Safaris Uganda: Wildlife and Primate Discovery

After landing in Entebbe, your guide will already be waiting at the airport to take you to the Boma Entebbe, a former guest house that has grown into a small boutique hotel without losing its personal character.

The property sits in lush tropical gardens near Lake Victoria. You spend the rest of the day at ease, a gentle start after the long journey, with time to arrive in Uganda (dinner not included on arrival day).

Accommodation: Boma Entebbe

In the morning, you head out to the Mabamba wetlands, one of Uganda's richest birding areas. Between papyrus channels, you search for the elusive shoebill, along with kingfishers, ducks and swamp hens.

In the afternoon, you visit a local market in Entebbe, with colourful stalls, fresh vegetables, crafts and a glimpse of everyday life beyond the national parks. You spend a second night at the Boma Entebbe.

Accommodation: Boma Entebbe

The journey takes you north into Murchison Falls National Park, which at 3,840 km² is Uganda's largest protected area. Along the way, you stop for lunch in the town of Masindi. The landscape shifts from Entebbe's outskirts to the savannahs of the north.

In the afternoon, you set out on your first game drive in the park: elephants, lions, buffalo and Rothschild's giraffes, a highly endangered subspecies for which the park is one of the most important strongholds, are all possible here. You stay in the thatched cottages of Murchison River Lodge, overlooking the Nile.

Accommodation: Thatched cottages, Murchison River Lodge

In the morning, you head into the Budongo Forest to track habituated chimpanzees with experienced guides. The forest is also home to a wealth of other primates and bird species. Depending on timing, there's also the option of a side trip to the "Top of the Falls", where the Nile forces its way through a narrow gorge before plunging down.

In the afternoon, a private boat safari takes you right up to the foot of Murchison Falls, with possible sightings of hippos, crocodiles, elephants, buffalo and a wide range of waterbirds along the banks.

Accommodation: Thatched cottages, Murchison River Lodge

An early start takes you south into Queen Elizabeth National Park. It's the longest driving day of the safari, but it carries you across some of Uganda's agricultural lands.

Queen Elizabeth is one of the country's best-known safari areas, known among other things for its tree-climbing lions and the Kazinga Channel. The evening is free, giving you time to let the first days settle in.

Accommodation: Aardvark Safari Lodge

In the morning, you drive to the Kyambura Gorge, which cuts dramatically into the surrounding landscape, for a second round of chimpanzee trekking, a noticeably different setting to Budongo. In the afternoon, a private boat safari on the Kazinga Channel follows, the natural link between Lake Edward and Lake George.

The channel is one of East Africa's most wildlife-rich waterways, with large concentrations of hippos and crocodiles, plus elephants and buffalo along the shore. You spend a second night at Aardvark Safari Lodge.

Accommodation: Aardvark Safari Lodge

An early game drive through Queen Elizabeth makes the most of the cool morning hours, when wildlife is at its most active. The landscape gradually changes, from open savannah to the green, terraced hills around Bwindi.

In the afternoon, you visit Ride 4 Women, a local community project that offers insight into everyday life around Bwindi. You stay at Buhoma Lodge, right at the forest edge, overlooking the mountain rainforest, the starting point for the gorilla trek the following morning.

Accommodation: Buhoma Lodge

After an early breakfast, you make your way to the staring point of the Gorilla trek, where experienced trackers and guides give a briefing. Before departing, you have the opportunity to hire a porter: an experienced member from the community to help you navigate the hike and help carry your backpack.

You set off into Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to almost half of the world's remaining mountain gorillas. How long the trek takes depends on where the gorilla family happens to be, sometimes a short walk, sometimes a longer hike through dense mountain rainforest. Once you've found the group, you spend an hour in their presence, watching them feed, move and interact.

Accommodation: A further night at Buhoma Lodge in the evening.

After breakfast, you’ll leave Bwindi and head toward Lake Mburo National Park. The landscape changes to rolling hills and open grasslands. Lake Mburo is known for its populations of zebras, impalas, and elands.

For an additional fee, you can explore the park in the afternoon either by bike or on horseback.

Accommodation: Tented camp, Mihingo Lodge

After an early breakfast, the journey back to Entebbe begins, with a stop at the Equator along the way (lunch not included on this stop).

The drive takes you back towards Lake Victoria and marks the end of the national park stages of this safari. In the evening, a farewell dinner awaits at the Boma Entebbe, a quiet moment to mark the end of the trip.

Accommodation: Boma Entebbe

Your last morning in Uganda is open for relaxation, before your guide takes you to Entebbe Airport for your international flight home. You take with you the impressions of eleven days: the Mabamba wetlands and their shoebills, the mighty Nile at the Murchison Falls, chimpanzee trekking in two forests, the savannahs of Queen Elizabeth and the mountain gorillas of Bwindi.