Safaris Uganda: Extended Wildlife and Primate Explo­ration

Your driver and guide meets you at Entebbe International Airport and takes you to the Boma Entebbe, a former guest house grown into a boutique hotel. It is set in tropical gardens close to Lake Victoria. Rooms come with a private veranda and mosquito nets; the grounds hold a residents' restaurant, a bar and open-air dining.

No programme follows for the rest of the day, just space to arrive: a walk through the gardens, or time by the pool. Dinner is not included on arrival day.

Accommodation: Boma Entebbe

After breakfast, a boat takes you into the Mabamba Wetlands, one of Uganda’s prime birding areas. You’ll weave through narrow papyrus channels in search of the elusive shoebill, while keeping an eye out for malachite kingfishers, African purple swamphens and black crakes along the way.

In the afternoon, you head to a local market in Entebbe: produce stalls, curios, and a more everyday side of the country than the parks show. You return to the Boma Entebbe for a second night.

Accommodation: Boma Entebbe

Next, you will drive north, crossing into Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda's largest protected area at 3,840 km², with a lunch stop in the town of Masindi along the way.

On arrival, an afternoon game drive is your first chance at the park's wildlife: elephant, lion, leopard, hippo and Rothschild's giraffe, one of Africa's most endangered giraffe subspecies.

Your cottage overlooks the Nile, with solar-heated water and a firepit shared among guests in the evening.

Accommodation: Thatched cottages, Murchison River Lodge

The next day, guides lead you on foot into Budongo Forest to track a habituated chimpanzee community. Once you find them, you’ll spend close to an hour observing them in their natural habitat. The forest is also home to a variety of other primates and bird species, offering plenty to discover beyond the chimpanzees.

Depending on timing, there may be a stop at the "Top of the Falls", where the Nile narrows sharply before the drop.

In the afternoon, a private boat runs to the base of Murchison Falls, past hippos, crocodiles, elephant and waterbirds like the African fish eagle and saddle-billed stork along the banks.

Accommodation: Thatched cottages, Murchison River Lodge

The next morning, a longer transfer, roughly seven to eight hours, carries you west around Lake Albert, away from Murchison's savannah and into the forested foothills of the Albertine region.

Semliki Safari Lodge, the day's destination, looks out over forest and savannah from a patio bar and pool deck, with a private veranda in every room and panoramic views into the surrounding wilderness.

Accommodation: Semliki Safari Lodge

The following morning, you’ll track chimpanzees on foot with experienced guides in the Toro-Semliki Wildlife Reserve before visiting the Toro-Semliki Chimpanzee Project, a research initiative that has been running since 1996. Here, you’ll gain an insight into the day-to-day work involved in studying and protecting the forest’s chimpanzee community. The visit offers a closer look at the long-term research and protection taking place on the ground.

A guided forest walk follows, moving slowly through terrain shared with forest elephants, giant forest hogs, and hornbill species found nowhere else in Uganda. The Toro-Semliki Wildlife Reserve sits at the eastern edge of the Congo Basin's Ituri Forest, and species from both regions overlap here.

Accommodation: Semliki Safari Lodge

An early start puts you on Lake Albert for a boat safari built around finding the shoebill again, in open water rather than the wetland channels of Mabamba. A different setting for the same rare bird.

The rest of the day is unstructured, time to let the pace of western Uganda settle in before the next transfer.

Accommodation: Semliki Safari Lodge

The route east, around six hours, brings you into Queen Elizabeth National Park and on to the Ishasha sector. This is a quieter, more remote corner of the park best known for its tree-climbing lions.

Your camp sits along the Ntungwe River, with private verandas over the water and an outdoor fireplace for the evening.

Accommodation: Ishasha Wilderness Camp

On day 9, you’ll have your third chimpanzee encounter in Kyambura Gorge, a riverine forest tucked into a steep-sided valley surrounded by open savannah. Its setting offers a striking contrast to the forests of Budongo and the Toro-Semliki Wildlife Reserve.

