pakuba Safari lodge
• High-end accommodation : Paraa Safari lodge
• Meals included low cost and medium level: breakfast and dinner – Half board
• Meals included high level : breakfast lunch (at the lodge) and dinner – full board
• Meals included high-level : breakfast, lunch (at the lodge) and dinner – full board
• Planned activities : Game drive at Murchison Falls NP – “Boat trip” Victoria Nile – Trekking to Murchison Falls

Day 4: Murchison Falls – Kibale forest

Departure in the morning. We will move in the direction of Kibale forest, you will eat a packed lunch or otherwise to able to eat at a restaurant near Hoima. The road will be long but absolutely scenic, you will see beautiful views of Lake Albert and the rift valley Albertina, tea plantations, coffee and tobacco and many local villages. Arrival at Kibale Forest. Possibility of visiting a market on arrival at Fort Portal if time permits.

The Kibale Forest National Park covers an area of 766 square kilometres and forms a contiguous block with the Queen Elizabeth National Park, at an altitude between 1000 and 1590 metres. The vegetation is dominated by tropical rainforest. The Park is famous for its large primate population: there are 13 different species of primates, one of the highest densities in the world. There are about 1000 chimpanzees of which a community of about 100 have been habituated to human presence. In the park you can even spot the blue, red white and black Colobus, the golden-tailed Guenon (only discovered in 1984), and the olive baboon. Other mammals include the woodland antelope, the genet, the masked boar, buffaloes and elephants. Around 200 species of birds live in the park, including the African owl, and the forest has about 250 different types of trees. The main attraction of the park is Chimpanzee trekking.

• Low cost accommodation: Kibale forest camp fixed tent with shared bathroom
• Mid-range accommodation: Kibale forest camp with private bathroom
• High-end accommodation: Crater lodge
• Meals included Low/cost Medium: breakfast and dinner – half board
• Meals included High: Breakfast, lunch (box lunch) and dinner – full board
• Hours spent travelling: 7 hours approximately – 370 km
• Optional activities: Visit to the market of Fort Portal

Day 5: Chimpanzee trekking Kibale forest – Visit to Bigodi Sanctuary

Kibale forest, “The capital of the world” of chimpanzees. We will make here the first trekking with one of the families that inhabit the park after a briefing with the rangers of the park. Lunch at the lodge and in the afternoon we will visit the Bigodi Sanctuary where we will be able to photograph the Colobus, and also very rare and endemic birds of the area.

• Low cost accommodation: Kibale forest camp, fixed tent with shared bathroom
• Mid-range accommodation: Kibale forest camp private bathroom
• High-end accommodation: Crater lodge
• Meals included Low/cost Medium: breakfast and dinner – half board
• Meals included High: breakfast, box lunch and dinner – full board
• Programmed activities: Chimpanzee Trekking Kibale forest – Trekking at Bigodi sanctuary

Day 6: Kibale Forest Np – Queen Elizabeth National Park

In the morning transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park, we will drive along the craters area near the Kibale forest, the arrival at the lodge is scheduled for lunch; in the afternoon we will take a cruise on the “Kazinga Channel” that joins Lake Edward and Lake George.
During these three hours we’ll be able to observe many hippos, buffaloes, elephants, antelopes and rare birds. The trip will end when the canal flows into Lake Edward. This is definitely one of the most exciting activities of the trip, as seeing the bustling savannah life near the waterways is spectacular.

The park is home to a huge number of animals, with some 95 species of mammals, including lions, elephants, leopards, Uganda kobs (impala), hyenas, buffalo and several species of primates such as chimpanzees, blue, red, white, black and baboons. There are also

more than 600 species of birds, one of the highest concentrations in Africa, and expanses of
pink flamingos along the volcanic Katwe Lake.

• Low cost accommodation: Bush lodge, fixed tent, shared bathroom
• Mid-range accommodation: Bush lodge, bandas, private bathroom
• High-end accommodation : Kyambura Gorge lodge
• Meals included low cost-medium : breakfast and dinner – half board
• Meals included high level: breakfast, lunch (box lunch) and dinner – full board
• Hours spent travelling: about 2 hours – 115 km
• Planned activities: “Boat trip” Kazinga channel

Day 7: Chimpanzee trekking Kyambura – Game drive at Queen Elizabeth NP

In the morning we will trek with the chimpanzees in the Kyambura forest, a cleft in the Savannah of the park that offers an incredible variety of vegetation, a forest rich in biodiversity still different from those that you will find in the following and that hosts a large community of Chimpanzees that you will be able to see very close. Lunch at the lodge.
In the afternoon you will go on a photographic safari through the routes of the park, we will scour the “Kaseny and Kazinga track” in search of elephants, buffaloes, leopards, lions, antelopes and many other species.

