8-Day Uganda Gorilla and Chimp Safari with Murchison and Bwindi

You will arrive at the airport and embark on a journey to Murchison Falls National Park. The highlights of this park include the roaring rapids of the Murchison and the rolling plains of Uganda's largest national park, where you will have the chance to view lions, giraffes, hartebeests, buffaloes, and elephants. You will also be fascinated by the concentration of hippos and Nile crocodiles here.

For birders, Murchison Falls boasts 450 bird species, including the elusive shoebill stork, dwarf kingfisher, white-thighed hornbill, and Goliath heron, among others.

You will have a stopover at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary for rhino tracking before continuing to the park. We shall have another stopover at Kabalega Dinners Restaurant near Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary for our late lunch before continuing to Murchison Falls National Park.

On arrival at the park, we shall first go to the top of the falls to experience the strongest falls in the whole world before heading to our lodge.

Eat breakfast in the morning before going on a game drive in the park's northern area in search of some of the 'Big Five' - buffaloes, lions, elephants, and possibly leopards. Other animals you might see include Rothschild giraffes, bushbucks, warthogs, waterbucks, and a variety of antelopes.

Return to your accommodation for lunch and a brief repose. After lunch, you will embark on a 3-hour boat trip to the base of the fall. This trip is said to be the highlight of the safari in Murchison Falls since it allows you to get up close to the animal species within the water.

Cruise past huge hippo pods, crocodiles, and numerous aquatic birds adorning the north bank on the way to the mighty waterfalls. You will have an opportunity to take thousands of pictures, so carry your camera with you if you like.

After the boat cruise, you will drive slowly back to the lodge while enjoying some game drives.

You will have breakfast early in the morning and transfer to Kibale Forest National Park. On the way to Kibale National Park, you will have the opportunity to see tea plantations and banana plantations.

We shall also have a stopover at the tea plantation for some photos before we proceed to our lodge.

Today you will track the most famous inhabitants of Kibale National Park, the chimpanzees. Chimpanzees share 98% of human genes, making them our closest living relatives. They are found in 21 countries throughout Africa but are most easily sighted in Uganda due to their dense populations. Today, in Uganda, there are approximately 5,000 chimpanzees left in the wild.

The chimpanzee trekking experience here is done on several well-maintained walking trails. There is also a wonderfully diverse concentration of other primates, more than in any other forest in East Africa. In fact, besides our colorful cousins, the chimpanzees, you can find red colobus, red-tailed guenon, white-nosed monkey, gray-cheeked mangabey, blue monkey, L'Hoest's monkey, and the black-and-white colobus monkey.

Afterwards, you will transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park for a night game drive and, if we have time, we may also have an evening game drive.

On this morning, you will drive to the famous Queen Elizabeth National Park and embark on your morning game drive. It is time to explore Queen Elizabeth National Park with her 200 kilometers of well-maintained game-viewing tracks.

With an astonishing 5,000 hippos, 2,500 elephants, and over 10,000 buffalo thriving in its grasslands and shorelines, this park guarantees sightings of some of Africa's most iconic species such as elephants, giraffes, buffaloes, different species of antelope, and predators such as lions, leopards, civets, genets, and serval cats. Black-and-white colobus monkeys are easily spotted in the trees, and of course, the boldest species - baboons - are also here.

After the morning game drive, you will go back to the lodge for lunch and then head for a boat cruise along the Kazinga Channel.

Be up and have your breakfast served. Go for tree-climbing lions sighting and thereafter transfer to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

Bwindi is a big habitat for mountain gorillas in Uganda, harboring an estimated 400 mountain gorillas - roughly half of the world's population - including several habituated groups that can be tracked.

With a strenuous day ahead, you will do less on arrival and simply check into your accommodation and relax as you prepare for the Bwindi gorilla trekking experience the following day.

After an early breakfast and a briefing by a ranger guide, you will enter the gorilla sanctuary for your adventure. The beauty of this rain forest is spectacular. The area offers a dramatic, steeply forested landscape and is incredibly dense, but crisscrossed by numerous animal trails allowing access to tourists.

The time taken and the terrain vary with the movements of these great primates. Once you locate a gorilla group, you will be allowed an hour in their presence. The thrill of spending time observing these gentle and endangered giants is an awesome, exciting experience to be long savoured.

Return to your lodge for some rest time and lunch. Thereafter, embark on a transfer to Lake Bunyonyi. You will arrive and do little but check into your accommodation, relax, and enjoy your dinner and overnight stay.

Have a relaxed breakfast at the accommodation with spectacular views of the Bunyonyi hills right in front of you. Thereafter, embark on your return journey to Entebbe Airport.

Expect en route stopovers in Mbarara town for lunch and at the Uganda Equator line mark in Kayabwe for some memorable photos and maybe to buy some art pieces of interest.

Proceed with the journey, arriving late afternoon or evening for a drop-off at the airport.