Upon your arrival at Kigali International Airport, you will be greeted by your allocated driver guide for a transfer to your hotel in Kigali. Depending on your arrival time, you may have the opportunity for check-in, dinner, and an overnight stay

After breakfast, your driver guide will pick you up for a tour of Kigali. You will visit several notable sites, including the Museums of Rwanda. Following the city tour, enjoy lunch, then continue your scenic drive to Volcanoes National Park, where you will be checked into your hotel for dinner and an overnight stay.

Early in the morning, enjoy breakfast before transferring to the park headquarters for the Rwanda gorilla trekking briefing. The briefing, conducted by park officials, begins at 8:00 AM local time and covers the dos and don’ts of gorilla trekking etiquette. This is the epic of your 12 Days Uganda & Rwanda Safari, where you will come face to face with the gorillas. 

A group of eight individuals is assigned to a single gorilla family, and you will start the trek with a park ranger. The trekking duration can last 2 to 6 hours, depending on where the gorillas spent the previous night. Please note that the trek can be physically demanding, involving steep and sometimes muddy terrain. Once you locate the gorillas, you will spend one hour in their presence, allowing time for photographs.

After breakfast, prepare for your drive to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda. At Kyanika, you will cross the Uganda-Rwanda border and continue to your lodge. The journey offers beautiful scenery and the rolling hills of southern Uganda. Arrive at your lodge in time for dinner and stay overnight at your chosen accommodation. 

After breakfast, head to the park headquarters for a briefing before your gorilla trekking adventure. Follow the rangers and guides in a group of no more than eight as you search for a habituated family of mountain gorillas.  Once located, you will have one hour to spend with the gorillas and take photographs.

After the trek, return to the park headquarters to receive your gorilla trekking certificate, then return to your lodge. Optional Activity: Participate in the Batwa Experience Trail or take a community walk in Buhoma. Dinner and an overnight stay will be at the same lodge as the previous night. 

On this day, 6 of your 12 Days Uganda & Rwanda Safari, depart for Queen Elizabeth National Park, where you will be treated to incredible scenery. Enjoy a breathtaking game drive in the park’s southern area, famous for its tree-climbing lions. You will continue northwards, arriving in time for lunch at the lodge. After lunch, embark on an afternoon game drive across the plains of Kasenyi, searching for savannah wildlife such as buffalo, antelopes, elephants, and, if you’re lucky, wild cats, including lions and leopards. 

Today, you will rise early for a sunrise game drive along the northern tracks of the national park, heading towards Lake George and Kasenyi Village. You may spot lions, elephants, buffalo, spotted hyenas, waterbucks, Ugandan kobs, and, if you’re lucky, a rare and shy leopard. In the early afternoon, you will embark on a thrilling boat safari from Mweya Peninsula along the Kazinga Channel, one of Uganda’s most popular wildlife-viewing locations, renowned for its vibrant wildlife and birdlife, as well as excellent photography opportunities.

During this boat cruise, expect to see plenty of hippos, buffalo, and elephants drinking along the shores of the channel. You will have dinner and spend the night at your lodge from the previous night.

After breakfast, you will drive to Kibale Forest National Park, arriving at your lodge in time for lunch. In the afternoon, you can opt for a nature walk in the Crater Lakes region or a visit to the Bigodi community. 

After breakfast, you’ll start your day with a chimpanzee trek in the forest. The trek begins with a briefing and lasts about 4-6 hours, allowing for a maximum of 1 hour in the presence of the chimps. Along the way, you may encounter various primate species, including black and white colobus, red-tailed, and vervet monkeys.

Over 300 bird species have been recorded here, many of which can be spotted during the trek. After lunch, you’ll drive to Bigodi for a swamp walk, a wetland managed by a community adjacent to the park. You will have dinner and spend the night at your lodge from the previous night.

After breakfast at Kibale Forest National Park on your 12 Days Uganda & Rwanda Safari, you’ll drive to Murchison Falls National Park, passing through small towns and villages while enjoying stunning views of the escarpment. You will have lunch en route and arrive at the park late in the evening. Check into your preferred lodge for dinner and overnight accommodation. 

At sunrise, your Uganda wildlife tour guide will pick you up and transfer you to the park for a morning game drive. This game drive, lasting about 2-4 hours, offers beautiful sunrise views and opportunities to see wildlife such as buffalo, elephants, lions, leopards, and the Rothschild giraffes (which have the highest population in the world).

After the game drive, enjoy a lunch break before transferring to the boat cruise starting point for a fantastic 2-hour cruise on the Nile River. The cruise takes you past numerous hippos and brings you to the bottom of the majestic Murchison Falls. You will have dinner and spend the night at your lodge from the previous night.

On day 12 of your 12 Days Uganda & Rwanda Safari, enjoy breakfast before making a short visit to the top of Murchison Falls on your way out of the park. After visiting the falls, proceed to Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, where you will spend about 2 hours tracking rhinos in Uganda’s only rhino habitat. Following your rhino tracking experience, you will drive to Entebbe International Airport for your late-night departure flight.