Detailed itinerary

Day 1

Destination: Lake Victoria shores

On arrival, you will be picked from the airport by our guide and taken to your booked accommodation at the shores of Lake Victoria; Africa’s largest lake for a rest as you chill in the cool lake breeze to overcome travel exhaustion as you prepare also to embark on a long awaited tour to Uganda’s game parks for a lot of exciting adventures.

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Day 2

Destination: mabamba swamp & botanical gardens

Early in the morning after breakfast, you will set out to the mabamba swamp which is also Ramsar site to see the endangered shoebill. This tour is carried out on boats that move from the Lake Victoria shoes into the narrow water stretches of the swamp; a tour lasting for 3 hours. This will come with an opportunity to watch many other swamp endemics and water birds. Later on you will head to the botanical gardens still along the shores of the lake. This 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. Later on in the afternoon, you will embark on a 4-hour journey to lake Mburo national park that will see you have a stop at the equator landmark on the Kampala-Masaka highway for study and take memorable photos.

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Day 3

Destination: lake Mburo NP

This day you will find you at lake Mburo national park commonly known for its high zebra population. The park offers a wide range of touring options from board rides, horseback riding safaris, walking safaris, game drives, biking/cycling safaris and community walks. The park has 70 mammals and 332 recorded bird species and is richly gifted with various acacia and papyrus endemics such as the papyrus gonelek, papyrus yellow warbler, white-winged warbler and shoebill; as the acacia species are wide spread elsewhere in the park. Mammals include burchell’s zebras, Nubian giraffes, hippos, leopards, buffaloes, topi, elands, antelopes, warthogs, bushbucks, stripped jackals, reedbucks, olive baboons, sitatungas, bush pigs, hyenas, impalas, crocodiles, reptiles among others. Later in the evening hours, you will head out to the shores of lake Bunyonyi.

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Day 4

Destination: lake Bunyonyi

On this day you will wake up to the sound of birds and a glance at the mist waters, hills and valleys at lake Bunyonyi. Some of the most amazing attributes of the lake are being the deepest crater lake in Africa, the 29 islands located in its waters which toured by use of a boat/canoe and safe waters with no crocodiles and hippos. The lake harbors over 200 bird species with the gray crowned crane being one of the most remarkable birds, breathtaking sceneries of the volcano mountains ad slopes of Muhavura will leave you stunned at this beautiful lake and its surrounding.

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Day 5

Destination: golden monkeys tracking & nature walks

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. this will be accompanied by nature walks on a given route in the forest of the park.

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Day 6

Destination: gorilla trekking, Batwa experience & Ishasha

Very early in the morning, 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. Later on 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. The vast grassland and its plains will keep you amazed at the wonderful wild game and set up along with beautiful scenes of the Rwenzori mountains.

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Day 7

Destination: Kazinga channel & boat cruise

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 8

Destination: Kibale NP and forest walk

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 9

Destination: Semuliki hot spring

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 10

Destination: Murchison game drives & top of the falls

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, baboons, reptiles, numerous bird species among others while heading out for Kampala.

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Day 11

Destination: game drives & 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 12-13

Destination: Kidepo valley NP and hiking

The national park is one of the most typical of an African wilderness so vast and untampered with having savannah grasslands that tend to dry when it’s hot and all green when rains set in. the park has the second highest number of bird species in Uganda recorded at 475 species in the park such ostriches, secretary bird, raptors and vultures, among others along with 83 mammal species such as elephants, zebras, buffaloes, rothschild’s giraffes, kobs, hartebeests, blue monkey, hyenas, leopards, cheetahs, lions, wild dogs, jackals among others. Expect to enjoy views of big buffalo and elephant herds. You will have a nature walk and hike on higher altitudes of the park to have a vast scene of the park and its wild game.

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Day 14

Destination: Karamojong manyattas enroute Sipi falls

On this you will set off on a 9-hour journey to the Sipi falls in eastern part of Uganda on the slopes of mountain Elgon. While enroute, you will make a stopover at the Karamojong community residences called Manyattas which are huts constructed of mud, cow dung and grass thatching as one main hut is surrounded by numerous huts of extended members of the family, fenced with thorny logs and sharing one compound. You will learn more about the culture of these pastoralists and warrior tribe before you embark on the journey to Sipi falls. On reaching Sipi falls you will get to your booked accommodation and rest for the next days’ activities.

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Day 15

Destination: Sipi falls, hiking and nature walks

on this day you will continue with the 3 different water falls (Sipi, Simba, Ngasire) that pour from cliffs as high as 95 meters and are separated by steep hillsides. The falls are found outside mountain Elgon national park. During the hike you get across numerous other unnamed water falls across the steep slopes, a number of bird species as you hike along, can engage in fly fishing, biking among others. Later on you will visit the surrounding community for an agro-tour more so of the special indigenous Arabica coffee and coffee tasting sessions.

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Day 16

Destination: mount Elgon NP

On this day you will start your journey from Sipi falls to mount Elgon national park while enjoying sights of the Elgon peaks, numerous water falls flowing from the mountain caldera, montane vegetation that cascades on the slopes of the mountain, volcanic plugs, basalt cliffs and many others volcanic features and rocks. You will then go through the park and its forests enjoying its wild game such as blue monkeys, black and white colobus monkeys, vervet monkeys, de brazza’s monkey, leopards, elephant and cape buffaloes. Later you will have a tour on cultural sites and know about the Bagisu/ Masaba people that are custodians of that place most interesting their cultural dance, tunes and embalu adulthood initiation ceremonies.

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Day 17

Destination: source of the Nile

This day after breakfast, you will embark on a 2:30-hour journey to Jinja (commonly known as the adventure capital of East Africa) where the source of the river Nile is located as it finds way out of Lake Victoria (Africa’s largest lake). This point has numerous water falls that have become common water sport points to tourists and adventurers from all corners of the world. Some of the falls include Owen falls, Bujagali falls, Ripon falls, Itanda falls, Busowoko falls among others. The clean and white waters of the River Nile at this point are the most entertaining of the river course throughout Africa offering the best bungee jumping point, water rafting, horse riding at the river banks, water surfing, swimming, canoeing, river boarding, quad biking around the river banks among others. The river banks also host numerous bird species that can be experienced on nature walks thus being some of the best birders’ destinations in the region. You will have a boat cruise to the source of the Nile at its mouth on Lake Victoria.

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Day 18

Destination: Kampala city tour

Early in the morning, you will embark on a 2-hour journey for a city tour around the hills of Kampala and its streets. This tour will get you to various historical administrative, economic and cultural sites and centers 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.

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Day 19

Destination: Ngamba island chimpanzee sanctuary

Early in the morning, you will embark on a journey by ferry or a boat to Ngamba island chimpanzee sanctuary also known as “chimp island” which has more than 50 individuals and located in Lake Victoria near Entebbe town. The island is covered with about 100 acres of forest which provide a natural environment and food for chimpanzees. The island attracts many primate researchers and institutions from around the world. The island was sanctioned to protect orphaned chimpanzees due to various human activities like poaching and encroachment into the wild places that may claim the lives of parents of these chimpanzees. The visit will come along with bird watching, reptiles like monitor lizards, forest walks and sport fishing activities.

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Day 20

Destination: Entebbe for departure

If this day finds at lodges at Ngamba island, you will set off from there back to Entebbe to prepare for your departure flight OR if you are at the Lake Victoria shores on the main land, you will chill and relax from the long trip while preparing to be dropped off to board your flight back home.

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