Day 1: Start the Uganda Gorilla Habituation Safari from the Airport or your hotel in Entebbe, drive to Ziwa Rhinos Sanctuary, Rhino Tracking

At 7:30 a.m. we shall meet with you at your hotel in Entebbe or at Entebbe International Airport. Your safari guide shall brief you through the Uganda Habituation Safari Experience - what to prepare, what to expect, and all the other information you might need. Afterwards, we drive to Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary (for about 3 hours). Traveling on mostly asphalt-surfaced roads, you shall be traversing rural Uganda villages with traditional farms where you see people at work tending their traditional crops of coffee, bananas, millet, sorghum, beans, maize, etc. The lush rolling hills of this region provide good photo opportunities.

Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary is the only place to trek wild Rhinos in Uganda, the other Rhinos are found at the Uganda Wildlife Education Center (former Zoo) in Entebbe. On arrival at the sanctuary, you will be given a briefing from your ranger guide on how to behave while on this Rhino trek. You must heed the ranger’s instructions while on the trek because Rhinos can be aggressive if they sense a need to defend themselves. Depending on the location of the Rhinos, you may need to drive closer to their location before you start the trek to reduce the distance. Your ranger guide will share different information on the behavior of Rhinos and how you ought to behave while as you trek.

Once you locate the Rhinos, you can stay a maximum of one hour in their presence. Sometimes different families are within a distance of each other, in which case you will get an opportunity to visit more than one group. You also have a chance of other animal sightings on this nature walk, they include Waterbucks, Bushbucks, Kobs, Leopard (rarely), duikers, etc.

Accommodation at Ziwa

Up-market: Amuka Safari Lodge

Moderate: Ziwa Rhino Camp

Day 2: Drive to Kibale National Park, guided primates and community walk in Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary

Please plan to set off no later than 8 am today from the lodge. We shall be driving the Kibale National Park, an expansive forest mostly referred to as East Africa's Primates' capital. We shall be driving for at least two hours through Murchison Falls, sighting wildlife along the way and then through beautiful remote African villages.

You continue driving through the undulating highlands of southwestern Uganda on your way to the greener and more beautiful Fort Portal area. The lush rolling hills of this region provide good "photo opportunities".

If we arrive early, we can have our lunch from the lodge before going to Bigodi Swamp for a guided primates walk accompanied by a traditional village tribes' experience. The Bigodi Swamp is great for its many monkey species and birds. You will expect birds like the great Blue turaco, blue monkeys, baboons, otters, mongoose, bushbucks, bush pigs, and among others. At the tail end of the walk, the local guides lead you to the local community where you can participate in local alcohol brewing, coffee roasting, farming, and basket weaving, among other activities.

Accommodation options available (all on a full board basis)

Up-market: Ndali Lodge | Crater Safari Lodge Kibale

Moderate: Isunga Lodge | Chimpanzee Forest Lodge (ensuite cottage) | Kibale Forest Camp | Turaco Treetops  

Day 2: Kibale Chimpanzee Habituation Experience Plus Other Primates

Today we’ll accompany Kibale’s researchers in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to contribute to a “soft” habituation project with chimpanzees. You’ll learn to safely observe the chimps during their daily activities, so they get comfortable with human presence without changing their natural behaviors. You will be able to experience the chimp families as they wake up, hunt, patrol, play, fight, copulate, and breastfeed.

Guided by biologists and researchers, we will enjoy unprecedented intimate access to these wild chimps for the entire day until they build their nests at bedtime.

Accommodation options available (all on full board basis)

Up-market: Ndali Lodge | Crater Safari Lodge Kibale | Kyaninga Lodge

Moderate: Isunga Lodge | Chimpanzee Forest Lodge (ensuite cottage) | Kibale Forest Camp | Turaco Treetops  

Day 3: Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

After breakfast, we drive further south through stunning savannah grasslands as we head towards the breathtaking Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park.

While most of today's forests are no more than 12,000 years old, Bwindi's vegetation has been weaving itself into tangles for over 25,000 years, in the process accumulating a lengthy species list.

This includes 310 species of butterflies, 51 reptiles, 200 trees, 88 moths and an exceptional 120 species of mammals including 10 primates. The latter includes chimpanzees, L'Hoest's, red-tailed and blue monkeys, black and white colobus, baboons, and Bwindi's most famous resident, the mountain gorilla.

Bwindi is a prime destination for birdwatchers. Its 350 species include seven which are IUCN red data listed and 90% of all Albertine rift endemics – species which are difficult or impossible to see in any other part of East Africa.

Accommodation options available (all on full board basis)

Up-market:  Four Gorillas Lodge | Nkuringo Bwindi Gorilla Lodge 

Moderate:  Ichumbi Gorilla Lodge | Lake Mulehe Lodge

Day 4: Mountain Gorilla Safari Habituation Experience in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest

We have an early morning entry into the mountain gorilla’s sanctuary for the gorilla habituation safari experience. Gorilla habitation is the process of making wild gorillas get used to tourist encounters without exposing the gorillas and humans to any level of unsafety. After the gorilla habituation process, tourists can safely visit the gorillas without the gorillas showing any attempt to charge at them or displaying any reckless behavior resulting out of fearing humans. Although the gorillas are still a bit wild, the greatest success of the gorilla habituation experience is seeing them stay in the presence of humans, going about their mundane activities whenever tourist visit them.

