Tour name: 5 Days Apes & Savana Wildlife experience
Travel dates: Departure can be organised for any time throughout the year, subject to the availability of accommodation and transport.
Introduction
This tour that starts and ends in Kampala/ Entebbe is arguably the greatest conceivable combination for a safari in such a short time for people who just have a few days in Uganda. It combines gorilla trekking in the impenetrable jungle of Bwindi, game drives, and a boat tour in Queen Elizabeth National Park along the famous Kazinga channel. Ending with chimp tracking in Kyambura Gorge.
Itinerary
- Day 1: Transfer to Bwindi
- Day 2: Gorilla trekking
- Day 3: Tree climbing lions and transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park
- Day 4: Game drive and boat safari
- Day 5: Chimp tracking and transfer to Kampala/ Entebbe
Detailed day-by-day itinerary.
Day 1: Transfer to Bwindi
After breakfast, your safari guide will brief you about the trip. The tour will then start to Bwindi the southwest of Uganda. The journey to Bwindi is long, but it will be punctuated by photo opportunities, a brief experience at the equator, and a lunch stop, and we will arrive in the evening at our destination. The first stop will be at The Equator Point, where there will be photo opportunities and a water presentation that vividly depicts the wonders of being at the center of the globe. Continue on your journey until you reach Mbarara Town, where you will stop for lunch. After lunch, drive into the renowned Kigezi Highlands, widely known as the “Switzerland of Africa,”!! Enjoy the freshness of the woodland breeze as you approach Bwindi Forest and wonder at the slope scraping the clouds.
Check into your chosen lodge or a comparable establishment.
Day 2: Gorilla trekking
Wake up early, eat an early breakfast, and rush to attend the briefing by the head ranger as the day unfolds with the freshness and natural rhythms of the Bwindi Forest. Grab your walking stick and unite behind your assigned ranger guide to track one of the man’s closest cousins.
Meeting the endangered Mountain gorillas in their natural habitat in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is a once-in-a-lifetime event.
Under the mist-covered canopy of Uganda’s oldest and most biologically diverse rainforest, half of the world’s population of gorillas lives. You’ll be tracing the whereabouts of one of the nine habituated family groups who live here with the help of an expert park ranger.
Before you reach the realm of these gentle giants, you’ll embark on a fascinating, yet tough adventure through forested (sometimes muddy and slippery) hills, tangled vines, thick foliage, and bamboo woods. Your ranger will point you traces of prior gorilla activity along the way, including excrement or dung, nests, and chewed bamboo shoots. The hike can take anywhere from 2 to 7 hours depending on where the gorillas are on any particular day. Once you’ve found the gorilla family, relax and enjoy the hour you have to silently observe these amazing animals whose routines and mannerisms are so similar to our own.
Encountering mountain gorillas in the wild is a really humbling and emotional experience that you will never forget.
When you leave for the hike, don’t forget to bring your tracking permit and your passport (original).
Day 3: Tree climbing lions and transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park
Early in the morning, on a misty and chilly morning, watch the sunrise squeeze through the clouds. Take advantage of your final moments under the rule of critically endangered mountain gorillas. After breakfast, say your goodbyes and join your driver-guide on a scenic drive through the Kihihi area to the Katookye gate, which allows you to enter the Ishasha sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park. Take a game drive through the southern circuit in search of the renowned tree-climbing lions. After a picnic lunch, continue on your adventure through a gorgeous green belt, where you may see Topis, Elephants, or Olive Baboons, among other animals.
For the rest of the evening, check into Bush Lodge or something similar.
Day 4: Game drive and boat safari
The scenic Queen Elizabeth National Park is located in southern Uganda and is frequently visited by tourists. It is the country’s second-largest park, situated at the foot of the spectacular Rwenzori Mountain range, between Lake Edward and Lake George, which are connected by the Kazinga waterway. Few reserves on the planet offer as diverse a landscape like this one, with savannah, bushland, wetlands, and lush woods. It’s time to explore the Queen Elizabeth National Park’s 200 kilometers of well-maintained game viewing paths on your first game drive.
Wake up to the sounds of nature, have breakfast before heading out on a sunrise game drive across the Kasenyi plains, with the possibility to see African elephants, African Cape buffaloes, Uganda Kobs, leopards, and lions, as well as over 600 bird species. We’ll then return to the resort for a sumptuous lunch before taking a boat tour in the Kazinga channel waterway. On your game drive, we recommend being aware and proactive in order to assist the ranger in spotting as many animals as possible.
The boat tour along the Kazinga channel is amazing and spectacular as it sails through herds of buffalo and schools of hippos. Kazinga Channel is a lifeline/habitat for Nile Crocodiles, perhaps the world’s biggest concentration of Hippos, several types of Egrets, Goliath Herons, Saddle-billed Storks, African Fish Eagles, Egyptian Geese, and Cormorants, among other bird species. Elephants, buffaloes, and numerous other bird species can be found in the waterway. After the boat trip return to the lodge for leisure and overnight.
Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner are all included in this meal plan.
Day 5 – Tracking Chimpanzees Travel to Kampala / Entebbe.
Enjoy an early breakfast and check-out while watching the sunrise over the Queen Elizabeth National Park plains. Transfer to Kyambura Gorge to begin your chimp-tracking adventure. Indigenous people were unable to locate the source of water that runs through the gorge. Kyambura means “I searched and failed to find.” In the thick forest on the gorge’s banks, the closest “cousins of man” (chimpanzees) reside and roam. Tracking chimps here entails descending and ascending the gorge’s banks. Apart from chimps, the Kyambura Gorge is a breeding ground for greater and lesser flamingos, as well as the great Egret. Return to the staging area and meet your driver and drive straight back to Kampala or Entebbe through a leisurely but gorgeous ride through the hills, valleys, tea plantations, and trading centres.
Transfer to your Kampala home or a similar location
Breakfast and lunch are included in the price of the package.
This is the end of a fabulous trip!
Mwebale munonga! Veilen Dank (Thank you!)