11-Day Uganda Gorillas, Chimpanzees and Big 5 Safari
Safari overview
This 11-Day Uganda Safari will give you a lifetime experience where you will track the mountain gorillas and chimpanzees in their natural habitats. It will also take you on game drives and boat cruise experiences in Murchison Falls, Queen Elizabeth, and Lake Mburo National Parks. You will also have a guided walking safari where you will get close to the wildlife. You will also visit different communities, such as the Bigodi, Batwa, and a cattle experience during the safari.
Detailed itinerary
Day 1: Arrival at Entebbe International Airport and Transfer to the Hotel
Welcome to Uganda, the Pearl of Africa: Upon arrival, you shall be welcomed by a Rubani Uganda Tours and travel and guide at Entebbe International Airport, from where you will transfer to your booked accommodation for the night. Depending on your time of arrival at the airport, you will have lunch before transferring to your hotel in Entebbe for some rest as you prepare for the ultimate Uganda Safari experience the following day.
Overnight at Boma Hotel Entebbe
Day 2: Transfer to Murchison Falls National Park with Rhino Trekking at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary
After your early morning breakfast at the hotel, you will be picked up by a Salt Holidays safari guide from your hotel, who will brief you about the safari and start your journey to Murchison Falls National Park. You will have a stopover at Zziwa Rhino Sanctuary in Nakasongola, where you will have an hour of foot rhino trekking experience at the sanctuary. After rhino trekking, you will then have lunch at the Sanctuary. You will then proceed to the top of the Murchison falls where the Nile squeezes through an 8m wide gorge. You will see the breathtaking views of the Nile. From the falls, you will continue and check into the lodge. Your dinner and overnight stay will be at the lodge.
Overnight at Pakuba safari lodge
Day 3: Morning Game Drive and Afternoon Boat Cruise to the Botton of the Falls
After your very early morning breakfast, you will embark on a game drive in Murchison Falls National Park as early as 6 am with chances for seeing giraffes, lions, buffaloes, elephants, oribis, Jackson Hartebeest, waterbucks, warthogs, and hyenas. If you’re very lucky, you could spot leopards in the rolling plains of the park. After the game drive, you will have time to relax and have lunch.
In the afternoon, you will enjoy a Nile boat cruise to the bottom of the waterfalls. You will spot different animal species like the crocodiles, hippos, elephants, and many bird species for the bird lovers. After the boat cruise, you will have an evening game drive in Murchison Falls National Park. After the drive, you will return to the lodge for dinner and an overnight stay at the lodge.
Day 4: Transfer to Kibale National Park with an Afternoon Swamp Walk in the Bigodi Wetlands
After your morning breakfast, you will leave the hotel and start your journey to Kibale National Park in Kabarole district in Western Uganda through the tea plantations and rolling hills to reach Fort Portal town. While in Fort Portal, you will have an en-route lunch and continue your journey to Kibale National Park. After checking into the lodge, you will embark on a guided nature walk in the Bigodi wetlands. You have a chance to spot 138 bird species and other primate species. You will have a community visit of communities around Kibale National Park, where you will have a coffee experience, where you will see how coffee is processed locally. You will visit Rest in Bananas. You will see how a gentleman who is known as the Banana Man makes different products from bananas. After this experience, you will return to the lodge for dinner and an overnight stay
Overnight at Turacco Tree tops
Day 5: Chimpanzee Trekking in Kibale National Park and Transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park
After your early morning breakfast, you’ll head over to Kibale Forest Headquarters at Kanyanchu, where you will be briefed on the dos and don’ts of chimpanzee trekking. With a ranger guide, you will venture into the jungle in search of the chimpanzees. While tracking, you will be able to spot other primate species like the Red Colobus, Black and white Colobus, Vervet monkeys, Red-tailed Monkey, and L’Hoest’s Monkey, among others, and bird species. You will spend one hour with the chimpanzees as you watch them play, feed, and groom each other in the forest. After the chimpanzee tracking experience, you will be awarded a chimpanzee trekking certificate. After, you’ll return to the lodge for lunch, then exit the lodge in Kibale National Park and transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park later in the afternoon. You will arrive at the lodge, where you will check in. In the evening, you will head out for an evening game drive in the park. Your dinner and overnight stay will be at the lodge
Overnight at elephant hub
Day 6: Morning Game Drive in the Kasenyi Plains and Afternoon Boat Cruise on the Kazinga Channel
You’ll have your breakfast very early in the morning and depart for an early morning game drive as early as 6 am in the Kasenyi plains in Queen Elizabeth National Park. While in the park, you will look out for wildlife such as lions, leopards, elephants, buffalo, waterbucks, Uganda kobs, and many others. After the game drive, you will return to the lodge and get some rest, relax as you wait for lunch. After lunch, you will go on a 2-hour afternoon boat cruise on the Kazinga Channel, where you will have a chance to spot elephants, buffalo, hippos, crocodiles, and many bird species. You’ll return to the lodge for dinner and an overnight stay.