The Bwindi gorilla habituation experience starts very early in the morning. Your safari guide shall collect you from the lodge at about 6:30 a.m. and drive you to the point from where you make your entry into the Bwindi National Park Forest accompanied by your park guides and rangers. It is highly recommended that you hire a porter for your gorilla habituation experience. The porters help you carry your stuff as well as holding you still when you slide of the slopes in the jungles.

The gorilla habituation experience typically has a maximum group of only 4 visitors per day. You shall normally be hiking for about 1 hour before reaching the gorillas. This could be much shorter or even longer. There are many stops along the way for you to catch your breath or just relax so that even novice trekkers can ably and safely make it to the gorillas. You will need plenty of drinking water for this gorilla habituation experience in Bwindi.

You should expect to encounter a number of other monkey species along the way. The rangers will always be available to answer all your questions, but they shall also be stopping many times to give more unique information about the forest, birds, butterflies, forest elephants, and other pleasant surprises you shall be encountering along the way.

Once you are in the presence of the gorillas, the rangers and tracker staff shall do their best to ensure you get the best vantage points to view and photograph the gorillas. They shall be clearing out shrubs, blocking gorillas from hiding, and advising you on the most strategic spots to position yourself for viewing. Meanwhile, the head of the guides shall be giving you more explanations about the gorillas, the family composition and many other details of the habituation experience.

With the gorilla habituation experience permit for Bwindi, you can be assured of 4 full hours with the gorillas. During this time, you will be able to experience the gorilla family as they wake up, hunt, patrol, play, fight, copulate, and breastfeed until they build their nests at bedtime. The Bwindi Park rangers often allow a few more minutes for you to conclude.

Accommodation options available (all on a full board basis)

Up-market: Four Gorillas Lodge | Nkuringo Gorilla Camp 

Moderate: Lake Mulehe Gorilla Lodge | Ichumbi Gorilla Lodge

Day 5: Golden Monkey Habituation Exercise, Mgahinga Gorilla National Park

After an early breakfast set off Mgahinga Gorilla National Park for the Golden Monkey habituation experience which allows you up to 4 hours with the monkeys.
the Golden Monkey Habituation Experience is conducted by the Uganda Wildlife Authority and allows tourists an exclusive opportunity to safely get closer to the endangered golden monkeys - spending 4 hours with them as they learn more details as well as photographing them. It is one unique activity that greatly enhances every tourist's endangered primate experience in Africa. The walk from the park headquarters to the golden monkeys is usually gentle and you have about 30 minutes of hiking before reaching them.

The trekking activity shall start with a briefing at 7:30 a.m. conducted at the park headquarters. At about 8:00 a.m. you shall be entering the mostly bamboo forest to access the golden monkeys.

The Golden Monkey may not be the most well-known primate, but is certainly an enjoyable, little creature that is worth visiting. It is a small curious monkey, golden in color, and loves to scamper around the trees. Golden monkeys are named after their golden-orange fur, and like mountain gorillas, are also considered endangered species. Conservation efforts have been put in place by the Uganda Wildlife Authority to ensure that the monkeys are protected – especially from poachers.

There is a habituated family of monkeys in Mgahinga, where tourists can track and stay with them for a period of four hours depending on where they nested the previous night and how far it is from the starting point.

It is estimated that Mgahinga Gorilla National Park has between 3000-4000 golden monkeys grouped in troupes of 30s led by a principal adult male. Golden monkeys are primarily to be found in the bamboo forest that skirts the lower slopes of the volcanoes. They are quite more active in the bamboo canopy.  Golden monkeys are opportunistic feeders. What they feed on could be by the availability of fruits, leaves of bamboo trees, shoots of bamboo, shrubs, flowers, and invertebrates and these make it to be restricted to highland forests, mostly the bamboo forest.

How the activity is conducted

What to carry during Mgahinga golden monkey tracking.

There are several requirements that tourists need to have a memorable experience during golden monkey tracking. These include waterproof hiking boots, wearing long long-sleeved shirt, and long trousers, and carrying a backpack for your lunch and documents. Also, carry drinking water and snacks, carry a walking stick to support you during hiking, you can hire a porter to support you during hiking in slippery places and carry your backpack, and do not forget to carry an insect repellant.

Accommodation Options (Full Board)

Up-market: Four Gorillas Lodge 

Moderate:  Lake Mulehe Gorilla Lodge

Day 6: Return to Kampala - Entebbe (flights could also be arranged) or end tour in Rwanda

Early breakfast before embarking on our return to Kampala, driving down the grassed and terraced escarpments of southwestern Uganda while taking in the breathtaking sights of the hills of the region dubbed ‘the little Switzerland of Africa’. This area is a row. Not to miss as we traverse Mbarara are the impressing longhorn Ankole cattle. A remarkable highlight of this journey is the Equator line and surely you will cross it as we have a brief stop here. We will be in Kampala in the evening before your flight back home.