+256 705979003 info@gorillapagesafaris.com
+256 705979003 info@gorillapagesafaris.com

12 Days Best of Uganda Gorillas and Big 5 Adventure

0
Price
The tour is not available yet.

Proceed Booking

Save To Wish List

Adding item to wishlist requires an account

49

12 Days Best of Uganda Gorillas and Big 5 Adventure

This 12 Days Best of Uganda Gorillas and Big 5 Adventure is the ultimate road trip around Uganda by Gorilla Page Safaris, taking in all the best that the Pearl of Africa has to offer. The trip is an opportunity to explore different national parks of Uganda and is perfect for enjoying game viewing, boat cruises, and trekking of the primates.

The trip starts with birding in Mabamba swamp and then takes you to the whispers of the wilderness- lake Mburo where you will explore the park in different activities including safari walks and game drives. You will relax just at the second deepest lake in Africa- Lake Bunyonyi which is a famous lake to is free from diseases and predators like crocodiles Thus safe for swimming.

Explore the world’s heritage site-Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park which is home to more than 50% of the world’s remaining mountain gorillas. Gorilla trekking is the major highlight of the trip and is done in this amazing forest.

The 12 Day Best of Uganda Gorillas and Big 5 Adventure takes you to the amazing savannah parks of Queen Elizabeth, Murchison Falls, and Kidepo Valley. Each of them will offer an experience that cannot be found anywhere else. Queen Elizabeth National Park is the 6th most diverse national park in the world and has a lot to offer like a breathtaking game drive in Kasenyi Plains or Ishasha sector for tree-climbing lions.

Murchison Falls National Park is the home of the most powerful waterfalls in the world and you can also have exciting hiking to the top of these falls. A boat cruise to the bottom of the falls makes you appreciate the uniqueness of this park in the pearl of Africa.

This trip in the true Africa Wilderness- Kidepo Valley National Park offers an outstanding game drive in the park that was voted the best Africa Safari destination in 2018 by CNN. There is a lot to tap while on a game drive in Narus Valley or encounter with the Ik tribe or the Karamajong in their manyatas.

Day 1: Arrival and explore Mabamba Swamp and then transfer to Lake Mburo

On your arrival in Entebbe, you will be welcomed at the airport by a Gorilla Page Safaris representative and then have a short trip by boat to Mabamba Swamp with a specialized birding guide. This is an introduction to Uganda’s abundant birdlife and a chance to see the legendary shoebill stork.

On return from the swamp, you will embark on a road trip to Lake Mburo with a stopover at the equator for lunch and then proceed to Lake Mburo National Park for a game safari into the park. Lake Mburo is one of the smallest of Uganda’s National Parks, but a real gem. You’ll see impalas, zebras, giraffes, warthogs, water buffalos, elands, waterbucks, and if lucky, leopards. On your arrival, you will check in at your lodge for dinner and overnight.

Accommodation: Arcadia Cottages

Day 2: Explore Lake Mburo and transfer to Bwindi Forest for gorilla

Enjoy a morning game drive through Lake Mburo, and enjoy the spectacular views over the park. You will also enjoy a Walking safari in the park where you can spot buffaloes, giraffes, and antelopes among others at a close range. You will depart the park heading southwest to Kabale known as the “Switzerland of Africa” for scenic terraces in the hills on Kabale. On your arrival, you will check in at your lodge for dinner and overnight

Accommodation: Ride 4 a Woman guest House

Day 3: Gorilla Trekking and transfer to Queen Elizabeth via Ishasha Sector and Kazinga Channel

Enjoy your breakfast and then transfer to Buhoma Gorilla headquarters for briefing, cultural dancing, and a jungle trek to see the endangered mountain gorillas. This is an unforgettable experience to get dragged through several hedges and to spend an hour with our close cousins in their natural habitat. Depending on their location, the exercise can take 2-7 hours.

You will then return from the trek and have lunch then check out from the lodge. You will then embark on a forest trail for a guided game drive at Ishasha Wildlife Reserve, part of Queen Elizabeth National Park. Abundant wildlife including elephants, kob, topi, hippos, and water buffalos, and home to unique tree-climbing lions— same as any other lions, but these climb trees. Savannah plains meet Rift Valley landscapes. You will then arrive and check in at your lodge for dinner and overnight.

Accommodation: Elephant Hub Lodge

Day 4: Game Drive and Amazing boat cruise on Kazinga channel

With full day in Queen Elizabeth Park, you will have an early breakfast and depart for a dawn game drive with a guide in the Kasenyi Sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park. Abundant wildlife and a good chance to see lions and possibly leopards in their native hunting grounds. Short transfer to the boat dock for a guided boat safari along the Kazinga Channel. Great way to see the wildlife, aquatic and birdlife along the banks including elephants, water buffalos, and hippos as well as kingfishers, weaver birds, and fish eagles. After an enriching experience, return to your Lodge for lunch and return for the boat cruise on the Kazinga channel. In the evening, you will visit the twin lakes in the nearby rift escarpment and the spectacular view of the twin crater lakes at Kyambura. You will return to your lodge for dinner and overnight.

