11-Day Ultimate Uganda Gorilla, Chimp & Big 5 Safari

• You'll be collected from the airport.
• Accommodation before the tour starts can be arranged for an extra cost.

Arrival in Entebbe

Your guide meets you at Entebbe International Airport and takes you the short distance to Protea Hotel Entebbe, on the shore of Lake Victoria. The afternoon is yours to settle in, followed by a full briefing on the journey ahead over dinner. Relax and enjoy your evening.

Main Destination:

Entebbe (City)

Activities:

Game drives (Pop-up roof 4x4 vehicle)

Accommodation:

Protea Hotel Entebbe

• Mid-range hotel located in Entebbe (City)

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Meals & Drinks:

• Lunch & dinner (Breakfast not included)
• Drinking water (Other drinks not included)

Shoebill search at Mabamba Swamp

An early start for Mabamba Swamp, a papyrus wetland on the edge of Lake Victoria and one of the most reliable places on earth to find the shoebill — a prehistoric-looking stork that stands over four feet tall. You search by dugout canoe, threading through the channels with a local guide. The afternoon is deliberately unhurried.

Main Destination:

Mabamba Swamp

Best Time To Go August to September and December to February (Best for spotting shoebill)

High Season June to September (Peak time for Uganda)

Best Weather

Activities:

Specialized birding (with a professional birding guide) & Canoe/Mokoro safaris

Accommodation:

Protea Hotel Entebbe

• Mid-range hotel located in Entebbe (City)

Meals & Drinks:

• All meals included
• Drinking water (Other drinks not included)

South-west to Lake Mutanda

Today you travel south-west through the Ugandan highlands to Lake Mutanda, a body of water ringed by steep hills with the Virunga volcanoes rising behind it. You arrive at Chameleon Hill Lodge in the late afternoon, in time for the sunset over the lake.

Main Destination:

Lake Mutanda

Activities:

Game drives (Pop-up roof 4x4 vehicle)

Accommodation:

Chameleon Hill Lodge

• Mid-range lodge located at Lake Mutanda

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Meals & Drinks:

• All meals included
• Drinking water (Other drinks not included)

Gorilla trekking in Bwindi & the Batwa Trail

The day the journey was built around. You set off early into Bwindi Impenetrable National Park — a UNESCO World Heritage Site holding close to half the world's remaining mountain gorillas — and hike until your trackers find the family. You are given one hour with them. The walking can be strenuous and the forest lives up to its name, but nothing else in wildlife travel comes close. Afterwards, a picnic lunch in the forest, then the Batwa Trail in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park: a walk along a jungle footpath to Garama Cave, led by Batwa guides whose community lived on these slopes for centuries before the park was gazetted.

Main Destination:

Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (Gorillas)

Best Time To Visit June to August and December to February (Gorilla trekking is easiest)

High Season June to September (Gorilla permits are scarce)

Best Weather June to July and December to February (Less rainfall)

Wildlife in Bwindi Impenetrable NP

GorillaCommon

ChimpanzeeRare

ElephantRare

White RhinoNone

Black RhinoNone

LionNone

Show more

GiraffeNone

LeopardNone

CheetahNone

BuffaloNone

ZebraNone

WildebeestNone

HippoNone

Activities:

Game drives (Pop-up roof 4x4 vehicle) & Gorilla tracking

Accommodation:

Chameleon Hill Lodge

• Mid-range lodge located 1-2hr drive from Bwindi Impenetrable NP (Gorillas)

Meals & Drinks:

• All meals included
• Drinks not included

Lake Mutanda by boat, then north to Kibale

A boat trip onto Lake Mutanda at first light, out among its islands with the volcanoes on the horizon. Then you check out and head north, stopping in the Ishasha sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park to look for its famous tree-climbing lions, draped in the fig trees. You reach Chimpundu Lodge on the edge of Kibale in the evening.

Main Destination:

Kibale National Park (Chimps)

Best Time To Visit January to February and June to July (Chimp trekking is easiest)

High Season June to September (Peak time for Uganda)

Best Weather January to February and June to July (Least rain)

Wildlife in Kibale NP

ChimpanzeeCommon

ElephantOccasional

BuffaloOccasional

LionVery Rare

LeopardVery Rare

HippoRare

Show more

GiraffeNone

White RhinoNone

Black RhinoNone

CheetahNone

ZebraNone

WildebeestNone

Activities:

Game drives (Pop-up roof 4x4 vehicle)

Accommodation:

Chimpundu Lodge

• Luxury lodge bordering Kibale NP (Chimps) without fences

+5 Photos

+4 Photos

Meals & Drinks:

• All meals included
• Drinking water (Other drinks not included)

Chimpanzee trekking in Kibale Forest

Kibale holds the highest density of primates in Africa, and its habituated chimpanzee community is the reason most people come. You head into the forest in the morning with a ranger, following the calls. The afternoon turns local: a visit to a village brewer to see how banana beer is made, and a coffee experience on a working smallholding.