Trackers lead the search on foot along the gorge floor. Good to know: buffalos, elephants and spotted hyenas also move through this stretch of Queen Elizabeth.

Accommodation: Ishasha Wilderness Camp

A short transfer, about two hours, climbs out of Queen Elizabeth's savannah into the green hills around Bwindi.

In the afternoon, a visit to Ride 4 Women, a community project near the park, offers a local, unscripted perspective on life around the forest before tomorrow's trek.

The Buhoma Lodge sits directly at the forest edge, its central lounge and viewing areas looking straight into the canopy.

Accommodation: Buhoma Lodge

After an early breakfast and a briefing at park headquarters, you’ll set off with trackers and guides into Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, home to almost half of the world’s remaining mountain gorillas.

The trek's length depends entirely on where the family has moved to that morning, sometimes short, sometimes several hours through dense rainforest. Once found, you spend an hour observing them feed and interact before the walk back and a second night at the lodge.

Please note: The porter is not included but can be arranged and paid for separately.

Accommodation: Buhoma Lodge

The next morning, you will depart Buhoma Lodge and travel south through the scenic landscapes surrounding Bwindi Impenetrable Forest to the Rushaga sector, home to several habituated mountain gorilla families and the starting point for gorilla trekking and habituation experiences.

As you move between Bwindi’s different sectors, the changing landscapes offer a glimpse into the communities and ecosystems surrounding this remarkable national park. Arrive at Gorilla Lodge in Rushaga and settle into the peaceful forest surroundings ahead of your gorilla experience the following day.

Accommodation: Gorilla Lodge, Rushaga

Rise early for an unforgettable day in the Rushaga sector of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, where you will set out on a Gorilla Habituation Experience. Accompanied by experienced trackers, guides and researchers, venture into the dense montane forest in search of a gorilla family undergoing the habituation process.

Unlike a standard gorilla trek, habituation allows you to spend considerably more time observing the gorillas while learning about their behaviour, social dynamics and the ongoing work involved in gradually introducing them to human presence. The length and difficulty of the walk can vary depending on the gorilla family's location, making the experience very much shaped by the forest itself.

The Rushaga sector of the southern Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is the only area in Uganda that offers the opportunity to join a gorilla habituation experience. Gorilla habituation offers a unique chance to spend an extended period of time observing gorillas in their natural environment. Gorilla habituation is not just a prolonged guest experience; it builds a foundation that helps dedicated conservationists continue to protect more families of the endangered mountain gorilla.

Accommodation: Gorilla Lodge, Rushaga

After breakfast, leave the forests of Bwindi behind and travel towards Lake Mburo National Park. As you make your way through southwestern Uganda, the landscape gradually opens up, giving way to rolling hills, grasslands and the wide, open scenery around Lake Mburo.

Moving through the landscape at a slower pace offers a different way to experience the park, with opportunities to observe wildlife and appreciate the quieter details of the surroundings.

Lake Mburo is home to zebra, impala, eland and other plains game, making it a wonderful place to explore beyond the traditional safari vehicle. Arrive at Mihingo Lodge and take some time to settle in.

Note: For an additional fee, you can join an afternoon biking or horseback safari.

Accommodation: Mihingo Lodge

After an early breakfast, leave Lake Mburo behind and begin the journey north towards Entebbe, with a stop at the Equator along the way (lunch not included on this day). Along the way, you can watch the Ugandan countryside unfold while passing through small towns, rural landscapes and the changing scenery around Lake Victoria.

Arrive at the Boma Entebbe and settle in for your final night in Uganda. In the evening, a farewell dinner offers a quiet moment to look back on the journey.

Accommodation: Boma Entebbe

Spend your last morning on this safari before transferring to Entebbe International Airport for your international flight or onward travel.

As your journey comes to an end, look back on an adventure filled with remarkable wildlife encounters and diverse landscapes: from the wetlands of Mabamba and the thundering waters of Murchison Falls to chimpanzee trekking, gorilla habituation in Bwindi and the open savannahs of Queen Elizabeth and Lake Mburo.