Uganda Gorilla trek, Chimpanzee tracking & Game Safari Experience - Detailed tour Program

Day 1: Meet in Entebbe or Kampala, and drive to Lake Mburo National Park, Uganda.

Your Uganda gorilla trek chimpanzee tracking and game wildlife safari will be starting from your hotel in Kampala or Entebbe, or from Entebbe Airport if you are arriving on this day. The safari guide shall be making their way to meet and greet with you before setting off for the 4-hour drive to Lake Mburo National Park in a 4x4 safari vehicle.

The drive along to the park is quite amazing and you shall be having numerous stops as we go. Not to miss though is the Equator crossing point where you take photographs at the point where the earth is divided into two halves.

In the early afternoon, you shall be entering Lake Mburo National Park. We shall be enjoying a game drive in the park, having a rendezvous with zebras, topi, buffalo, eland, impala, water hogs, waterbucks, and more.

In the evening you enjoy an à la carte dinner at the camp - try the meat specialties that are prepared on the hot stone or as a fondue! At the campfire, you listen to the sounds of the animals at night… a wonderful experience!

Accommodation options available (all on full board basis)

Up-market: Mihingo Lodge 

Moderate: Kigarama Wilderness Lodge | Rwakobo Rock Safari Lodge

Low Budget: Eagles Nest lodge

Day 2: Bwindi Impenetrable Forest (Uganda) for Gorilla Trek

After an early breakfast at the lodge, we shall be doing one more game drive before continuing to drive to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest via Mbarara city.

The Bwindi area is a highly fertile, mountainous region with steep-sided hills covered from top to bottom in neatly terraced rows of cultivation. You are really driving through the “Banana Republic” with banana plantations all around you, steep hills, small rivers……just amazing scenery.

After a delicious dinner at the lodge/ camp, you enjoy another evening amidst the Ugandan wilderness and look back on an adventurous day.

Accommodation options available (all on a full board basis)

Up-market: Buhoma Lodge | Mahogany Spring Lodge | Nkuringo Gorilla Camp | Four Gorillas Lodge or upgrade to Clouds Mountain Gorilla Lodge/ Gorilla Forest Camp

Moderate: Ichumbi Gorilla Lodge| Lake Mulehe Gorilla Lodge 

Low Budget: Rushaga Gorilla Haven Lodge | Ruhija Gorilla Friends Camp | Gorilla Conservation Camp

Day 3: Gorilla Trekking in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda.

After breakfast, proceed for the morning briefing before enjoying the highlight of the trip - gorilla trekking, which may last the entire day.

We trek through the rainforest and bamboo-covered slopes, accompanied by a guide and trackers, in search of a mountain gorilla family. The walking can sometimes be tough and long, but when you catch a glimpse of the magnificent silverback, any discomforts will be quickly forgotten. When sighted, visitors will be guided to within 6 meters from the gorillas and sit around them for a whole hour while gazing into their big round eyes.

Gorilla trekking is unpredictable. It's difficult to foresee how many hours you will hike. The gorilla excursion can take from 2 to 8 hours. Expect to walk a long distance in steep and muddy conditions, sometimes with rain overhead, before you encounter any gorillas. A good physical condition is recommended. For conservation purposes, the time spent with the gorillas is limited to one hour. A ranger will brief you on how to behave with the gorillas.

While most of today's forests are no more than 12,000 years old, Bwindi's vegetation has been weaving itself into tangles over at least 25,000 years, in the process accumulating a lengthy species list. This includes 310 species of butterfly, 51 reptiles, 200 trees, 88 months, and an exceptional 120 types 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: Buhoma Lodge | Mahogany Lodge | Nkuringo Gorilla Camp | Four Gorillas Lodge or upgrade to Clouds Mountain Gorilla Lodge/ Gorilla Forest Camp

Moderate: Ichumbi Gorilla Lodge| Lake Mulehe Gorilla Lodge 

Low Budget: Rushaga Gorilla Haven Lodge | Ruhija Gorilla Friends Camp | Gorilla Conservation Camp

Day 4: Queen Elizabeth National Park - Uganda for Wildlife Safari Experiences, Tree-climbing lions in Ishasha

After breakfast, we drive through Uganda's stunning savannah grasslands as we head to the southern sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park. Ishasha is a much more remote and less-traveled part of Queen Elizabeth National Park, but one which has a sense of exclusivity and remoteness. The game densities here are high, and this region has reported some of the largest herds of elephants anywhere in Uganda, as it is their main migration corridor between Uganda and the DRC.

As we enter the park, we do a game drive in search of the wild game. We continue and drive to the northern circuit which is the area near the main road known for its tree-climbing lions. We look particularly at the many fig trees where lions like to stay. But we also visit the Uganda kob mating ground which is their preferred hunting area.

