12 Days Uganda Wildlife Tour & Gorilla Safari

The 12 days Uganda wildlife tour & gorilla safari is one of Uganda’s top safaris taking you to the most spectacular national parks around Uganda. Take a choice of your safari accommodation and enjoy the best of your Uganda safari with a visit to Murchison Falls for a rhino trekking experience, game safari and a boat ride along the Nile.

You will also visit Kibale Forest National Park for chimpanzee trekking safari, and a visit to Queen Elizabeth for the most exciting wildlife safari in Uganda. Travel to Bwindi for gorilla trekking in Uganda and finally end with a visit to Lake Mburo National Park, an extension of the Tanzanian plains with big herds of zebras, impalas, elands, warthogs, buffaloes and other savannah species. For birders, this is one of the best places to find African Fin foot, Papyrus, and Bush Shrike among others.

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12 Days Uganda wildlife tour and gorilla safari, visit Uganda national parks

Program for the 12 Days Uganda wildlife tour

Day 1: Arrival Entebbe Airport-Kampala (Travel Time 1hr)

You’ll be personally met by our representative upon arrival at Entebbe airport. You will then be transferred to Serena Kampala Hotel (high-end) or Cassia Lodge (mid-range) or Forest Cottages in Kampala (budget end) for an overnight stay and dinner. Meal plan: dinner.

Day 2: Kampala – Murchison Falls National Park (Travel Time +5hrs)

Begin the panoramic drive north-west through the famous Luwero Triangle to Masindi, via Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary. A visit to the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary for Rhino trekking is a must. After lunch, you will drive to Murchison Falls National Park.

Overnight stay and dinner at Paraa Safari Lodge (luxury facility) or Murchison River Lodge (mid-range facility) or Red Chili Camp Site (budget facility). Meal Plan: breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Day 3: Murchison Falls National Park

Begin the day with an early morning cup of African coffee. After that, you will cross the Nile to the northern bank of the park. Along the way our guide will help you spot elephants, lions, cape buffaloes, Rothschild’s giraffes, hartebeests, waterbucks, oribis, bushbucks, and hyenas and if you are lucky, the leopard. You will then return to the hotel for breakfast and lunch.

After lunch, you will get on an afternoon boat safari upstream the calm Victoria Nile. This shall take you to the base of the falls stopping just tens of meters from the “Devil’s Cauldron”. En-route, marvel at the toothsome hippos, crocodiles, and elephants, waterbucks and Uganda Kob along this 17 km stretch.

This is also a zone of many bird species, including the goliath heron, Egyptian goose, pelican bee-eaters, kingfisher, hornbill, cormorants and the rare shoebill stork.

There you leave the boat and start your – quite heavy – hike to the top of the Murchison Falls, in approximately 1 hour. You will see where the world’s longest river explodes violently through a narrow cleft in the Rift Valley escarpment, to plunge into a frothing pool 43m below. Your driver or guide will be waiting for you to bring you back to the lodge.

Overnight stay and dinner at Paraa Safari Lodge (luxury facility) or Murchison River Lodge (mid-range facility) or Red Chili Camp Site (budget facility). Meal Plan: breakfast, lunch and dinner.

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Day 4: Murchison Falls – Kibale (Travel Time +8hrs)

Take a full day drive south, from Murchison falls via Hoima to Fort Portal, through the verdant countryside. You will pass by traditional homesteads and farms along Albertine Rift escarpments. Fort-Portal rests in the shadow of the fabled ‘Mountains of the Moon‘.

Dinner and overnight stay at Kyaninga Lodge (luxury facility) or Primate Lodge/Forest Cottages (mid-range facility) or Chimpanzee Guest House (budget facility). Get a stunning location overlooking a dramatic crater lake and the fabled Rwenzori mountain ranges. Meal plan: breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Day 5: Kibale Chimpanzee Trekking & Bigodi Walk

After early breakfast, report at Kanyanchu Tourist Centre where tourist activities begin and set out to track chimpanzee in the forest. Kibale National Park is one of the beautiful and stunning forests in the Uganda. It is one of the major homes to our closest living relatives the endangered chimpanzees, so chances of viewing the chimps are over 90%.

The forest is also home to the threatened Red colobus monkey and the rare L’Hoest’s monkey. It also boasts of having one of the highest diversity and density of primates in Africa, totaling up to 13 species. These include the black and white colobus, blue, and red-tailed monkeys; grey-cheeked mangabeys, Bush babies and Pottos, among others.

After lunch visit Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary from where you will take on a guided walk around the swamp. Here, you get a rare opportunity to see a wide range of flora and fauna, view a variety of butterflies, bird species and other insects.

Get a tour of the Ndali crater lakes region, where you may also make a stop over at any of tea plantations along the road if you wish. Have an evening tour of the crater region, and a visit to the ‘top of the world’, the natural bridge. On a clear day you will be able to have a view of the snow cap on the Rwenzori.

