8 Day Ugandan Safari: Kibale, Queen Elizabeth, Bwindi Impenetrable, and Lake Mburo National Parks

Day 1: Arrival - Entebbe International Airport

On arrival at Entebbe International Airport, the company representative will be waiting to receive you and then transfer you to Kampala. You will have a pre-safari briefing on this day to answer all your queries and get all clarifications about the safari.

Dependent on your time of arrival, you will enjoy an afternoon tour of Kampala with a visit to the 4 Africa Offices, one of the local community initiatives that helps improve the lives of women and children through craft. There are plenty of beautiful souvenirs that you can purchase, from purses, necklaces, animated stuffed knit dolls, and so much more.

For arrivals on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, the evenings will be spent at Ndere Cultural Centre, taking you around Ugandan culture through music and dance. An African buffet dinner will be served before proceeding to your overnight stay.

• Overnight at Bougainviller Hotel or similar

Day 2: Kampala - Kibale National Park (NP) (five hours' drive time)

Have an early morning breakfast, after which, check out and transfer to Kibale National Park. Arrive in time for lunch at Turaco Treetops. Later, take an afternoon transfer for the three-hour nature walk in the Bigodi Wetlands Sanctuary.

The “Home of the Great Blue Turaco” is a real birdwatcher’s paradise. This wonderful place shelters over 200 species of birds, including hornbills, turacos, parrots, cranes, kingfishers, and many more swamp endemics.

Furthermore, the sanctuary is the home of eight species of primates, including the black and white colobus, red colobus, red-tailed monkey, grey-cheeked mangabey, olive baboon, L’hoest monkey, vervet monkey, and the blue monkey.

Return to Turaco Treetops in the evening to settle in for your dinner and overnight stay.

Day 3: Kibale Forest National Park - Chimpanzee tracking - “Real monkey business”

After breakfast, it’ll be an early start to the Kibale Forest National Park headquarters, arriving by 08:00 to track the habituated chimps. These engaging apes, humans' closest living relative, are great fun to watch as they play and fight in the fruit trees. The experienced guides will introduce you to the different members of the chimp families, as well as the birds and plant life of the forest.

The trails through the forest are generally easy to navigate, and you will always be in the company of park rangers who will explain the fascinating traditional uses of the forest plant species: the forest elephant, smaller and hairier than its savannah counterpart, moves seasonally into areas of Kibale Forest.

Return to the lodge in time for lunch, then have an afternoon tour of the crater lakes within the area.

• Dinner and overnight at Turaco Treetops or similar

Day 4: Kibale Forest NP - Transfer to Queen Elizabeth NP (three hours' drive time)

Eat breakfast and check out of Turaco Treetops, transferring to Queen Elizabeth NP and going via the Kasese Equator monument site. Enjoy a game viewing drive into the park. Have an early lunch, and by 14:00, depart for the boat ride along the Kazinga Channel.

This ride lasts three hours with so much to see: buffaloes, hippos, Nile crocodile, birds by the channel, and local fishing villages. The channel is the main water point of this area, so plenty of animals come.

• Dinner and overnight stay at Buffalo Safari Lodge or similar

Day 5: Kibale NP to Bwindi Impenetrable NP (approximately six hours)

After breakfast, head to Bweza Lodge in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. There will be a stop en route for lunch, arriving in the late afternoon to check in and have dinner.

• Overnight stay at the Bweza Lodge or similar

Day 6: Gorilla trekking

Take an early morning transfer to the trailhead in the national park, where you will join your group for a briefing before setting off on the trek. As the gorillas move constantly, searching for food, the trek duration will vary. However, the anticipation and the beauty of the forest will make it all worthwhile.

After the gorillas have been located, you will spend an amazing hour in their company. Then, return to your lodge later in the afternoon and spend the rest of the day at leisure.

• Breakfast, lunch, and overnight stay at The Bweza Lodge or similar

Day 7: Transfer to Lake Mburo National Park (approximately six hours)

Eat breakfast and check out, then transfer to Lake Mburo National Park, stopping en route for lunch. Check in and have an early dinner as you get ready for the night game drive.

Lake Mburo is one of the few parks where you can go on a night game drive! At night, there is a whole variety of animals that you would not see in the day, including bush pigs, genet cat, and white-tailed mongoose, to mention but a few. Night drives will also give you the best chance of finding leopards, spotted hyenas, and there is one male lion in the park who resides down by Lake Mburo itself.

It will be an interesting experience out at night with a spotlight, an unusual twist on your regular game drives.

Day 8: Walking safari to Rwonyo Salt Lick and return to Entebbe International Airport (approximately four hours)

In the company of a trained park ranger, take an early morning walking safari to the Rwonyo Salt Lick area.

This salt lick is situated around a shallow waterhole, and wildlife in this park find this salt lick a favorite place to hang around at as they enjoy the salty taste. Among the wildlife species that often visit the salt lick are the impalas, waterbucks, bushbucks, Uganda kob, common elands, and topis, along with zebras, hippos, warthogs, the Rothschild’s giraffes, and many more. The activity will last approximately three hours.

Return for a full breakfast, check out, and return to Entebbe for your departure flight. Lunch on this day will be in Entebbe town at either Café Javas, Protea Hotel, or Lake Victoria Entebbe Hotel.