10-Day Uganda Safari with Gorillas, Chimps and Big Five Wildlife

Arrive at Entebbe International Airport, where you will be picked up based on your communicated arrival time and transferred to your place of accommodation. Your guide will then brief you on the next day's activities before you settle in for the night.

Embark on a captivating Uganda safari that includes visits to Ziwa Rhinos, wildlife viewing, gorilla trekking, and chimpanzee tracking. Departing from Entebbe/Kampala at 6:30 AM, we journey north towards Murchison Falls National Park, with our first destination being the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary.

Here, guided by expert rangers, you'll track rhinos on foot, coming within 10 meters of these magnificent creatures during a 1.5-hour trek. The sanctuary serves as a nurturing ground for rhinos, with plans for their eventual reintroduction into Murchison Falls Park.

Continuing to Murchison Falls Park, we'll cross the majestic River Nile and drive towards the northern side of the park. After settling in, our safari kicks off around 3 PM with the first game drive of our journey. Expect to see lions, elephants, leopards, buffaloes, giraffes, and more, complemented by the enchanting melodies of savannah birds.

Dinner at the lodge and overnight stay.

After breakfast, you're off for your second game drive. There is nothing like seeing lion cubs with their mother, giraffes grazing, and elephants moving across the savannah. There is an abundance of wildlife found here, such as lions, leopards, warthogs, hyenas, buffalo herds, and antelopes of various kinds.

After lunch, go for the boat launch trip on the Nile. You will move toward Murchison Falls, viewing crocodiles, a vast number of hippos, elephants, buffaloes, antelopes, and lots of birds. At the bottom of the falls, we disembark and take a guided hike to the top of the falls, quite an experience as the ground shakes from the power of the waterfall and the mist from the falls refreshes you.

At the top of the falls, you are met by your driver-guide, and we cross the Nile again, taking a sunset game drive with lots more wildlife to discover before returning to the lodge for dinner and a quiet evening on our second night in the African wilderness with its unique sounds.

After breakfast, we leave for Kibale Forest National Park. This is probably the longest drive of the trip. Kibale Forest is the best place to track chimpanzees in Uganda. You are advised to carry snacks, as it might be a long time before you get a decent meal.

In the afternoon, we take a hike in the Bigodi Wetlands Sanctuary and see lots of birds, most notably the Large Blue Turaco. Bigodi Wetlands is a community project that has been put together quite well, and entrance and guide fees benefit the local community.

Bigodi Swamp - the vegetation alone is worth a visit here, merely a fantastic place that is filled with life. There are no hippos or crocodiles, though it is a jungle.

Bigodi Wetlands Sanctuary is an extension of the vast Central African jungle as it spills over into East Africa. There is no comparable place in all of East Africa as Bigodi Jungle Swamp. It is also a UNESCO Sustainable Tourism Site.

Move to the lodge, check in, have dinner, and stay overnight.

After breakfast, head out to the park headquarters for the pre-track briefing. Chimpanzee tracking is 3.5 hours in length. It's a guided trek in a forest with over 13 primates, where one usually finds at least 5 different types of primates. Then there is the forest itself with its beauty and ruggedness. The chimps you will encounter are habituated, meaning that they are used to human beings.

After lunch, take a 2.5-hour drive to Queen Elizabeth Park, with the most scenic Katwe Explosion Crater drive, 27 kilometers of scenic wonders. It is the highest point of Queen Elizabeth Park, with splendid views of the Rwenzori Mountains of the Moon, the Western Rift Escarpment, and the vast savannah below. There are about 12 explosion craters.

Enjoy an afternoon game drive across the candelabra euphorbia tree-studded savannah, where you will see lions, leopards, bush pigs, giant forest hogs, elephant herds, buffaloes, savannah birds, hyenas, monitor lizards, and more.

Return to the lodge for dinner and a night's rest.

Breakfast before or after the game drive - you can begin your first game drive at the crack of dawn, which is about 6:30 AM here. Mornings are also a time when you see more of the predators returning from their night of prowling, and there is nothing like a savannah sunrise.

Each game drive is about 2.5 to 3 hours in length, and each one is different from the last. Nothing is predictable, but you will more than likely enjoy yourself as nature unfolds and as you slowly drive across the savannah.

Lunch. At 2:00 PM, we go on the 2.5-hour Kazinga Channel boat safari, with one of the highest concentrations of hippos in Africa. This is a pleasant boat ride where you can get some great pictures of elephants, antelopes, crocodiles, monitor lizards, predators in the late afternoon, and buffaloes on the shore. Hopefully, you will get an open-mouthed hippo shot with your camera.

Depending on your energy levels, we're happy to run a late afternoon game drive before returning to the lodge.

After breakfast, we are off for Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and the Buhoma area. We drive 2.5 hours south and turn off at the Ishasha region of the park, the unvisited part of Queen Elizabeth Park.

Here, we go on a game drive to see the tree-climbing lions of Ishasha, the best place in Africa to see tree-climbing lions. Ishasha is not only the place for tree-climbing lions, but also other wildlife such as large herds of elephants, topi antelopes, buffalo herds, leopards, and much more in this region of Queen Elizabeth Park.

After visiting the tree-climbing lions, we have lunch at a savannah resort, and then after lunch, we continue to the Buhoma area of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, where we check into our lodge, which will provide you with all the comforts you will need before and after the gorilla trek.

You will need to take a packed lunch and be sure to have two liters of water with you as you are off for gorilla trekking. A gorilla trek, for most, is the experience of a lifetime.

It is best to wear light trousers, a long-sleeved shirt, boots, a hat, and a light rain jacket. Some people use garden gloves made of cotton to help pull themselves up on vines or branches, and a daypack is also useful. The driver will assist you in hiring a porter. You can also buy a big walking stick that comes in handy on the trek. They are available at the lodge or the gorilla trailhead.

The trek can take 3 to 5 hours or more, depending on the gorilla family's location on that day, and can be a bit on the rigorous side. You will spend one hour with them, which is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for most. After getting your share of pictures, just spending time observing the gorillas is what will remain long after you return home.

Return to the lodge for dinner and a night's rest.

Check out and head to Lake Mburo National Park, a 5-6 hour journey. Have lunch on the way in Mbarara town, then check into the park and the lodge. We have a boat trip and a game drive arranged for your time here.

The boat trip will commence at 2:00 PM and will last for about 2 hours. You will see lots of animals on the boat safari, for example buffaloes, hippos, zebras, and more. After the boat trip, you will have a short evening game drive before returning to the lodge for dinner and an overnight stay.

After breakfast, enjoy a walking safari across the park and lunch on the way, most preferably at the Equator. Then head to Entebbe International Airport for your homebound flight or an overnight stay in the area. Lake Mburo Park to Entebbe is a 4-hour drive, but it can be 6 hours or so including breaks.

We then drive to the airport, where you will board your flight back to your home country.