Detailed itinerary

Day 1

Destination: Kampala city

On your day of arrival, you will be picked up from Entebbe international airport to your booked hotel in Kampala for a brief resting time after which you will embark on a city tour around the hills of Kampala. This tour will get you to various historical administrative, economic and cultural sites and centres in the city have affected the development of Uganda as a country such as the Kasubi tombs where 3 ancient kings are buried, the Rubaga cathedral; headquarters of the Catholics’ faith, namirembe cathedral; headquarters of the protestant faith, Kaddafi mosque; headquarters of the Muslim faith, Baha’i temple of the Baha’i faith, fort Laggard the first administrator of Kampala city, the parliament building of Uganda among others. Food and commodity markets around Kampala are so interesting and have a great reflection of how the county’s population survives; these will get you have some taste on fresh fruits, vegetables grown in the country and street food delicacies like the rolex (an egg omelet rolled in chapatti). Later on in the evening, you will have a nightlife experience in the bars and lounges of Kampala city till resting time as you wait for the next day. This full day activity will entirely depend on your time of arrival.

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Day 2

Destination: Bwindi impenetrable national park

On the second day, you will embark on the 10-hour journey to Mgahinga or Bwindi impenetrable national park depending on the gorilla family you will be assigned to visit. Along the way you will get across many features that make the pearl of Africa one of the greatest and iconic destinations by default. You will have numerous stop overs even to have photographic moments at points like the Equator crossing landmark where you will have a stop for photos, art and craft shops, gorges and escarpments, rift valley floor and escarpments, crater lakes, interlocking volcanic and conical hills, forests and the vast savannah grasslands and the green vegetation. All these features will so much contribute to the numerous sightings of hundreds of bird species that enjoy the best climate anchored and influenced by most of these Ugandan features. Along the way you will also come across different economic activities, traditional and cultural settings as you move through areas of different tribal groupings and set ups. On arriving at the park you get your booked accommodation and relax and you could thereafter have a short evening nature walk before sleep to wait on the next day’s activity.

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Day 3

Destination: golden monkey tracking

Early in the morning after breakfast and a briefing, you will hike the volcanic mountains of the Mgahinga to a height of 2,500 meters above sea level in the bamboo forests of the montane region where these unique primates reside. These have orange-yellow like hair color that give them that distinguished golden look. When you reach their residence, you will be allowed to stay around them for one hour. These live in families of hundreds and have a very playful character, they will keep you so entertained. Looking at them critically, you will notice their facial appearance that the golden monkeys have a nose so different from that of many other primate species. along the hike, you will also observe other primates like the red tailed monkeys, white and black colobus monkeys, reptiles, Albertine rift endemics and many more bird species. In the afternoon, you will set out lake Bunyonyi the deepest crater lake in Africa and one of the most beautiful lakes on the planet harboring 29 islands that inhabitable and also a gorgeous birding haven.

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Day 4

Destination: gorilla trek, Batwa experience

Very early in the morning you will embark on a four-hour journey to Bwindi impenetrable forest in Uganda for a morning gorilla trekking. On arrival you will have a briefing on the gorilla behaviors, livelihoods and how to handle their reactions to the human presence. The trek into the tropical montane forests will last between 30 to 1 hour before meeting the gorilla family you are assigned to and you will be allowed to follow and spend an hour with that gorilla family. Getting to find the mountain gorillas on a trek in Uganda is a 99% chance backed up by the gorilla population in this region. After the trek, you will have an experience with the Batwa people who have for all their life time co-existed with the forest and its species. During this nature walk you will experience numerous bird species with particularly 23 albertine endemics that are habitats to only the albertine region.

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Day 4

Destination: golden monkey tracking

Early in the morning after breakfast and a briefing, you will hike the volcanic mountains of the Mgahinga to a height of 2,500 meters above sea level in the bamboo forests of the montane region where these unique primates reside. These have orange-yellow like hair color that give them that distinguished golden look. When you reach their residence, you will be allowed to stay around them for one hour. These live in families of hundreds and have a very playful character, they will keep you so entertained. Looking at them critically, you will notice their facial appearance that the golden monkeys have a nose so different from that of many other primate species. along the hike, you will also observe other primates like the red tailed monkeys, white and black colobus monkeys, reptiles, Albertine rift endemics and many more bird species. later in the evening, you will set out to the Ishasha sector of the Queen Elizabeth national park best known for its tree climbing lions and one of the only 2 destinations in Africa with lions have having this behavior. These along with many other wild game like; elephants, buffaloes, leopards, kobs, antelopes, wild dogs, hyenas, ostriches, waterbucks and glamour at some of the world’s most unique bird species as the park is the second best birding haven having more than 660 recorded bird species as their home.

