Overview

Your 15 days Best of Uganda vacation will take you to interesting and enjoyable attractions in Uganda the Pearl of Africa and among are the Sempaya hot springs in Semliki National Park accompanied with the endemic species of birds, you will also visit Kibale national Park for primate watching including chimpanzee trekking since the park is near the Ndali Kasenda crater lakes, this calls for a craters exploration while in Kibale with Isunga cultural community, you cannot miss bigodi swamp for a nature walk.

You will also do a game drive and boat cruise in the savanna national parks of Queen Elizabeth and Lake Mburo respectively, mountain gorilla trekking and golden monkey trekking in Bwindi and Mgahinga national parks also a cultural encounter of the Batwa and finally the tour around the capital city of Uganda which is Kampala.

Detailed itinerary

Day1: Arrival at the airport in Entebbe and transfer to Semliki national park

Being your first day of safari, you will be picked by our company representative together with a driver-guide who will give you a quick briefing about the tour and after, he drive to the western part of Uganda Semlik National Park is located. On your way, you will have a stopover in Mubende where you will buy some snacks and then proceed to your lodge arriving late in the evening and having your dinner there and resting as you prepare for the next activity.

Day2: Birding and visiting the Sempaya hot springs

Have your well-served morning breakfast at your lodge and head to the park headquarters where you will be taken to the point where birding starts after being briefed by the ranger bird guide. This park is known for homing over 400 bird species such as white-tailed hornbills, capuchin babbler, blue-headed created flycatcher and many more endemic species of Uganda thus being referred to as the birder’s haven. After birding, you will head back to your lodge for lunch as you are waiting for your next activity in the evening.

In the evening, your driver-guide will drive you to Sempaya hot springs which are located near the park headquarters. There are two hot springs the male being known as Bitente and the female hot springs known as ”Nyansimbi” which means female ancestors. During this experience, visitors should not live behind eggs for boiling in cooking pools.

Day3: Transfer to Kibale National Park and crater lake exploration with Isunga community tour

On this third of your safari, wake up in the morning and have your breakfast at the lodge as you are waiting for your driver guide who will drive you to any lodge near   Kibale National Park. You will have your lunch here, relax and warm up yourselves for crater lake exploration in the evening.

In the evening, a guide from Isunga cultural community will pick you up from the lodge and take you for crater lake exploration. You will explore some of the Ndali Kasenda crater lakes like lake Nyabikere, Nyinabulitwa and Nyamirima among others. While on these crater lakes you will have a look at the types of fish caught there, and different water birds among other attractions. Return to the lodge for dinner and overnight stay.

Day 4: Chimpanzee trekking and bigodi swamp walk  

Be served with a heavy breakfast in the morning and drive to Kibale National Park headquarters for permits. You will then drive to the Kanyanchu visitors centre where trekking is done, you will meet the park ranger guide who will take you through a quick briefing about the experience immediately after that, you will head for chimpanzee trekking which will take 3-4 hours depending on the movements of these primates.

When the chimpanzees are found you will be allowed to spend 1 hour in their presence as you watch them jump from one tree to another, communicate, eat, and groom each other among other behaviours. You can take photos as well for remembrance. Retreat to the lodge for lunch and relaxation and in the evening, you will go to the Bigodi swamp for a walk.

While in the swamp walk, you will have a look at a variety of birds like great blue turacos, black bee-eater, black-capped Apalis, papyrus gonolek among others, primates like black and white Colobus monkeys, red-tailed monkey, grey-cheeked mangabey and several. After a long walk around the bigodi swamp, you will go back to the lodge for dinner and an overnight stay.

Day5: Transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park and boat cruise at Kazinga channel

After your breakfast, you will transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park and it is not far away from Kibale as it will take you a 2-3hours to drive to the booked lodge where you will have your lunch.

Then after you will head for a boat cruise on the Kazinga channel which will provide you with a view of the wildlife queen-like hippos on the river banks, crocodiles in the water, water birds like pelicans, Kingfishers, crakes and many others. After that drive back to the lodge for dinner and your night.

Day6: Game drive and explore lake Katwe

In the morning, you will have your breakfast and your driver-guide will pick you up from the lodge to the park headquarters where your game drive starts with a briefing from the ranger guide. Immediately you will drive heading to the Kasenyi plains and you will have a great view of wildlife a bit closer like Uganda kobs, Forest elephants, and buffalos, you also have high chances of seeing the rare tree-climbing lions and taking photos becomes sweeter while on the game drive. Move back to the lodge for lunch.

In the evening after resting, you will go to explore the Salt Lake Katwe where you will be escorted by a local guide to the lake who will explain how salt is extracted using evaporation pans. You can proceed to lake Munyanyange which is home to a variety of water birds including the migrating lesser flamingos in August and November. Retreat to the lodge for dinner.

Day7: Transfer to Bwindi impenetrable national park

Wake up early in the morning and have your breakfast as soon as you finish your breakfast, you will be driven by your driver guide to the extreme south western Uganda where Bwindi is located, this park is well known for hosting the mountain gorillas and it is having half of the world’s mountain gorillas.

