Gorilla trekking is done in two national parks in Uganda: Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. Both parks are located on the country’s southwestern border and are home to more than half the world’s total population of endangered mountain gorillas. This gorilla safari will take you Bwindi Forest National Park, Queen Elizabeth National Park as well as Kibale Forest National Park for you to have an everlasting memory of the suitable wildlife and gorilla tours encounter.
Once you arrive at Entebbe international airport, you will be welcomed by our drive/guide who will then transfer you to your booked hotel for dinner and overnight. He will take you through your entire safari then leave you to rest.
Early morning after breakfast, he will transfer you to Bwindi Forest National Park marking it your first destination on your safari. You will have a stopover on Masaka road at the Equator where you will take photos of your choice then proceed. Continue and have lunch in Mbarara town where you will take some time to stretch then continue. When you arrive at Bwindi, check in the booked lodge for dinner and overnight.
After the early morning breakfast, transfer with your booked lunch to the park headquarters for briefing. You will be checked in with your $800 gorilla permit and other documents that will be the ones to clarify if you are the one to do the trekking. You will be briefed about the rules and regulations concerning gorilla trekking. Once done you will be assigned in groups of eight and will be done depending on your level of fitness.
Led by experienced Uganda Wildlife Authority guides, you will be led to the forest and face the changing landscape as you trek to the gorillas. Your guides are in communication with the team of trackers who will have been shadowing the gorillas since day break. The trackers direct your guides to bring you to the gorillas.
Any silence is soon broken by the rustling of leaves as the gorillas wander and play, and the calls, whistles, and whoops of thousands of animal species for miles around provides the perfect sound-track.
Once contact is made, you have up to one hour to spend with the gorillas. If you wanted to spend longer, you can take part in a gorilla habituation experience, and spend up to 4 hours with these gentle giants. The moment you are done, descend back to the headquarters to pick your trekking certificate then back to the lodge for lunch and relaxation. You will then embark on the Batwa tour later in the day. You will be able to learn about how these people used to live in the bush as well as learning about their medicines. Back to lodge for dinner and overnight.
Transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park for the suitable wildlife encounter. You are assured to pass through the Ishasha area where you will do an afternoon game drive to witness the tree climbing lions. You will see them sleeping in the tree branches after searching for the day’s meal and the ones looking will be targeting for a meal still. The Ishasha sector also has mammals like warthogs, buffaloes and elephants. After that experience, continue to the other sector of the park and check in your booked lodge for dinner and overnight.
Go for an early morning game drive allowing you to see 95 percent of the mammals you would see in the Serengeti but with better scenery and landscape that includes forests, savannah grasslands, swamp lands, acacia woods, crater lakes, gorges and the nearby Rwenzori Mountains.
This will take place in the Kasenyi plains in the northern part of the park and the most scenic and best places to spot wildlife in Queen Elizabeth National Park. The Uganda Kobs uses the plains as breeding grounds. The plains also attract other antelope species, buffaloes, Elephants and predators like Hyenas and lions – making it a perfect place to watch the battles between the big cats and herbivorous animals.
Take a boat cruise along the Kazinga Channel which is one of the best places to view wildlife in Africa. This channel connects Lake George to Lake Edward and is the single point where most of the park animals gather to drink, hunt and bathe. During the bird migration season, the species of birds found here are more than those found in North America.
The sheer density and variety of wildlife at the Kazinga channel will impress even those who have already gone for several safaris elsewhere. Hippos, water birds and crocodiles rule the waters while elephants, antelopes and predators like leopard’s drink water in the shallow ends of the channel. Back to lodge for dinner and overnight.
Transfer to Kibale Forest National Park for the chimpanzee trekking and this will mark the last of this safari. Leaving alone primates, this tropical rain forest is home to 375 bird species and 250 incredible butterfly species. You can also expect to see elephants and buffalo as they wander the forest floor, crossing over from the Queen Elizabeth National Park.
You are able to choose between a morning or afternoon chimpanzee trekking experience. Transfer for briefing at that preferred time then head to the forest to trek these creatures. After the briefing by the park Uganda Wildlife Authority ranger, you will be broken up into small groups and introduced to your assigned official park ranger for the duration of your chimpanzee trek in the Kibale Forest National Park.
It is estimated that the entire trek can take between three to four hours depending on the movements of the chimpanzees. You then have an hour to move with the community and observe their behaviour and interactions.
Keep a respectful distance where possible and don’t eat, smoke, mock or mimic their behavior. You do not know what they are saying, so don’t repeat them by imitating their behavior or vocalizations. Once this is done, you will descend and go back to lodge for lunch as well as resting. The next day drive back to Kampala and catch up with your flight back home.
