10-Day Uganda Gorilla and wildlife safari
The Vibrant Holiday Safaris 10-Day Uganda Gorilla and wildlife safari will lead you to the best national park in Uganda including the Kibale Forest National Park, the Murchison Falls National Park, and visiting the River Nile. River Nile is the second-longest river in the world and it divided Murchison Falls National Park to the south and the northern sectors. The sight and sound of the Nile River crashing down a 7-meter gorge before plummeting fourth meters in a deafening explosion is a remarkable assault on the senses. This national park will provide you with unforgettable game drives, a boat excursion, and breathtaking landscapes. The safari will continue to Kibale Forest National Park, the world’s monkey capital, for a walking safari in the wild to observe more primates, colorful birds, unusual flora, and magnificent volcanic scenery. This safari will take you to Queen Elizabeth National Park, where you will view a diverse range of wildlife, breathtaking landscapes, and a relaxing boat tour on the Kazinga Channel, where you will have excellent possibilities to watch water birds and animals lounging on the shores. The highlight of the Gorilla Trek Uganda & Wildlife Safari will be an encounter with the elusive Mountain Gorillas in the famous Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, as well as an opportunity to interact with the former forest people, the Batwa, who lived in the forest before it was gazetted as a national park. Our 10 Day Uganda Gorilla and wildlife safari will start and end in Kampala which is Uganda’s largest and capital city.
Highlights of this safari
Equator safari experience
Gorilla Tracking
- Boat cruise on river Nile and Kazinga channel
- Cultural encounters with the Batwa people
- The Bigodi nature walks safaris
- Tracking the rhinos at Ziwa rhino sanctuary
- The game drives in Queen Elizabeth National Park and Queen Elizabeth National Park
Detailed Itinerary
Day 1: Pick up from Entebbe International Airport and drive to your booked hotel in Kampala.
Once you have landed at Uganda’s Entebbe international airport, you will be welcomed by a Vibrant Holiday Safaris guide who will lead you to your booked hotel in Kampala. This is the start of our 10-Day Uganda Gorilla and wildlife safari. If you have arrived early, you can do the Kampala city tour and later return to your lodge. Provided you have enough time, you will have the evening city tour in Kampala. Kampala is among the best exciting cities in Uganda and features the best sites including the Kabaka, palace, the Namugongo martyr’s shrine, the Old Kampala Mosque donated by former president of Libya Gadhafi, and the Uganda National Museum.
Accommodation; Fairway Hotel and Spa (Mide-range)
Meal Plan: Dinner
Day 2: Kampala city-Ziwa Rhino sanctuary and drive to Murchison falls National Park
The10-day Uganda Gorilla and Wildlife safari willbegin with a visit to the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, where you will be able to trek the endangered white rhinos that have been reintroduced to this section of the country after being wiped out by poaching in the late 1970s. A one-and-a-half-hour walk is required to track white rhinos. You will have a maximum of one hour with the rhinos. After the Rhino trekking, you’ll travel to Murchison Falls National Park via Masindi Town, where you’ll stop for lunch before arriving in the evening. Murchison falls national park is Uganda’s biggest and most visited national park with more than 76 species of mammals and more than 450 species of birds. It takes 4-5 hours to complete the journey. Dinner and overnight will be at the lodge where you made your reservation or booked the lodge
Accommodation; Pakuba Safari Lodge (Mide-range)
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Day 3: Early morning game drive and afternoon River Nile Boat cruise
A game drive will be conducted early in the Murchison Falls National Park. Starting early in the morning after breakfast, you will head out for a game drive with incredible sightings of the different animals such as the giraffes, buffaloes, lions, shy sitatunga, hartebeest, bush duiker, Ugandan kob, leopards, lions, hyenas, and primates such as chimpanzees and olive baboons, among others. Along the Nile’s banks, you’ll see crocodiles and hippos. The goliath heron, Egyptian geese, pelicans, bee-eaters, kingfishers, hornbills, cormorants, saddle-bill storks, and the uncommon shoebill stork are some of the more common birds that can be spotted. You’ll return to your lodge for a late lunch and some rest before departing in the afternoon for a boat cruise to the base of the falls on the Victoria Nile. You’ll see hippos, crocodiles, waterbuck, and a variety of birds, including the uncommon shoebill stork, along the way. The boat comes to a halt just a few meters from the “Devil’s Cauldron” so that photos of the stunning and majestic Murchison Falls can be shot.
Accommodation; Pakuba Safari Lodge (Mide-range)
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Day 4: Hike to the top of the falls and drive to Kibale Forest National Park
After breakfast, you will travel to the “top of the thunderous Murchison Falls,” where you will see the Nile River squeeze itself into a 7-meter gorge before tumbling 40 meters down in a thunderous explosion and flowing into a very peaceful river whose water banks are swarmed with a profusion of water and land animals, as well as birds. After that, you will depart the park and drive for about 7 hours to Kibale Forest National Park as you pass through the clear and fantastic trading centers with the local people doing their business.
Accommodation; Isunga Safari Lodge (Mid-range)
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Day 5: Chimpanzee tracking and Transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park
Today, in the morning, you will wake up to the sound of the swinging birds, depending on the lodge where you have slept, and later, our driver will pick you up and drive you to the Kanyanchu Tourist Centre for the chimpanzee briefing. After the briefing, you will walk to the forest with the head guide for about 2–3 hours. This will allow you to see the primates and animals, including the species of birds, different insects, and butterflies that are found within the forest. You will return to your lodge after having the chimpanzee trekking experience for lunch, and you will transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park where you will visit the Lake Katwe community salt mining and see how the local women are directly involved in mining salt using the local methods from the extraction up to when the salt is processed and consumed, you will later return to your booked lodge for the supper and overnight stay.
