10-Day Uganda Safari: Murchison Falls, Chimpanzees, Queen Elizabeth, Gorillas & Lake Mburo

On arrival at the airport in the evening, around 6:30pm, you’re warmly welcomed by your guide, who takes you to your hotel in Kampala for an overnight stay, a journey of about one hour. It is an easy first night to rest before the first full day of safari.

You depart at 7:00am for Masindi, stopping on the way at the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary. The sanctuary was established to breed rhinos that were driven to extinction in Uganda by heavy poaching in the early 1980s, and a visit lets you see these remarkable animals up close. You have lunch at the sanctuary and then continue to Murchison Falls National Park, with a stop at the Top of the Falls for a magnificent view as the river plunges about 45 meters below. You then continue to your lodge for dinner and overnight.

At 6:00am you set out on an early morning game drive, when predators are most active and the savannah is at its liveliest. Lion, the elusive leopard, spotted hyena, elephant and buffalo all share this park, along with warthog, antelope and giraffe. You return to the lodge for breakfast. At 2:00pm you take a boat ride up the river to the bottom of Murchison Falls, with hippos, crocodiles, buffaloes and other animals coming to drink as your hosts along the banks. The cruise is also excellent for birdwatching and photography.

After breakfast at 8:30am you transfer to Kibale National Park via Fort Portal, with lunch en route in Fort Portal. On arrival you check in to your lodge and relax, with the option of an evening nature walk in the Bigodi community. Kibale Forest National Park is a large protected block of rainforest with the highest number of primates in Africa, including chimpanzees, grey-cheeked mangabeys, red-tailed monkeys and red colobus. Dinner and overnight at Turaco Tree Tops Lodge.

After breakfast you attend a briefing at 7:30am and begin chimpanzee tracking at 8:00am, with a chance of seeing a variety of primates and bird species and the forest’s rich vegetation. Kibale contains one of the loveliest and most varied tracts of tropical forest in Uganda, with forest cover interspersed with patches of grassland and swamp on an elevated plateau. The park is home to 70 mammal species, most famously 13 primate species including the chimpanzee, and over 375 bird species. It adjoins Queen Elizabeth National Park to the south to create a 180-km corridor for wildlife between Ishasha and Sebitoli. After lunch at the lodge you drive through the crater regions of Fort Portal and Kasese with several stops for scenic views and photography, arriving at Mweya Safari Lodge in the evening for dinner and overnight.

At 6:00am you take an early game drive with high hopes of seeing lion, hippo, buffalo, leopard, spotted hyena, elephant, antelope and the elusive giant forest hog, returning to your lodge for breakfast and a rest. At 2:30pm you board a launch for a cruise on the Kazinga Channel, which connects Lake Edward to Lake George. It is believed to hold one of Africa’s biggest concentrations of hippos, and animals come to the water’s edge to drink, making it an excellent platform for photography. More than 550 bird species have been recorded here, including great white and pink-backed pelicans, great and long-tailed cormorants, open-billed storks, African jacana and malachite and pied kingfishers.

After breakfast you have a game drive as you travel through the Ishasha sector in the south of Queen Elizabeth National Park, famous for its tree-climbing lions. Lions rarely climb trees, so seeing them resting in the branches is a special sight, though it can’t be guaranteed on any given day. You have lunch at one of the lodges in Ishasha and then transfer to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park for your overnight. Bwindi is where you have the best chance of seeing a mountain gorilla family going about its day. Aside from the gorilla interactions, there are numerous forest walks and 346 bird species to track down, many of them amazingly colorful. In the evening you relax at the lodge to prepare for tomorrow’s tracking.

After an early breakfast you head to the park headquarters for a briefing from the ranger guides at 7:30am, then begin your gorilla trek at 8:00am through steeply forested landscape along several animal trails. Some of the terrain is steep and strenuous, but the reward of watching gorillas undisturbed in their natural habitat is unmatched. No more than eight people may visit any gorilla family on any given day, so the experience is intimate, and once you reach the gorillas you have an unforgettable hour to spend with them. Waterproof ankle shoes or good athletic shoes are recommended, along with thick long pants, heavy long socks pulled over the pants to guard against stinging nettles and ants, sturdy gardening gloves and a rain cover for your camera, which a plastic bag or shower cap can provide. After the trek you return to the lodge for lunch, and the rest of the evening is at leisure.

After breakfast you depart for Lake Mburo National Park, enjoying a game drive as you enter the park and arriving in the early afternoon. Lake Mburo is an extension of the Tanzanian plains, with big herds of zebra, impala, eland and other savannah species, plus recently introduced giraffes. It is also one of the best places in Uganda for birders, with species such as the African finfoot, papyrus specialists and bush shrikes. Lunch is at the lodge, and in the evening you take another game drive in a different section of the park to look for more wildlife before dinner and overnight at Kigambira Safari Lodge.

At 6:30am you enjoy an early morning game drive to see zebra, antelope, topi, buffalo and impala, then return to the lodge for breakfast. You drive on to Entebbe, with a short stop at the Uganda Equator to take photographs and shop for crafts. Depending on your flight time, you’re dropped at the airport for check-in and your outbound flight.