Uganda And Rwanda Safari Itinerary: As Recommended By A Local

The Detailed Private Uganda And Rwanda Safari Itinerary Guide offers Primates tracking and Wildlife tours. Uganda and Rwanda are blessed with incredible primates including gorillas and chimpanzees as well as big game. This 14 Days Uganda and Rwanda Safari heads to all the main points and includes chimp tracking in Kibale, chimps in Kyambura Gorge, tree climbing lions in Ishasha, and 3 gorilla treks in Bwindi National Park, Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, and Volcanoes National Park.

Gorilla Safari Trek in Rwanda vs Uganda

Day 1: Entebbe

When you arrive in Entebbe, you will be greeted and transferred to your hotel for the night. There are a few things to see and do in and around Entebbe depending on your arrival time. You can cross Lake Victoria to Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary if you arrive early enough in the morning. 95 percent of Ngamba Island has been left natural, allowing the rescued chimps to spend their days in relative freedom. There is a modest visitor’s center where visitors can learn about the work done by Ngamba Island. Following the discussion, proceed to the viewing platforms to observe the chimps being fed.

Lake Victoria is one of the best spots in the world for birders to witness the prehistoric-looking shoebill. The Makanaga Swamps, which can be reached by boat or canoe from Entebbe, provide good possibilities to witness the gigantic birds that live among the reeds.

Days 2 and 3: Kibale Forest National Park

Kibale National Park, Uganda | Crater Safari Lodge

Your driver/guide will take you west from Entebbe to the Rwenzori Mountain Range and the Kibale Forest National Park. The travel takes about 5 ½ hours, so you should arrive around mid-afternoon. In the afternoon, check into the lodge and, if time permits, go for an afternoon walk through the forest to witness red colobus and black and white colobus monkeys in the forest canopy. Kibale’s woodlands are home to the greatest diversity of primates in Africa, including chimps.

After an early breakfast, you head to the park headquarters for your chimp tracking briefing before venturing into the jungle in search of the habituated chimps. Chimpanzees are quite mobile and may easily wander across the forest, so the walk could last all day. You’ll usually hear the chimps before you see them since they communicate with each other through vocalizations and tree beating. Once you’ve located the troop, you’ll get an hour with them while they go about their everyday business. Foraging, hunting, relaxing, and grooming are all examples of activities that fall within this category.

After an early breakfast, you head to the park headquarters for your chimp tracking briefing before venturing into the jungle in search of the habituated chimps. Chimpanzees are quite mobile and may easily wander across the forest, so the walk could last all day. You’ll usually hear the chimps before you see them since they communicate with each other through vocalizations and tree beating. Once you’ve located the troop, you’ll get an hour with them while they go about their everyday business. Foraging, hunting, relaxing, and grooming are all examples of activities that fall within this category.

You can participate in the chimp habituation program if you want a more immersive chimp experience. The habituation program necessitates a high degree of fitness because the experience lasts a half-day or a full day and demands keeping up with the chimps as they wander through the forest doing their daily tasks. The chimps tracked during the habituation program are less accustomed than the chimps tracked during ordinary chimp walks.

Days 4 and 5: Kyambura Gorge, Queen Elizabeth National Park

From Kibale Forest, travel south parallel to the Rwenzori Mountains towards Queen Elizabeth National Park. The Kibale Forest and Queen Elizabeth National Parks create an important wildlife corridor, allowing the game to freely migrate between the Queen Elizabeth National Park’s grasslands and the Kibale Forest National Park’s forests.

Your destination is Kyambura Gorge, a breathtaking gorge that passes through Queen Elizabeth’s grasslands. The humid weather creates an Eden in the gorge, with thick forests and tall trees, and clear streams flowing through. This afternoon, take a boat ride on the Kazinga Channel and look for elephants, buffalo, waterbuck, hippo, and crocodiles along the riverbank. This is a birder’s delight, with numerous aquatic birds taking advantage of the excellent fishing. Keep your eyes peeled for lions and leopards at the Queen Elizabeth National Park.

