5 Days Gorillas and Wildlife Tour in Uganda

Tour Overview

Embark on an unforgettable journey through Uganda’s most spectacular national parks on this comprehensive 5-day Uganda Gorilla & Game Safari. Experience close encounters with endangered mountain gorillas and chimpanzees, witness tree-climbing lions, cruise along the wildlife-rich Kazinga Channel, and relax by the serene Lake Bunyonyi. This carefully crafted itinerary combines thrilling wildlife tracking, scenic game drives, and cultural experiences, offering you the best of Uganda’s diverse ecosystems. From the lush rainforests of bwindi to the savannah plains of Queen Elizabeth and the misty mountains of Bwindi, prepare for an adventure of a lifetime.

Tour Package Includes

  • Mountain Gorilla Tracking Permit ($800)
  • Transportation Costs
  • Meals & Accommodations
  • Bottled Drinking Water
  • Professional Driver-Guide, and Fuel

Travel Days Plan

Day 1:

Transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park

After breakfast, your guide will drive you to Queen Elizabeth National Park, home to a high concentration of Uganda’s mammals that include tree climbing and savanna lions, elephants, wart hogs, Uganda kob, water buck, cape buffalo, hippos, leopards, as well as more than 600 species of birds that include the African spoon bill, pied kingfishers, fish eagles, pelicans, vultures. Queen Elizabeth National Park is Uganda’s second largest park, located at the base of the majestic Rwenzori Mountain range, adjacent to Lake Edward and Lake George. The park has game including Uganda kob, warthog and waterbuck. Lions are often sighted both in and at the entrance to the park. Be ready to see huge numbers of hippos and elephants, and keep your eyes on the lookout for a leopard lazing in the sunshine. In the late afternoon you will relax at the lodge. You will stay in a nice lodge, overlooking the Lake George. Journey Time: 7 1⁄2 Accommodation: Elephant Hub Lodge Meal Plan: All meals Elephant Hub Lodge is in a unique location and has been designed and handcrafted using local materials, fitted by artisans from the local community. Overlooking Lake George in the Queen Elizabeth National Park it offers private luxury safari tents on raised wooden floors and canvas walls that can be rolled up to allow you to sit comfortably watching the Savannah Plains with breath taking views across the park and the Rwenzori and Virunga mountains.

Day 2:

Chimpanzee Tracking & Boat cruise

Today you will wake up early to go to the park head offices to be briefed about your chimp tracking experience. Kibale Forest National Park boasts the highest number of primate species in the world, including the chimpanzees. Approximately 5,000 chimpanzees live in the wild in Uganda, which makes it a perfect place to see them. An experienced ranger will take you chimp tracking chimp in the morning or afternoon; you might also see other monkey species that live here. Once you locate the chimpanzees you will have a full hour of eye-to-eye contact with them. Since they are wild animals, we can never guarantee you to see them and might have to settle with hearing their hoots and hollers. In the afternoon after lunch, you will go for the guided boat trip. Journey Time: Full Day Accommodation: Elephant Hub Lodge Meal plan: All meals 0ptional- Lion Tracking and and Night Game Drive For visitors who yearn to get up close to wild African fauna, a research trip is a rewarding adventure. This new and unique experience allows visitors to actively participate in monitoring some of lions in the park, using locator devices and learn habituation calls, as well as monitoring weather, surroundings and behavior. The results are added to researchers’ databases, contributing valuable information to the overall understanding of wildlife ecology – and helping to conserve this wonderful ecosystem. This will as well give you a 95% chance to see the lions! The number of people on each outing is limited in order to reduce stress on the animals and to increase the quality of the experience for visitors. The experiential tourism activities currently available are Mongoose Tracking, Lion Tracking, Hippo Census, and Bird Counts. Experiential tours last between one and three hours. They usually take place in the early morning or evening, or occasionally at night. All activities must be booked through the Visitor Information Centre in Mweya at least 24 hours in advance. Night Game Drive: The night at Queen Elizabeth National Park can be better than the day in different ways. No doubt, day time has a lot folded in it, like the game drives, launch at Kazinga Channel. The night activities/ game drive might not be so common, but in return it might be your best choice to see the wild cats closer and feel the thrill you can get close to the king of the African jungle. What is a night game drive? The night game drive is an activity done when the sun sets and the night falls in the wilderness of Queen Elizabeth national park, it involves the use of a strong spot light torch to see the animals more clearly in the dark. This activity helps you get closer to the animals since they shed off their human fear in the night; they can easily get closer to your vehicle; the lions can be terrific and the experience is thrilling. A night game drive is, no doubt, the most exciting activity in Uganda so far as recorded by those who have tried it. It is good to know the best place where you can book your nocturnal game viewing, and Queen Elizabeth is highly recommended for this activity. Night game drives are also done in other national; parks like, Murchison Falls national park, and Lake Mburo, and these are the only places/ national parks where you can book for your night game drive in Uganda.

