8 Days Uganda Wildlife, Birding, and Primates Safari
The 8 Days Uganda Wildlife, Birding, and Primates Safari is an excellent combined safari tour package offering wildlife, birding, and primates encounters ‘’Gorilla trekking’’ and chimpanzee tracking. Places to visit include; Kibale Forest National Park home to the kingdom of primates especially the chimpanzees,
Visit Queen Elizabeth National Park for a game drive viewing and a boat cruise.
Visit Bwindi Impenetrable National Park for a magical gorilla trekking experience.
Detailed Itinerary
Day 1: Transfer to Kibale National Park
On day 1 of the 8 Days Uganda Wildlife, Birding, and Primates Safari, depending on your location in Kampala or upon arrival at the Entebbe International Airport, on the first day of the safari, you will be welcomed by our driver guide who will brief you about the safari as he drives you to western Uganda region. The journey takes 5 to 6 hours’ drive with en–route lunch. You will arrive in the evening at the park, check into your lodge for dinner and overnight.
Meal plan: Half-Board
Day 2: Chimpanzee trekking and Bigodi swamp walk
On day 2 of the 8 Days Uganda Wildlife, Birding, and Primates Safari, have an early morning breakfast and go for a briefing at the park meeting Centre to brief you about Chimpanzee trekking rules. After briefing, go for a chimpanzee trekking encounter to look for chimps. This activity takes 2 to 6 hours depending on their movements in their nature habitat. On finding them, you will be allowed one hour to spend with them, learn from their habits, and behaviors, and enjoy unforgettable photoshoots as well as capturing videos for your future remembrance.
Kibale National Park is home to over 13 species of primates coupled with chimpanzees thus making it the main stopping place to go for a Chimpanzee trekking experience.
After trekking and your lunch, visit the Bigodi swamp with various bird species and primates as well as beautiful butterflies. Later evening drive to your booked lodge for dinner and overnight.
Meal plan: Full Board
Day 3: Transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park-cultural tour
You will have breakfast and transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park, arriving in time for lunch. Enjoy your lunch and unwind at your lodge. Later in the afternoon go for a cultural tour in the neighboring communities where you will be able to interact with the local people, learn about their way of life and traditional culture among others.
After the cultural tour, you will go for an evening game drive in the park where you expect to adventure a wide number of animals like buffaloes, Uganda kobs, waterbucks, elephants, and warthogs among others. After the game drive, you will return to the lodge for dinner and overnight.
Meal plan: Full Board
Day 4: Morning game drive and Nature walk in Maramangambo Forest afternoon boat cruise
After breakfast, connect for a lion tracking experience where you will be guaranteed to find the vast of pride of lions. Then, embark for a morning game drive in the Kasenyi sector where you will explore a number of animals like lions, elephants, Uganda kobs, and leopards among others. After the game drive, return to the lodge for lunch.
After lunch, you can opt to do an afternoon game drive. Go for a guided nature walk in Maramangabo forest where you will be able to watch beautiful butterflies, notable bird species, and small primates. Dinner and overnight.
Meal plan: Full Board
Day 5: Transfer to Bwindi National Park
You will have breakfast, check out of the lodge, and meet up with your driver guide to head to Bwindi National Park home to famous mountain gorillas in the wild. As you drive, you will have an en-route lunch and a stopover in the Ishasha sector for a game drive with chances of seeing the tree-climbing lions. Upon arrival, drive to your booked lodge for check-in, dinner, and overnight.
Meal plan: Full Board
Day 6: Gorilla trekking experience
After an early morning breakfast, drive to the park headquarters for briefing and go for gorilla trekking. This could take 4-6 hours depending on the movements of the gorillas in the forest and on finding the creatures, you will be allowed to spend an hour with them. Return to your starting point where you will meet your guide. Have dinner and overnight.
Meal plan: Full Board
Day 7: Transfer back to Entebbe
Enjoy a relaxed breakfast, check out of the lodge, and drive back to Entebbe with a stop at the equator for a memorable photograph, visit craft shops, and enjoy your en-route lunch. Thereafter, continue a drive straight to your booked hotel in Entebbe. Arrive in the late evening, check-in, and rest as you get ready for your next day’s activity. Dinner and overnight.
Meal plan: Full Board
Day 8: Visit Mabamba Bay Wetland and Departure
After your morning aroma coffee or tea is served with delicious snacks at the hotel. You will then, head to Mabamba Bay wetland with your packed lunch boxes. Upon arrival, board a canoe boat to sail you around the wetland with high opportunities of viewing plenty of unique water bird species as well as fishermen who mostly populate the neighboring water body and wetland itself. The most spotted bird here is a shoe bill stock.
Other birds to be spotted around the wetland include the purple heron, African jacana, Black Kite, African fish eagle, Pied and malachite, Kingfisher, Yellow-billed duck, White-faced whistling duck, Cattle egret, Long-toed lapwing, Spur-winged lapwing, Papyrus gonolek, Hammerkop, Black-winged stilt, Common and wood sandpiper among others. Birding along Mabamba wetland is best done on wooden motorized boats which is used to ride through the waterways to connect to different areas of the swamps to see the shoebill and other water birds as well as enjoying the beauty of the wetland outlay. That marks the end of 8 Days Uganda Wildlife and Primates Safari.
Quotation Includes;
- Pick up and drop off at Kampala/Entebbe airport
- Gorilla trekking permits
- Chimpanzee permits
- Park entry fees and boat cruise fees in all parks
- Rhino tracking fees
- Nile Delta boat cruise
- Lion tracking experience
- Cultural tours
- All accommodation as per itinerary
- 4X4 safari Van & Fuel
- Full-time English-speaking driver/ guide
- All meals as indicated
- Bottled mineral water while on safari
- All activities as indicated
Excludes;
- Tips
- Visa fees and Air tickets
- Optional activities
- All items of a personal nature like laundry, phone calls, beverages, extra meals, travel insurance e.t.c
- Anything else not included in the itinerary