The following morning, you will have the opportunity to track the missing chimps of Kyambura Gorge. Around 20 chimps dwell in the Kyambura Gorge, separated from their relatives in Kibale by settlements and farmland. During the walk, you descend the gorge’s steep slopes into the forest below, where you begin to trace the troop. You’ll typically hear them before you see them because they communicate with each other using focal calls and tree banging. Once you’ve located the troop, you’ll have an hour to spend with them while they go about their regular routines.

Days 6 and 7: Ishasha Section, Queen Elizabeth National Park

TREE CLIMBING LIONS of Ishasha in Queen Elizabeth National Park

The Ishasha part of the Queen Elizabeth National Park is located near Kyambura Gorge and forms the southern section of the park. Leopard, buffalo, elephant, topi, and the famed tree-climbing lions live in this open grassland. Before going on a game drive, go to the camp and settle in. Spend the next day on a wildlife drive in search of the tree-climbing lions who like the area’s enormous fig trees.

Days 8 and 9: Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park

Your drive continues south to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, which is home to the endangered mountain gorilla. Depending on your arrival time, you can do an afternoon village tour of Buhoma village or one of the self-guided woodland treks.

After an early breakfast, you will proceed to the park headquarters for your gorilla tracking briefing the next morning. Groups are limited to a maximum of eight tourists, all of whom are accompanied by park rangers and trackers. Each group is assigned a gorilla family, and you will learn more about your family as well as the laws and restrictions at the briefing. Following the briefing, you will go to the Bwindi Forest in search of your gorilla family.

Bwindi is a mountainous park covered in the dense rainforest, so tracking can be difficult with steep muddy roads and dense foliage to navigate. The rangers are in continual communication with the trackers who set out early in the morning to locate the gorillas, so you and your company can head in the general direction of the family. Once you’ve discovered the family, you’ll have an hour to be with them while they go about their regular routines. This time limit is tightly followed in order to cause the least amount of disruption to the family.

Spending an hour with them is an extraordinary privilege that you will remember for the rest of your life.

Tracking can take anything from 30 minutes right up to a full day, depending on where your gorilla family is situated.

Days 10 and 11: Mgahinga National Park

For the more adventurous, we recommend a 4-hour hike through the Bwindi Forest to a pick-up point where the vehicle will pick you up and transport you the remaining 2 hours to your next lodge, Mt Gahinga Lodge, which is located in Uganda’s lesser-known gorilla area, Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. This lies on the slopes of extinct volcanoes near the Rwandan border.

You have the option of resting this afternoon or visiting the Gahinga Batwa Village to learn more about their customs and culture.

The next morning, you return to the park headquarters for your second chance to track gorillas. Following your briefing, you go out to find the family among the forest-clad volcanoes. Again, you just have one hour with the family to have the least amount of influence on their natural behavior. We typically find that on the second walk, you spend less time snapping photos and more time observing the gorillas, which has a greater impact on you and allows you to interact with the individuals more.

Days 12 and 13: Volcanoes National Park

Gorilla Trekking in Rwanda’s – Volcanoes National Park

Today you will travel from Uganda to Rwanda for your final gorilla adventure on your safari. The Volcanoes National Park is located on the opposite side of the volcanoes from Mgahinga National Park, which also connects to the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The three national parks and countries are home to half of the world’s Mountain Gorilla population. Diane Fossey spent her life living with and studying mountain gorillas on these slopes for many years.

Depending on when you arrive, you could either rest at the lodge or go for an afternoon walk.

The following morning, you meet at the park headquarters for your last gorilla tracking briefing before traveling to the slopes of the Virunga Volcanoes for the third time to track the gorillas. The vegetation atop the volcanoes is more open bamboo forests, which frequently makes for better photographs due to the increased light. The same thing happens in this country as it does in Uganda. Trackers set out early in the morning to find the family and radio through to your guide so you know where to go. Once you’ve located the family, you have one hour with them before returning to the resort.

Day 14: Kigali and Departure

This morning, after breakfast, you will continue your journey to Kigali in order to catch your flight home.

End of the 14 Days Uganda And Rwanda Safari

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