Main Destination:

Kibale National Park (Chimps)

Activities:

Game drives (Pop-up roof 4x4 vehicle), Chimpanzee tracking & Walking safaris (with an armed guide)

Accommodation:

Chimpundu Lodge

• Luxury lodge bordering Kibale NP (Chimps) without fences

Meals & Drinks:

• All meals included
• Drinking water (Other drinks not included)

Bigodi Wetland, hot springs & tea country

A morning walk in the Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary, a community-run swamp famous for its birdlife and eight species of primate. Later, a guided walk through forest alive with monkeys and hornbills brings you to the palm-fringed Sempaya Hot Springs, which spout up to six feet into the air. The day closes with a tea factory visit and tasting.

Main Destination:

Kibale National Park (Chimps)

Activities:

Game drives (Pop-up roof 4x4 vehicle) & Walking safaris (with an armed guide)

Accommodation:

Chimpundu Lodge

• Luxury lodge bordering Kibale NP (Chimps) without fences

Meals & Drinks:

• Meals at own expense
• Drinks not included

Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary & on to Murchison Falls

You travel north-east, breaking the drive at Ziwa Rhino and Wildlife Ranch — the only place in Uganda where you can track southern white rhino on foot. Lunch at Ziwa, then on to Paraa Safari Lodge on the north bank of the Nile, inside Murchison Falls National Park.

Main Destination:

Murchison Falls National Park

Best Time To Visit December to February (Easier to spot animals)

High Season June to September (Peak time for Uganda)

Best Weather June and July (Less rain and lower temperatures)

Wildlife in Murchison Falls NP

ChimpanzeeOccasional

ElephantCommon

GiraffeCommon

LionCommon

BuffaloCommon

HippoAbundant

Show more

LeopardOccasional

White RhinoNone

Black RhinoNone

CheetahNone

ZebraNone

WildebeestNone

Wild DogNone

Activities:

Game drives (Pop-up roof 4x4 vehicle)

Accommodation:

Paraa Safari Lodge

• Luxury lodge located inside Murchison Falls NP

+8 Photos

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Meals & Drinks:

• All meals included
• Drinking water (Other drinks not included)

Morning game drive & the Nile launch cruise

Out early on the Delta road circuit, when the light is soft and the animals are moving: Rothschild's giraffe, lion, elephant, oribi, patas monkey. Back to the lodge for lunch, then an afternoon launch cruise upriver to the foot of Murchison Falls, past hippo pods, crocodiles and a wall of waterbirds.

Main Destination:

Murchison Falls National Park

Activities:

Game drives (Pop-up roof 4x4 vehicle) & Boat trip

Accommodation:

Paraa Safari Lodge

• Luxury lodge located inside Murchison Falls NP

Meals & Drinks:

• All meals included
• Drinks not included

Nile Delta cruise & the top of the falls

This morning's cruise runs the other way, downstream to the Nile Delta where the river opens into Lake Albert — the second great shoebill site of the trip, along with Goliath herons and skimmers. A packed lunch, then up to the top of the falls, where the entire Nile is forced through a gap barely 23 feet wide.

Main Destination:

Murchison Falls National Park

Activities:

Game drives (Pop-up roof 4x4 vehicle)

Accommodation:

Paraa Safari Lodge

• Luxury lodge located inside Murchison Falls NP

Meals & Drinks:

• All meals included
• Drinking water (Other drinks not included)

White-water rafting on the Nile & a night game drive

Enjoy a relaxed breakfast at the lodge before beginning the journey south to Entebbe. The drive is broken with a packed lunch en route, giving you time to reflect on the Uganda leg of your adventure as the landscape changes. You arrive in Entebbe in the afternoon with time for your flight.

Main Destination:

Entebbe (City)

Activities:

Game drives (Pop-up roof 4x4 vehicle)

Accommodation:

No accommodation (End of tour)

Meals & Drinks:

• Breakfast (Lunch & dinner not included)
• Drinking water (Other drinks not included)

• Additional accommodation can be arranged for an extra cost.
• You'll be dropped off at the airport.