Day 1: Arrive at Uganda’s Entebbe International Airport

Arrive at the airport. After customs, you will meet with the company representative and commence your drive to your first stop-over, Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary.

Stay: Amuka Lodge

Approx: 4 hours Drive

Meal plan: Dinner

 

Day 2: Ziwa Sanctuary to Kidepo Valley National Park

Start the day with breakfast, then conduct on foot Rhino trekking. This takes about 1-2 hours all depending on the location of the rhinos. Visiting the sanctuary will give one a wonderful encounter and brings you at close and safe distance to these rare endangered magnificent animals. After the trekking, you will travel to Kidepo NP. Lunch will be taken on the way. The park is one of the isolated parks in Uganda and you will agree it’s the most magnificent among Africa’s finest wilderness. The park has 2 rivers Kidepo and Narus, which disappear in the dry season leaving just pools for the wildlife. The Local communities around the park include pastoral Karamojong people similar to the Maasai of Kenya and the IK, a hunter-gatherer tribe whose survival is threatened.  The biologically diverse region also provides shelter to a further 120 mammals including several primate species such as baboons and chimpanzees as well as elephants and antelopes. It has around 350 bird species including 23 Albertine rift endemics. Welcome to Kidepo Valley National Park.

Stay: Kidepo Savannah Lodge 

Approx: 7-8hours drive

Meal plan: B/L/D

 

Day 3: Game drives and Karamonjong Village visit

Take breakfast, and after drive to the park for game viewing into the vast plains of the Kidepo valley where you will be able to spot some of the park’s lions that may be sitting in ‘’sausage trees’’ along the Narus valley or on the rocks at the entrance of Apoka park headquarters. Other wildlife includes; Elephants, Leopard, Bushbucks, and much more. Lunch will be taken at the hotel. In the afternoon, you will then visit a local community of the Karamajong tribe who are similar to the famous Masai of Kenya and learn about their traditions and culture. Later, you will be treated to a traditional dance presentation, and after return to the lodge to refresh yourselves, relax and reminisce on the day’s activity, and later have dinner.

Stay: Kidepo Savannah Lodge

Meal plan: B/L/D

 

Day 4: Unlimited game viewing, Hot Springs & nature walk

Today is a full day of exploring the park. Start with game viewing south of Narus Valley which contains the park’s only permanent water points and wildlife congregates in this area for much of the year. Look out for buffalos and elephants in swamps along the valley floor, giraffes and eland on the drier slopes, and scan the rocks outcrops for lions. Take packed lunch from the hotel which will be a picnic. You will visit the Hot springs via the palm trees lined Kidepo River, in search of Ostriches, Leopards, and Tortoises. And finish with a guided nature walk exploring the savannah by foot, accompanied by an armed ranger along dry river beds over rocky outcrops and through bushland to track the resident wildlife.

Stay: Kidepo Savannah Lodge

Meal plan: B/L/D

 

Day 5: Kidepo Valley to Fort Murchison

After breakfast, leave Kidepo for Fort Murchison with sightseeing and scenery along. You will be moved by the most beautiful scenery in the countryside. The lodge is set on the Eastern banks of the slow-flowing Albert Nile, situated in the former Aswa Lolim game reserve just outside the northern park boundary of Murchison Falls National Park’s beautiful surroundings looking out on the majestic Albert Nile.

Stay: Fort Murchison Lodge

Approx: 6hour Drive

Meal plan: B/L/D

 

Day 6: Game drive, boat ride, and hike to the top of the falls

After breakfast, embark on an extensive game drive in one of the oldest wildlife conservancies in East Africa, with a wide range of animals in the Nile Valley. You will marvel at the herds of buffalos, dozens of elephants, warthogs, and towering giraffes, along with bushbucks, reedbuck, duikers, kobs, oribi, and many more. In the afternoon, take a boat cruise towards the falls where the NILE waters drop 43m through a 7m wide gorge at the bottom bask huge Nile Crocodiles, Hippos in the water, Elephants, and Buffalos besides plain game on the shore. You will then get to hike to the top of the falls and experience the booming roar of the falls.

Stay: Fort Murchison Lodge

Approx: 2-4hour game drive

Boat ride: 3 hours

Approx: 45-1hour walk to the top of the falls

Meal plan: B/L/D

 

Day 7: Kibale National Park

After breakfast, you will leave Fort Murchison through Masindi and Hoima on a clear day, with a view of the Albert rift. Drive towards the legendary mountain or mountain range in East Africa also passing through the tea plantations of Fort Portal to Kibale National Park. With lunch en route, this is a full day’s drive. Your tented camp is located in a patch of evergreen forest just outside the southern part of Kibale Park bordering the Magombe swamp, known for the Bigodi wetland.

