8-Day Highlights of Uganda

Welcome to the Pearl of Africa! Upon arrival at Entebbe International Airport, your professional safari driver-guide will warmly meet you in the arrivals hall holding a sign with your name. After a short briefing about your upcoming adventure, you will be transferred to your hotel on the shores of Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest freshwater lake. The drive takes only 10-15 minutes. Check in, relax and recover from your long flight. Depending on your arrival time, you can take an optional walk in Entebbe Botanical Gardens, famous for vervet monkeys, hornbills, and a great view over the lake where the first Tarzan film was shot. Or simply relax by the pool with a cold drink. Your guide will come for a full safari briefing in the evening, explaining the permits for chimpanzee and gorilla tracking, what to pack, and the journey ahead through Kibale, Queen Elizabeth and Bwindi. This first night is important for resting and preparing. Entebbe is calm, green and safe. You will feel immediately

Accommodation

No. 5 Boutique Hotel Hotel Luxury

+7 +6

Today begins early with a scenic long transfer to Kibale National Park, known as the primate capital of the world. Leave Entebbe at 6:00am after breakfast, heading west through Mityana and Mubende. The landscape changes from Lake Victoria basin to rolling hills, villages, coffee and tea plantations. You will have a stop in Mubende for coffee and snacks. Continue to Fort Portal, the tourism city at the foot of the Rwenzori Mountains. Fort Portal is surrounded by beautiful crater lakes and endless tea estates – one of the most photogenic areas in Uganda. Enjoy lunch in Fort Portal town. After lunch, a short 45-minute drive brings you to Kibale National Park. Check in to your lodge overlooking the forest or crater lake. Kibale Forest covers 795 sq km and contains 13 primate species including chimpanzees, red colobus, L’Hoest’s monkeys, blue monkeys and grey-cheeked mangabeys, plus 375 bird species. The forest is beautiful, dense and green. In the evening, you can relax on your lodge terra

Accommodation

Kibale Guest Cottages Cottage Mid-range

+7 +6

This is a big day! After early breakfast, transfer to Kanyanchu Visitor Centre for briefing at 8:00am by UWA rangers. You will learn about chimpanzee behavior, forest rules, and conservation. Then enter Kibale Forest with rangers to track a habituated chimpanzee community. The trek can take 2 to 4 hours through thick forest, vines and muddy trails – good hiking shoes are essential. Once you find them, you will spend one magical hour with the chimps. Watch them feed on figs, groom each other, play, breastfeed, pant-hoot and swing in trees. It is incredible to see how human-like they are – sharing 98.7% of our DNA. Kibale has the highest concentration of chimpanzees in Africa with over 1,500 individuals. Photography is allowed without flash. After the trek, return to the lodge for lunch. In the afternoon, take a guided walk in Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary, a community project famous for birds and primates. Walk through swamp, forest and village gardens to see red colobus, black-and-white col

Accommodation

Kibale Guest Cottages Cottage Mid-range

+7 +6

After breakfast, leave Kibale and drive south towards Queen Elizabeth National Park. Today you will drive past the jagged Rwenzori Mountains, the legendary Mountains of the Moon, rising to 5,109m with snow-capped peaks. On a clear morning, you can see the glaciers. The road descends from the mountains into the Western Rift Valley. You will cross the equator again and pass through traditional villages where you see local life – farmers, school children, roadside markets with mangoes and jackfruit. Arrive in Queen Elizabeth National Park around midday. Queen Elizabeth is Uganda’s second largest park, covering 1,978 sq km, famous for its diverse ecosystems including savannah, forest, wetlands and lakes. After checking in and lunch at your lodge, enjoy your first afternoon game drive in the Kasenyi plains. This area is known as the Kob Mating Ground and attracts large herds of Uganda kob, which in turn attract lions, leopards and hyenas. Expect to see elephants, buffaloes, warthogs, waterb

