Visit the best highlights of Uganda with this 10 Days Uganda Wild African Safari. Accommodation for this private exclusive tour is provided in some of the country’s very best lodges.
Safari Overview:
Safaris by boat and road
Stay at the best lodges!
Gorilla & chimp permit included.
Day 1: Start your 10 Days Uganda Wild African Safari.
You will be picked up from the airport by a representative of your hotel. He will transfer you to your hotel. You will meet your driver/ guide tomorrow morning when he picks you up from your hotel. For you to start your 10 day Uganda Wild African Safari.
Day 2: To Fort Portal/ Kibale Forest
After an early breakfast, you will have some time to change money or go to an ATM before heading to Western of Uganda. The drive is incredibly scenic, passing through villages, lush green forests and hills dotted with tea plantations which characterize this part of Uganda.
You will be taken to your preferred accommodation.
Day 3: Chimpanzee tracking in Kibale Forest
Kibale Forest National Park boasts the highest number of primate species in the world, including our delightful cousins, the chimpanzees. Today, in Uganda, there are approximately 5,000 chimpanzees in the wild, which makes it a perfect place to spot them!
An experienced forest ranger will take you chimp tracking in the morning or afternoon. En route you might also see other monkey species that live in this forest. Once located, you will spend a full hour with the chimps. Since they are wild animals we can never guarantee that you will see them. You might have to settle with hearing their hoots and hollers.
Your swamp walk (2-3 hours) will take you through grassland, small communities and some beautiful scenery, where the locals are likely to greet you with enthusiastic waves. It is usual to spot three to four different primate species during this walk, though the highlight is catching a glimpse of the great blue turaco!
Optional: Chimpanzee Habituation tracking:
You can do the chimpanzee habituation tracking instead of the regular chimpanzee tracking during your 10 Days Uganda Wild African Safari. This will take all day and you will be 100% sure to have a very close encounter with your closest relatives. Book this in time because only 6 persons per day are allowed to go. Your swamp walk can be postponed to the next morning.
Day 4: Queen Elizabeth National Park.
In the morning, you can either relax at your lodge, make a crater lake hike or visit a nearby tea plantation, where you will be able to assist the tea pickers and learn about how leaves are selected for the highest quality (All activities of this morning are at your own cost). You will then continue your journey to Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Queen Elizabeth National Park is Uganda’s second largest park, located at the base of the majestic Rwenzori Mountain range, adjacent to Lake Edward and Lake George. The park has prolific game, including Gazelle, Uganda Kob, Warthog and Waterbuck.
You stay overnight at your preferred accommodation. Watch wildlife from your private verandah and fall asleep to the roaring of lions on the distant savannah. This truly is Africa!
Lions are often sighted both in the park and at the entrance to the park. Be prepared for huge numbers of hippo and elephant, and keep your eyes peeled for a leopard lazing in the sunshine.
In the late afternoon you will go for a game-drive into the park.
Day 5: Park Game Drive & Boat Safari
Today you 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 Elephant, Buffalo, Lion, Waterbuck, Leopard, Uganda Kob, and many Warthogs.
A well-deserved brunch will be served back at the lodge in the late 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.
Optional activity: Lion Tracking:
During your your 10 Days Uganda Wild African Safari for visitors who yearn to get up close to wild African fauna, a research trip is a rewarding adventure. This new and unique experience allows visitors to actively participate in monitoring some of lions in the park, using locator devices and learn habituation calls, as well as monitoring weather, surroundings and behavior. The results are added to researchers’ databases, contributing valuable information to the overall understanding of wildlife ecology – and helping to conserve this wonderful ecosystem. This will as well gives you a 95% chance to see the lions!
The number of people on each outing is limited in order to reduce stress on the animals and to increase the quality of the experience for visitors.
For visitors who yearn to get up close to wild African fauna, a research trip is a rewarding adventure. This new and unique experience allows visitors to actively participate in monitoring some of the exotic birds and mammals that fill the park, using locator devices and learn habituation calls, as well as monitoring weather, surroundings and behavior. The results are added to researchers’ databases, contributing valuable information to the overall understanding of wildlife ecology – and helping to conserve this wonderful ecosystem.
The experiential tourism activities currently available are Mongoose Tracking, Lion Tracking, Hippo Census, and Bird Counts. The number of people on each outing is limited in order to reduce stress on the animals and to increase the quality of the experience for visitors.
Experiential tours lasts between one and three hours. They usually take place in the early morning or evening, or occasionally at night. All activities must be booked through the Visitor Information Centre in Mweya at least 24 hours in advance.
