Tour Overview

Uganda offers distinctive attractions that set it apart from other traditional African safari sites, and this Best of Uganda safari vacation makes sure you take full advantage of that distinction. The journey begins in Entebbe, where you will presumably fly into, and travels through beautiful hills on the southwest circuit before continuing on the southern route along the Nile to Murchison Falls and Kidepo valley.

This exclusive adventure is expertly planned to include intense nature experiences that will help you make lifelong memories and stories, such as the chance encounter with mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and the chance meeting with playful cousins in Kibale. Nearly all tourists to the Pearl of Africa highly recommend going to see the mountain gorillas. To reach a habituated mountain gorilla family, however, all participants must be physically fit to traverse the rocky jungle trails.

Without seeing the local cultures, a trip to Africa isn’t complete. The natural woodland inhabitants known as the Batwa are first encountered in Bwindi, and the Karamojong nomads are fully explored in Kidepo. These two robust civilizations will provide you some insight into the earlier way of life of indigenous people because they have not been much altered by contemporary civilization.

Tour Highlights

14 Days Uganda Favorites Safari: Detailed Itinerary

 Day 1: Arrival at Entebbe International Airport

When you arrive at Entebbe International Airport, a driver from Adventure in the wild safaris will pick you up and take you to your hotel in Entebbe. (15 min. )

Accommodation options:

• Papyrus Guest house

Day 2: Transfer to Lake Mburo National Park

No one can really describe how it feels on your first morning in Africa, am I right? So, after a leisurely breakfast, set out for lake Mburo national park the smallest national park in Uganda located in Kiruhura district. This journey will take you over 4 hours to arrive at your real destination. Along your way, you will have a stop over at the equator where you will relax as you are taking photos. You will then commence with your journey and you will be reaching lake Mburo national park, check in and have lunch as you prepare for an evening game drive to see several wildlife such as zebras, impalas, monkeys and so many other. Return to the lodge and prepare for dinner and your over night stay.

Accommodation options:

• Mihingo lodge

Destination:  Lake Mburo National Park

Day 3: Lake Mburo National Park – Full Day

The modest and convenient Lake Mburo National Park is where the Best of Uganda Safaris introduces you to the savanna for the first time. Take a step on your morning savanna game drive to see some of Africa’s big game species up close. Return to the lodge in time for breakfast.

You will be led into the park on foot for a grizzly nature walk and a canoe ride on Lake Mburo after breakfast. You will return in time for lunch at the lodge. After lunch, take another stroll around the lodge till late at night before retiring there. This was a wonderful day spent in the savanna, and the day ended with a beautiful African sunset.

 Day 4: Transfer to Bwindi Forest National Park

Immediately after having your delicious breakfast, rendezvous with your driver or guide and travel through the game trails to the high way. Let us take your “Best of Uganda Safari” excursion to the southwest of the country, traveling through some of the most breathtaking scenery in all of Africa passing through the towns of Mbarara, Kabale, and Kisoro before making your way to the Nkuringo Bwindi Gorilla Lodge, where you will spend the next nights in the foggy woods. Seven to eight hours are needed for the drive, which includes a few stops in picturesque African villages.

Amounting to the most fruitful montane forest birding in all of Africa, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is home to 23 of Uganda’s 24 Albertine Rift indigenous bird species. Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, once a portion of a much bigger forest that also encompassed the Virunga Volcanoes in neighboring Rwanda, is now an ecological island amidst a sea of human cultivation and of tremendous conservation importance.

Accommodation options:

• Nkuringo Bwindi lodge.

Destination:  Bwindi Forest National Park

 Day 5: Gorilla Trekking Experience in Bwindi Forest 

The Best of Uganda Safari takes an exciting turn as you travel into the African jungle in search of the rare mountain gorilla after breakfast, which takes place at around 7:45am. You also have a packed lunch and water in your bag. Your driver will bring you to the trailhead where you will receive instructions on how to safely track and interact with gorillas.

