9-Day Uganda Safari with Ziwa Rhinos and Kibale Chimp Tracking

• Arrive in Entebbe following your flight from your country of origin. Land at Entebbe International Airport, the main gateway to the Pearl of Africa, where you will receive a courteous welcome.
• After a short briefing about your 8 days on the Uganda safari, transfer to your hotel in Entebbe for relaxation, dinner, and an overnight stay.

Highlight: Landing at Entebbe International Airport with a magnificent view of the lake.

• After an early morning breakfast, embark on a 305 km (4-5 hours) drive northwest of Uganda to Murchison Falls National Park, with a stopover at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, the proud home to Uganda's only wild white rhinos, currently numbering 32. Embark on a 2-hour rhino trekking experience on foot in the company of an experienced ranger guide, after which you will proceed with your journey to Murchison Falls, with a stopover for lunch at Kabalega's Diner in Nakasongola.
• Proceed and arrive in the park in the late evening for lodge check-in, dinner, and an overnight stay.

Highlight for the day: Tracking wild southern white rhinos on foot.

• After an early morning breakfast at 6:30 am, embark on a scenic Buligi game drive lasting about 3-4 hours through the savannah plains in the northern sector of the park, where you may sight African bush elephants, Cape buffaloes, Rothschild giraffes, Jackson's hartebeest, Uganda kobs, as well as cats like lions, leopards, hyenas, and many others. Afterwards, return to the lodge for relaxation and lunch.
• In the afternoon, link up with a guide and connect to Paraa Jetty for a 2-3 hour evening boat cruise along the world's longest river, offering magnificent sightings of aquatic mammals like hippos snorting everywhere. Giant crocodiles lurk menacingly from the sandbars as elephants play in the water in the company of buffaloes, antelopes like waterbuck, impala, and kobs, together with water birds such as the shoebill, yellow-billed stork, African skimmer, squacco heron, Abyssinian ground hornbill, and African jacana.
• On reaching the bottom of the falls, disembark from the boat and hike to the top of the falls, where you encounter the staggering power and thunderous roar with which the Nile bursts through the 7-meter-wide gap in the escarpment gorge before dropping down 45 meters. This creates a blue fume of spray marked by a thunderous roar and a trademark rainbow in what is described as the Devil's Cauldron, before the river continues its 6,650 km journey to the Mediterranean Sea. Retreat from the activity and return to the lodge for relaxation, dinner, and an overnight stay.

The highlight of the day: Sighting hippos and the Devil's Cauldron.

• After an early morning breakfast at 6:30 am, embark on a scenic Buligi game drive lasting about 3-4 hours through the savannah plains in the northern sector of the park, where you may sight African bush elephants, Cape buffaloes, Rothschild giraffes, Jackson's hartebeest, Uganda kobs, as well as cats like lions, leopards, hyenas, and many others. Afterwards, return to the lodge for relaxation and lunch.
• In the afternoon, link up with a guide and connect to Paraa Jetty for a 2-3 hour evening boat cruise along the world's longest river, offering magnificent sightings of aquatic mammals like hippos snorting everywhere. Giant crocodiles lurk menacingly from the sandbars as elephants play in the water in the company of buffaloes, antelopes like waterbuck, impala, and kobs, together with water birds such as the shoebill, yellow-billed stork, African skimmer, squacco heron, Abyssinian ground hornbill, and African jacana.
• On reaching the bottom of the falls, disembark from the boat and hike to the top of the falls, where you encounter the staggering power and thunderous roar with which the Nile bursts through the 7-meter-wide gap in the escarpment gorge before dropping down 45 meters. This creates a blue fume of spray marked by a thunderous roar and a trademark rainbow in what is described as the Devil's Cauldron, before the river continues its 6,650 km journey to the Mediterranean Sea. Retreat from the activity and return to the lodge for relaxation, dinner, and an overnight stay.
• After an early morning breakfast at 6:30 am, check out of the lodge and embark on a 354 km/6-7 hour drive through the Albertine Escarpment. The route is incredibly scenic, passing through villages, lush green countryside, and hills dotted with tea plantations that characterize this part of Uganda, with a stopover for lunch in the oil city of Hoima Town.
• Later, proceed to Fort Portal Town, a tourist city and one of the Pearl of Africa's most attractive towns, situated amid lush rolling hillsides and enveloped in neat tea plantations in the shadows of the Mountains of the Moon. Connect to the lodge for dinner and an overnight stay.