You will have a stopover at any hotel on your way to Bwindi for a picnic lunch and then you will proceed with your journey to this beautiful park.

Day8:  Mountain gorilla trekking and Batwa cultural experience

This is the day you have been eagerly waiting for, you will have your breakfast very early to cope with the trekking time which normally starts at eight. You will drive to the park headquarters for permits first and then proceed to either Buhoma, Rushaga, Ruhija or Nkuringo sectors for trekking.

You will be briefed by the ranger about the dos and don’ts while in the forest immediately you will set off for trekking which will take several hours looking for mountain gorillas because they tend to move high in the mountain. But if a gorilla family is found, you will be allowed to be in their presence for one like how it is to chimpanzees. This one hour in the presence of these endangered is spent watching them eat, feed, and groom each other among other behaviours. Then the experience will end but memories will remain forever that’s why there is a need for taking photos while in the presence of these gorillas and then moving back to the lodge for lunch.

In the afternoon, you will have the best cultural experience with the Batwa people who first lived in the forest. During this experience, you will look at how these people used to do their things while in the forest like making fire from two dry sticks being rubbed together, hunting among others and the experience will end with cultural entertainment and storytelling from the elderly go back to the lodge for the night as well as dinner.

Day9: Depart to Mgahinga national Park and Batwa trail

In the morning, have your breakfast and immediately head to the smallest national Park ever in Uganda but with a lot of wildlife among the primates like the rare golden monkeys, the mountain gorillas and thus being referred to as where gold meets silver. Not only the above, but the park was also once home to the Batwa people before being crowned as a conservation area thus calling for the Batwa trail experience while in this park.

You will reach the agreed lodge and have your lunch then head for the Batwa trail experience in the evening whereby the Twa guide will lead you back to the forest where they lived first with the wild animals. This will bring you to the real history of the Batwa, and retreat to the lodge for dinner.

Day10: Golden monkey trekking and mountain climbing

With breakfast in the morning, you will set off for golden monkey trekking which will not bore you because you will not only be looking at these monkeys but also other primates, birds and wild animals. Only one hour is also given to you as you watch their behaviour. Move back to the lodge for lunch and warm up yourselves for mountain climbing.

In Mgahinga National Park three mountains lie on the border of Uganda and Rwanda thus favouring the hikers. These mountains are Sabinyo, Gahinga and Muhavura. Of these mountains, Muhavura is the highest with an altitude of 4127metres above sea level followed by mount Sabinyo with an altitude of 3634metres above sea level and Gahinga is the lowest with an altitude of 3474metres above sea level.

One of the interesting things that one should not miss hiking Sabinyo peak where you will be in a position to see three different countries at the same time and these are Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. After the hike, your driver-guide will drive to your lodge for dinner and a night’s stay as you wait for another activity the following day.

Day11: Transfer to Lake Mburo National Park

On the eleventh day, you will have your breakfast and then drive to Lake Mburo. Upon reaching there,  you will have a stopover at any hotel in Mbarara city where you will have your lunch and refreshments then after you will proceed with your journey to the booked lodge for dinner and a night stay.

Day12: Game drive and evening Boat cruise.

Having finished your breakfast, you will move to the park headquarters where you will have a short briefing from the park ranger guide before setting off for a game drive in the park. While on your game drive, you will have a look at wild animals like zebras, Impala and elands since it is the only one with these animals in western Uganda. Not only the above, but you will also see giraffes that were relocated from Murchison national Park in 2015. Return to the lodge for lunch.

In the evening you will have your interesting boat cruise on Lake Mburo, you will see aquatic animals such as crocodiles, hippopotamus and birdlife since the park hosts over 330 species of birds among them are the pelicans, herons, rare finfoot and shoebills. Move back to the lodge for dinner.

Day13: Transfer to Kampala

Wake up in the morning and then have your breakfast then your driver-guide will pick you up from the lodge and drive you back to Kampala. While on your way to Kampala, you cannot miss the equator in Kayabwe for photographic moments while in the two parts of the world at the same time. You can even have your lunch here at any hotel and then proceed with your drive to the city.

Day14: City tour around Kampala

On this 14th day of your safari in Uganda, you will have breakfast at your hotel and then your driver-guide will drive you through the capital city of Uganda, Kampala. While on this amazing city tour, you will explore many things which including; the Uganda museum, while here you will not miss seeing the first car to hit the roads of Uganda, you should not also forget to ask the user the Canon at the entrance, Uganda martyrs trail which takes you to Namugongo east of Kampala where most Uganda martyrs were burnt from.

Don’t forget to buy souvenirs for yourself and your family at home from any craft shop, you can visit and enjoy the freshness of the Ugandan fruits right from the markets in the city. You will return to your hotel after a long drive around the city for lunch and rest waiting for your departure the following day.

Day15: drive back to Kampala and departure

This will be the last day of your Uganda Safari vacation whereby you will wake up in the morning and have your breakfast at your hotel and then your driver-guide will drive you to Entebbe international airport and you will fly back home.

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