Overnight at elephant hub
Day 7: Transfer to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park through the Ishasha Sector for Tree-climbing Lions
After your early morning breakfast, you will check out of the lodge in Queen Elizabeth National Park. You will transfer to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park through the Ishasha sector. You will have a game drive in the Ishasha Sector. You will have a chance to see the tree-climbing lions that are seen resting in the fig trees. Afterward, you will proceed to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. You will have lunch along the way. You will arrive at the lodge, where you will check in. Your dinner and overnight stay will be at the lodge.
Overnight at ichumbi gorilla lodge
Day 8: Gorilla Trekking in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
After the early morning breakfast, you will proceed to the UWA visitors’ reception, where a briefing is done before trekking at 7:30 am about the dos and don’ts while with the gorillas. Remember to carry your packed lunch and enough drinking water since you may stay in the forest up to the afternoon in search of these giants in their natural environment. Gorilla
trekking exercise is physically demanding! You may need to hire a porter to assist you during trekking, and these are readily available at the park headquarters. The time allowed to spend with gorillas is 1 hour once you have found them. This is enough to ask all the questions about their behaviour. In the evening, you will then embark on a Batwa community experience where you will visit the Batwa people and learn their different ways of living, such as how they used to make fire, how they hunted for their food, among others. After this experience, you will return to the lodge for dinner and an overnight stay.
Overnight ichumbi Gorilla lodge
Day 9: Transfer to Lake Mburo National Park with an Evening Game Drive in the Park
After breakfast, you’ll depart from the lodge in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and head to Lake Mburo National Park, the smallest Savannah National Park in Uganda. You will reach the park in the afternoon for lunch, and then you will check into the lodge and relax. You will then have an evening game drive where you will encounter wildlife such as giraffes, zebras, impalas, elands, buffaloes, and waterbucks, among others. After the evening game drive, you will return to the lodge for an overnight stay and dinner
Overnight at mihogo safari lodge
Day 10: Guided Morning Walking Safari and Afternoon Ankole Long Horned Cattle Experience
After your morning breakfast, the game rangers will take you for a guided morning safari where you will go close to the animals such as zebras, impalas, Common Elands, waterbucks, among others, for a unique wild experience. You will also have a morning game drive in the plains of Lake Mburo National Park. After the morning walking safari and game drive, you will return to the lodge to relax and have lunch.
In the afternoon, you will head out for an Ankole Long Horned Cattle Experience at the lodge, where you will interact with the Ankole cattle, know their significance to the culture of Ankole, and visit a farm, where you will come close to and touch the cattle. You will also have an opportunity to participate in the milking sessions on the farm, among others. Your dinner and overnight stay will be at the lodge.
Overnight at mihongo safari lodge
Day 11: Transfer to Entebbe International Airport
After your morning breakfast, you will check out of the lodge and set off to Entebbe International Airport. Along the way, you will have a stop at the Equator in Kayabwe for memorable photos and the famous water experiment that shows that the Earth is separated into the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. You will have a chance to enjoy both hemispheres as you will take so many pictures of the beautiful moments. You will have an en-route lunch. You will continue your journey to Entebbe International Airport. Do not forget to purchase a souvenir for yourself as a remembrance of this wonderful trip
End of safari