• Low cost accommodation: Bush lodge , fixed tent shared bathroom
• Mid-range accommodation: Bush lodge , bandas private bathroom
• High-end accommodation: Kyambura Gorge lodge
• Meals included low cost-medium: breakfast and dinner – half board
• Meals included high level: breakfast, lunch (at the lodge) and dinner – full board
• Programmed activities: Chimpanzee trekking Kyambura gorge – Game drive Queen Elizabeth NP

Day 8: Game drive Ishasha sector Queen Elizabeth NP – transfer to Bwindi impenetrable forest Ruhjia

In the morning we will move to the south of the Park through the forest of Maramagambo, we will arrive in the sector of Ishasha in the late morning, with a little luck, in this area, you can admire the “climbing lions”, lions climbing on the “fig trees”, trees that branch off a few metres high and which the lions use as their “personal offices” during the hottest hours of the day. Lunch will be packed or at a restaurant in Kihihi; afterwards, we will begin to admire the spectacular mountain views of Bwindi Impenetrable forest before reaching Ruhjia, where our mountain gorilla trek will start the next day; in the afternoon you can take a walk through the village or we can arrange a visit to an orphanage.

This park is located in the south west of Uganda at an altitude of between 1160 and 2607 metres. It is a true tropical forest spread over mountains and valleys and is considered one of the richest forests in Africa in terms of biodiversity, and has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In the local language, “Bwindi” means “dark place” in reference to its impenetrable nature. The park is home to around 350 species of birds, 200 species of butterflies, 324 different types of trees, 14 of which are only found in this park.

The park is home to around 350 species of birds, 200 species of butterflies, 324 different types of trees, 14 of which are only found in this park.

• Low-cost accommodation: Broadbill rest camp
• Mid-range accommodation: Gorilla mist camp, private bathroom bandas
• High-end accommodation : Asyanut gorilla safari lodge
• Meals included low cost-medium : breakfast and dinner – half board
• Meals included high level : breakfast, lunch (box lunch) and dinner – full board
• Hours spent on the road: about 4 hours and 45 minutes – 160 km
• Planned activities: Game drive ishasha sector Queen Elizabeth Np

Day 9: Gorilla trekking – Transfer to Lake Bunyonyi

Breakfast at first light, proceed to the Bwindi Impenetrable forest headquarters for a short briefing with the rangers, you will be placed in groups of 8 people maximum, before proceeding into the forest. Make sure you bring the Box lunch (mandatory and delivered by the lodge) and at least two litres of water, trekking shoes, k-way in your backpack. The duration of Gorilla trekking varies from day to day and from one gorilla family to another.
You will be able to stay with them for an hour, from the time you see the first gorilla and it will be a unique thrill to see these animals within walking distance. You can consult the rules and some indications regarding gorilla trekking or other treks in the forest on the FAQ page.
We will then head south for an overnight stay at Lake Bunyonyi.

Lake Bunyonyi, nicknamed “Africa’s Little Switzerland”, is Africa’s second deepest lake, with an archipelago of 32 islands.

• Mid-range/low-cost accommodation: Lake Bunyonyi eco resort
• High-end accommodation: Bird nest resort
• Meals included low cost/medium level: Breakfast and lunch half board
• Meals included at a high level: Breakfast, box lunch and full board lunch
• Hours spent travelling: Approx. 1 hour 50 minutes – 65 km
• Planned activities: Gorilla trekking

Day 10: Transfer to Entebbe

Transfer to Entebbe in the morning, the departure time will be decided according to the flight schedule that you have chosen; stop for lunch on the equator line where you can buy souvenirs.

• Meals included low cost / medium level: Breakfast and lunch half board
• Meals included high level : Breakfast, lunch (box lunch) and lunch full board
• Hours spent travelling: about 7 hours – 410 km

Day 11: Shoebill search at Mamamba – Return flight

Departure at dawn with a pirogue together with an expert guide in birdwatching, we will go to the Lake Vittoria, near the island of Mamamba, in search of the shoebill. This bird is very difficult to find, it nests in these areas and with a bit of luck we’ll be able to take some pictures of this bird of prehistoric origin. Return flight to be scheduled in the afternoon.

• Meals included low cost / medium level: Breakfast
• Planned activities: search for the Mamamba shoe beak

Prices and services included

Terms of payment:
50% at the time of booking, 50% 40 days before departure.

Cancellation terms:
– up to the second payment tranche full refund except for gorilla and
chimpanzee permits;
– after making the final payment and up to 10 days before departure, 50% refund;
– from 10 days to departure date nothing is refundable.

Please note:

Each element can be tailored to your needs and interests, from duration to type of accommodation and activities. Ask for a quote for this trip

Ask for a quote for this trip

Sea getaway – Possible extension