Stay:  Kibale Forest Camp

Approx: 7 hours Drive

Meal Plan: B/L/D

 

Day 8: Chimpanzee Experience and Bigodi Swamp walk

07:30 am arriving at the park headquarters for a briefing on chimpanzee trekking in Kibale Forest. Start the search for these primates in the forest. Chimpanzees share 97% of human DNA and are considered to be our closest living relatives. You will also encounter various primates like the white and black colobus monkeys, red-tailed monkeys, and more. You will return to the hotel for lunch. After lunch, you will take a fascinating 2-3hour walk in the Bigodi swamp, rich in biodiversity and scenic views. The trail is through the papyrus wetland sanctuary accompanied by a trained local guide on this walk, you will find different bird species, primates like the blue monkeys, baboons, otters, mongoose, bush bucks, and bush pigs among others.

Stay: Kibale Forest Camp

Approx: Chimps 2-4hous trek

Approx: Bigodi 2-3hours

Meal Plan: B/L/D

 

Day 9: Kibale to QENP

After breakfast, you will leave today to the world-famous Queen Elizabeth National Park, crossing the equator along the way. The park resides in a fertile, equatorial area and has a beautiful scenery. It is set against the backdrop of the jagged Rwenzori Mountains. The park’s magnificent visitors include dozens of enormous craters carved dramatically into rolling green hills, panoramic views of the Kazinga Channel, as well as its outstanding wildlife and fascinating cultural history. After lunch, you will proceed to the Mweya peninsula to take a 14:00 pm boat ride on Kazinga Channel, which connects Lake Edward and Lake George giving you an amazing opportunity for photography moments. After the boat ride, you will take a leisurely game drive along the channel track and looping trails before returning to your lodge for dinner.

Stay: Bush Lodge

Approx: 2-3hours Drive

Meal Plan: B/L/D

 

Day 10: Drive to Bwindi

After an early morning breakfast, check out of the lodge and meet up with your guide to leave the beautiful Queen Elizabeth National Park and embark on your journey to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, a world heritage site through Ishasha in search of tree climbing Lions. The name Bwindi comes from the extensive stands of bamboo interspersed amongst the larger forest hardwoods. It is a sanctuary for colobus monkeys, chimpanzees, and many birds also notable for the 400 Mountain Gorillas half of the world’s population among which are a number of habituated groups that can be tracked by visitors.  Arrive late afternoon and check into your accommodation for relaxation and later dinner, and overnight at your booked accommodation.

Stay: Haven Lodge

Approx: 3-4hours Drive

Meal plan: B/L/D

 

Day 11: Mountain Gorilla trekking Bwindi – Lake Mburo

07:30 am Mountain Gorilla trekking in the Buhoma section of Bwindi. The park protects an estimated 400 Mountain Gorillas which is roughly half of the world’s population including several habituated groups which can be tracked. The biological diverse region also provides shelter to a further 120 mammals including several primate species such as baboons, chimpanzees, as well as elephants, and antelopes. The ranger will lead you to start your trek and after hiking some distance depending on the location of the Gorillas, you will sight them and spend up to 1hr with them. Take a picnic lunch break, after start to descend back to meet with your driver guide who will transfer you to the lodge so you may reminisce on the day’s experience.

In the afternoon after the gorilla experience, you will engage in a charitable organization set to support women struggling with poverty, HIV, and domestic violence called Ride 4 a Woman which has activities like basket weaving or learning to pedal sew with the local women of Buhoma, choosing your own fabric and the produce anything from a coin purse or pillowcase dress to take home as souvenirs. After, you will leave for Lake Mburo the smallest park in Uganda, It is home to 68 different species of mammal including leopards, hyenas, and buffalos. It will take you around 5-6hours through the small villages, plantations, and hills to get there.

Stay: Kigambira Safari Lodge

Approx: 5-6hours Drive

Meal plan: B/L/D

 

Day 12: Lake Mburo to Entebbe Airport

Take an early morning nature walk beginning at 07:00 am for 2 hours accompanied by the ranger guide. This walk offers an amazing experience in the savannah park, giving you up-close views of several animals. Locations include the salt lick at Rwonyo, the lakes banks, and a hilltop with gorgeous lake views. After, you will commence driving back to Entebbe with a brief stopover at the Uganda Equator. This makes it the end of the tour. Depending on your time of departure, our representatives from the company will transfer you directly to Entebbe airport to catch your return flight back home.

Approx: 4 hours Drive

Meal plan: B/L