This quick 6-day Uganda safari allows wildlife enthusiasts, who may have limited time, to experience the two greatest primate interactions in the world: close encounters with our closest living relatives in the natural world, the chimpanzee, and those gentlest of forest giants, the endangered mountain gorilla.
Travelers arrive in Entebbe, drive to Kibale and Bwindi, then fly back to Entebbe on the morning of Day 6, arriving in time to make a late afternoon or evening flight out. Accommodations in the online itinerary are mid-comfortable and clean mid-range lodges, however luxury travelers are welcome to contact us for a custom quote as upscale options are on offer too.
Starting at $2095 USD per person!
ITINERARY:
Day 1: Arrive Entebbe, transfer and overnight
Day 2: Drive to Kibale National Forest
Day 3: Chimp Habituation Trek in Kibale
Day 4: Drive to Bwindi National Park
Day 5: Gorilla Trekking in Bwindi
Day 6: Fly back to Entebbe, depart
Itinerary In Detail
Day 1: Arrive Entebbe, transfer and overnight
Welcome to Uganda! Meet and greet at the Entebbe Airport by
your guide. From here, transfer to your hotel, which is about 10 minutes
away in Entebbe, which borders Kampala.
Kampala is the capital
city of Uganda. With a population of about 2 million, Kampala city is
the largest urban settlement in Uganda. Kampala was developed around a
fort constructed by Frederick Lugard in 1890 for the British East Africa
Company. In 1962, Kampala replaced Entebbe as the national capital.
Meals included: n/a
Mid-Range Accommodations: The Boma Lodge
Day 2: Drive to Kibale National Forest
After breakfast, embark on the 6-hour drive to Kibale Forest National Park with lunch en route. Kibale Forest National Park is renowned as the “Primate Paradise” with one of the largest variety and concentration of primates in Africa including our famous cousins the chimpanzees, red colobus monkeys, vervet monkeys, L’Hoest’s, black-and- white Colobus and the olive baboons. There is also a wide array of unique birds, forest elephants (smaller and hairier than the more familiar savannah elephant) and much more.
Check in at the lodge and then enjoy a guided nature walk through the Bigodi wetland.
The Bigodi Swamp Walk is an eco-tourism initiative from the local community. The reserve is known for a rich diversity of birds and primates. The path and board walk maybe flooded and muddy after heavy rainfall and gumboots are recommended. The walk is about 4km in length taking 3-4 hours at birding pace with local community guides. All proceeds from your visit go back to into the community, a conservation project well worth supporting.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Mid-Range Accommodations: Primate Lodge Kibale – Forest Cottage
Day 3: Chimp Habituation Trek in Kibale
Today enjoy a sensational chimpanzee Habituation experience.
You will walk or drive to the trailhead for the start of an unforgettable adventure – hiking in the footsteps of the habituated family of chimpanzees. En-route, your guide will entertain you with stories and facts about the forest and her other inhabitants including other species of primates and birds and more.
Once we’ve encountered the chimpanzees, spend the day observing their daily life – feeding, playing, grooming, taking care of their young, howling and screeching, in their natural habitat.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Mid-Range Accommodations: Primate Lodge Kibale – Forest Cottage
Day 4: Drive to Bwindi National Park
After breakfast, you will depart Kibale Forest National Park and head further to Bwindi National Park, about a 5-6 hour drive away, and home of the endangered mountain Gorillas.
While driving through a fertile countryside, you’ll pass small villages and many traditional homesteads plus enjoy some wonderful panoramic views. You’ll in Bwindi by the afternoon. Enjoy a walk in the nearby community or relax on the lodge’s balcony and take in the mountain views.
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, home of the rare but critically endangered Mountain Gorillas, lies on the edge of the albertine Rift Valley in south-western Uganda, with a wide altitude range between 1,160 to 2,600 meters. The rainforest itself, dating back to the ice ages, is one of Uganda’s oldest and ecologically most diverse with almost 400 species of plants, 350 species of birds including 23 Albertine Rift endemics as well as 120 mammals species including lots of smaller mammals along with gorillas, baboons, chimpanzees, elephants and several species of antelopes.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Mid-Range Accommodations: Haven Lodge Buhoma
Day 5: Gorilla Trekking in Bwindi
Arise early today and prepare for an amazing adventure: an unforgettable encounter with the gentle giants of Bwindi. Following breakfast, transfer to the park offices where trekkers are divided into groups of 8 and allocated a specific gorilla family to visit as well as a tracking guide.
After a pre-trek briefing by your guide (which touches on the gorillas generally, your assigned gorilla family as well as appropriate safety precautions), you drive to the trailhead for the start of your thrilling adventure – participants should prepare to walk long distances in steep and sometimes muddy conditions with rain overhead, which can be tough and require a degree of fitness. Granted, the time taken can be variable, taking anywhere from 3 to 8-hours (or rarely, longer) however the thrill of coming face to face with a giant mountain gorilla silverback will more than compensate for the effort.
Once you’ve arrived at the gorilla family, you spend the allowed one hour with them as they go about their daily life; feeding, moving, playing, raising their young and sometimes wrestling by the juveniles – it is a totally unique and unforgettable experience!
Note: Please remember to bring your passport for registration, appropriate, waterproof hiking boots and a light rain coat. To protect from stinging nettles, we recommend long pants and long sleeved tops. A pair of old gardening gloves can help grabbing onto the vegetation while most hotels/lodges provide a walking stick that come in very handy especially when hiking downhill. A small waterproof backpack is an excellent idea to carry a light snack, bottled water as well as protection for your camera.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Mid-Range Accommodations: Haven Lodge Buhoma
Day 6: Fly back to Entebbe, depart
This morning, transfer to Kihihi Airstrip (about 1 hour from the lodge) for your departure flight out of Impenetrable forest of Bwindi and back to Entebbe. If time allows, we’ll arrange a guided visit of the Mabamba swamp (home of the massive shoebill stork) and later help you connect with your international flight back home.
Meals included: Breakfast