Accommodation; Elephant Hab Safari Lodge (Mide-range)
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Day 6. Queen Elizabeth-Morning Wildlife sightings and evening boat cruise
Provided that you have stayed within Queen Elizabeth National Park, you will start the journey at 6 am with breakfast in the morning, and by the time you reach the gate moving out, it will be 7 am already. You will drive to the northeastern side of the Queen Elizabeth National Park where the game drives are majority conducted and carried out. Kasenyi has got a lot of vegetation types that harbor different species of animals including bushbucks, buffaloes, Uganda kobs, and elephants, spotted hyenas, waterbucks, topis among other different animals that you can be able to see and enjoy. Bird species can also be seen during the game drives and if you are lucky you might find the lions feasting on the big buffaloes or the antelopes. The morning game drive will last for about 5 hours and you will return to the lodge for short relations, have lunch, and head for the Kazinga channel boat cruise. The boat cruise at Kazinga channel lasts for 2 hours and provides you with beautiful and wonderful views of the school of hippos, herds of elephants and buffaloes, African skimmers, and great cormorants, among other species, later after the boat cruise, you will drive back to your lodge for relaxation and dinner
Accommodation; Elephant Hab Safari Lodge (Mide-range)
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Day 7: Tree-climbing lions and Transfer to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.
After breakfast, take in the countryside scenery as you drive from Queen Elizabeth National Park to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park. You will have lunch on the way before you arrive at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park. You will check into your lodge, have some relaxation, and drive to the community walks to see how the people engage in community activities.
Accommodation; Bakiga Safari Lodge (Mide-range)
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Day 8: Gorilla trekking and transfer to Lake Bunyonyi
You will wake up in the morning ready to have your super-waiting experience of gorilla trekking. This experience starts early in the morning by moving to the park headquarters to join the other groups of tourists for the tracking experience, and the briefing starts at around 7:45 a.m. After you have been briefed, the experience begins as you majestically walk into the jungles of the forest and start looking for the gorillas. You will journey with your safari guide through thick creepers and vegetation to view the gorillas, which could take from 1 to 8 hours. The densely forested picture is staggeringly dense, but it is confused by the many creature tracks that allow sightseers access. Before returning to your cabin, you will get one hour to spend with the gorillas after they have been located. If time allows, you’ll go on one more guided local area tour to meet a traditional botanist and learn how he plans to use indigenous medicine to treat a variety of human sicknesses.
Accommodation; Bunyonyi Rock Resort (Mide-range)
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Day 9. Lake Bunyonyi morning boat riding and transfer to Lake Mburo National Park
Today in the Morning you will go for the morning private boat canoeing on the lake Bunyonyi. Lake Bunyonyi is the deepest lake in Uganda and the second deepest lake in the while of African continent with more than 27 islands and each island has got its interesting different or unique story different form other island. Akampene Island is the highlight and this was used to punish the girls who would get pregnant before marriage and they could take them to the island and leave them until they die and this was to teach other girls not to make the similar mistake. Canoeing on this park is the most adventurous activity that you should never miss and after this activity, you will return to your lodge, checkout and drive to Lake Mburo national park with lunch enroute at Igongo cultural centre in Mbarara city. You will tour the museum and later continue and check into your lodge for rest. Lake Mburo national park is full of zebras, the lake itself, buffaloes, elands, Warthogs, hippos, giraffes and the crocodiles with over 300 species of birds. The night game drives in Lake Mburo national park will enable you to spot the most elusive animals especially the bush babies, spotted hyenas, leopards, among others.
Accommodation; Rwakobo Rock Lodge (Mid-range)
Meal plan; Breakfast, lunch and dinner
Day 10. Lake Mburo National Park- Morning Horseback riding and return to Entebbe international airport
On this day have a simple morning breakfast and go for morning horseback riding. This is the only national park in Uganda where you can have a horse experience in the wilderness, it is an awesome safari where you meet the wildlife without the sound of an engine but only feel the sounds of nature. This horse riding safari will enable you to get the chance to see more animals close to your eyes. You will see a mixture of wildlife such as caped buffaloes, zebra, warthog, impala, topi, bushbuck, waterbuck, and eland. Seeing animals during horseback riding is very easy and adventurous since some animals like zebras come close to you to check the strange family member without stripes and the elands which are very fearful, look curiously at the horses without running away, but in a distance. Return to your lodge for another set of breakfast and start your drive to return to Entebbe international airport to meet your return flight OR you may decide to spend an extra night in Kampala or Entebbe.
10-Day Uganda Gorilla and wildlife safari
The price includes;
- White Rhino tracking at Ziwa
- Game drives at Murchison Falls national park
- Afternoon boat cruise on the Victoria Nile
- Hiking to the top of the falls
- 1 Chimpanzee permit per person
- 1 Game drive in Queen Elizabeth national park
- 2 hours afternoon boat cruise on the Kazinga channel
- 1 Evening game drive in Queen Elizabeth NP
- 1-morning game drive in the Ishasha sector
- 1 gorilla permit per person
- Evening canoeing on Lake Bunyonyi
- Night game drive in Lake Mburo national park
- Morning horseback riding
- A visit to the equator crossing point
- Ground transport in 4*4WD and air-conditioned safari van for 10 days
- English-speaking driver/guide for 10 days
- Accommodation for 9 nights on the full board meal plan
- All en-route meals.
- All Park activities and entrance fees
- Mineral water
- Return airport transfers
The price excluded;
- Entry visas and flights
- Items of personal nature/tips/Laundry
- Personal insurance
- Extra meals and activities
10-Day Uganda Gorilla and wildlife safari