Day 1: Transfer to Kibale Forest National Park
Today after an early breakfast, your guide will come to your hotel or pick you up from the airport depending on which flight you came with to brief you about the safari and will transfer you to Kibale National Park. The drive is incredibly scenic, passing through villages, lush green forests and hills dotted with tea plantations.
- Journey time: 5 hours
- Meal plan: Lunch and dinner
Day 2: Chimpanzee tracking and Bigodi swamp walk
Today you will wake up early to go to the park head offices to be briefed about your chimp tracking experience. Kibale Forest National Park boasts the highest number of primate species in the world, including the chimpanzees. Approximately 5,000 chimpanzees live in the wild in Uganda, which makes it a perfect place to see them.
An experienced ranger will take you chimp tracking chimp in the morning or afternoon; you might also see other monkey species that live here. Once you locate the chimpanzees, you will have a full hour of eye-to-eye contact with them. Since they are wild animals, one can never guarantee you to see them and might have to settle with hearing their hoots and hollers.
In the afternoon after lunch, you will go for the guided swamp walk. The walk (2 to 3 hours) will take you through grassland, small communities, and some beautiful scenery where the locals are likely to greet you with enthusiastic waves. It is usual to spot three to four different primate species during this walk, though the highlight is catching a glimpse of the great blue turaco!
- Journey time: 1 hour
- Meal plan: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Day 3: Transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park
After breakfast, your guide will drive you to Queen Elizabeth National Park, home to a high concentration of Uganda’s mammals that include tree climbing and savanna lions, elephants, wart hogs, Uganda kob, water buck, cape buffalo, hippos, leopards, as well as more than 600 species of birds that include the African spoon bill, pied kingfishers, fish eagles, pelicans, and vultures.
Queen Elizabeth National Park is Uganda’s second largest park, located at the base of the majestic Rwenzori mountain range, adjacent to Lake Edward and Lake George. The park has game including Uganda kob, warthog, and waterbuck. Lions are often sighted both in and at the entrance to the park. Be ready to see huge numbers of hippos and elephants, and keep your eyes on the lookout for a leopard lazing in the sunshine.
- Journey time: 3 and a half hours
- Meal plan: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Day 4: Game drive and Kazinga Channel boat safari
Today, you will wake up early. A little before sunrise, coffee, tea, and donuts will beserved in the lounge before heading out for a long game drive in time to see the first rays of light. You will search for all the wildlife in the park and are likely to come across elephants, buffaloes, lions, waterbucks, leopards, Uganda Kobs, and many warthogs.
A well-deserved brunch will be served back at the lodge in the late morning. In the afternoon, you will take a boat safari along the Kazinga Channel which joins Lake George and Lake Edward. Here, you will see a lot of hippos (more than you can possibly imagine!), as well as a variety of other animals which come to the waterhole to drink or bathe. You can expect to see buffalo, crocodile, bathing elephant, and a range of beautiful birds. This will undoubtedly be one of the highlights of your tour.
- Meal plan: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Day 5: Transfer to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
After early breakfast, you will be transferred to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, home to last surviving Mountain Gorillas. You will pass through a beautiful scenery of bamboo, rolling hills, forests often referred to as the Switzerland of Africa. You will stop for lunch on a local restaurant. You will get to your lodge in time for dinner and overnight.
- Journey time: 8 hours (excludes breaks, stops, and lunch break)
- Meal plan: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Day 6: Gorilla Tracking in Bwindi Forest
Today after an early breakfast, you will be transferred to the park headquarters for briefing about gorilla tracking. You will encounter one of Bwindi’s endangered mountain gorillas. For most people this is the absolute highlight of their tour in Uganda.
Bwindi impenetrable National Park boasts both Mountain Gorillas and Chimpanzees - the only forest in Africa that can make this claim. It also hosts five other species of primates, 113 species of mammals, over 200 species of butterflies, and 360 species of birds. The gorillas you track are habituated and can tolerate the presence of humans for a brief period of time, every day.
The time taken to track the gorillas can be as few as two hours to as many as seven hours. Once the gorillas have been located, your group will be allowed a maximum of one hour with them. Coming face-to-face with a mountain gorilla is a truly humbling and emotional experience. This is a fantastic and privileged opportunity to get up close and personal with Uganda’s very own ‘Gorillas in the Mist’.
- Meal plan: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Day 7: Transfer back to Kampala or Entebbe
After breakfast at the lodge, you will drive back to Kampala or Entebbe International Airport (EBB). As you pass through the equator, there will be a stop for the requisite snapshot and a bit of souvenir shopping.
Accommodation for tonight is not inclusive in the program. If you wish to depart tonight from Entebbe International Airport (EBB), make sure your flight is at 10 p.m. or later. If you want to book one (or more) nights in Kampala and/or Entebbe, please let Peak Cruise Safaris know.
- Journey time: 9 hours
- Meal plan: Breakfast and lunch
Transport
Peak Cruise Safaris' standard offering for Budget tours is a 4wd safari van with a pop-up roof for easy safari viewing. All clients will have a dedicated window seat. Your professional driver/guide will be at your disposal for questions or
translations.