A guide, two rangers, and seven additional gorilla family trackers will accompany you into the jungle. As the gorillas roam freely throughout the dense forest, this activity may continue anywhere from a few hours to a whole day. To keep you safe and the gorillas in their accustomed state, strict restrictions must be followed.
Once you come across the gorilla families, you will be given ample time of over one hour to stay with them as you are having fun. You will then get back to the lodge and relax preparing for an evening batwa encounter. Here you will come across the batwa, jazz with them, tell stories and get to know their ways of living. You will get back to the lodge for your dinner and over night stay.

 Day 6: Hike across Bwindi Impenetrable National Park To Queen Elizabeth 

Drive up the Nteko Ridge after an extremely early breakfast to the confluence of the Ivy River Trail and the forest (7 km), where you may begin the spectacular journey into the forest (13km – 4-5 hours). The Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park is a sizable, exceptional natural reserve where visitors can see monkeys, duikers, bush pigs, some of the park’s well-known bird species, as well as numerous butterflies.

If you’re lucky, you might even come across gorillas! The Virunga Volcanoes in neighboring Rwanda were formerly a part of a much bigger forest, but today the park is an ecological island surrounded by farms and settlements, and its importance for conservation is enormous.

This Uganda safari activity places a strong emphasis on your walking safari guide teaching you about the forest. It’s not just a hike from A to B. The trail is a vital footpath for locals commuting from Nkuringo and Nteko to Buhoma, on the park’s northern edge, especially on market days. Since there is no road through Bwindi, it takes 6 to 8 hours for a car to travel the incredible 170 miles between the two locations.

As soon as you arrive at the park’s administrative center in Buhoma, get in the car and transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park. The “tree-climbing” lions that live in the southern part of Ishasha National Park are a unique sight and a highlight of any safari that is taken there. The Uganda Kob, the lions’ main source of food, grazes on the plains below while the lions may be seen hanging from the limbs of giant fig trees. The journey takes around four hours (182kms).

Accommodation options:

• Katara lodge

Destination:  Queen Elizabeth National Park

 Day 7: Queen Elizabeth – Launch Cruise and Game Drive 

Early mornings are reserved for game drives through Queen Elizabeth National Park and boat rides on the 36 km-long Kazinga Channel, which connects Lake George and Lake Edward and offers a unique opportunity to see wildlife and birds along the river banks as the boat travels through hippos in pods. Crocodiles have only lately been spotted in the Channel, and they vanished for 8,000 years after Lake Edward was poisoned by volcanic ash from the area, which drove them out.

One of Uganda’s first parks, Queen Elizabeth National Park, was formally inaugurated in 1952. Before 1954, the park was known as “Kazinga National Park,” but in 1954, Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain was honored with a new name. The QENP is home to 619 bird species, the second-highest number of any park in Africa and the sixth-highest number of any park worldwide, and 95 species of animals, more than any other park in Uganda.

After a pause for a Best of Uganda Safari, return to the lodge for lunch before embarking on an afternoon Launch sail down the Kazinga channel. When traveling west towards Lake Edward, the channel’s 40-foot width offers stunning views, including hundreds of hippos along the banks and other bird species.

 Day 8: Transfer from Queen Elizabeth to Kibale Forest National Park

Get up early and embark on another savanna wildlife drive with Uganda Safari Highlights. View other African safari animals when you come across them throughout their hunts.

Your private driver will enter the roadway to Kibale Forest National Park with ease. Take in the scenery as you travel along Uganda’s south-western border on the Kasese-Fort Portal highway. A great of primates are honored at Kibale Forest National Park. From Kasese to Kibale, the drive will take you between three and four hours.

Accommodation options:

• Primate safari lodge

Destination:  Kibale Forest National Park

 Day 9: Chimpanzee Habituation Experience In Kibale Forest

Here is your second chance to complete the Best of Uganda Safari rainforest jungle challenge, which involves tracking down the enthusiastic chimpanzee tribe and adhering to their typical daily routine. Will you accept it? It’s thrilling and draining of energy, but it’s worth every second.

