Upon arrival at Entebbe International Airport, you will be met and transferred by private vehicle to Lake Victoria Serena Hotel. What remains of the day is at your leisure.
Overnight - Lake Victoria Serena Hotel - Bed and breakfast basis
After breakfast, transfer to Entebbe airport for your schedule flight to Kasese airstrip.
On arrival you will be met and taken to Ndali Lodge for check in and an early lunch.
Ndali provides a perfect base from which to visit Kibale Forest National Park, famous home of the largest concentration of chimpanzees in Africa, as well as a bewildering variety of other primates, birds and butterflies.
Overnight - Ndali Lodge - Full board basis including all meals, selected beverages and laundry
After breakfast, transfer to Kanyanchu Park Headquarters for a briefing of the chimpanzee tracking and later enter the forest to search for the man’s closest friend it takes about 3 hours going to the forest and coming back to the park office. These delightful apes, more closely related to humans than to any other living creature, are tremendous fun to watch as they squabble and play in fruiting trees. The incredibly diverse forest is home to over 13 species of primates including red Colobus monkey, the rare L’Hoest, blue monkey, grey mangabey, black faced vervet monkeys, baboons and also bush babies swinging through the dense forests, with your informative guide making it even more interesting by pointing out other forest features, flora and fauna.
Upon sighting the chimpanzees, you stay with them for 1 hour as they go about their daily life!
You return to the lodge for lunch. In the afternoon you can either relax at the lodge, take in the Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary walk which is initiated through the local community. On the walk you may likely see several kinds of monkeys including black and white colobus, red colobus, mangabey, red tail, vervet, and L’Hoest. There are also chances of seeing a variety of bird live including the beautiful Great Blue Turaco.
Overnight - Ndali Lodge - Full board basis including all meals, selected beverages and laundry
After breakfast, you check out of the lodge and then drive to Kasese Airstrip for your flight to Kisoro airstrip where you will be met and transferred to Clouds Mountain Gorilla Lodge.
In the afternoon take a walk to explore the lodge area.
Overnight - Clouds Mountain Gorilla Lodge - Full board basis including all meals, selected beverages and laundry
After an early breakfast you transfer to the park headquarters for your pre-gorilla tracking briefing, an unforgettable experience.
At 9.00 am you set off into the forest in the footsteps of the Mountain Gorillas. You will be led by experienced gorilla trackers on the slopes of the volcanoes. You start from the site where the gorillas were encountered the day before and from here the gorilla tracking begins.
It is a humbling experience to stand just metres from man’s distant cousins as they eat rest, play and bond with their young. You will follow the mountain gorillas as they range freely in the Impenetrable Forest, and discover their gorgeous natural habitat and the many species they share it with. You are allowed one hour with the gorillas.
Following the trek you head back to the lodge for lunch and shower. If your trek was relatively short, you may have time for a guided community walk around the village and enjoy the local music and dance.
Overnight - Clouds Mountain Gorilla Lodge - Full board basis including all meals, selected beverages and laundry
Today you depart for Rwanda by vehicle, stopping at the Kyanika border post to clear through immigration to Rwanda.
Your tip now continues with your drive to Ruhengeri at the foot of the Virunga Mountains, about a 2 hour 30 minute drive. You arrive at Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge early afternoon.
Overnight - Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge - Full board basis including all meals, selected beverages and laundry
After an early breakfast, you drive to Volcanoes National Park Headquarters (with picnic lunches) for a 7.00 am briefing where you are allocated a gorilla family
You then leave with your trackers and drive to the trail head where you start your gorilla tracking. After an hour with the family group, you return to the lodge for lunch.
In the afternoon, you may wish to visit the nearby ex-poacher’s village. An award-winning conservation initiative, former poachers were convinced to renounced their old ways and become conservation activists. Together with their families, they founded this little village where they now participate in eco-tourism showcasing Rwandan culture. Visitors can learn about traditional skills like fire-making, archery, traditional medicine, traditional architecture (totally unique grass thatched huts that were used for the kings), traditional medicine, cultural dances, etc. among other attractions.
Overnight - Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge - Full board basis including all meals, selected beverages and laundry
After after a leisurely breakfast, you drive the 2-3 hours to Kigali, the capital of Rwanda.
You then undertake a tour the city. Central to this will be a visit to the Genocide Memorial, an incredibly moving experience. The Kigali Memorial Centre was opened on the 10th Anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide, in April 2004. The Centre is built on a site where over 250,000 people are buried. These graves are a clear reminder of the cost of ignorance. It is a permanent memorial to those who fell victim to the genocide and serves as a place for people to grieve those they lost.
Although it has seen some difficult times through the genocide in 1994 and subsequently as power changed hands, it now has a pleasant, buoyant air. The people are poor, but friendly and optimistic.
Following the tour you transfer to Kigali Serena Hotel. In the evening, you will be taken to dinner at a local restaurant.
Overnight - Kigali Serena Hotel - Bed and breakfast basis
This morning you are transferred to the airport for your departing flight.