For visitors who yearn to get up close to wild African fauna, a research trip is a rewarding adventure. This new and unique experience allows visitors to actively participate in monitoring some of the exotic birds and mammals that fill the park, using locator devices and learn habituation calls, as well as monitoring weather, surroundings and behavior. The results are added to researchers’ databases, contributing valuable information to the overall understanding of wildlife ecology – and helping to conserve this wonderful ecosystem.
The experiential tourism activities currently available are Mongoose Tracking, Lion Tracking, Hippo Census, and Bird Counts. The number of people on each outing is limited in order to reduce stress on the animals and to increase the quality of the experience for visitors.
Experiential tours lasts between one and three hours. They usually take place in the early morning or evening, or occasionally at night. All activities must be booked through the Visitor Information Centre in Mweya at least 24 hours in advance.
Day 6: Ishasha – Tree-climbing lions
This morning you have plenty of time to do one of the optional activities listed on day 5 or simply make another game drive. After lunch you will proceed to the southern part of Queen Elizabeth National Park, to an area called Ishasha. The Ishasha area is famous for its tree-climbing lions.
To escape from the heat during the day, the lions here have learned how to climb the fig trees. If you are lucky you might spot a few during your game drive, so keep your eyes open and look up! Besides these famous lions, there is other interesting wildlife to be seen, like buffalo and the Uganda kob.
After you gamne drive, looking for the tree climbing lions in Ishasha, you will head to your hotel.
Day 7: Ishasha – To Bwindi Forest
After breakfast you will game drive on your way out of the park for a last chance at spotting those tree climbing lions.
Lunch will be provided at the lodge or hotel in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest; home of the Mountain Gorillas.
Get a good night’s sleep at your preferred, because tomorrow you have to be fresh for the Gorilla trekking.
Day 8: Gorilla Tracking in Bwindi Forest
Today is the big day… prepare yourself for an encounter with one of Bwindi’s gentle giants: the endangered mountain gorilla. For most people this is the absolute highlight of their tour in Uganda.
Bwindi Impenetrable Forest boasts both mountain gorillas and chimpanzees – the only forest in Africa which can make this claim. It also hosts five other species of primate, 113 species of mammal, over 200 butterflies and 360 birds. The gorillas you track belong to one of nine habituated family groups who can tolerate the presence of humans for a brief period every day.
Face-to-face with a Mountain Gorilla
Your track will be an exciting journey along forested slopes, entwined vines, bushes and bamboo before you eventually reach the gorilla family.
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. This is a fantastic and privileged opportunity to get up close and personal with Uganda’s very own ‘Gorillas in the Mist’.
Day 9: Lake Mburo National Park
After breakfast, you travel to Lake Mburo National Park, one of Uganda’s smallest parks. But it is certainly not to be underestimated; it is the only Ugandan national park home to zebra, eland and impala, as well as an abundance of other wildlife. The lake itself is teeming with hippos and crocodiles! Upon entering the park, you drive along tracks searching for animals on your way to your accommodation.
Optional activity: Night game drive
A night game drive in Lake Mburo national park is absolutely great! You have chances of seeing Hyena, different nocturnal animals and it’s probably your best chance to spot a leopard during your 10 day Uganda Wild African Safari. Your night safari is either just before dinner or just after dinner and takes about 2 hours.
Day 10: Bush walk – Airport Transfer
This morning you will go for a 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.
After brunch at the lodge, you will drive back to Kampala or Entebbe (Airport) stopping at the equator for the requisite snapshot and a bit of souvenir shopping.
Accommodation for tonight is not inclusive in the programme. If you wish to depart tonight from Entebbe Airport, make sure your flight is at 10 pm or later. If you would like us to book one (or more) nights in Kampala and/or Entebbe, please let us know.
End of your 10 Days Uganda Wild African Safari.
Transport
Depending on the amount of travelers you travel in a regular size land cruiser (2-5 persons) or Extended land cruiser (6-7 persons).
4wd Full-Sized Toyota Land cruiser
The Toyota Land cruiser is the most used safari vehicle in Africa, It’s strong, it’s high up and spacious. Of course it looks good, too!
The car suits a maximum of 5 persons and has a pop-up roof for a perfect safari view!
4wd Extended Toyota Land cruiser
The extended Land cruiser is for some the ultimate safari vehicle in Africa. It’s 4wd, spacious, high up and strong. The extended land cruiser has even a cooler box on board and an open roof for an excellent safari view. The extended land cruiser is suitable for a maximum of 7 persons.