• After an early morning breakfast at 6:30 am, meet up with the driver and connect to Kibale's Kanyanchu Visitor Centre for a briefing, after which you will be allocated an experienced guide and start the trekking exercise at 8:00 am in the forest in search of our closest cousin, the chimpanzee. This takes about 1-4 hours depending on their location, with chances of spotting other primate species such as red-tailed monkeys, vervet monkeys, grey-cheeked mangabeys, and black-and-white colobus monkeys. Once the chimpanzees are found, you will have an hour to watch them feed, play, fight, and hunt as you observe their behaviour at close range, after which you will connect with a guide at the starting point for transfer to the lodge and settle for lunch.
• Later in the afternoon, pay a short visit to the Royal Palace of the Toro Kingdom, located uphill with panoramic views of Fort Portal Town at 3,600 feet, before connecting to the Amabeere Caves, famous for their breast-like features and the Nyinamwiru story, if time permits. Visit crater lake fields like Kigere and Wabikere and summit the famous Kweganya Hills for panoramic views of crater lakes with hollow shapes and the Rwenzori Mountains, after which you will return to the lodge for dinner and an overnight stay.

• Early in the morning, after breakfast, embark on a 58 km or 1-2 hour journey to Semuliki National Park, an extension of the great Ituri Forest of Congo, for primate watching and a 2-4 hour Sempaya Hot Springs nature walk along the 8 km walking trail to sight and explore both the male and female springs, with the latter featuring a hot boiling geyser (1000 C) that sprouts up to 2 meters high. Sight black-and-white colobus monkeys, vervet monkeys, and grey-cheeked mangabeys along the trail. Visit the Batwa pygmies of Ntandi, one of the endangered tribes living in the forest of Semuliki. Participate in traditional cultural dances with them, after which you will return to the lodge for lunch.
• Check out of the lodge for transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park, 80 km or 1-2 hours along the Fort Portal-Pond Road, enjoying the scenic views of the Rwenzori Mountains and arriving in the park with thrilling views of wildlife as you connect to the lodge for dinner and an overnight stay.

• After an early morning breakfast, embark on a 3-4 hour morning game drive along the Kasenyi Plains, exploring Queen Elizabeth Park's rolling savannah landscape dotted with wild game, including elephants, buffaloes, lions, waterbuck, leopards, topis, Uganda kob, and warthogs, not forgetting birds like the yellow-throated longclaw, grey crowned cranes, and red-throated spurfowl, among others, after which you will return to the lodge for relaxation and lunch.
• Later in the afternoon, connect to Mweya Jetty, where you will gather and then board the boat for a 2-3 hour thrilling afternoon cruise along the 40 km Kazinga Channel to view some of the largest concentrations of hippos in the world, as well as crocodiles, elephants, antelopes, waterbucks, and buffaloes basking across the shores of the channel. Many bird species are also sighted, including yellow-billed and saddle-billed storks, jacanas, marabou storks, African shoebills, African skimmers, and black bee-eaters, among others. Retreat from the activity and connect to the lodge for relaxation, dinner, and an overnight stay.

• After an early morning breakfast, meet up with the driver for a long day drive to Entebbe with an en route lunch stopover at Igongo Cultural Centre for a typical African buffet, with another stopover at the Uganda Equator crossing at Kayabwe for a fantastic photo shoot and equator water experiment. Retreat from the activity and proceed with the journey. Arrive in Entebbe in the late evening for dinner and an overnight stay at the hotel.

• After breakfast, check out from your hotel. Your guide will be waiting to transfer you to Entebbe Airport to catch your flight back home. With all the unforgettable memories and experiences from your adventurous safari, you will say your last goodbyes to the Pearl of Africa.