11 Days Chimpanzees & Gorillas of Uganda
Discover Uganda’s incredible wildlife on this 11 Days Chimpanzee & Gorillas of Uganda. On this tour you will visit Bwindi Impenetrable National Park for a magical encounter with mountain gorillas, Kibale Forest National Park for chimpanzee trekking and lastly Lake Mburo National Park for incredible sightings of game.
Highlights of 11 Days Chimpanzees & Gorillas of Uganda
- Day 1: Arrival in Entebbe
- Day 2: Drive to Kibale Forest
- Day 3: Chimpanzee tracking in Kibale; visit Bigodi wetlands
- Day 4: Optional second chimpanzee trek; Crater Lakes hike
- Day 5: Drive to Bwindi National Park
- Day 6: Day at leisure with optional activities
- Day 7: Mountain gorilla tracking in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
- Day 8: Optional second mountain gorilla trek
- Day 9: Transfer To Lake Mburo National Park
- Day 10: Game drive; optional game walk or boat safari
Detailed Itinerary of 11 Days Chimpanzees & Gorillas of Uganda
Day 1: Arrival in Entebbe
Your adventure begins in Entebbe, a city on the north shore of Lake Victoria, the largest lake in Africa. On arrival at Entebbe International Airport, you will be warmly welcomed by our representative and be transferred to the hotel for an evening of relaxation, dinner and overnight stay.
Accommodation: Boma Hotel
Meal Plan: Dinner
Adventure starts in Entebbe
Day 2: Drive to Kibale Forest
After breakfast, you will be picked up by your driver-guide and embark on a journey to Kibale Forest National Park – the primate capital of Africa and home to 13 primate species: there are nine diurnal primates including including vervet, red-tailed, L’Hoest’s, red colobus, black-and-white colobus and blue monkeys, plus grey-cheeked mangabey, olive baboons and, the most famous of all, chimpanzees.
Although sightings of chimpanzees are not guaranteed, the odds of encountering them are very good.
Accommodation: Turaco Treetops
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 3: Chimpanzee tracking in Kibale; visit Bigodi wetlands
After an early breakfast, we head to the park headquarters for briefing about chimpanzee trekking, then head into the depths of the lush, green Kibale Forest in search of chimpanzees. While trekking, we are surrounded by birdsong and can expect to see at least five or six types of primates, most probably grey-cheeked mangabeys, red-tailed monkeys and chimpanzees. The trek is fairly easy with well – maintained trails and reasonably flat terrain. Spend one hour with the chimpanzees, watching them play, feed and groom and go on with their life in forest. Leaving the forest, you are welcome to enjoy a coffee at Café Kibale, a wonderful café providing free hospitality training to young people from the surrounding communities.
Enjoy lunch at the lodge and in the afternoon, go for a 10 – minute drive to the Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary in the Magombe Wetland. The sanctuary is a major tourist attraction in the Kibale Forest Area and is operated by the Kibale Association for Rural and Environmental Development, a community – based organization. Also, it is a natural haven for birds and other monkeys, such as vervet monkeys, olive baboons, and colobus monkeys which you will spot with the help of our community guide.
Accommodation: Turaco Treetops
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 4: Optional second chimpanzee trek; Crater Lakes hike
Today there is the option of doing a second chimpanzee trek to increase the probability of seeing them (due to limited permit availability, we recommend you prebook the second chimp trek).
In the afternoon, we embark on the Crater Lakes hike around Kibale National Park. This two to three – hour tour offers the chance to explore the beautiful crater lakes at the edge of Kibale Forest.
Accommodation: Turaco Treetops
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 5: Drive to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
After breakfast, we drive to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park which takes approximately 7-8 hours. We stop for a picnic lunch en-route continuing through Kamwenge Rukungiri to get to Bwindi.
Accommodation: Buhoma Haven Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 6: Day at leisure with optional activities
Spend the day at relaxation before we go in search for mountain gorillas the following day. You have the opportunity to join an optional activity. These include the Batwa experience, a 3-4 hour cultural experience, in which you can learn about the lives of the indigenous Batwa People, a forest walk or the Ride 4 a Woman Community Experience. Today, we enjoy a picnic lunch.
Accommodation: Buhoma Haven Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 7: Mountain gorilla tracking in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
For many, observing a wild mountain gorilla is one of the most emotional wildlife experience possible. Tracking these gentle giants can take anything from under an hour to more than six hours, depending on the movement of the gorillas and where the family is located. The number of permits allocated daily are limited so we recommend early booking.
The trek itself can be a long steep, slippery trails and through the bush so you should be in reasonable physical condition, but the rewards of spend an hour with our close cousins more than makes up for the effort of getting to them.
Accommodation: Buhoma Haven Lodge
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 8: Optional second mountain gorilla trek
Today is a free day and there is an option of doing a second gorilla trekking. If you are not interested in the second gorilla trek, there are other walks you can do nearby or you can relax at our lodge, reminiscing about the previous day’s encounters.
Accommodation: Haven Lodge Buhoma (or similar)
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 9: Transfer To Lake Mburo National Park
After breakfast, leave the forest and head towards Lake Mburo National Park. En – route we stop in Kabale near the Rwandan border for lunch. the drive is about 5 hours.
Lake Mburo National Park is the only place in Southern Uganda where you can see zebras, giraffes and impalas and is a great place to see the solitary leopards. Also, it is home to more than 300 bird species and offers the possibility of game walks and game drives.
Accommodation: Rwakobo Rock
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 10: Game drive; optional game walk or boat safari
Today we enjoy a morning game drive in the savannah plains of Lake Mburo National Park, the park has a network of game tracks in the eastern part of the park passing a variety of landscapes – acacia woodland, wetlands, grassy hillsides, rocky outcrops and seasonally flooded valley floors.
The early morning and late afternoon are the best times to roam the park in search of wildlife. Also, there is the option of tracking game on foot through the savannah and going on a boat cruise, particularly good for birdlife. Also, you have the option of going on an early morning game walk.
Accompanied by a ranger guide, you walk to a salt lick where many animals are attracted to the salty rocks. At this time of the day, you may encounter hyenas returning to their dens and hippos retreating to the lake. the lake itself is rich with a diversity of animals and plants, and these can be viewed clearly on a boat trip. These include crocodiles, hippos and birds, such as pelicans, black crakes, herons, cormorants and fish eagles, but you may also see the rare shoebill stork if you are lucky.
Accommodation: Rwakobo Rock
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 11: Drive to Entebbe; trip ends
Today is the final day of our Uganda Primates Adventure, after breakfast at your lodge, check out and embark on a journey back to Entebbe where you will be dropped off at the airport, bringing your safari to an end.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch
End of 11 Days Chimpanzees & Gorillas of Uganda
