Embark on an exclusive 8-day luxury wildlife safari in Uganda, where you'll indulge in luxurious accommodations and unparalleled wildlife encounters. Explore Murchison Falls National Park with game drives and a boat cruise along the Nile River. Journey to Kibale National Park for chimpanzee trekking and enjoy the serene beauty of Queen Elizabeth National Park before concluding with a thrilling gorilla trek in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. This safari promises a blend of luxury, adventure, and close encounters with Uganda's diverse wildlife amidst stunning landscapes.
Day 1
Airport Pickup
Arriving at the airport, you will be warmly welcomed by a representative of Gorilla Link Tours, and transferred to your hotel in Entebbe.
Optional Activities:
City Tour: Depending on the time of your arrival, explore the botanical gardens or a visit to the Uganda wildlife education centre.
Journey time: 15 minutes.
Day 2
Transfer to Kibale Forest National Park
Today after an early breakfast, your guide will come to your hotel to brief you about the safari and will transfer you to Fort Portal, close to Kibale National park. The drive is incredibly scenic, passing through villages, lush green forests and hills dotted with tea plantations.
You will stay at a wonderful lodge, just outside Fort Portal town, with spacious rooms and amazing views over one of the crater lakes in this area.
Journey time: 5 hours.
Day 3
Chimpanzee Tracking - Transfer to Queen Elizabeth National park
Today you will wake up early to go to the park head offices to be briefed about your chimp tracking experience. Kibale Forest National Park boasts the highest number of primate species in the world, including the chimpanzees. Approximately 5,000 chimpanzees live in the wild in Uganda, which makes it a perfect place to see them.
An experienced ranger will take you chimp tracking in the morning or afternoon; you might also see other monkey species that live here. Once you locate the chimpanzees, you will have a full hour of eye-to-eye contact with them.
In the afternoon, after chimpanzee trekking, your guide will drive you to Queen Elizabeth National Park, home to a high concentration of Uganda’s mammals that include tree climbing and savanna lions, elephants, wart hogs, Uganda kob, water buck, cape buffalo, hippos, leopards, as well as more than 600 species of birds that include the African spoon bill, pied kingfishers, fish eagles, pelicans, vultures.
Day 4
Sunrise Safari - Kazinga Channel Boat Safari
Today you'll wake up early. A little before sunrise, coffee, tea and donuts will be served in the lounge before we head out for a long game drive in time to see the first rays of light. You will search for all the wildlife in the park and are likely to come across elephants, buffalo, lions, waterbucks, leopards, Uganda kobs, and many warthogs.
A well-deserved brunch will be served back at the lodge late in the morning.
In the afternoon, you will take a boat safari along the Kazinga Channel which joins Lake George and Lake Edward.
Here, you will see a lot of hippos (more than you can possibly imagine) as well as a variety of other animals which come to the waterhole to drink or bathe. You can expect to see buffalo, crocodile, bathing elephant, and a range of beautiful birds. This will undoubtedly be one of the highlights of your tour
Day 5
Tree Climbing Lions - Transfer to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
After breakfast, you will proceed to the southern part of Queen Elizabeth National Park, the famous Ishasha area, for a game drive searching for the tree-climbing lions.
Ishasha is home to the famous tree-climbing lions. While lion cubs around the world frequently climb trees for fun, adults rarely do. The adult lions in Ishasha are an exception to this. It is thought that they sit in the branches to get away from the tsetse flies and to enjoy a cool breeze. If you are lucky, you might spot a few during your game drive.
Lunch will be at Ishasha Wilderness Camp in Ishasha.
After lunch, you will be transferred to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, home to mountain gorillas.
You will get there in time for dinner and your overnight stay.
Day 6
Gorilla Tracking
Today after early breakfast, you will be transferred to the park headquarters for a briefing about gorilla tracking. You will encounter one of Bwindi’s endangered mountain gorillas. For most people, this is the absolute highlight of their tour in Uganda.
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park boasts both mountain gorillas and chimpanzees—the only forest in Africa that can make this claim. It also hosts five other species of primates, 113 species of mammals, over 200 species of butterflies and 360 species of birds. The gorillas you track are habituated and can tolerate the presence of humans for a brief period of time, every day.
The time taken to track the gorillas can be as few as 2 hours to as many as 7 hours. Once the gorillas have been located, your group will be allowed a maximum of one hour with them. Coming face-to-face with a mountain gorilla is a truly humbling and emotional experience.
Day 7
Transfer Lake Mburo National Park
After breakfast, you will travel to Lake Mburo National Park, one of Uganda’s smallest parks, but certainly not to be underestimated. It is the only Ugandan national park (besides to Kidepo Valley N.P.) which is home to zebras, elands and impalas, as well as to an abundance of other wildlife - not to mention the lake itself, which has lots of hippos and crocodiles. Last but not least: The Uganda Wildlife Authority recently brought 15 giraffes from Murchison falls to lake Mburo (1st July 2015)!
You will stay just outside the park boundaries, but it will feel like being in the middle of the park. From your veranda and restaurant, you have a great view over the park and its wildlife.
Day 8
Guided walking safari - Transfer to Entebbe airport
Today after breakfast, you will go for a guided bush walk. Lake Mburo N.P is one of two parks in Uganda where bush walks with an experienced ranger are permitted. This opportunity should not be missed. From footprints and animal droppings the ranger will be able to tell you which animal has left it and how long ago. It is exciting to approach wildlife at such close range.
Note: Instead of going for the bush walk, you can go on a horseback riding safari in the park (US $80 p.p. extra for 2 hours).
After, you will drive back to Entebbe (Airport) stopping at the equator for the requisite snapshot and a bit of souvenir shopping.
Accommodation for tonight is not inclusive in the program. If you wish to depart tonight from Entebbe Airport, make sure your flight is at 10 pm or later. If you want us to book one (or more) nights in Kampala and/or Entebbe, please let us know.
.Rates Per Person
2 people Sharing rooms $5,001
Key Information:
- Solo travelers cannot book this tour.
- Prices are per person and do not cover international flights to and from your home country.
- Children aged 15 and above are welcome on this tour.
Included
- Park fees(For non-residents)
- Gorilla permits(One per person, non-resident)
- Chimp permits(One per person, non-resident)
- All activities(Unless labeled as optional)
- All accommodation(Unless listed as upgrade)
- A professional driver/guide
- All transportation(Unless labeled as optional)
- All Taxes/VAT
- Roundtrip airport transfer
- Meals(As specified in the day-by-day section)
- Drinks(As specified in the day-by-day section)
Excluded
- International flights(From/to home)
- Additional accommodation before and at the end of the tour
- Tips(Tipping guideline US$10.00 pp per day)
- Personal items(Souvenirs, travel insurance, visa fees, etc.)
- Government imposed increase of taxes and/or park fees
- Some meals(As specified in the day-by-day section)
