12 days Gorillas, Chimpanzees and the BIG 5 Safari

12 days Gorillas, Chimpanzees and the BIG 5 Safari

Cost: $3450 per person

Minimum 2 people, maximum 6 people

Fixed dates: 25th June to 06th July 2025 and 2026

Day 1:  Arrival at Entebbe International Airport

Upon arrival at Entebbe International Airport, you will meet by our tour guide who will be holding a sign post bearing your names. Greet and later depending on arrival time you will either transfer to your assigned accommodation in Kampala or Entebbe for dinner and overnight stay (for evening and night arrivals) or take you on a short city tour around Kampala and Entebbe if you arrive in the morning. You can visit places like Namugongo Marty’s shrine, Uganda museum, Bahai Temple, the craft markets and so on. Dinner and overnight at your Hotel in Kampala/Entebbe.

Accommodation: Papyrus Guest House.

Meal Plan:  Bed and Breakfast

Day 2: Transfer to Murchison Falls National Park

After breakfast at your Hotel in Kampala or Entebbe, your driver guide will meet you up and brief you shortly about your tour. Later you will transfer to Murchison Falls National Park via Luweero-Nakasongola and Masindi. You will stop at Ziwa Rhino sanctuary for Rhino tracking. You will reach Masindi town in time for lunch. After lunch, proceed to the park where upon arrival, you will go and visit the top of the falls. This is the most interesting area with in the park. At the top of the falls, you will experience the beauty of the mighty river Nile where its waters squeeze its self into a 7-meter gorge deep down over 45metres and hence making a thunderous roar. Transfer to your assigned place of accommodation for dinner and overnight stay.

Accommodation: Pakuba Safari Lodge (Midrange)

Meal Plan: All meals included

Day 3: Game drive and launch cruise

After breakfast early morning, you will go for the game drive in the northern part of the park. The game drive will reward you with beautiful and a variety of wildlife in the parks such as Elephants, Lions, leopards, buffaloes, Antelopes like bush bucks and water bucks, Kobs, warthogs and so on. Later on, you will return to your lodge for lunch as you wait for the afternoon launch cruise along the Albert Nile. During the afternoon launch cruise, look out for water loving animals like crocodile along the river banks, elephants taking water, hippos and many bird species. Return back to your lodge for dinner and overnight stay.

Accommodation: Pakuba Safari Lodge (Midrange)

Meal Plan: All meals included

Day 4: Transfer to Kibale forest National Park and Bigodi swamp walk.

After breakfast, you will set out and transfer to Kibale Forest National Park. En route to the park, the journey will reward you with beautiful scenery especially of the great Rwenzori Mountains in Kasese. You will also pass by different homesteads of local people in Hoima, plantations of tea and bananas and so on. You will have lunch in Fort portal, after lunch you will proceed to Kibale National Park arriving in the afternoon. You will continue to Bigodi swamp where you will go for a swamp walk, look out for other primates like vervet monkeys, black and white colobus monkeys and very many species of birds. You will visit the communities who live around the forest, please feel free to engage in the activities that they do for a living like coffee growing, beer brewing and basket weaving. You will later retire to your lodge for evening relaxation, dinner and overnight stay.

Accommodation: Bweza Kibale Lodge (midrange)

Meal Plan: All Meals included

Day 5: Chimpanzee tracking and Transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park.

Breakfast will be served in the morning after which, you will set out for briefing from the Uganda Wildlife Authority headquarters. The rangers will guide you on how to walk while in the forest and also how to behave. After this, you will get into the forest to start your search for the chimpanzees. These great apes are known as man’s closest relatives because of different characteristics that they have in common with man. Look out in the trees for chimpanzees, other primates such as white colobus monkeys, grey-checked mangabey, red colobus, black-and-white colobus, Baboons and different bird species like the great blue turacco, Africa pied king fisher, malkites and so on. Return back to the lodge after the trek for lunch after which you will go for swamp walk to search for the water loving bird species if you didn’t do it the previous day. The forest is not only known for its 13 species of primates, but this swamp area with in it, is a bird watchers paradise. You will also visit the communities that live around this swamp for activities like Coffee making, basket weaving and beer making. Return to the lodge for dinner and overnight stay.

Accommodation: Warujojo Safari Lodge (midrange)

Meal Plan: All meals included

Day 6: Game drive and Launch cruise along the Kazinga Channel.

