Day 1: Start your Uganda Gorilla trek tour by driving to Bwindi impenetrable N. Park (the mountain gorillas' home)
Meet and greet with our local guide in Kampala/Entebbe/Kigali at 07:00 hours before starting the gorilla trek tour on your drive heading to southwestern Uganda to the home of the mountain gorillas, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.
En route, there is a local community popular for making local drums and crafts and a fruit market. Stopover, admire and buy yourself souvenirs. Proceed to the Equator line taken as one beautiful scenery in Africa - the pathway of the sun and take photographs.
Pass by mountains, tropical rainforest, and bamboo forest during the nine-hour journey.
The drive to the mountain gorilla sanctuary is over 7 hours from Entebbe or Kampala, most of the time on the smooth-surfaced road with about 45 minutes of dusty murram. You could choose to fly to Bwindi if you don't feel like driving. One-way flights range from 280$-360$ pp.
Uganda Gorilla Trek Accommodation options:
Up-market: Mahogany Springs Lodge | Buhoma Lodge |Chameleon Hill Lodge | Nkuringo Gorilla Lodge Bwindi
Moderate: Ichumbi Gorilla Lodge| Engagi Lodge | Lake Mulehe Gorilla Lodge
Low Budget: Gorilla Haven Lodge Rushaga | Ruhija Gorilla Friends Camp | Gorilla Conservation Camp
Meals included today: Lunch and dinner only.
Day 2: Gorilla Trekking in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
Today enjoy gorilla trekking in Bwindi.
After breakfast, proceed for the morning briefing before enjoying the highlight of the trip - gorilla trekking, which may last the entire day. We trek the gorillas through the rainforest and bamboo-covered slopes, accompanied by a guide and gorilla 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 the gorillas are sighted, visitors will be guided to within 6 meters from the gorillas, 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 tracking excursion can take from 2 up 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, 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 moths and an exceptional 120 types of mammal including 10 primates. The latter includes chimpanzee, L'Hoest's, red-tailed and blue monkey, black and white colobus, baboon, 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.
Uganda Gorilla Trek Accommodation options available:
Up-market: Mahogany Springs Lodge | Buhoma Lodge |Chameleon Hill Lodge | Nkuringo Gorilla Lodge Bwindi
Moderate: Ichumbi Gorilla Lodge| Engagi Lodge | Lake Mulehe Gorilla Lodge
Low Budget: Gorilla Haven Lodge Rushaga | Ruhija Gorilla Friends Camp | Gorilla Conservation Camp
Meals included today: Breakfast, Lunch, and dinner only.
Day 3: Drive from Bwindi to Kampala, overnight (Daily flights to Entebbe can be booked as well)
Early breakfast before embarking on our journey 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 highly fertile, mountainous region with steep-sided hills covered from top to bottom in neatly terraced cultivated rows. 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.
Accommodation options available:
Up-market: Kampala Serena Hotel | Sheraton Kampala Hotel
Moderate: Cassia Lodge Kampala
Low Budget: Kampala Forest Cottages
Meals included today: Breakfast & Lunch only.
Day 4: Grade-5 Whitewater Rafting on the Nile River in Jinja, Evening transfer to Entebbe for departure
You will have an early breakfast and travel to Jinja for the magnificent white water rafting adventure. You will be driving past acres of sugarcane and roadside stalls selling avocados, pawpaws, bananas, and oranges.
The journey will take you through the tropical rain forest of Mabira, tea, and sugarcane plantations plus several roadside markets.
After a couple of hours, you'll cross the Owen Falls Dam which was built several km's down from Speke's source of the Nile. The Nile flows freely below the dam and makes quick time of the trip down the river to Bujagali Falls which is the first major rapid on the river and is where you will start your rafting action! The following morning, you'll raft from Bujagli to Bwekkwaso.
Each bend in the river brings yet another thunderous roar from the cascading falls ahead. This truly is whitewater rafting at its finest. We'll lunch on our beautiful mid-river island beneath the shade of the trees. The back-to backdrops of "Overtime" and "Retrospect" provide some of the most technical and sustained rafting to be found anywhere. We spend the night on another beautiful mid-river island. The campsite comes alive after dark to the sound of African music and dancing. In the morning you'll raft down to Nabuganyi - the pools between the rapids are larger but don't be fooled - the crashing waves of "Mulalu" and "Potali" will take your breath away!
After the exciting adventures, you will be transferred to Entebbe Airport for your departure flight back home or onward tour arrangements to Kenya, or Tanzania, or Rwanda.
Meals included today: Breakfast & Lunch only.