Dinner and overnight stay at Kyaninga Lodge (luxury facility) or Primate Lodge/Forest Cottages (mid-range facility) or Chimpanzee Guest House (budget facility). Meal plan: breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Day 6: Kibale – Queen Elizabeth NP (Travel Time +2hrs)

After breakfast, you will drive to Queen Elizabeth National Park viewing the mystical Rwenzori mountain ranges for much of the journey. Check in at your accommodation facility as you wait for your lunch.

After your lunch, you will take on an afternoon launch cruise along Kazinga channel – one that joins Lakes Edward and George. This boat cruise is a wonderful way to see hippos, buffaloes, kobs, the occasional Nile crocodiles, and spectacular bird watching on the water bank. Many who have experienced this launch cruise consider it as the highlight of their entire African safari.

Dinner and overnight stay at Mazike Safari Lodge/Jacana Safari Lodge (luxury facility) or Enganzi Lodge (mid-range) or Wild Track Safari Lodge (budget facility). Meal plan: breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Day 7: Queen Elizabeth National Park

Rise very early with your packed lunch and take on a morning game drive to catch-up with the early risers and predators returning to their hideouts. You will most likely meet grazing hippos, elephants, lions, spotted hyenas, bushbucks, waterbucks, stripped jackal, comical warthogs and the elusive leopards.

You will proceed for guided chimpanzee or primates walk along Kyambura Gorge, looking for habituated chimps through the gorge.

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Day 8: Queen Elizabeth NP – Bwindi (Travel Time +4hrs)

With previous day’s memories, visit Maramagambo forest, where many surprises await you. The most profound being pythons which are often observed in the crevices of the bat cave floor using bats as a source of food. The cave is near a picturesque formerly Blue lake and hunters’ cave. You may also see forest birds such as bat hawks, brown eared woodpecker and other primates.

After the walk, you will proceed to the southern Ishasha section of Queen Elizabeth National Park. Drive along the deep and wide dry craters that are occupied by savanna grasses and acacia. The drive takes you through the unique western rift valley escarpment and the Ishasha sector, where you will have a brief game drive in search of tree-climbing lions, before proceeding to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

The journey takes about 4 hours but driving through interesting features, before arriving to Bwindi in the evening. This park is home of the rare mountain gorillas, but apart from gorillas, there are a wide variety of primates to see, including the blue and red-tailed monkeys. The forest itself is lush and green with streams running through it.

Dinner and overnight stay at either Buhoma Lodge/Mahogany Springs/Gorilla Safari Lodge (high-end facility) or Sliverback Lodge/Chameleon Hill Lodge (mid-range) or Buhoma Community Bandas/Wagtail Eco Camp (budget facility). Meal plan: breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Day 9: Bwindi Gorilla Tracking

After breakfast set off early with guides to track the mountain gorillas. The thrill of your encounter will erase the difficulties of the potentially strenuous trek, so you should bring your jungle boots and rain jackets because the park is often wet.

Spend time in awe watching the gorillas go about their activities. Each gorilla safari encounter is different with its own rewards, but you are likely to enjoy the close view of adults feeding, grooming and resting as the youngsters frolic and swing from vines in a delightfully playful display.

Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is a magnificent green swathe of dense rainforest, so ancient that it survived the last ice age. The park is a recently proclaimed UNESCO World Heritage site, because of being the most biologically diverse areas on earth. This is in addition to its unique and precious flora that sustains roughly half of the world population of mountain gorillas. There’s also a substantial population of chimpanzees and other primates. Research shows that Bwindi is the only forest in Africa in which these two apes live together.

Time permitting, spend the afternoon on a community walking safari to explore the lifestyle of the people living and surrounding the park. You will then return to the lodge exhilarated, to relieve the encounter with friends over a drink.

Day 10: Bwindi – Lake Mburo NP (Travel time +4hrs)

After your early morning breakfast, you will drive to Lake Mburo National Park via Igongo Cultural Village, to explore and learn about the Bahima and Ankole culture. This is the place where the future meets the past. Proceed to the park with an en-route game drive as you go to check in at your lodge. Don’t miss an afternoon boat ride on Lake Mburo amidst hippos is much rewarding and amazing.

Dinner and overnight stay at Mihingo Safari Lodge (high-end) or Lake Mburo Safari Lodge (mid-range) or Eagles Nest Lodge (budget facility). Meal plan: breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Day 11: Lake Mburo National Park

Enjoy a morning game drive through the park, which is an extension of the Tanzanian plains with big herds of zebras, impalas, elands, warthogs, buffaloes and other savannah species. For birders, this is one of the best places to find the African Fin foot, Papyrus, Bush Shrike, etc. The evening is spent on a bush walk for wildlife viewing.

Dinner and overnight stay at Mihingo Safari Lodge (high-end) or Lake Mburo Safari Lodge (mid-range) or Eagles Nest Lodge (budget facility). Meal plan: breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Day 12: Lake Mburo – Entebbe Departure (Travel time +4.5hrs)

After early breakfast, the morning is dedicated for sightseeing and relaxation. Thereafter you will drive back to Entebbe at your convenience with a stopover at the Equator crossing line and lunch en-route, before driving back to Entebbe. Meal plan: breakfast and lunch.

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