16 days best of Uganda tour and safari

Meet and greet at Entebbe International Airport. The guide will warmly welcome you and help you with arrival formalities.  After a short transfer to your hotel you will be briefed about you safari. To get to know Kampala, you can visit some of the landmarks in town with the help of your driver/guide. 

Get up to an early breakfast before the guest house shuttle transfers you to Entebbe airport at 06.45 for check in. The flight will depart at 07.45 and arriving at Kisoro airstrip at 08.50. The lodge vehicle will be waiting to transfer you to the lodge (1hr 30minutes drive). At the lodge, check - in. Take a relaxing walk around the lodge after lunch; visit the Batwa /Pygmy community to see how they live.

Early morning entry into the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. The rainforest is spectacular, offering a dramatic, steeply forested landscape and is incredibly dense, but crisscrossed by numerous animal¹s trails allowing access to tourists.  Mammals recorded include the endangered mountain gorilla, rare golden monkey, buffalo, elephant, black-fronted duiker, bushbuck, leopard, giant forest hog and others.  This park is best known for the fascinating gorillas.

There is always a ranger guide to interpret the fauna and the flora. The gorilla is a shy and peaceful animal and it is an unforgettable experience to watch and photograph them as they interact. Those who are not going gorilla trekking will have a community walk to observe traditional daily life. In the afternoon, relax at the lodge. Dinner and overnight at the lodge. 

After an early morning breakfast,you will take a guided walk in the rainforest, home to several endemic bird species, clouds of butterflies and rare plant life. This walk offers excellent photographic opportunities and the  guide will provide a great insight into this globally important habitat. Walk through the local village, and learn about community life and Bwindi Community Hospital that started as a health clinic under a tree and now provides vital medical and educational services to over 60,000 people.

Also take a tour of the local tea processing operation at the lodge which enables guests to see the various different methods for tea growing and at the end of the tour taste some of the tea! The Volcanoes Safaris Partnership Trust supports both projects. After lunch, discover the traditions of the Batwa Pygmies, and learn about the native tribal inhabitants of the forest. The indigenous people of Bwindi forest, though no longer resident in the forest, still practice many of their traditional hunter-gatherer skills. Dinner and overnight.

After your morning breakfast,you will check out of the lodge and be transferred to Kibale national park for the most unforgottable experience you will ever have during this holiday. Kibale forest has these delightful apes, more closely related to humans than to any other living creature. These apes are tremendous fun to watch as they squabble and play in fruiting trees. After lunch go for a Bigodi swamp walk where you may see a variety of bird species and other smaller mammals. 

After breakfast we visit Kibale Forest National Park in detail with Chimpanzee trekking. The most famous of the 13 species of apes present in Uganda is the Chimpanzee, our closest relative. Kibale's 1450 Chimpanzee represent Uganda’s largest population of this endangered primate. Kibale is also a home to the rare I’Hoest’s monkey.

Other primates include the black and white Colobus, Blue monkey, Grey cheeked mangabey, Red tailed monkey, Olive baboon to mention but a few. So you will enjoy a guided nature walk in the tropical rainforest in search of the wild chimpanzees, red-tailed monkeys, black and white colobus monkeys and many others. After lunch you will explore the Crater Lake region, which has many crater lakes. Dinner and overnight.

After breakfast ,you will go for a morning game drive at the reserve searching for different early morning cats and antelopes, this is a breathtaking experience that rewards birders and nature lovers. The drive will take you up to the river Semuliki, the only one of its type in East Africa.

After lunch, proceed to Sempaya hot springs, also getting a chance to visit the integrated Ntandi pygmy village to see the lifestyles of the bushmen. You can also participate in a dance with these early inhabitants of the forest, return for dinner and overnight.

Depart early after breakfast for the hot springs and crown the day in the pygmy villages located near the Ituri Rainforest. The visit to the villages will be an interesting cultural experience. The guide will have lunch arranged for you to be served as a picnic while you experience the "real Africa".  Dinner and overnight at your lodge. Full board. 

Breakfast at the lodge. At 8 am you'll proceed to Queen Elizabeth National Park following the scenic Rwenzori Mountain Range. As you go through the park, you have the chance to take part in a game drive to spot and admire some animals like elephants, buffaloes, bushbucks, and Uganda kob, antelopes, warthogs, and many other.

In the afternoon enjoy an amazing 2-hours boat cruise on the Kazinga Channel. It is a 42 kms channel that connects Lake Edward and Lake George. During this experience, you'll have the possibility to observe the highest concentration of hippos. Moreover, this journey offers an excellent platform for photography, bird watching and game viewing. The prolific bird life counts more than 550 resident species and shows colourful and marvellous examples.

Queen Elizabeth National Park¹s diverse eco-system of grassy plains, tropical forest, rivers, swamps, lakes and volcanic craters is home to an incredible abundance of wildlife.  Have an early morning game drive where you have an opportunity to view the massive Rwenzori as backdrop, which provides excellent opportunities to see lion, leopard, giant forest hog, Cape buffalo, elephant, defassa waterbuck, Uganda Kob, topi and bushbuck. These two game drives and the boat trip (taken prior) are memorable methods of discovering a vast array of Ugandan wildlife. 

After stretching your legs,you will visit the bat cave and hunters cave where you'll take a close look at the bats, rock python and forest cobras. The same walk will provide a chance of seeing birds, primates, tree species etc. 

After an early morning breakfast, you will head out for a couple of hours’ trek. Right in the center of Bwindi impenetrable park under their umbrella foundation called the Batwa Development Program, the Batwa pygmies have started a fascinating experience called "The Batwa Experience". They will take you through their traditional way of life. Return to your lodge for a late lunch and transfer to lake Bunyonyi in Kibale for dinner and overnight.

After breakfast, visit the distinctive Batwa and Abaheesi (black smiths) societies or go to the Bukora Cave. Have lunch at the resort and use the afternoon or evening for a boat ride, canoing or go for a cycling tour of the area, going to Orugano Rain Forest which has diverse plants and animals and some community tourism through interaction with the Batwa (pygmies) who inhabit parts of the forest and its surrounding areas. Dinner and overnight.

Early in the morning embark on a 3 hours’ drive to Lake Mburo National Park. You will have an evening game drive or a safari walk under the escort of an armed ranger. The Kopjes are particularly interesting and camouflage kilspringers and topis. Due to cattle herding in the area it is amusing to see zebra grazing alongside the long horned Ankole cattle peaceably. You will return to your lodge for lunch and in the afternoon go for either horse riding around the park, or a nature walk in the Rubanga Forest. This forest offers an excellent habitat for birds and is therefore a very attractive place for bird watching. Dinner and overnight.

After an early morning breakfast, you will set off for a cultural tour in the Nshenyi area. This is a cultural tour that rotates around cattle i.e. the keeping, grazing and the benefits. Highlights involve witnessing how milk is extracted from the udders of the cows and treated to become ghee. You also see how the Bahima community set up their homesteads, take a village walk and if it’s a market day you will visit the market.

Return to the lodge for lunch before heading out for a boat ride after lunch that gives you the chance to view water animals like Crocodiles, Hippopotamus and water birds including Fish Eagles, Pelicans, Black crane, Heron, Cormorant, and the rare shoebill stork. Return to your lodge for a relaxed evening where entertainment by the local community can be arranged. Dinner and overnight. 

After breakfast, leisurely drive back to Kampala, 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,  then another stop over  at the Mpigi Royal Drum Makers where you will be able to watch the ceremonial drums being crafted using methods passed down through the generations arriving in the afternoon. 

Depending on the departure time, go for a city tour and visit the craft markets before transferring to airport to catch your flight back home.