You will be taken to the park headquarters with your packed lunch for a briefing on the chimpanzee habituation experience at the trailhead (5 minutes away) before setting out into the jungle with an armed ranger, your personal guide, physicians, and researchers. You will spend the entire day with chimpanzees following them around. A variety of animal species, including the Red Colobus, Black and White Colobus, Grey-cheeked Mangabey, Olive Baboon, Red-tailed Monkey, and L’Hoest’s Monkey, among others, as well as many bird species can be seen while tracking. You will then get to the lodge have dinner and your overnight stay.

 Day 10: Transfer from Kibale to Murchison Falls National Park

Have an early breakfast, travel across the Escarpment, and take in the scenery as you head into Murchison Falls National Park. This day will involve a long drive of about 6 hours, during which we’ll stop frequently so you can get some fresh air.
Before proceeding to the resort, take a game drive to catch them coming back from their hunting adventures. Check in to the lodge, have dinner and have an over night stay.

Accommodation options:

• Baker’s lodge

Destination:  Murchison Falls National Park

 Day 11: Experience the Savannah of Murchison Falls – Full Day

A morning savanna game drive in the Murchison tracks follows breakfast to begin yet another African savanna encounter on this Best of Uganda Safari holiday. Giraffes, elephants, lions, hartebeest, and several bird species could all be seen. Watch out for mammals like as the elegant Roth child Giraffe, Jackson’s Hartebeest, Uganda Kob, Defassa Waterbuck, Buffaloes, Elephants, Warthogs, Hippos, Oribi, and if you’re lucky, a leopard and lion among other species.

You will take the morning delta boat safari excursion to the bottom of the Murchison waterfalls after that thrilling game drive. Keep an eye out for various bird species, hippos, waterbucks, and Nile crocodiles. You will disembark at the base of the waterfalls, climb or hike your way up to the top of the falls, and be rewarded with breathtaking views of the Nile. Additionally, keep an eye out for various bird species. You will then get back to the lodge take your meals and have an over night there.

 Day 12: Transfer from Murchison Falls to Kidepo Valley National Park

For this section of the Best of Uganda Safari itinerary, there are two options: either take a chartered airplane from Pakuba to Entebbe and from Entebbe to Apoka airport in Kidepo, or drive from Murchison to Kidepo NP for eight hours (440 kilometers). The former is our first choice.

Drive to Pakuba for your flight return to Entebbe after a leisurely breakfast. You’ll board a different regularly scheduled local flight to Kidepo Valley from Entebbe. Arrival is expected in 1.30 hours. You are picked up at the airport and driven to Apoka Lodge, where you can settle in, unwind, and eat lunch. Take a game drive through Kidepo Valley National Park in the evening after lunch. You will get to see a number of animals such as Elephants, Zebras, Bush pigs, Rothschild to mention but a few. You will then go to lodge have dinner and your over night stay.

Accommodation options:

• Apoka safari lodge

Destination:  Kidepo Valley National Park

 Day 13: Wildlife in Kidepo Valley – Full Day 

After a leisurely breakfast, we left for a morning wildlife drive in Kidepo Valley National Park where we looked for lions, cheetahs, and leopards for two to three hours. After a late breakfast, head back to the lodge. Enjoy a mid-morning swim at the outdoor pool while watching wildlife pass by the lodge. The lodge provides an excellent observation platform for wildlife, and you may frequently hear hyena calls and lion roars at night.

Enjoy a wonderful savanna lunch while taking a break from your Best of Uganda Safari tour. We may plan a night time completely parked game drive so that you can see the fiery African sunset. Get to the lodge have dinner and prepare for your overnight stay.

 Day 14: Flight to Entebbe and Departure

Returning to the lodge for breakfast and lunch after an early morning game drive. To go to Entebbe, you will be taken to the airstrip. Our driver will take you to Papyrus Guesthouse so you can enjoy a day room. Transfer to Entebbe International Airport later for a flight in the evening.

End of Tour

Includes & Excludes

Getting There

The trip will start from Kampala or Entebbe to Lake Mburo National Park to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park to Queen Elizabeth National Park to Kibale Forest National Park to Murchison Falls National Park to Kidepo Valley National Park and you will be dropped off at your hotel in Kampala or Entebbe international airport after the trip.

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You can also reach us on Whats-app Number: +256753750983 for urgent requests.