Start the Uganda Primates tour from the Airport or your hotel in Entebbe or Kampala, and drive to Kibale National Park. Briefing on the safari before we drive westwards towards Fort Portal to the Kibale Forest National Park (about 5 hours). Travelling on both asphalt and unpaved roads, you pass through traditional Ugandan villages where you see people at work tending their traditional millet, sorghum, beans and maize crops. The lush rolling hills of this region provide good photo opportunities.

As you approach Fort Portal in the foothills of the Rwenzori Mountains, you enter Uganda's famous tea plantation region. A carpet of green spreads before you, as far as the eye can see, and seems an unusual contrast to the countryside through which you have just passed. You arrive at Fort Portal, then continue toward Kibale Forest, a great African rainforest research reserve. Years of study by scientists (who have cut a grid through the forest) have habituated many of its animals to human observers. This forest is famed for the variety of primates found here, and it is a terrific area for birds. This rural Ugandan town (Fort Portal) is locally famous for its weaving and basketry, and we can spend some time briefly examining some of this local art.

Accommodation options available (all on a full board basis)

Up-market: Kyaninga Lodge | Primate Lodge Kibale | Ndali Lodge

Moderate: Isunga Lodge | Turaco Treetops

Low Budget: Kibale Forest Camp | Chimpanzee Forest Guesthouse

Assemble at Kanyankyu River camp at 08:00 hours to go for the most popular park activity, chimpanzee tracking.

Chimpanzees are man’s closest cousins, though they are one of the most threatened primate species. More primates like black and white colobus monkeys, L’Hoest monkeys, grey-cheeked mangabey, red-tailed monkeys, bush babies, pottos and many bird species like the yellow spotted nicator, rumped tinker bird, little greenbul, green-breasted pitta, the crowned eagle, black bee-eater and mammals like elephants can be seen in this walk.

Kibale National Park, which averages about 3,300 feet in elevation, is an extension of the great rainforests of Central Africa. Three large communities of chimps inhabit it, each numbering more than 100 individuals. Each community has a complicated social structure. The big adult males dominate the group and defend the community territory against incursions by male outsiders; the females usually wander in small family groups.

Typically, we locate the chimps by listening to their pant-hooting calls, then hustle to the area from which they are calling. We observe them as they feed in fruiting trees, lounge, socialise with each other, or even occasionally hunt.

In the afternoon, we visit a nearby forest swamp that is excellent for viewing primates and other forest animals. At the eastern edge of Kibale Forest is Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary, which the local community maintains. You will expect birds like the great blue turaco, blue monkeys, baboons, otters, mongoose, bushbucks, and bush pigs.

Accommodation options available (all on a full board basis)

Up-market: Kyaninga Lodge | Primate Lodge Kibale | Ndali Lodge

Moderate: Isunga Lodge | Turaco Treetops 

Low Budget: Kibale Forest Camp | Chimpanzee Forest Guesthouse

Very early in the morning, after breakfast, you will set off for Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park via the Kabale-Kisoro route or Isasha Sector with a packed lunch. On your way, you will enjoy scenery views of different mountains and beautiful plantations. 

Accommodation options available (all on a full board basis)

Up-market: Mahogany Springs Lodge | Buhoma Lodge |Chameleon Hill Lodge | Nkuringo Gorilla Lodge Bwindi

Moderate: Ichumbi Gorilla Lodge| Engagi Lodge | Gorilla Mist Camp

Low Budget: Gorilla Haven Lodge Rushaga | Ruhija Gorilla Friends Camp | Gorilla Conservation Camp

After breakfast, proceed for the morning briefing before enjoying the highlight of the trip - gorilla trekking, which may last the entire day. We trek through the rainforest and bamboo-covered slopes, accompanied by a guide and trackers, searching for a mountain gorilla family. The walking can sometimes be tough and long, but when you glimpse the magnificent silverback, any discomforts will be quickly forgotten. When sighted, visitors will be guided to within 6 meters of the gorillas and sit around them for an hour while gazing into their big round eyes.

Gorilla trekking is unpredictable. It's difficult to foresee how many hours you will hike. The gorilla excursion can take from 2 to 8 hours. Expect to walk long distances in steep and muddy conditions, sometimes with rain overhead, before encountering gorillas. A good physical condition is recommended. For conservation purposes, time spent with the gorillas is limited to one hour. A ranger will brief you on how to behave with the gorillas.

Accommodation options available (all on a full board basis)

Up-market: Mahogany Springs Lodge | Buhoma Lodge |Chameleon Hill Lodge | Nkuringo Gorilla Lodge Bwindi

Moderate: Ichumbi Gorilla Lodge| Engagi Lodge | Gorilla Mist Camp

Low Budget: Gorilla Haven Lodge Rushaga | Ruhija Gorilla Friends Camp | Gorilla Conservation Camp

Early breakfast before embarking on our return to Kampala, driving down southwestern Uganda's grassed and terraced escarpments while taking in the breathtaking sights of the region's hills dubbed ‘the little Switzerland of Africa’.

This area is a highly fertile, mountainous region with steep-sided hills covered from top to bottom in neatly terraced cultivated rows. Not to miss as we traverse Mbarara are the impressing longhorn Ankole cattle.

A remarkable highlight of this journey is the Equator line, and surely you will cross it as we have a brief stop here. We will be in Kampala in the evening before your flight back home.