On arrival at the Entebbe International Airport, you will have a Covid test administered and pay $30 per person directly to the airport official. Clear customs and immigration, and then you will be transferred to Hotel No. 5 for the evening. Dinner to own account.
This morning after breakfast, you will check out and meet your guide for the beginning of your journey!
You will drive approximately 4 hours to Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, where you will participate in Rhino Tracking and a Shoebill Canoe Ride. Overnight at Amuka Lodge.
In the morning after breakfast, you will head out to the Royal Mile for a birding activity, after which you will carry on to Murchison Falls for your overnight at Nile Safari Lodge.
Today you will have a game drive and a private Bottom of the Falls cruise on the Kingfisher boat.
Murchison Falls is one of the best places in Uganda to see the shoebill (the other place being the Mabamba wetlands near Entebbe). Murchison is also a good place to see the Northern and Southern bee-eaters, secretary bird, Abyssinian ground hornbills, giant kingfisher, Egyptian plover, Eurasian oystercatcher, and malachite kingfishers. There are over 450 bird species in Murchison.
This morning, you will again have exclusive use of the Kingfisher boat for your Delta Cruise, followed by a game drive.
This morning, you will take the scheduled flight from the Bugungu airstrip to the Kasese airstrip. From there, you will be driven 2 hours to Kyaninga Lodge. You will have time to enjoy the property and visit the Bigodi Swamp for a walk, a short drive away.
The Bigodi Swamp, which is in the Kibale region, is also a good birding location. Wooden walkways through the swamps allow for sightings of papyrus gonolek and blue turaco amongst others. Smaller primate species such as black and white colobus and red-tailed monkeys are seen here as well.
This morning, you will have an early breakfast and then depart for your full-day nature walk with a specialist birding guide.
This morning, you will depart your lodge early and head to the Kibale forest for chimpanzee tracking. Afterward, you will be driven to Semliki National Park.
Today, you will take a Walking Safari in the Semliki Wildlife Reserve and a private boat trip on Lake Albert boat trip, a highlight for birders.
This morning, you will depart the Kibale area and drive to the Queen Elizabeth National Park, stopping for a private boat cruise on the Kazinga Channel along the way.
The area is great for seeing raptors and vultures, including the African crowned eagle, palm-nut vulture, hooded vulture, and white-backed vulture. The Lesser flamingos can be found in Queen Elizabeth National Park, too, as well as other water birds, such as the chestnut wattle eye, pied kingfisher, malachite kingfisher, and papyrus gonolek. The African jacana, sacred ibis, and saddle-billed stork are found around the Lake Kikorongo area. Queen Elizabeth has over 600 bird species!
This morning, you will head into the park for lion / predator tracking. There is an opportunity to take a guided nature walk to the Maramango Bat Caves, which has been included in your itinerary.
Maramagambo Forest National Park is a popular destination that is well known for bat caves in the whole of Queen Elizabeth National Park. Placed and situated under the shaded canopy of Maramambo forest is well placed the Bat cave. The bat cave place was well designed with a clear viewing platform to call it a room that would enable the visitors to see the bat in their cave from the distance. The bat cave is also associated with the python which is normally spotted around this bat cave as it tries to feed on these bats. Visitors can as well do a lot of several other activities including the cultural community experience of the Nyanz’ibiri community.
If time allows, we highly recommend the Rwenzori Sculpture Foundry & Gallery as an additional activity and a visit to the the Community Coffee Tour and Cafe.
This morning, you will be driven 5-6 hour to Bwindi Impenatrable Forest National Park. In the afternoon, you may take a guided nature walk.
Today, you will have a hearty breakfast, then walk to the park headquarters for an overview of the day's activity, and to be assigned a trekking guide and porters.
Following your gorilla trek, you may choose to relax around the lodge or make arrangements with your guide to visit the local village. I highly recommend visiting Ride 4 a Woman!
GORILLA TREKKING
Tracking mountain gorillas through the dense African forests is a magical experience. Only eight visitors are allowed per gorilla group each day, and to minimize possible transmission of human diseases, visitors are asked to maintain a distance of 7m (about 22 feet) from the gorillas. Typically, tracking can take from 3 to 8 hours and requires some agility and fitness; however, all fitness levels can be accommodated, and no one should feel deterred from missing this once in a lifetime experience. If you have any health considerations or physical limitations that we should be aware of, please let us know, and also let your guide know so that you can be assigned to a group that will trek closer to the headquarters.
This morning, you will take a full-day nature walk with a specialist birding guide.
Bwindi Forest National Park is one of Uganda’s oldest forest habitats. There are over 350 bird species recorded, including 23 endemics. 90% of all Albertine rift endemics can be found in Bwindi, these include the short-tailed warbler and blue-headed Sunbird. Other species commonly seen in Bwindi are the common bulbul, African blue flycatcher, emerald cuckoo, Handsome Francolin, Rwenzori nightjar, African green broadbill, yellow-eyed black flycatcher, and many others.
In the morning, you will say goodbye to Buhoma and then you will be taken to meet your walking guide for your hike through the forest from Buhoma to Clouds - a lovely alternative to the long drive! Your regular guide will not join you, but will meet you back in Entebbe. While at Clouds Lodge, you will be with their guides and trackers. Description of the trail options through the forest below:
Ivy River Trail (4 HOURS)
This Ivy River route (13 kilometers) ascends and descends gently through beautiful areas of the rain forest with several viewpoints from the marram road to Nkuringo overlooking lush mist-shrouded valleys. The trail is also an important footpath for local people traveling to and from Nkuringo particularly on market days to Nteko village on the southern boundary of the park. Monkeys, duikers, bush pigs, and some of Bwindi’s world-renowned bird and butterfly species can be sighted.
Today you will have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of the gorilla habituation experience in Bwindi. The Clouds Lodge will provide all transfers during your stay.
Mountain Gorilla Habituation
It is a privilege to accompany guides/researchers and trackers during this process of getting gorilla families ‘ready’ for trekking. There is one gorilla family that is currently being habituated on a regular basis, and there are four permits available to join this experience.
You will walk / follow the gorillas for on average 4-5 hours (once located) – but please note that the gorillas may get a little nervous and move away – so the experience once you have located the family may be quite different from a regular trek where you can quietly sit and observe them.
After breakfast, you will be driven to the airstrip for the scheduled flight back to Entebbe to connect with your international flights home.
End of your Uganda adventure!