Accommodation

Mweya Safari Lodge Lodge Luxury

Inside Park Queen Elizabeth National Park

+7 +6

Wake up early for a sunrise game drive – the best time to see predators hunting. At 6:30am enter the Kasenyi sector with a ranger guide. Morning light is golden and animals are most active. Look for lions, leopards, spotted hyenas, elephants and herds of buffaloes. The park has over 95 mammal species and 600 bird species, more than any park in East Africa. Your guide will track fresh lion footprints. After the game drive, return to lodge for breakfast and rest during midday heat. At 2:00pm, go for the highlight – a 2-hour boat cruise on Kazinga Channel. This natural 32km channel connects Lake Edward and Lake George and is famous for the highest concentration of hippos in the world – over 5,000. You will see hundreds of hippos snorting, yawning, and fighting, plus Nile crocodiles, elephants bathing, buffaloes drinking, and countless water birds including African fish eagle, pied kingfisher and yellow-billed stork. The boat gets very close for amazing photos. This cruise is often called

Accommodation

Mweya Safari Lodge Lodge Luxury

Inside Park Queen Elizabeth National Park

+7 +6

After breakfast, check out and drive to the famous Ishasha sector in the south of Queen Elizabeth National Park. Ishasha is famous worldwide for one question: Will you see Ishasha’s tree-climbing lions? Lions here have learned to climb large fig and acacia trees to rest and escape tsetse flies and heat. It is a rare behavior seen only in 2-3 places in Africa. You will do a game drive searching these huge trees – when you see a tail hanging down, it is an unforgettable moment. Besides lions, Ishasha has large herds of buffaloes, topis, and elephants. After the game drive, have picnic lunch in Ishasha and continue south towards Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. The landscape becomes more mountainous, with terraced hills, banana plantations and misty valleys – the Switzerland of Africa. The road is bumpy but beautiful. Arrive in Bwindi in the late afternoon. Bwindi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site covering 331 sq km of ancient rainforest, home to almost half of the world’s remaining mountain gor

Accommodation

Buhoma Gorilla Camp Lodge Mid-range

Inside Park Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

+7 +6

Today is the day you have dreamed about – gorilla tracking in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest! Wake up very early, pack lunch and rain gear. At 7:00am, transfer to the UWA headquarters for briefing by head ranger about gorilla families, rules and safety. You will be grouped into 8 people maximum per gorilla family. Then enter the impenetrable forest with armed rangers and trackers, cutting through dense vegetation, crossing streams and climbing steep slopes. The trek can take from 2 to 8 hours depending on where the gorillas slept last night. It is challenging but worth every step. When you find them, you will have exactly one hour with a mountain gorilla family. See the silverback protecting his family, mothers nursing babies, juveniles playing and rolling. You will be only 7 meters away, looking into eyes that look so human. Photography allowed without flash. This hour will change your life. After the trek, return to headquarters for a certificate proving you tracked gorillas. Return to l

Accommodation

Buhoma Gorilla Camp Lodge Mid-range

Inside Park Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

+7 +6

After an early breakfast with forest views, say goodbye to Bwindi and start your journey back to Entebbe International Airport. You have two options: 1) Drive back, which takes 8-9 hours through beautiful southwestern Uganda, with stops along the way. 2) Take a domestic flight from Kihihi or Kisoro airstrip to Entebbe (1.5 hours) at extra cost – we highly recommend this to avoid the long drive. If driving, you will pass through Kabale, the city of rolling hills, then Mbarara – the land of Ankole long-horned cattle. You will see local markets, schools and the daily life of Ugandans. A special stop at the Equator in Kayabwe is a must – stand in both Northern and Southern Hemispheres at once, take photos, enjoy coffee and buy souvenirs made by local women’s groups. The water experiment showing Coriolis effect is fun. Continue to Entebbe, arriving in late afternoon. Your guide will take you to a restaurant for lunch or farewell dinner depending on your flight time, then transfer you to Ent