Uganda Discovery Safari - 15 days

Today you will arrive at Entebbe airport and you will be welcomed by your designated safari guide. Depending on your time of arrival, you may have an optional city tour of Entebbe town.

Entebbe was the colonialists’ administrative center and has many buildings that date over half a century ago.

The name Entebbe means “the chair” in Luganda, which is the local language of the area. You may also choose to visit Entebbe botanical gardens or the Uganda Wildlife Education center (Entebbe Zoo).

Today you will start the long drive from Entebbe heading north to Kidepo Valley National Park. Gazetted as a National Park in 1962, it has a profusion of big game and hosts over 77 mammal species as well as around 475 bird species.

Kidepo is Uganda’s most isolated national park, but the few who make the long journey north through the wild frontier region of Karamoja would agree that it is also the most magnificent.

Kidepo ranks among Africa’s finest wildernesses with a picturesque savannah landscape extending far beyond the gazetted area, towards horizons outlined by distant mountain ranges. You will arrive at your accommodation late in the evening.

After breakfast, you will embark on an extensive all-day Game drive in Kidepo valley national park. You will carry a packed lunch and with the company of a ranger guide, start your search for the animals and birds of Kidepo.

The park ranger will help you spot the lions that may be sitting on the valley’s various rocks. Other wildlife includes elephants, leopards, bush duiker, jackals, bushbucks, bush pigs, ostrich, buffalo, and much more, in the wild Narus Valley.

The game drive will traverse open plains that extend past Kanangorok Hot Springs towards mountains across the Sudanese border. This is the part of the park where ostriches are most commonly seen. At the hot springs, you will take a brief walk to observe and photograph.

Kidepo Valley National Park offers a range of nature walks depending on your strength or preference. Shorter guided walks of around two hours can be taken through the Narus Valley extending over a 5km radius from Apoka Tourism Centre.

The walk to Lomej Mountains can last four hours, the hike starts at 7 am. Guests can also wander along the splendid Kidepo river valley between banks of attractive Borassus palm forest.

Namamkweny Valley can be reached in one hour from Apoka.

In the afternoon you will take a visit to a willing community of Karimojong. Discover the unique culture of this remote tribe with the Lorukul Cultural Group, located just outside Kidepo Valley National Park.

Their main livelihood is herding livestock, and the social and cultural importance will be explained as you walk with the guides to the traditional Karamojong manyattas (homesteads), granaries and cattle enclosures. Learn how the villagers make their distinctive beads, sample the local cuisine, and even learn the tribe’s folklore and beliefs.

This morning you will leave Kidepo and head south for Murchison Falls National Park.

The park is the largest wildlife reserve in Uganda and is divided by the famous River Nile into two almost equal halves - where it has to squeeze itself through the legendary Murchison Falls, an impossibly narrow 7-meter gap in a cleft rock that creates the powerful explosion of white water. You will have a game drive in the evening as you drive to your accommodation.

After an early breakfast, You will proceed for a Game drive in the park where elephants, Cape buffalo, Rothschild’s giraffe, Uganda kob, hartebeest, and waterbuck are commonly seen. You may also spot oribi, bushbuck, Bohor reedbuck, bush duiker, warthog, and bush pig.

Large carnivores in Murchison Falls National Park include lions, leopards, and spotted hyenas. After lunch, go for a boat cruise upstream of the calm Victoria Nile.

On the boat ride, marvel at the toothsome hippos, and crocodiles, and over this 17 km stretch, you may see elephants, waterbuck, and Uganda Kob.

This is also a zone of many bird species like Goliath heron, Egyptian goose, pelican bee-eater, kingfisher, hornbill, cormorant, and the rare shoebill stork. The boat will stop just a few meters from the sinister, frothing, and bubbling base of the falls.

Today, you will have an all-day drive south via Hoima to Fort Portal through verdant countryside and past traditional homesteads and farms.

