PRIMATE WATCH SAFARIS

Day 1: Arrival at Entebbe International Airport and transfer to the Hotel

Arrive in Entebbe, and transfer to your accommodation to rest and freshen up. If time permits visit the famous Entebbe Botanical Gardens or the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre.

Accommodation: 2 Friends Beach Hotel / Papyrus Guest House

Day 2: Transfer to Murchison Falls National Park

You will check out and drive to Murchison Falls National Park via Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary for Rhino Tracking. After the tracking, you will embark on your journey to Masindi for lunch after which you will proceed to the top of the falls to see how the Nile is forced through a narrow gorge falling 43 meters high. This scenery is said to be the largest natural force of water in the world creating what appears to be a boiling caldron of water. From the top of the falls, you will drive to your accommodation.

Dinner and overnight: Sambiya River Lodge / Paraa Safari Lodge / Nile Safari Lodge / Red Chilli Camp.

Included: Rhino tracking, Visit top of the falls

Day 3: Murchison Falls National Park

After breakfast, drive to the northern sector of the park for game drives. Most of the game is found in the area north of Victoria Nile and East of the Albert Nile and Lake Albert (where the movie “The African Queen” was filmed). The likely game to be encountered during our drive are Elephants, Buffalos, Rothschild giraffe, Oribi, waterbuck, hartebeest, bushbuck, leopard, lion, bush pigs, mongoose, warthog, jackal, genet, hyenas, bat-eared fox, sitatunga and Uganda Kob. In the afternoon, take a launch boat to the base of the falls viewing game and birds en route. We enjoy the 3-hour ride past several hippo schools and Nile crocodiles plus aquatic birds.

Dinner and overnight: Sambiya River Lodge / Paraa Safari Lodge / Nile Safari Lodge / Red Chilli Camp.

Included: Game drive, Boat trip

Day 4: Murchison Falls National Park – Kibale National Park

After breakfast, drive to the Kibale Forest area via Biso, Hoima, and Kyenjojo to Fort Portal with a lunch stopover en route. The journey will take approximately 8 hours along the western arm of The Great African Rift Valley passing through beautiful agricultural countryside, tropical rain forests, and tea plantations. Check-in your accommodation for dinner and overnight.

Accommodation: Ndali Lodge / Primate Lodge / Turaco Treetops

Day 5: Chimpanzee tracking in Kibale National Park

After breakfast, proceed for Chimpanzee tracking. The exciting activity begins in the morning and may take a whole day or a few hours. Briefing is done by the UWA park rangers at the park headquarters. Besides being human’s close cousins, the chimpanzees, Kibale National Park hosts other primates such as red colobus, L’hoest, black-and-white colobus, red-tailed monkeys, and grey-cheeked mangabey among others. The swamp walk at Bigodi wetland is an optional activity in the afternoon.

Accommodation: Ndali Lodge / Primate Lodge / Turaco Treetops

Included: Chimpanzee tracking

Optional: Bigodi Swamp Walk

Day 6: Kibale National Park – Queen Elizabeth National Park

After breakfast, check out and drive to Queen Elizabeth National Park. The drive passes through Fort Portal southwards along the Eastern length of the Rwenzori Mountains. On a clear day, you may see the glaciated peaks as you gently descend into the Great Rift Valley to the park. The Rwenzori Peaks provide a magnificent backdrop to antelope-filled plains. Queen Elizabeth National Park covers about 2,000 square kilometres and spreads along the eastern shores of the Rift Valley’s Lake Edward.

Accommodation: Mweya Safari Lodge / Buffalo Safari Lodge / Irungu Forest Lodge

Included:  Evening game drive

Day 7: Queen Elizabeth National Park

Today you go for an early morning game drive with the hope of seeing lions and other predators as they hunt for their prey. In the afternoon, you take a launch/boat cruise of about two hours on the Kazinga channel for bird viewing (Queen Elizabeth National Park is one of the best birding parks in Africa with “560” + recorded bird species and 296 bird species seen in 24 hours). You may also watch wildlife including the hippopotamus and elephants, among others. The Channel is believed to have the largest concentration of hippopotamus in the world.

Accommodation: Mweya Safari Lodge / Buffalo Safari Lodge / Irungu Forest Lodge

Included: Game drive, Boat trip at the Kazinga Channel

Day 8: Full-day Game Drive in Queen Elizabeth National Park

Spend this day exploring Queen Elizabeth National Park at your own pace. Visit several crater lakes, search for wildlife, and visit the communities in and around the park. Visit the Ishasha Sector to search for the tree-climbing lions.

