9-Day Fully Experienced Uganda Wildlife Encounter

9-DAYS SAFARI

Safari’s summary

• Arrival at Entebbe International airport and overnight at the booked Hotel/lodge.
• Transfer to Murchison fall National Park with a stop-over at Zziwa Rhino sanctuary for Rhino trekking and afterwards continue to the top of the falls.
• Proceed to Kibale NP, the Primate capital of Uganda, East Africa.
• Transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park near Rwenzori mountains
• Transfer to Ishaasha, the southern sector of Queen Elizabeth for the tree climbing lions
• Transfer to Bwindi impenetrable NP for Gorilla trekking
• Transfer to Lake Bunyonyi in Kabale, the Switzerland of Africa
• Return to Kampala and then to Entebbe airport for a sweet journey home.

Day-1 Arrival at Entebbe airport

Upon the arrival at Entebbe international airport, you will be received by our English/Spanish/Dutch/German/French/Chinese speaking Hugo safaris guide/driver who will welcome you to Uganda, the Pearl of Africa  and thereafter you will be transferred straight to Murchison National park.

 Rhino trekking at Zziwa Rhino sanctuary.

The English tour guide will lead  you to Murchison falls National Park. On the way, you will have a stop-over at Zziwa Rhino sanctuary for the Rhino tracking. You will at least have an hour with the Rhinos while being guided by an armed Ranger from the Uganda wild life authority (UWA), while you are here, you will have a chance to view other grazers (especially antelopes) like the Red bucks, water bucks and a variety of birds, vervet monkeys and baboons. After the rhino trekking, you will have lunch and head straight to the top of water falls on the Victoria-Nile in the Murchison falls NP.

Murchison falls being Uganda’s biggest national park of an approximate area of 3893Km², its divided into the southern bank (the Forested area with a lot of primate species like baboons, monkeys, black and white colobus, red tailed, L^’host monkey and the great apes like chimpanzees at Budongo forest) and the Northern bank (mostly Savanna with a lot of animals both carnivorous and herbivorous) and when its game reserves are all included, it’s around 5663 Km².

Day-2 Game driver and boat cruise at Murchison falls NP

Wake up early in the morning, have breakfast and head for a wonderful morning game drive through the most beautiful and rolling plains of Uganda’s biggest park where you shall have a chance of viewing lions, herds of cape buffaloes, herds of Giraffes, herds of African elephants, schools of hipos, spotted hyenas, leopard, herds of antelopes like the Uganda kob, Jackson hartebeest, Orbis, water bucks and for the bird lovers, this park has a lot of bird species like the northern red bishop, black chested snake eagle, secretary bird, abyssian ground-hornbill that controls the population of snakes in the park and others, return to the hotel, relax  and have lunch.   After lunch, go for a boat cruise at the base of Murchison falls where you will be able to see a variety of mammals/animals in and out of the water like buffaloes, elephants drinking water, Nile crocodiles, schools of Hipos and fish, antelopes and a variety of birds not seen in the savanna. You will continue to the bottom of the falls and if you love hiking, it’s a bite strenuous but the journey to the top of the falls will be unforgettable and it takes around 2-3 hours, return to the hotel/lodge but if there is time, you can have a short game drive to the hotel.

Day-3 Transfer to Kibale National park.

After breakfast at the lodge/hotel, embark on the journey to Kibale National park (the primate capital of Africa) and the journey may take 6-8hours.While leaving the park, you will encounter some of the big mammals like elephants, buffaloes, giraffes, baboons etc. On the way to Kibale NP, you will have a chance of viewing the western rift valley escarpment, the fishing/landing sites of Butiaba on the shores of lake Albert, some Refugee camps near lake Albert just after Bulisa town and before reaching the sprawling and beautiful town of Hoima (the Oil city), with a rich historical  culture and being governed by a king called Omukama of Bunyoro and head to straight to Fort Portal city near Kibale np, stop-over in the city, visit the local market and continue to Kibale NP but before reaching the park, you will pass through many hills tops dotted with big plantations of Tea and have a chance of seeing some of the 52 volcanic/crater lakes found in this region

Afternoon Chimpanzee trekking/habituation at Kibale National park

 While dressed in rainy jackets, jungle shoes/boots in a pair of trousers with long sleeved shirt and if possible with a cap without forgetting the mosquito repellents, clinical masks not to infect/transmit diseases like Covid-19 since we are closely related to the chimps before entering the forest but we shall kindly request you not to apply perfumes today because you can attract bees. You will first be led to the information Centre for briefing and afterwards embark on the journey to the dense rain forest of Kibale NP full other primates like baboons, black and white colobus monkey, red tailed monkey and many species of the birds. Also, this park being/having an animal corridor that connects to Queen Elizabeth NP, expect to see forest elephants, forest buffaloes, antelopes and many more.

This activity will allow you to do chimpanzee trekking. You will have a chance to see chimpanzees up in the trees eating or on the ground all depending on nature and availability of food. Later return to the hotel, relax and overnight at hotel.

