Classic Uganda: A Primate Paradise
Trip Details
- Duration: 14 days days
- Visited Areas: Africa
Uganda adventure travel is alluring and profound—after all, this is one of Africa’s most biologically diverse countries and home to the amazing mountain gorilla. Your experience here focuses on Uganda’s primates, but delves into the natural wonders of the country from the rain forests of the great Congo Basin to the wetlands of Lake Victoria to the semi-arid deserts of the Sahel. During your trekking safari tour, there may be opportunities to glimpse lions, leopards, elephants, cape buffalos, and, of course, the 400-pound knuckle-walking mountain gorillas. Your tour includes two days in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in search of families of gorillas—a truly life-changing endeavor.
Itinerary
Days 1-2: USA / Entebbe, Uganda
Depart on your independent flight to London and connect with your flight to Entebbe.
Day 3: Entebbe / Kampala
On arrival drive to UgandaÂ’s capital city of Kampala and check in to the hotel, Emin Pasha. After an afternoon at leisure, enjoy dinner and overnight at the hotel.
Day 4: Entebbe / Murchison Falls National Park
This morning transfer back to Entebbe Airport for the short flight to Murchison Falls National Park, which straddles the Victoria Nile. UgandaÂ’s largest national park, a scenic wonderland of rolling palm-studded grass lands, acacia woodland, papyrus swamp, and the meandering Victoria Nile, is home to some of the most impressive concentrations of animals in all of Uganda. You have two full days to enjoy the magnificent scenery and bountiful wildlife of this unique area. Meals and overnights at Paraa Safari Lodge.
Day 5: Murchison Falls National Park
Continue your exploration of the park by safari vehicle and river boat in search of such charismatic animals as the elegant Rothschild giraffe, Cape buffalo, and savanna elephant. Smaller herbivores such as JacksonÂ’s hartebeest, bush duiker, oribi, and Ugandan kob are plentiful and support a healthy population of lions. With luck, you should also encounter bands of terrestrial Patas monkeys, a primate restricted to the arid savannas of the Sahel. Highlights of your stay are game viewing cruises on the Nile. An upriver foray brings you to the foot of Murchison Falls. This memorable 10-mile journey delivers you to one of AfricaÂ’s most powerful and dramatic waterfalls. At this point, the mighty Victoria Nile is squeezed through a mere 15-foot-wide chasm and released over a sheer cliff to cascade nearly 150 feet to the rocks below, providing wonderful photographic opportunities. En route, keep binoculars and cameras at the ready for the large herds of hippopotamus and enormous Nile crocodiles, with Cape buffalos, waterbucks, and elephants in close attendance.
Day 6: Kibale National Park
After an early breakfast begin your long but fascinating drive to Kibale, traveling from the Rift Valley into a patchwork of colorful villages and agricultural lands. Eventually you reach a mixture of forest and tea plantations at the foothills of the looming Ruwenzoris, or “Mountains of the Moon.” Overnight at beautiful Ndali Lodge, situated on a high saddle between two crater lakes.
Day 7: Kibale National Park
Spend a full day in Kibale National Park, one of AfricaÂ’s most researched and documented forest reserves. Home to several large communities of chimpanzees, many of KibaleÂ’s primates are well studied and accustomed to human observers. The reserve is accessed by a series of well-marked and maintained trails and walking is relatively easy. Chimpanzees are abundant here. Typically, they live in large communities and are located by their characteristic pant-hooting calls as they execute their nomadic treks along forest pathways and forage for fruit in the canopy above. Although chimpanzees are a main focus, you will also spend time viewing the other wildlife species which inhabit this diverse forest reserve. Those commonly encountered include grey-cheeked mangabeys, red-tailed and vervet monkeys, and both red and black-and-white colobus monkeys. The forest is also home to waterbucks, civets, buffalos, genets and, though rarely seen, UgandaÂ’s largest population of forest elephants. Return to Ndali Lodge for dinner and overnight.
Day 8: Kibale National Park / Queen Elizabeth National Park
After an early breakfast return to Kibale to continue your exploration. After lunch head for Queen Elizabeth National Park and arrive in time for a cruise on the famous Kazinga Channel, which connects Lake George to Lake Edward. Birds here are both numerous and spectacular, including multiple species of eagle, stork, waterfowl, kingfisher, and bee-eater. Regarded by some as one of AfricaÂ’s best birding locations, more than 560 bird species have been recorded. Dinner and overnight at Mweya Safari Lodge, which overlooks Lake Edward.
Day 9: Queen Elizabeth National Park
An early start gives you a full day to explore this celebrated park. Your game drive explores the rich thicket savanna along the Kazinga Channel, then continues south through Maramagambo Forest to the remote southern sector of the Park. Dinner and overnight at the Ishasha Wilderness Lodge, which overlooks the Ntungwe River.
Day 10: Queen Elizabeth National Park / Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
The remote Ishasha sector protects a wilderness of swamps and thorn savanna and is home to large herds of Cape buffalo and topi. The Uganda kob is also conspicuous, with large aggregations gathering at traditonal lekking grounds. A special attraction of Ishasha is its population of tree-climbing lions, one of the few places where this behavior may be seen. After lunch drive to the permanent luxury-tented Gorilla Forest Camp, set on the edge of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, a World Heritage Site and one of the most biologically diverse areas on the planet. In the evening attend a briefing on gorilla-watching etiquette followed by dinner and overnight.
Days 11-12: Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
Spend two days at Bwindi tracking mountain gorillas. Each day divide into two groups and, following an early breakfast, depart for the forest. Under the supervision of trained local guides, head to the site where the gorillas were seen the previous day and then begin your search. Once the gorillas are located, you will make an approach and sit quietly by them, watching and observing, with ample time for photography, or simply enjoying this unique experience. The moment of looking into the soft brown eyes of a gorillas, to marvel at its size, and yet gentle countenance, as you introduce yourself to the family group is truly unforgettable. Other activities at Bwindi include forest trekking for the lesser primates, colobus, red-tailed, and LÂ’HoestÂ’s monkeys. Also, look for the many bird species that make this montane forest their home. Dinners and overnights at the Gorilla Forest Camp.
Day 13: Bwindi Impenetrable Forest / Entebbe
After breakfast board your charter aircraft for the short flight to Entebbe and return to Kampala for a brief tour and the final dinner and overnight at Emin Pasha.
Day 14: Entebbe / USA
Transfer to the airport for your independent early morning flights homeward.