Uganda Wildlife Highlights

Your Journey, Day by Day

1. 1Day 1 of 10

   Entebbe to Murchison via Ziwa

   North out of Entebbe, 4-5 hours via Masindi, breaking the drive at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary. Uganda’s wild rhino were shot out by the early 1980s; every animal at Ziwa descends from a small founder group of southern white rhino brought in from 2005, and the sanctuary is where any future reintroduction to the parks will come from. You track them on foot with a ranger (an hour that sets the tone for the nine days ahead), then continue into Murchison Falls, Uganda’s largest park, arriving at Paraa by evening.

   On-foot rhino tracking at ZiwaUganda’s only wild rhinoInto Murchison by evening
   Meals:Lunch, Dinner

   Overnight:Murchison (Paraa) lodge
2. 2Day 2 of 10

   Buligi Game Drive & Nile Launch

   A dawn crossing by ferry to the northern bank and the Buligi circuit, the wedge of grassland between the Victoria and Albert Niles: elephant, buffalo, Jackson’s hartebeest, oribi, kob, lion, and the Rothschild’s giraffe that Murchison holds in greater numbers than anywhere on earth. In the afternoon the three-hour launch runs upriver past hippo pods and basking crocodiles to the foot of the falls, then drops you at the bottom of the trail so you can climb the last stretch on foot: 43 metres of the entire Nile squeezing through a seven-metre gap in the rock, close enough to soak you.

   Buligi-circuit game driveRothschild’s giraffe strongholdNile launch to the fallsClimb to the Top of the Falls
   Meals:Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

   Overnight:Murchison (Paraa) lodge
3. 3Day 3 of 10

   Murchison to Kibale

   A long transfer south, 5-6 hours, but the most scenic driving day of the trip: the road runs along the Albertine Rift escarpment with Lake Albert and the hills of the DRC away to the west, then climbs through Kyenjojo into tea country. You arrive at the edge of Kibale Forest in the late afternoon, with the Rwenzori range to the south-west and the crater lakes below you.

   Albertine Rift escarpmentLake Albert & DRC viewsFort Portal tea estates
   Meals:Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

   Overnight:Kibale area lodge
4. 4Day 4 of 10

   Chimp Tracking at Kanyanchu & Bigodi

   Morning chimpanzee tracking from Kanyanchu, in a forest carrying thirteen primate species, the densest such community in East Africa. The trackers work by call rather than by trail, and the permitted hour with the group begins once they settle to feed or rest. The afternoon is the Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary next door, run by the community through KAFRED: boardwalks through papyrus and swamp forest, eight primate species, great blue turaco, and one of the best short bird walks in the country.

   Chimp tracking at KanyanchuThirteen primate speciesBigodi wetland boardwalksCommunity-run guiding
   Meals:Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

   Overnight:Kibale area lodge
5. 5Day 5 of 10

   Kibale to Queen Elizabeth & Kazinga Cruise

   A short two-hour run south through the crater-lake country and down onto the savannah floor of Queen Elizabeth. The afternoon is given to the Kazinga Channel launch, two hours along the strait that links Lake George to Lake Edward, past some of the highest hippo densities in Africa, elephants at the water’s edge, and a shoreline continuously worked by pelicans, skimmers, storks and kingfishers.

   Crater-lakes driveKazinga Channel cruiseHippo & elephant at close range
   Meals:Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

   Overnight:Queen Elizabeth (Mweya / Kasenyi) lodge
6. 6Day 6 of 10

   Kasenyi Game Drive & Crater Drive

   First light on the Kasenyi plains, where the kob hold their traditional breeding grounds and the lions know it, the most dependable predator viewing in the park, and the reason guides come here before the heat builds. Optional ranger-led lion tracking puts you with the research team and a collared pride. The afternoon takes the Katwe-Kikorongo crater road above the plain, finishing at Lake Katwe, where salt has been cut from the pans by hand for centuries and the work goes on today much as it always has.

   Dawn Kasenyi game driveKob breeding grounds & lionsOptional lion trackingKatwe salt pans
   Meals:Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

   Overnight:Queen Elizabeth (Mweya / Kasenyi) lodge
7. 7Day 7 of 10

   Ishasha to Bwindi

   A morning working the fig trees of the Ishasha sector, in the far south of the park, for the lions that lie out along the branches, a learned local behaviour rather than a species trait, and one of only a couple of places in Africa worth looking for it. Then the road turns uphill for 3-4 hours into the Kigezi highlands and the terraced slopes above Bwindi, arriving at Rushaga for the evening trek briefing. Of the forest’s four sectors, Rushaga holds the most habituated families and the widest permit availability.

   Tree-climbing lions of IshashaClimb into the Kigezi highlandsArrival at RushagaEvening trek briefing
   Meals:Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

   Overnight:Bwindi (Rushaga) lodge
8. 8Day 8 of 10

   Gorilla Trekking, Rushaga Sector

   The day the trip has been building towards. Ranger briefing and porters at the trailhead, then in behind the trackers, through nettles and vines and mud on ground that rarely levels out. The walk in can take half an hour or the better part of a day; it depends entirely on where the family fed the night before. Eight trekkers per group, seven metres of distance, and one permitted hour that begins the moment the gorillas are in front of you. Tracking certificates on the way out, and an optional Batwa Forest Experience in the afternoon for those with anything left.

   Trailhead briefing & portersOne hour with the gorillasTracking certificateOptional Batwa Forest Experience
   Meals:Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

   Overnight:Bwindi (Rushaga) lodge
9. 9Day 9 of 10

   Bwindi to Lake Mburo

   North-east out of the highlands through Kabale and Mbarara, 5-6 hours to Lake Mburo, a deliberately gentle park to end on. An afternoon game drive or boat cruise brings zebra, topi, eland and hippo, plus impala, which occur in no other Ugandan park, and the Rothschild’s giraffe reintroduced here from Murchison in 2015 and thriving since.

   Transfer to Lake MburoAfternoon game drive or boatImpala, eland & reintroduced giraffe
   Meals:Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

   Overnight:Lake Mburo lodge
10. 10Day 10 of 10

    Lake Mburo to Entebbe

    A last morning on foot with an armed ranger (Mburo is one of the few parks in Uganda where walking is permitted, there being no elephant here and few lions) or a boat cruise for hippo, fish eagles and a chance at the African finfoot. Then the drive back through Masaka, crossing the Equator at Kayabwe for a final stop, and on to Kampala or Entebbe for evening flights.

    Walking safari or boat cruiseAfrican finfootEquator stop at KayabweAirport drop-off
    Meals:Breakfast, Lunch

    Overnight:Departure

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