Day-4 Transfer to Queen Elizabeth National park and afternoon boat cruise

Wake up in the morning have breakfast and embark on swamp walk in Bigodi where you expect to see 5 primate species including the red tailed colobus, black and white colobus, vervet  monkeys, more than 400-600 bird species and during this community/cultural tour you will get to know how the local people live, eat, grow, harvest, make, drink and export coffee and make local Gin called Waragi at Mr. Rest in Banana’s place and embark on the journey of 1hr30min to Queen Elizabeth and go for afternoon game drive. This park being one of the country’s most frequented tourist destination, the park features diverse Eco-systems (Home to a variety) of wild life species

 Visit to the salt pans

During this journey, you will have a chance of visiting either the Katwe or Kasenyu  and even Bunyampaka salt pans and see how the local people extract the salt, how salt is formed and the processes it goes through to get formed, packed and exported to neighboring countries like Kenya, Rwanda, south Sudan, Tanzania and Democratic Rep. of Congo, in these salty/crater lakes, we shall be able to see how migratory flamingoes come from Kenya when they are white and turn pinkish after eating the plankton/food found along these volcanic/crater lakes that have salt, after visiting the salt pans, we shall head for boat cruise. And during this afternoon boat cruise along the kazinga channel which connects lake George to lake Edward, we may be chanced to see  animals and birds drinking, in and out of the water like the giant forest hogs, Africa elephants, buffaloes, lions, Uganda kobs, waterbucks, African fish Eagle, cormorants etc, check in at the hotel,relax and have supper  

Day6- Nature walk in kyambura Gorge, chimpanzee tracking,visit to twin lakes and transfer to ishaasha

Wake up early in the morning and have breakfast at the lodge and head for morning nature walk in the Kyambura Gorge along where you expect to see giant African elephant, leopard, cape buffaloes,chimpanzees,black and white colobus,vervet monkey, Defassa water bucks, various species of birds,hipos and afterwards head for twin crater lakes that’s Katinda and Murambi found in Bunyaruguru sub-county and transfer to Ishaasha sector of Queen Elizabeth and make a short evening game drive

 Ishaasha sector of Queen Elizabeth National park

Wake up in the morning, have breakfast and prepare for the new journey to the Ishaasha sector of Queen Elizabeth with the hope of seeing the tree climbing Lions.

This park lies on the boarder with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and at times these lions tend to cross the boarder or migrate to the other parts of the Queen as it has been observed by UWA staff, therefore there is a 60% chance of viewing them or at times they may be down in the grass trying to hunt the prey. During this journey/game drive since it’s within the park, you will also have a chance of seeing the black and white colobus, Red tailed monkeys, baboons, large herds of Africa elephants and buffaloes, topis, spotted hynas,leopard . Therefore, once these lions are viewed, then it will be a nice and spectacular/unforgotten experience in your life, check in at the lodge, relax and overnight at the lodge.

Day-7 Transfer to Bwindi impenetrable National park

Wake up in the morning, enjoy you breakfast and prepare for a long journey to the Bwindi Impenetrable National park for Gorilla trekking. First, we shall have a morning game drive in Ishaasha and then head for Bwindi. This journey will take us through mountainous tops and hills of Kigezi up to Bwindi impenetrable national park, check in at the hotel, relax and prepare for the excellent next day of Gorilla trekking.

Day-8 Gorilla tracking at Bwindi impenetrable National park and transfer to lake Bunyonyi in Kabale district

After having enough relaxation at the hotel, wake up a bite early, have breakfast and go to the information Centre for Briefing about Gorilla trekking. The Rules and dress codes are similar to the ones of chimpanzee except, here you shall add on No repeating the signs (or mimicking) what the Gorilla has done because you don’t know what that sign may mean to them and can cause danger to yourself or the group.

However, the journey to our next cousins (approximately 96-98% human) is so interesting as we shall enter into the dense tropical/rain forests where you can expect rain at any time and the area is mountainous full of tall and short trees, the area too is home to some forest elephants, antelopes and a variety of birds plus monkeys. The journey may take 2-8hours (that is going and coming back) including 1 full hour while watching and interacting with our next cousins (beautiful, handsome, gentle giants) under the guidance of armed rangers from the Uganda wildlife authority (UWA). During this day, we shall go with our packed lunch and 2litres of bottled mineral water and in the event that there is/are some senior citizen(s), we shall need a porter at an optional cost, after visiting and viewing the endangered mountain Gorillas  of Uganda (approximately 463 in numbers), we shall return to the Gorilla university for Graduation (that is to prove that you have successfully passed all the exams) and we return to the lodge with our degrees to relax.

      A view of Lake Bunyonyi from one of the islands

Having had a wonderful day with Gorillas and a picnic lunch in the forest or packed lunch, we now head for lake Bunyonyi in Kabale while passing through the park at an elevation/altitude of approximately 1190-2610m above sea-level. This journey will lead us to lake Bunyonyi, the deepest lake in Uganda,2^nd in Africa after Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania and 3^rd in the world. Lake Bunyonyi is made up of 29 terraced islands, some are inhabited while others are not, while at Bunyonyi you will visit some of those islands without forgetting to visit the notorious punishment island where the Bakiga girls who would become pregnant before marriage were taken and left to die from there. Right now, the island is acting as a tourist attraction and has got pretty of bird species around it, while on this lake, we can swim and also do canoeing plus zip-lining which is optional, return to the hotel, relax and overnight at the hotel.

Day-10 transfer from lake Bunyonyi to Kampala-Entebbe airport

Morning breakfast and proceed to Kampala of about 8-10 hours. On our way to Kampala, we shall pass through Ntungamo town and then the beautiful city of Mbarara where after the city we shall see the beautiful Ankore long-horned cattle only found in this part of the world, on our way to Kampala, en-route at the Equator take some beautiful/memorable Photos, buy souvenirs, have lunch and head straight to Entebbe international Airport for a sweet journey home depending on our departure schedules.