Accommodation: Mweya Safari Lodge / Buffalo Safari Lodge / Irungu Forest Lodge

Included: Game drive, Community visit

Day 9: Queen Elizabeth National Park – Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

After breakfast drive to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. Here you will choose either to go via Maramagambo Forest for a nature walk and visit the bat caves where you may observe thousands of bats within inches of their roosts and often pythons and monitor lizards poised to strike by the cave entrance or to go to Ishasha for a game drive in search for the unique tree climbing lions. Afternoon, drive to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

Accommodation: Mahogany Springs Lodge / Buhoma Haven / Gorilla Bluff Lodge

Included: Search for Tree Climbing Lions

Day 10: Gorilla Tracking in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

After an early breakfast, and our packed lunch, we then take a short drive to the park headquarters for briefing where we meet the excellent local guides and trackers who give a talk on the etiquette of gorilla trekking. We then trek into the forest to a spot where gorillas were last seen the previous night and track from there. Trekking may take anything between 1 to 6 hours depending on the family and altitudes which is more than 7500 feet. The terrain is rough and muddy calling for physical fitness. Although the hike is physically demanding, the beauty of the forest and surrounding scenery makes the trekking worthwhile. Once the Great Apes (Gorillas are located all fatigue is forgotten as the experience is often described as being the most profound natural history experience in the world). It is recommended that you take plenty of water with you on the trek. Non-flash cameras and plenty of fast-speed films are recommended. Being a tropical rain forest, it may rain at no notice, hence need to bring with you waterproof clothing, including zip-lock bags for cameras and film. Others to come with include sturdy hiking boots, long pants, gloves and a raincoat. Maximum time spent with the gorillas is 1 hour.

Accommodation: Mahogany Springs / Buhoma Haven / Gorilla Bluff Lodge

Included: Gorilla tracking

Day 11: Bwindi Impenetrable National Park – Batwa Experience

Get ready for a full-day adventure that starts with a 3-hour hike through the forest to a Batwa settlement. The Batwa pygmies, also known as the “Keepers of the Forest”, are an enchanting hunter-gatherer tribe that has coexisted with the wildlife of the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park for thousands of years.

During your visit to the Batwa homestead, you’ll have the opportunity to observe how the women prepare, cook, and serve a meal. You can also engage with the medicine men and learn about the medicinal properties of the lush forest flora.

Accommodation: Mahogany Springs Lodge / Buhoma Haven / Gorilla Bluff Lodge

Included: Batwa Experience

Day 12: Drive to Lake Bunyonyi

After breakfast, drive through the scenic Little Switzerland of Africa with a lunch stop over at White Horse Inn Kabale. Later transfer to the edge of the island-dotted Lake Bunyonyi one of the best Crater Lakes in this part of Uganda.

Accommodation: Lake Bunyonyi Rock Resort

Day 13: Drive to Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda

We will be transferring to the Volcanoes National Park located in Rwanda. On the way, we have an optional visit to a pygmy village. The park is a unique jungle that houses many species of monkeys, including the Golden Monkeys, which can only be found here. The park is part of the Virunga Mountains that stretch across Uganda, Rwanda, and Congo. Along with Bwindi, this is the only place in the world where you can observe the Mountain Gorillas.

Accommodation: Gorilla Nest Lodge / Da Vinci Gorilla Lodge

Day 14: Gorilla Tracking in Volcanoes National Park

Gorilla tracking!!! Early morning departure with your ranger to search for one of the mountain gorillas, the world’s most interesting and endangered animals. You will spend one hour with one of our closest relatives in the wild. An experience you will never forget.

Accommodation: Gorilla Nest Lodge / Da Vinci Gorilla Lodge

Day 15: Drive to Akagera National Park

After breakfast, we drive to Akagera National Park. On our way to Akagera National Park, we enjoy the beautiful landscape and witness the rural way of life of the local people.\

Accommodation: Akagera Game Lodge, Ruzizi Tented Lodge

Day 16: Akagera National Park

In the morning, there will do a game drive in Akagera National Park, followed by a boat trip and another game drive in the afternoon. Akagera National Park is the only savannah national park in Rwanda and was established in 1934. It boasts beautiful scenery and is home to the big five, including elephants, buffaloes, giraffes, hippos, and crocodiles. If you’re lucky, you might even spot lions and leopards.

Included: game drive, boat trip

Accommodation: Akagera Game Lodge, Ruzizi Tented Lodge

Day 17: Akagera National Park – Kigali

Enjoy a morning game drive followed by a picnic lunch at the top of Mount Mutumba (1,825m) with breathtaking panoramic views of the park. Transfer to Kigali afterwards.

Included: game drive, picnic lunch

Accommodation: The Heaven Boutique / Hotel des Mille Collines

Day 18: Kigali – Butare – Nyungwe Forest National Park

Transfer to Butare (Huye) for a visit to the National Museum and Nyanza Hill before continuing to Nyungwe Forest.

Accommodation: Nyungwe Top View Hill Hotel / One&Only Nyungwe House

Day 19: Nyungwe Forest National Park – Kigali Airport

Go for a nature walk or bird watching along the forest edges, make the Irebero primate walk to spot a variety of birds and monkeys, make the canopy walk or do the Imbaraga waterfall trail to the 4 waterfalls with a great view (one activity included).

Afterwards, transfer to Kigali Airport for your outbound flight.

Included: 1 of the following activities: nature walk, bird watching, primate walk, canopy walk, waterfall trail