This 8 days Uganda Wildlife Safari with Gorillas and Lions gives you an opportunity to spot the ‘’Big five’’ in Murchison falls and the roaring rapids of the falls. Proceed to Queen Elizabeth National Park for game drives as well as the boat cruise at the Kazinga channel. Additionally, you will have the ultimate gorilla experience in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and finally go to Lake Bunyonyi for relaxation. You will then embark on a return journey to Kampala city with a stopover at the Equator.
Day 1: Welcome to Uganda and transfer to the Hotel
On this day, you will be picked up from the airport at 10: 25 pm by one of our professional driver guides. You will be given a short briefing about your safari and then you will be transferred to your hotel for dinner and overnight stay.
Accommodation: 2 Friends Beach Hotel Entebbe/ KHotels
Meals: Dinner and drinking water
Day 2: Transfer to Murchison Falls National Park via Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary
On your very first day, you will be picked up from your hotel by one of our professional driver guides. Thereafter, you will be transferred to Murchison Falls National Park with a stop over at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary. While at the sanctuary, you will have a wonderful rhino tracking experience and lunch before proceeding to the park. On arrival, you will check into your hotel for dinner and overnight stay.
Accommodation: Fort Murchison
Meals: All meals and drinking water
Day 3: Morning game drive and boat cruise on Victoria Nile
After breakfast, depart for an early morning game drive across the rolling plains of Uganda’s largest National Park where you will have the opportunity of viewing lions, giraffes, hartebeest, buffalo, and elephants among others. For any birder, this area supports the secretary bird and black chested snake eagle to mention but a few.
Return to your lodge for lunch and after go for a boat cruise on the Nile where you will spot lots of animals including hippos, crocodiles and several water birds. Continue with a hike (if you like) to the top of the falls. The hike may be a strenuous one but the thrill of reaching the top is unforgettable. Thereafter, you will return to your lodge for dinner and overnight stay.
Accommodation: Fort Murchison
Meals: All meals and drinking water
Day 4: Top of the Falls and Transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park
After a relaxed breakfast, you will check out of the lodge and drive to the top of the falls. While there, you will enjoy the spectacular view of the most powerful waterfall in the world, Murchison falls.
Thereafter, you will transfer to Queen Elizabeth expecting a clear view of the Rwenzori Mountains during your journey. On your way, you will also have a stopover for lunch in Fort Portal. Upon arrival, you will check into your lodge, and relax at the lodge while you appreciate the beauty of nature. Dinner served and overnight stay.
Accommodation: Buffalo Safari Lodge
Meals: All meals and drinking water
Day 5: Game drive and boat cruise
Briefly: Queen Elizabeth National Park is Uganda’s most visited game reserve and arguably the most scenic. The national park protects the vast savannah plains, bushland, wetlands, and forests that lie at the base of the Rwenzori Mountain range. Kazinga Channel, which flows through the park and connects Lake George in the East to Lake Edward in the West, attracts a rich array of birds and animals, including the infamous Nile crocodile and one of the world’s largest concentrations of hippos. On your first game drive, you will explore the park along with a 200-kilometer network of well-maintained game viewing tracks.
Safari breakfasts are traditionally served before the day breaks so that you can start your morning game drive as the sun comes up. Sunrise is the best time for wildlife spotting as animals tend to be the most active during the “golden hours” when the first rays of sunshine come to rest on the savannah. Elephants, buffalo, and several species of antelope are some of the characters you may come across today, and if you’re lucky, you may even spot a lion or leopard or both of them.
Later in the day when the sun is high in the sky and the animals make their way to the river for a drink, we will head to Kazinga Channel for an exciting boat cruise. You will spot more hippos today than you can possibly imagine. Herds of elephants and buffaloes will also wander down to the shoreline to bathe in the cooling waters. A boat cruise is a fantastic way to get close to wildlife and for many visitors and the highlight of Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Accommodation: Buffalo Safari Lodge
Meals: All meals and drinking water
Day 6: Transfer to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park via Ishasha sector
On this day, you will have breakfast then set off for a breathtaking game viewing experience in the Ishasha area of Queen Elizabeth National Park famously known for its resident tree-climbing lions. The chance of spotting these lions is about 70% though sometimes they are really hard to spot. Hoping you get the chance to spot them, the sight will be spectacular! You will also be able to see other wildlife such as the Uganda Kob, Cape buffaloes, elephants, and warthogs in addition to the tree-climbing lions. Thereafter, you will be transferred to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. In the evening you may go for a nature walk or community visit. Dinner and overnight stay.
Accommodation: Buhoma Gorilla Camp
Meals: All meals and drinking water
Day 7: Gorilla trekking experience and transfer to Lake Bunyonyi for relaxation.
Encountering the rare and endangered Mountain Gorillas of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is an experience of a lifetime.
Half of the world’s populations of gorillas live under the mist-covered canopies of Uganda’s oldest and most biologically diverse rainforest. In the company of an experienced park ranger, you will be tracking the whereabouts of one of the habituated family groups who reside here.
Your tracking experience will be an exciting, yet challenging, journey along forested (often muddy and slippery) slopes, tangled vines, thick vegetation, and bamboo forests before you reach the territory of these gentle giants. En route, your ranger will point out telltale signs of previous gorilla activity like dung, nests, and chewed bamboo shoots.
Depending on the location of the gorillas on any given day the walk can take anything from 2 to 7 hours. Once the family of gorillas has been located, settle into your surroundings and enjoy the 1 hour you have to quietly observe these fascinating primates whose habits and mannerisms remind us so much of our own. After tracking you will transfer to Lake Bunyonyi for relaxation as you wait for dinner and overnight stay.
Accommodation: Lake Bunyonyi Eco Resort
Meals: All meals and drinking water
Day 8: Transfer to Kampala via Kayabwe (Equator)
This will be your last day of the safari. You will wake up to a delicious breakfast and since Lake Bunyonyi is known to be a bilharzia, crocodile and hippo free lake, swimming would be an ideal activity to wind up your relaxation experience. Thereafter, you will check out of your lodge and then you will be transferred to Kampala city with a stopover at the Equator for lunch and taking photographs as well as souvenir shopping. Reach Kampala in the evening for your late night flight at Entebbe International Airport, or another memorable night life experience in Kampala and fly back home the following day.
End of your 8 days Uganda Wildlife Safari with Gorillas