After breakfast early morning, you will go for the game drive in Kasenyi area with in the park. The game drive will reward you with beautiful and a variety of wildlife in the parks such as Elephants, Lions, leopards, buffaloes, Antelopes like bush bucks and water bucks, Kobs, warthogs and so on. Later on, you will return to your lodge for lunch as you wait for the afternoon launch cruise along the Kazinga commonly known as the area with the highest concentration of hippos in Africa. The launch cruise will reward you with views of the most famous water loving animals like crocodile along the river banks, elephants taking water, hippos and many bird species. Evening game drive and later return back to your lodge for dinner and overnight stay.

Accommodation: Warujojo Safari Lodge (midrange)

Meal plan: All meals included

Day 7: Transfer to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park through the ishasha sector.

You will set out for the early morning game drive with in the park to search for the early risers and animals you missed out in the previous game drives. Later on, drive to Ishasha sector to search for tree climbing lions. After the game drive in Ishasha, you will transfer to Bwindi impenetrable National Park with en route lunch. You will arrive at the lodge in the late afternoon. Relax at the lodge, dinner and overnight stay. 

Accommodation: Bweza gorilla Lodge

Meal plan: All meals included

Day 8: Gorilla trekking experience

After breakfast at the lodge, you will go to the park headquarters for briefing from the Uganda wildlife Authority ranger guides. After the briefing, the ranger will lead you into the thick impenetrable forest to start your search for the endangered rare species of Mountain Gorillas. The gorilla search always continues from the place where they were last seen the previous day. Upon reaching the area where these famous species are, you will only be allowed to interact with them for only one hour and you should always keep maximum silence while with these Gorillas. You are allowed to take photographs and so on. To find the Gorillas, it’s such a great experience, it can take you almost 2-8 hours to find them. However, once you meet these gorillas, you will easily forget the hatches you have gone through to find them and instead save the good memories you will experience with them. After the interaction, you will have your lunch away from them, you will then return to the offices for a small celebration to receive your certificates. Here, your guide/driver will be waiting to transfer you to Lake Bunyonyi where you will spend the evening relaxing and enjoying the fresh breeze from the lake.

Accommodation: Bunyonyi Rock Resort

Meal Plan: All meals included

Day 9: Full day at Lake Bunyonyi

Breakfast will be served in the morning and after you will go for a boat tour on the lake to different small islands. The lake has 29 small islands and each was named according to the bird species that reside on the island. We can either visit the Batwa who live near Bwindi impenetrable National park or the ones that live around lake Bunyonyi for cultural dances and they can show us how they used to live in the forest. Batwa/Pygmies people are short people that used to live in the forest and later the government decided to take out, now they live in communities around lake Bunyonyi and Bwindi impenetrable national park.

Accommodation: Bunyonyi Rock Resort (Midrange)

Meal Plan: All Meals included

Day 10: Transfer to Lake Mburo National Park

After breakfast, you will leave the Cold Kabale district and transfer to Lake Mburo National Park. You will have lunch in Mbarara town and later enter into the park with a game drive en route through the Nshara gate. Look out for Zebras, Impalas, bush and water bucks, Kobs and so much more.

Accommodation: Rwakobo Rock (Midrange)

Meal Plan: All meals included

Day 11: Game drive/Bush walk and boat ride on Lake Mburo

After breakfast early in the morning, set out for the game drive/ bush walk and search for early risers with in the park. Look out for animals like Zebras, Elephants, impalas, bushbucks and bush duikers, waterbucks, warthogs, and the topis. Return to the lodge for relaxation, and later go for the afternoon boat ride to search for water loving animals such as crocodiles and Hippos. The lake is also rich with a variety of bird species like the rare shoe bill stork. Return back to the Lodge dinner and overnight stay.

Accommodation: Rwakobo Rock (Midrange)

Meal Plan: All meals included

Day 12: Transfer back to Entebbe or Kampala 

After breakfast, you will transfer back to Kampala/Entebbe. You will have a brief stopover at the Equator for water experiments and also get a chance to stand at a point where the two hemispheres start from. If you want to do some shopping, you can buy some souvenirs. You will arrive in Kampala/Entebbe in the late afternoon. Drop off will be at your Hotel in Kampala or Entebbe.

End of Safari