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Day 5

Destination: Kazinga channel and game drives

Early in the morning after breakfast, you will head out to the Kazinga channel (a river connecting lakes Edward and George) for a morning boat cruise through queen Elizabeth national park. At this experience you will have a glance at the world’s largest concentration of hippos which are numbered above 5,000 at the Kazinga channel, Nile crocodiles, buffaloes, water birds and other land birds coming in to quench their thirst, elephants, lions and other land wild game like water bucks, giraffes, kobs, kudus among others also coming in onto the banks of the Kazinga channel to quench their thirst. After the boat cruise, you will embark on a game drive around this channel and beyond into the vast savannah grassland to enjoy more game viewing at more lion and elephant families, ostriches, cheetahs, leopards, raptors and vultures, reptiles, monkeys, wild dogs among other creatures, scenery views of the ice capped mountain Rwenzori and its slopes. On this day, you will also once again come across the equator landmark as it crosses through queen Elizabeth national game park.

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Day 6

Destination: chimpanzee tracking

On this day, you will head to Kibale national park known for chimpanzee tracking and for having the highest population & concentration of chimpanzees in world numbering above 1,500 individuals in the park. The afternoon tracking session starts at 14:00 and takes 2-5 hours with a more than 90% chance of meeting the chimpanzees; a forest walk that will come along with numerous sceneries of more than 370 bird species of grassland, forest, swamp and Albertine rift region endemics, 350 tree species and 71 mammal species. other primates in the park include the L’hoest monkeys, colobus monkeys, blue monkey, olive baboon, red tailed monkey, vervet monkeys. Mammal species include leopards, lions, elephants, water bucks, warthogs, giant forest hog, sitatungas, hippos, buffaloes, hyenas, jackals, and other nocturnal species. after the evening tracking you will head out of the park.

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Day 7

Destination: Semuliki hot springs

On this day you will head to one of the most gorgeous places in this East African region for its remarkable features and as a landmark position between East and Central Africa thus having vegetation and forests of characteristics of both regions. Semuliki national park has hot springs that were a result of geological actions dating thousands of years back; these produce water of over 100°C producing white mist and smoke in the forests. It’s a common for visitors to buy raw eggs and boil them at the hot water point. Locals in the area also believe that the hot springs are a blessing and of supernatural healing as this hot water comes up from the ground among different rock layers filled with various minerals such as sulphate, zinc among that heal fungal and many other skin diseases. The park is also an intersection of the east African grasslands and the central African tropical forests thus harboring numerous tree species of the west and central African forests and bird species. the park has 435 bird species, 11 primate species and 53 mammal species. some of these include Albertine Rift Endemics such as the dwarf honey guide and purple-breasted sunbirds; 35 Congo-Guinea biome species found nowhere else in East Africa, including black dwarf hornbill, Nkulengu rail, Congo serpent eagle, Gabon, woodpecker; and other species with very limited ranges such as white-tailed hornbill, capuchin babbler, blue-headed crested flycatcher and the orange weaver. Mammal and primate species include; chimpanzee, blue monkey, black and white colobus, red colobus, olive baboons, vervet monkey, de brazza’s monkey, Mangabeys, stripped jackal, leopards, elephants, hippos, cape buffaloes, Uganda kobs, sitatungas, warthogs, nile crocodiles.

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Day 8

Destination: Murchison game drive and boat cruise

This day, you will wake up very early in the morning and drive to Murchison falls national where you will set off with a game drive till afternoon when you reach your booked lodge for lunch break. The park has the strongest water falls in the world and the highest number of rothschild’s giraffes in the world, more than three- quarter of the total world population and numerous elephant and lion families, waterbucks, impalas, kobs, warthogs, hippos, buffaloes, crocodiles, leopards, hyenas, jackals among other mammals and more than 450 bird species recorded in the park. After lunch you will then head to the banks of the river Nile for a boat cruise towards the face of the Murchison falls. While on the boat cruise, you will have scene of various water birds like the shoebills, raptors, geese among others, hippos and a great number of huge nile crocodiles and many more mammals that approach the river banks to quench their thirst like buffaloes, elephants and the scenes are endless.

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Day 9

Destination: top of the falls and game drive

Today you will drive towards the Murchison falls and embark on a walking trek up to view the magnificent Murchison falls from above and watch the strongest falls on the planet, gashing 3,000 cubic litres of water per second through an eight-meter corridor cascading down a 43-meter height into the “the devil’s caldron” forming a white mist and a signature rainbow producing a loud sound from the powerful force of the water of the river Nile. Later on you head out to other sections of the park to continue exploring this vast grassland and its remarkable wild game.  You will be amazed with many elephant families and their playful young ones, lion families, rothschild’s giraffes, waterbucks, buffaloes, numerous bird species among others while heading out for Kampala.

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Day 10

Destination: botanical tour and departure

This day will find you at the shores of Lake Victoria in Entebbe and early in the morning after your breakfast you have a tour around Entebbe town and there after a walking tour at the cool 40.7 hectare botanical gardens along the shore of Lake Victoria. The gardens are also common for biking/ cycling safari, monkey feeding, birding safari and 500 plant species including both exotic and indigenous. These plants are categorized into indigenous and exotic fruits, medicinal, beverage, spices, ornamentals, timber, oils and important crop wild relatives, several of these threatened in the wild and agro-ecosystems. After this tour, you will head to the airport for departure.

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