Accommodation options available (all on full board basis)

Up-market/Luxury: Elephant Plains Lodge | Katara Lodge or upgrade to Kyambura Gorge Lodge/ Kasenyi Safari Camp 

Mid-range or moderate facility: Buffalo Safari Lodge | Enganzi Lodge

Budget price: Bush Lodge (tents)

Day 5: Game Viewing drives and Kazinga Boat Safari in Queen Elizabeth National Park

We set out early in the morning for a game drive in the northern part of the park on the Kasenyi Track in search of lions, elephants, and solitary buffaloes. This is the best time for opportunities to view the cats in action owing to the vast population of Uganda kobs. We have an excellent chance to view just about every animal here at a very close range.

In the afternoon we will go for a launch trip along the Kazinga Channel. This gives you the opportunity to view wildlife up close: hippos huff and spray at a mere foot away from the boat, and buffalo linger in the shallows. The shores of the channel are also home to an array of birds including pink-backed pelicans, pied and malachite kingfishers, saddle-billed storks, and many others.

Accommodation:

Up-market/Luxury: Elephant Plains Lodge | Katara Lodge or upgrade to Kyambura Gorge Lodge/ Kasenyi Safari Camp 

Mid-range or moderate facility: Buffalo Safari Lodge | Enganzi Lodge

Budget price: Bush Lodge (tents)

Day 6: Queen Elizabeth National Park & Kibale Forest National Park

After your breakfast, we check out and start our drive to Kibale National Park for our chimpanzee tracking experience (on the next day). We plan to indulge in one more game drive in the northern part of the park, visiting the Baboon Cliff famous for its nice scenery, and good views of the shadows of the mountains of the moon – the Rwenzoris.

After the game drive, we embark on the panoramic drive northwards to Kibale with great views of the Rwenzori Mountain ranges, crater lakes, and expansive savannah plains as you spot more wildlife along.

Accommodation options available (all on full board basis)

Up-market: Ndali Lodge | Crater Safari Lodge

Moderate: Isunga Lodge| Chimpanzee Forest Lodge | Kibale Forest Camp | (self-contained cottages)

Low Budget: Kibale Forest Camp (in the tents) | Chimpanzee Forest Guesthouse (shared bathroom rooms)

Day 7: Chimpanzee Tracking in Kibale National Park & Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary

Today you enjoy an exhilarating Chimpanzee Trek in Kibale.

Chimpanzee tracking in the jungles of Kibale National Park is a truly remarkable primate experience. First, we shall call at the Kibale Park headquarters where we have your chimpanzee tracking permits accredited with your identification documents. You shall also be having a briefing about tracking the chimps, how to behave while in their presence, as well as the other primates you shall certainly encounter on your chimpanzee trek.

Kibale National Park, which averages about 3,300 feet in elevation, is an extension of the great rainforests of central Africa. Kibale is inhabited by three large “communities” of chimps, each numbering more than 100 individuals. Each community has a complicated social structure. The big adult males dominate the group and defend the community territory against incursions by male outsiders; the females usually wander in small family groups. Chimps tend to forage in small parties, or even as individuals. They usually travel on the ground, but being primarily fruit eaters, they mostly feed in trees. They coalesce into larger groups when they find an abundant source of food, such as a fruiting fig tree.

Typically, we locate the chimps by listening to their pant-hooting calls, then hustle to the area from which they are calling. After tracking them down (and this can be for about 1-2 hours of trekking through the deep jungles of Kibale), we start hearing by their loud calls a few meters from where we are, and all of a sudden, the chimpanzees are everywhere around us! Sit quietly on the forest floor and take a deep breath, this is what it's all about. For the next hour, it's as if you scarcely breathe, so engrossed and privileged are you to be watching these chimpanzees go about their daily life undisturbed in the wild. You become aware of the subtleties of different relationships, through gesture, sound, and expression.

We get to observe the chimpanzees as they feed in fruiting trees, lounge, and socialize with each other, or even, occasionally, hunt.

In the afternoon we visit a nearby forest swamp that is excellent for viewing primates and other forest animals. At the Eastern edge of Kibale forest is the Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary which is maintained by the local community. You will expect birds like the great blue turaco, blue monkeys, baboons, otters, mongoose, bushbucks, bush pigs, and others.

Accommodation options available (all on full board basis)

Up-market: Ndali Lodge | Crater Safari Lodge

Moderate: Isunga Lodge| Chimpanzee Forest Lodge | Kibale Forest Camp | (self-contained cottages)

Low Budget: Kibale Forest Camp (in the tents) | Chimpanzee Forest Guesthouse (shared bathroom rooms)

Day 8: Drive back to Entebbe or Kampala for end of Uganda Gorilla trek, chimpanzee tracking & Game safari

After breakfast, final farewell greetings are made and sadly the Uganda Gorilla trek chimpanzee tracking, and game safari comes to an end today with drop off at Entebbe International Airport.  The drive today should be ±5 hours traversing uniquely beautiful Ugandan landscapes with breathtaking scenery and delightfully rolling plantations everywhere, some of the best in Uganda.