Fort-Portal rests in the shadow of the fabled Mountains of the Moon. Enjoy spectacular views of the mountains and tea fields along the way. You can make brief stops to visit with some tea fields if you want to.

After breakfast, you will embark on the search for chimpanzees in Kibale National Park. The park is also home for 10 other primates including L’hoestes, red colobus, blues, red-tailed monkeys, and gray-cheeked mangabey.

The tour guide will provide detailed explanations, not only on primates but on all the forest fauna and flora and will ensure that your walk is both informative and enjoyable.

In the afternoon you will enjoy a biking adventure through the crater region. This area has over 30 crater lakes. You will visit some of them and enjoy wonderful photography opportunities.

In the morning, you will proceed to Queen Elizabeth National Park following the mystical Rwenzori Mountain range for much of the journey.

Along the way, you will pass via the crater region. Enjoy scenic views and picture stops along the way.

You will arrive in time to take an evening game drive before heading to your accommodation inside the park.

Early in the morning, you will set out for a game drive in the park. Queen Elizabeth National Park’s diverse eco-system of grassy plains, tropical forest, rivers, swamps, lakes and volcanic craters makes it home to an incredible abundance of wildlife.

Game drives in this park, with the massive Rwenzori Mountains as a backdrop, provide excellent opportunities to see lions, leopards, giant forest hogs, Cape buffalo, elephants, defassa waterbuck, and Uganda Kob, Topi, and bushbuck.

In the afternoon you will enjoy the unique 2-hour boat cruise on the Kazinga Channel and into Lake Edward. This trip passes through possibly the highest concentration of hippos and many animals may be seen drinking at the water’s edge.

This launch cruise offers an excellent platform for photography, bird watching, and game viewing.

Early in the morning, you will set out for the Ishasha sector in the southern part of Queen Elizabeth National Park. Ishasha is most famous as the place where tree-climbing lions can be spotted.

Here you will have an extended game drive led by a ranger guide as you search for the tree-climbing lions.

After breakfast, you will drive to the “Switzerland of Africa” area known as the Kigezi Highlands with its terraced hillside and winding roads.

Along the way, you will enjoy spectacular views of the mountainous countryside and this comes with many incredible photography opportunities. You will proceed to your accommodation located on the boundary of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

Today is your day to meet the mountain gorillas - our evolutionary cousins in the forest. Gorilla trekking starts with a briefing by the UWA (Uganda Wildlife Authority) officials to give you a grounding about gorillas, the forests they live in, the conservation as well as the rules and guidelines you must follow on your trek.

You will then be led by experienced rangers who know the forest and your search for the gorillas will start. The hike is quite taxing, but once you spot the gorillas all that goes out of your mind. 

As a group, you will spend 1 hour with the gorillas, watching them go about their day with the silverback leading the family, the females taking care of the young ones as well as the young gorillas playing around with each other.

After your time with the gorillas, you will leave the forest taking with you memories that will last a lifetime. We'll then go back to the lodge for some relaxation- to let it all sink in.

The rest of the evening can be spent at leisure at the lodge, or you can go for a walk around the neighbourhood.

After an early breakfast, you will leave Bwindi and drive to Lake Mburo National Park via Kabale Town. You will be welcomed into the park by various herds of zebra, buffalo, Eland, and antelope as they graze in the savannah grass. 

On your evening game drive, you will see more wild animals, and birds as you drive along the lake. Birdwatchers will enjoy some of the 250 species of birds found in Lake Mburo including Papyrus Gonolek, Brown-faced Lapwing, Carruther’s Cisticola, and White-winged Warbler.

Early in the morning, you will proceed for a morning nature walk under the escort of an armed ranger. This will allow you to enjoy the sights of animals including close encounters with herds of Zebra and antelopes.

You will return to the lodge for breakfast after which, you will depart for Entebbe where you will take your next flight back home. Along the way to Kampala, you will have enough time to stop over at the equator for fun equator photos.