Explore the incredible national parks of Uganda on a 9-day journey. Begin your travels in the Mabamba Swamps searching for Shoebill Storks. Visit the lush, evergreen rainforest of Kibale National Park, where you’ll visit a community of wild chimpanzees in Uganda. Travel to Queen Elizabeth National Park to spot tree-climbing lions, pods of hippos and herds of elephants. Venture deep into the jungles of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest to spend some time with a family of endangered mountain gorillas, a truly unforgettable experience.
Our small group safaris offer you the opportunity to explore Uganda while enjoying the company of an intimate group of like-minded safari enthusiasts.
Flight from Johannesburg to Entebbe Airport. Upon arrival in Entebbe, our friendly safari team will welcome you and transfer you to your hotel. Enjoy a two-hour sunset cruise on the lake Victoria.
Stay: 2 Friends Beach Hotel
Room: Pool view room
Meals: Breakfast
After an early morning breakfast, drive to Mabamba Swamps. Upon arrival in Mabamba Swamp, you’ll meet your local guide. The canoe trip through the papyrus swamp will take you to the unscathed attractiveness of the wetlands, where you will have the highest chance of seeing Shoebill and other papyrus specialist birds like Saddle-billed Stork, Malachite Kingfisher, African Jacana, and other swamp specialities.
Stay: 2 Friends Beach Hotel
Room: Pool view room
Meals: Breakfast
After a relaxing breakfast, we depart from Entebbe and head west to Fort Portal, with lunch en route at a local restaurant. Fort Portal rests in the shadow of the fabled “Mountains of the Moon” (Rwenzori mountains) and is famous for its many tea plantations. From this lovely town, we continue to Kibale Forest National Park.
Stay: Turaco Treetops
Room: Cottage
Meals: Lunch, dinner & breakfast
Today, the forest opens its doors for an exhilarating chimpanzee trekking experience in Uganda. Kibale Forest is known for having the greatest variety and the highest concentration of primates in East Africa. Enjoy a guided nature walk in the tropical rainforest, searching for the chimpanzee, red-tailed monkey, black and white colobus monkey, and many others. Upon sighting the chimpanzees, you will spend an unforgettable hour with them as they go about their daily life - feeding, playing, grooming, caring for their young, howling and screeching, all in their natural habitat. Return to the lodge for lunch. Enjoy an afternoon at leisure or visit one of the many wetlands in Uganda, the Bigodi Wetlands Sanctuary, for a nature walk. The sanctuary features 8 primate species, numerous other fascinating mammals, over 200 bird species, many reptiles, and uncounted varieties of trees, shrubs, and vines.
Stay: Turaco Treetops
Room: Cottage
Meals: Lunch, dinner & breakfast
Drive to Queen Elizabeth National Park (following the mystical Rwenzori Mountain range for most of the journey) and delight in an en-route game drive to the lodge, where you will have lunch. Enjoy an afternoon game drive around the Mweya Peninsular and the Kasenyi, the mating ground of the Ugandan kobs. Search for lions, elephants, buffaloes, and other wild animals in their natural habitat, or relax around the pool.
Stay: Mweya Safari Lodge
Room: Standard room
Meals: Lunch, dinner & breakfast
The day begins early, and we start with a morning game drive. The park's diverse ecosystem of grassy plains, tropical forests, rivers, swamps, lakes, and volcanic craters is home to abundant wildlife. Look out for buffaloes, lions, elephants, and other wildlife in their natural habitat. Join us for an afternoon boat cruise along the Kazinga Channel, a natural waterway between Lake Edward and Lake George. This promises to be one of the highlights of your safari, as you will be spoiled with spectacular views of abundant birdlife, elephants, buffaloes, and hundreds of hippos cooling off at the shores. Game drives follow the boat cruise in the Kasenyi Plains area, where you will see Ugandan kobs, lions, elephants, buffaloes, and more.
Stay: Mweya Safari Lodge
Room: Standard room
Meals: Lunch, dinner & breakfast
After an early game drive, we head towards Bwindi, driving through the Ishasha Sector, famous for its tree-climbing lions. While experiencing the verdant countryside, you will pass traditional homesteads and enjoy panoramic views of the Rwenzori Mountains. In the afternoon, we will reach Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, home of the endangered mountain gorillas.
Stay: Haven Lodge
Room: Standard room
Meals: Lunch, dinner &breakfast
Early morning departure from the lodge to the trailhead at Bwindi Impenetrable National Park for your mountain gorilla trekking experience. After a comprehensive briefing about gorilla behaviour, details about the gorilla family you'll be trekking, and safety precautions, your adventure will start! Gorilla trekking can be strenuous, and a certain fitness level is required. Coming face-to-face with a mountain gorilla is one of Africa's most memorable wildlife encounters, if not the world. This is adequate time for photography and observing these great primates in their natural habitat. Afterwards, you will return to the base, where your driver will be waiting to transfer you to the lodge to enjoy leisure time or partake in the Batwa Experience (the cost will be for your account and is not included in your package). Known as the "Keepers of the forest" the enchanting Batwa pygmies of Bwindi are a hunter-gatherer tribe that has lived side-by-side with the wildlife of these parks for hundreds of years. The Batwa Experience is a hands-on historical and cultural encounter during which the Batwa demonstrate and describe their traditional way of life as hunter-gatherers.
Stay: Haven Lodge
Room: Standard room
Meals: Lunch, dinner & breakfast
Enjoy the morning at leisure, before your transfer to the Kihihi airstrip (about 1 hour from the lodge) for your flight to Entebbe Airport for your onward flight home.
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Valid until: 31 Dec ‘26
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INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS FROM SOUTH AFRICA:
International flights from Johannesburg are available on Air Uganda.
GORILLA PERMITS:
A vast wetland area on the northern shores of Lake Victoria, west of Entebbe, covering approximately 16,500 hectares. Designated as a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance, it is one of the best places in Africa to see the rare shoebill stork. The swamps also support a rich diversity of birdlife, including papyrus gonolek, malachite kingfisher, and African jacana. Canoe excursions through the papyrus channels offer excellent birdwatching and chances to spot sitatunga antelope and other wetland species.
Uganda’s most visited park, Queen Elizabeth NP stretches from Lake George to Lake Edward and includes diverse ecosystems (savannah, bushland, wetlands and rainforest) over ~1,978 km². It boasts 95 mammal species – notably tree-climbing lions in the Ishasha sector, large herds of Uganda kob, elephants, hippos and more – and over 600 bird species. Popular activities include game drives on the Kasenyi plains, boat cruises on the Kazinga Channel (to see hippos and waterbirds), and chimpanzee tracking in the Kyambura Gorge.
A lush 795 km² tropical rainforest in western Uganda, regarded as the best place in Africa to track wild chimpanzees. Kibale NP boasts one of the highest diversities and densities of primates in the world – 13 species including over 800 chimps, plus red colobus, L’Hoest’s monkey and more. The park’s varied habitats (lowland and montane rainforest, swamps) also support over 300 bird species and other mammals, all accessible via guided forest walks.
A 331 km² primeval rainforest in southwest Uganda, famous as a refuge for roughly half of the world’s mountain gorillas (several gorilla groups are habituated for visits). This UNESCO World Heritage Site is exceptionally biodiverse – the “Impenetrable Forest” lives up to its name with dense jungles harboring over 1,000 flowering plant species, 120 mammal species (from elephants and duikers to chimpanzees), and 350+ bird species, offering one of Africa’s richest ecosystems in a compact area.
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