Day 3:

Morning Game drive safari and transfer to Bwindi

Today you wake up early. A little before sunrise coffee, tea and donuts will be served in the lounge before we head out for a long game drive in time to see the first rays of light. You will search for all the wildlife in the park and are likely to come across Elephant, Buffalo, Lion, Waterbuck, Leopard, Uganda Kob, and many Warthogs. A well-deserved brunch will be served back at the lodge in the late morning. Transfer to Bwindi impenetrable National Park via Ishasha Sector Today after your tree climbing lion, you will be transferred to Bwindi in the south- western part of Uganda; close to the borders with Rwanda and Congo. You cross a beautiful part of the country often referred to as ‘the Switzerland of Africa’. You will see a great country-side, bamboo forest and have great views over the Virunga Mountains. For lunch you will stop at a local restaurant on the road Journey Time: 5 hours Accommodation: Gorilla Liesure Lodge Meal plan: All meals Gorilla Liesure Lodge Gorilla Liesure Lodge offers most likely the best view in Uganda! Perched on most beautiful views on planet earth. Situated between Kisoro town, Mgahinga and Bwindi National Parks the Resort makes a perfect base for gorilla trackers, volcano hikers, bird lovers as well as those looking for a secluded place in nature. The cuisine is among the best in Uganda.

Day 4:

Gorilla Tracking in Bwindi Natioanl Park

Gorilla Trekking in Bwindi: This is the day you have been anxiously waiting for. Have breakfast very early at you lodge as your guide will pick you up at 6am. You will embark on a short journey to the Parks headquarters in Rushaga or Buhoma. You are supposed to be at Rushaga or Buhoma at exactly 7am for a briefing by the park's head ranger which will begin at 8am and then you will be put in groups of 8 individuals per group depending on the gorilla group you are going to track. Tracking begins at exactly 8:30 am hence endeavour to always keep time. Bwindi Impenetrable National Park has a total of 15 habituated gorilla groups that are tracked from four trailheads. Of these 15 habituated gorilla groups, 3 are found in the Buhoma area in the northwest part of the park; while 4 gorilla groups are situated in Ruhija in the eastern part of Bwindi and 8 gorilla groups in Nkuringo and Rushaga respectively, located south of Bwindi. Each tracking group consists of strictly eight individuals with each group having a park guide and ranger. Tracking can take about 1- 6 hours depending on how easy and quickly the gorillas are spotted. Once you have located a gorilla group, you will be given exactly an hour with them; hence you should maximize your time well and don't forget to take lots of pictures without using your camera's flash. The tracking trails can be very wet, steep and slippery thus you should wear a good pair of hiking boots. Bwindi Impenetrable national park boasts both mountain gorillas and chimpanzees – the only forest in Africa that can make this claim. It also hosts five other species of primates, 113 species of mammals, over 200 species of butterflies and 360 species of birds. The gorillas you track are habituated and can tolerate the presence of humans for a brief period of time, every day. The time taken to track the gorillas can be as few as 2 hours to as many as 7 hours. Once the gorillas have been located, your group will be allowed a maximum of one hour with them. Coming face-to-face with a mountain gorilla is a truly humbling and emotional experience. This is a fantastic and privileged opportunity to get up close and personal with Uganda’s very own ‘Gorillas in the Mist’. Back transfer to Lake bunyonyi Transfer to Lake Bunyonyl: After your tracking activity, you will drive to Lake Bunyonyl with lunch on the route. Lake Bunyonyi is known to be the lake of the little birds' and is one of the most beautiful destinations in western Uganda. Lake Bunyonyi is characterized by green rolling hills and valleys, papyrus swamps and beautiful Islands, 29 in total. There are also walkways with beautiful, tall eucalyptus and pump trees which act as great spots to walkways with beautiful, tall eucalyptus and pump trees which act as great spots to sit, chill and catch your favourite book. Have dinner at your lodge and a good night's sleep. Journey Time: 2 hours Accommodation: Arcadia Cottages Lake Bunyonyi Meal plan: All meals

Day 3:

Depart to Kampala or Kigali Rwanda

After breakfast, start on the long drive back to Entebbe/Kampala with the memory of the great rare mountain apes. Have lunch en route with a stopover at the equator line for experimenta=on. Arrive late in the evening to be dropped off at Entebbe International Airport at approximately 6 pm to check in for your air transfer back home. Say farewell to the Pearl of Africa! Journey Time: 7 hours Accommodation: not included Meal plan: All meals

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