Mountain Gorillas & Wildlife Tour

HIGHLIGHTS

Starts/Ends: Entebbe, Uganda

Country Visited: Uganda

Main Destinations: Bwindi Forest & Queen Elizabeth National Parks

Main Activities:  Scenic Viewing, Game Viewing, Boat Ride, Gorilla Tracking

Strength Demand: Highly Demanding

5 Day Uganda Mountain Gorillas & Wildlife Tour

Route:  Kampala – Bwindi – Queen – Entebbe

The 5 Day Uganda Mountain Gorillas & Wildlife Tour is an exciting experience. This Uganda safari route is planned to get you close with the magnificent mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Wildlife game action in Queen Elizabeth National Park, and a walk with primates in Budongo forest.

Safari Highlights

• The awesome and exciting experience of spending time with the Gorillas and watching at close range as they feed, play and relax.
• Enjoying the scenic allure of stunning hills and lush vegetation inhabited by the elusive primates and pygmies.
• An encounter with the Batwa (former forest dwellers) for a demonstration of their former hunting and trapping techniques, and how to make ointments from native plants to cure all manner of ailments.
• A visit to a Batwa home to see the traditional huts used for grinding millet, cooking over an open fire and distilling local potent gin (Waragi).
• Enjoying game drives in Queen Elizabeth National Park and a boat cruise on the Kazinga Channel.
• An opportunity to stand in two hemispheres at the Equatorfor memorable photos.

Day 1: Travel to Bwindi

From your Hotel, you will after breakfast set off the Uganda Mountain Gorillas & Wildlife Tour for an 8-9 hour drive to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park in the south western part of the country. You will have a stopover at the Equator where you will have an opportunity to stand in 2 hemispheres at the same time and take some photos. You will make another stopover at Igongo Ankole cultural centre to learn about the Ankole culture how it has evolved and proceed to Mbarara for lunch before continuing with your journey to Bwindi through one of the lushest highlands on the continent filled with primates, birds, breathtaking scenery and swamps. You will arrive at the lodge of your booking in the evening.

Accommodation options:
Up-market: Buhoma Lodge / Mahogany Lodge /Rushaga Gorillas Safari
Midrange: Silverback Lodge / Nkuringo Gorilla Lodge / Gorilla Mist Camp / Gorilla Safari Lodge / Lake Kitandara Camp /Lake Mutanda Resort / Chameleon Hill Lodge
Lodge
Budget:Travellers Rest Hotel Kisoro
Meal Plan: Lunch on the way and Dinner at the lodge of your booking.

Day 2: Gorilla tracking  Uganda in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest

You will have an early breakfast and be driven to the Park Headquarters for a briefing at 7:30am about the rules of Gorilla tracking Uganda. After the briefing, you will set off for the Gorilla trek in the thick jungle. The jungle is very lively with rich forest sounds. The trek ranges between 2 – 8 hours and you have one hour to stay with the Gorillas once sited. In the afternoon you have a foot birding safari around the lodge or go for a community walk among the Batwa people who used to live in the Bwindi forest before it was gazetted as a National Park and learn about their life and culture as a forest people.

Accommodation options: As above
Meal Plan: Full Board

Day 3: Travel to Queen Elizabeth National park

You will have an early breakfast and head to Ishasha, which is the southern sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park for a game drive. Ishasha is dominated by acacia woodland and scrubland and features the meandering Ishasha River, banked by a riparian forest. This part of the park is renowned for the tree-climbing lions that, if you are lucky, will be sighted resting up in the tree branches. You will have picnic lunch and transfer to the northern sector of the park to the lodge of your booking.

Accommodation options:
Up-market: Mweya Safari Lodge / Katara Lodge / Jacana Lodge
Midrange: Simba Safari Camp in rooms / Buffalo Safari Resor t/ Enganzi Lodge / Ihamba Safari Lodge
Budget: Kazinga Channel View Lodge / Simba Safari Camp in tents / Bush Lodge in tents
Meal Plan: Dinner only

Day 4: Boat launch & Game drive in Queen Elizabeth

Wake up early on the fourth day of the gorilla tracking & wildlife safari with a packed breakfast and have an early morning wildlife game drive during which you will see Lions, various Antelope species, Elephants, Hyenas, Leopards and Buffaloes. You will then return to the lodge for lunch.

After lunch you will take a 2-hour launch cruise on the Kazinga channel which connects Lakes George and Edward. This waterway joins Lakes Edward and George and it is filled with schools of hippos, buffaloes with elephants at the banks. This launch cruise rewards you with a great opportunity to take photos, watch birds and see the water animals.

This launch cruise offers an excellent platform for photography, bird watching and wildlife game viewing. The prolific bird life is colorful and stupendous with well over 550 resident species. You will later in the afternoon go for a two hour boat cruise down the Kazinga Channel that connects. The cruise takes you through the highest population of Hippos and you will see a profusion of animals drinking on the water shores.

Accommodation options: As above
Meal Plan: Full Board

Day 5: Primate walk in the Kyambura Gorge and transfer to Kampala

You will have an early breakfast and drive to Kyambura Gorge for a guided primate walk to see the habituated chimps, rare birds and beautiful scenery. You will after the walk set off for Kampala using Kasese-Fort Portal road.

Meal Plan: Breakfast and lunch.

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