Accommodation: Elephant Hub Lodge

Day 5: Chimpanzee trekking and transfer to Ziwa for rhinos

On this morning, you will have your breakfast and then have a short transfer to Kyambura Gorge for a chimpanzee trek. Head down into the gorge with trained guides and track the chimpanzees as they play and forage for food along the river banks or in the tree canopy above. After the trekking experience, return to your lodge and depart Queen Elizabeth heading north for lunch at Fort Portal and a lengthy transfer through tea plantations and undulating hills to Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary. On your arrival, you will check in at your lodge for dinner and overnight.

Accommodation: Ziwa Rhino Lodge

Day 6: Rhino Tracking and transfer to Murchison Falls National Park

You will have breakfast at the lodge followed by rhino tracking with a trained ranger guide. Walk with the rhinos and learn about the inspirational program to reintroduce the white rhino into the parks of Uganda.

After a great tracking experience, depart Ziwa and transfer to Murchison Falls National Park for a visit to the top of the falls. Get up close and personal with the most powerful waterfalls in the world where the River Nile forms a raging torrent as it is squeezed through a narrow 7-meter-wide gap. You’ll enjoy a late snack lunch overlooking the Nile rapids. You will then proceed to your lodge for dinner and overnight.

Accommodation: Pakuba Safari Lodge

Day 7: Game drive experience and afternoon Boat cruise on the Nile

Enjoy an early breakfast at your lodge and set off to the park for a morning game drive.  You will look out for wild games like antelopes, elephants, giraffes, water buffalos, and an abundance of birdlife —Uganda is home to over 1000 species. After your spectacular experience, you will return to your lodge for lunch.

In the afternoon, get ready for a boat cruise to the bottom of the falls, a base of the powerful Murchison Falls. Spectacular wildlife on the Nile banks includes elephants, hippos, water buffalos, and birdlife: kingfishers, weaver birds, and fish eagles.

Day 8: Transfer to Kidepo Valley National Park

As you transfer to Kidepo, you will have a continuous game drive across Murchison and head out the far northeast gate through a sector renowned for elephants. You will then depart and head to Gulu for a stopover lunch. You will continue across the north of Uganda to the remote and wonderful Kidepo Valley National Park, rated by CNN as the second-best park in the whole of Africa in 2018. A trip through Karamoja is quite some journey, by road and then track, through remote villages and an ever-changing landscape to finally arrive for a pampering lodge night at Kidepo Savannah Lodge overlooking the valley with a spectacular hilltop restaurant to relax and unwind.

Accommodation: Kidepo Savannah Lodge (Safari Tent)

Day 9: Full day in Kidepo Valley National Park and game drive

Enjoy your early breakfast and depart for a game drive safari into Kidepo Valley. Apart from the magnificent scenery and the sense of truly vast African skies, this is perhaps the richest populated wildlife park in Uganda offering abundant antelopes, zebras, giraffes, elephants, and water buffalos as well as lions and a possibility of leopards and cheetahs. Birdlife is also everywhere and thus a moment to enjoy the true African wilderness.

Accommodation: Kidepo Savannah Lodge (Safari Tent)

Day 10: Leave Karamoja and visit Pian Upe Wildlife Reserve

Check out from your lodge and have a depart Kidepo through the remote and magical Karamojo region, Kaabong, and a short detour to Nakaperumoru to meet the people of the Jie warrior tribe. Mount Moroto and lunch at the Karatunga Foundation, a community enterprise supporting the Karamojo Region. There are vast savannah plains punctuated by volcanic plugs and seemingly ever-present villages and settlements of the Karamojong with ornate kraals and bomas appearing to date back centuries and beyond. Infeasible rock formations and vast volcanic mountain ranges rise out of the plains.

Continue south to Pian Upe Wildlife Reserve for a late afternoon game drive and a rare opportunity to see roan antelope and ostrich and proceed to your lodge for dinner and overnight.

Accommodation: Rafiki Safari Lodge

Day 11: Explore Mount Elgon and Sipi Falls adventure

.

Explore the Mount Elgon region where the Sipi River descends Mount Elgon over three spectacular waterfalls. You will lunch at the beautiful Lacam Lodge overlooking the lower falls, then transfer to the upper falls for a modest trek down the mountain trail to the middle falls where you will spend your final night, a lodge night in the splendid surroundings of the Sipi Heritage Lodge at the base of the falls.

Accommodation: Rafiki Lodge Sipi

Day 12: Explore Jinja and the Source of the Nile and transfer to Entebbe

On this last day of your 12 Days Best of Uganda Gorillas and Big 5 Adventure with Gorilla Page Safaris, leave Rafiki Lodge Sipi and visit an ethnic coffee processing facility on the mountain slopes. This is a fascinating opportunity to learn the key stages of coffee production from planting to cupping; roasting and grinding your beans; and understand the potential of this valuable product to the local economy.

Descend Mount Elgon and commence the return leg of the journey, stopping at Jinja for lunch at the source of the Nile. You will leave Jinja for a return transfer to your accommodation or Entebbe Airport for your departure.

 

 

Package Inclusions

  • Airport transfer on arrival
  • Internal/domestic flights
  • Accommodation for 11 nights
  • 1 Gorilla trekking permit
  • 1 Chimpanzee trekking permit
  • All meals during the safari
  • All park fees and activities
  • Drinking water and soft drinks

Package exclusions

  • International flights
  • Entry visa
  • Shopping for personal items
  • Accommodation after the trip