7 Days Classic Uganda’s Primate Safari & Wildlife Game Drives
This 7 days Uganda Adventure Safari starts and ends in Entebbe International Airport. Meet eye to eye with the amazing Chimpazess of Uganda in their natural habitat, one of Africa’s major highlights. This close encounter with these amazing apes is simply breathtaking. Also get a close encounter with other diverse African wildlife, beautiful landscapes, and amazing culture and if you are a keen Birder, this is the place to be. Experience the wonder of the World’s renowned Murchison Falls as it squeezes through the narrow gorge.
Itinerary
Day1: Transfer to Murchison Falls National Park with a stopover at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary
After your early morning breakfast drive northwest to Murchison Falls National Park, you will have a stopover at the Rhino Sanctuary for an opportunity to trek Rhinos, there are 15 Rhinos which were reintroduced after their extinction in the 1970s through poaching. A local ranger guide will lead you on foot to an up-close encounter with the rhinos and it may take about 1 and half hours. Proceed to Masindi Town for lunch at your expense and later continue to Murchison Falls National Park arriving at your lodge late afternoon.
Accommodation: Pakuba Safari Lodge or Similar
Meal Plan: Full Board
Day2: Morning Game Drive & Afternoon Boat Cruise – Visit the Top of the Falls
Arise very early in the morning for your game drive on the northern bank of the River Nile in your open-roof vehicle which will give you an excellent opportunity to view and photograph the diverse wildlife. Your guide will help you spot elephant, lion, cape buffalo, Roth child’s giraffe, hartebeest, waterbuck, oribi, bushbuck, bohor reed buck, hyena and if you are lucky, the leopard.
After lunch, go for a boat cruise upstream the calm Victoria Nile to the base of the falls stopping just few of meters from the ‘Devil’s Cauldron’, marvel at the schools of hippos, crocodiles and over the 17km stretch you may see elephant, waterbuck and Uganda Kob. This is also the zone of many birds, species like goliath heron, Egyptian goose, pelican bee-eater, kingfisher, hornbill, cormorant and the rare shoebill stork. After taking shorts of the photogenic Murchison Falls, you may continue to the top of the falls where you will have the amazing view of the falls! See where the Nile -world’s longest river explodes violently through a narrow cleft in the Rift Valley escarpment to plunge into a frothing pool 43m below. Later, return to your lodge and relax in the evening.
Accommodation: Pakuba Safari Lodge or Similar
Meal Plan: Full Board
Day3: Transfer to Kibale Forest National Park
After your morning breakfast, carry packed lunch from the Lodge and begin your journey to Kibale Forest National Park. Drive south via Hoima to Fort Portal through verdant countryside passing through traditional homesteads, farms and Tea Estates. You will arrive at your lodge in the late afternoon. Check in at your lodge for dinner and an overnight stay.
Accommodation: Turracco Tree Tops or Similar
Meal Plan: Full board
Day4: Chimp Trekking & Transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park
After breakfast at your lodge, transfer to the starting point of your Chimpanzee tracking experience in Kibale Forest National Park which is reputed to have the greatest variety and highest concentration of primates in East Africa. The most famous of its 13 species is the Chimpanzee, man’s closest relative. Kibale’s 1450 Chimpanzee represent Uganda’s largest population of this endangered primate. Kibale is also a home to the rare I’Hoest’s monkey. Other primates include the black and white Colobus, Blue monkey, Grey cheeked mangabey, Red tailed monkey, Olive baboon to mention but a few. So you will enjoy a guided nature walk in the tropical rainforest in search of the wild chimpanzees, red-tailed monkeys, black and white colobus monkeys and many others. Although chimp sightings are not guaranteed, visitors stand a good chance of hearing and seeing our distant cousins as they gloom and bond with one another.
After lunch, begin your journey to Queen Elizabeth National Park. Drive south through Fort Portal to the lush Green countryside passing through the Local homesteads, farms and Tea estates, viewing the mystical Rwenzori Back drops. You will arrive at your lodge in the Evening.
Check in at your lodge for dinner and an overnight stay.
Accommodation: Bush Lodge or Similar
Meal Plan: Full Board
Day5: Morning Game Drive and afternoon Boat Cruise into Lake Edward
Queen Elizabeth National Park’s diverse eco-system of grassy plains, tropical forest, rivers, swamps, lakes and volcanic craters is home to an incredible abundance of wildlife. Have an early morning game drive where you have an opportunity to view the massive Rwenzori as backdrop, which provides excellent opportunities to spot lion, leopard, giant forest hog, Cape buffalo, elephant, defassa waterbuck, Uganda Kob, topi and bushbuck. The game drives and the boat trip (taken prior) are memorable methods of discovering a vast array of Ugandan wildlife. Be sure to have your camera ready for these amazing sightings!
Enjoy lunch and later in the afternoon take a unique 2-hour boat cruise on the Kazinga Channel into Lake Edward. This trip passes through possibly the highest concentration of hippos and this launch/cruise offers an excellent platform for photography, bird watching and game viewing. The prolific bird life is colorful and stupendous, with well over 550 resident species.
Accommodation: Bush Lodge or Similar
Meal Plan: Full Board
Day6: Transfer to Lake Mburo National Park
After breakfast, at 08.00 hours you will travel to L. Mburo National Park, the smallest National Park of Uganda. Though being small, it has a lot offer!! Centered on a series of swamp-fringed lakes its birdlife is very rich. The green acacia woodland harbors wildlife like Zebra, warthog, Eland, Impala, not to mention the lake itself, which is home to schools of hippos and crocodiles!
Furthermore, Uganda Wildlife Authority recently brought 15 giraffes from Murchison falls to Lake Mburo. You will arrive at the lodge in time for lunch. Later in the afternoon at 16:00 enjoy the boat ride on Lake Mburo and get quite close to the croc and hippos. As you return to your Lodge, you may have an evening game drive as you return to your lodge.
Accommodation: Rwakobo Rock or Similar
Meal Plan: Full Board
Day7: Transfer to the Airport for Outbound Flight Back Home
After Breakfast, Drive to the Airport with a stopover at the Equator for water experience, here you will too have an opportunity to stand in 2 hemispheres at the same time. Take some photos, then another stop over at the Mpigi Royal Drum Makers where you will be able to watch the ceremonial drums being crafted using methods passed down through the generations arriving in the Late Afternoon for an out bound flight back home.
