8-Day Uganda Wildlife Safari with Rafting and Gorilla Trekking

• Arrive at the airport, where you will be welcomed and transferred to your hotel by our company guide. However, if your arrival time is early in the morning, you can immediately start the safari by travelling to Jinja for white water rafting on the mighty Nile River. The journey to Jinja passes through different towns en route, giving you an insight into the activities of the people as they go about their daily lives.
• This tour allows you to enjoy the natural breeze of the Mabira forest and the picturesque views of both the sugarcane and tea plantations.
• Upon arrival in Jinja, enjoy white water rafting that will create a long-lasting, memorable experience. This adventurous activity is carried out on the mighty Nile River. The River Nile is the longest river in the world, starting from Uganda-Jinja and running up to the Mediterranean Sea.

Overnight: Speke Hotel.

• After breakfast, enjoy a memorable safari by driving to the north-west of Uganda along the Kampala-Gulu Highway to Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary and Murchison Falls National Park.
• Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary is endowed with 22 re-introduced White rhinos. The rhino tracking exercise starts with a briefing from a specialized site ranger, after which you proceed to track the rhinos. This activity typically takes between 30 minutes and an hour, depending on where the rhinos are located in the sanctuary. Your time at the sanctuary will provide you with an opportunity to learn more about the White rhinos in Africa.

Overnight: Fort Murchison (Tent)

• On the third day, begin your exploration of Murchison Falls National Park with a game drive in the northern circuit of the park.
• This game drive will undoubtedly allow you to see various animals, including lions, leopards, elephants, hartebeests, Uganda kobs, chimpanzees, and many bird species.
• Go for a boat trip in the afternoon to the bottom of Murchison Falls, where the Nile River passes through a narrow gorge 7 meters wide and cascades down to become a serene river whose banks are thronged with hippos, crocodiles, and buffaloes.
• After docking at the bottom of the falls, you will hike to the top of the falls, which might take roughly 30 minutes or slightly more. While at the top, you will experience the Nile forcing itself through a small gap in the rocks with a lot of force; the sight of the rushing water is impressive.

Overnight: Fort Murchison (Tent)

• After breakfast, you will embark on the journey to Queen Elizabeth National Park. This is a long drive that might take several hours, with en-route lunch in Hoima town.
• En route, you may opt for occasional stopovers to enjoy views of beautiful scenery such as the Rift Valley escarpment on Lake Albert.
• Upon arrival, you will check in at the lodge.

Overnight: The Bush Lodge (Tent).

• Early in the morning, you will enter Queen Elizabeth National Park to enjoy the thrilling wonders of Uganda's wildlife. Enjoy a game drive that will expose you to diverse animal species.
• There is a possibility of seeing the Big 4 members, such as elephants, buffaloes, and big cats like lions and leopards, on the game drive. Also, warthogs, hunchback carnivores such as hyenas, and many more species that are residents of this park are spotted along the circuits during the drive.
• After lunch, it is time for the classic highlight of the 2-hour boat cruise on the famous Kazinga Channel, a 36 km channel connecting Lake George to Lake Edward. On the banks, you will undoubtedly see water- and land-adapted hippos yawning and slashing their canines at each other, as well as crocodiles resting along the banks of the lakes.

Overnight: The Bush Lodge (Tent).

• Explore the opportunity to encounter chimpanzees in the forest of Kalinzu. The activity begins with a briefing, where instructions on how to track chimpanzees are given. Chimps share about 98.7% of their DNA with humans, making them the closest relatives to humans. They are social, intelligent, and communicative, and among their fascinating traits are their abilities to use tools like rocks for crushing nuts, empty pods for hollowing out water, and sticks for capturing termites from their holes. A successful chimp track will give you beautiful, lasting memories of Uganda.
• After this expedition, have lunch and transfer to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest for another memorable highlight of this safari.
• Overnight: Gorilla Valley Lodge.

• This day will begin by gathering at the briefing point for guidelines about this great activity. After a briefing by the experienced site ranger, you head into the forest. The trekking duration is determined by the position where the gorillas spent the night and their feeding range.
• Once the gorillas are found, you are allowed to spend an hour with them. You will take in this memorable experience as you stand just a few meters from the gorillas, watching them feed, play, and bond with their young ones. After this activity, you will relax at the lodge, and if you are not tired, you can also take a walk around the community for souvenirs.

Overnight: Gorilla Valley Lodge.

• Have breakfast and embark on the journey to Kampala. Along the way, you will enjoy Uganda's countryside, which is abundantly blessed with eye-catching scenery such as hills, vast banana plantations, and herds of indigenous Ankole cows grazing by the roadside.
• On reaching Mbarara town, have lunch at Igongo Cultural Center.
• Here, you will enjoy a short cultural expedition to the Banyankole tribe of western Uganda. This expedition will undoubtedly enrich you with insight into the traditional and current cultural setup of the people of Ankole.
• Also, stop to visit the Equator that runs through Uganda. It is marvellous to have pictures taken underneath the Equator sign. You can also visit curio and souvenir shops.