The overview
This 3-day Lake Bunyonyi Safari Tour takes one to the most wonderful and scenic regions in Uganda, Lake Bunyonyi. This beautiful lake is located in the southwestern region of Uganda, between Kisoro and Kabale districts. Lake Bunyonyi is known as the “place of many birds” since it is a haven for birds. This safari package includes safari activities such as swimming, village visits, and boat excursions to the lake’s numerous islands. Lake Bunyonyi is free of Bilharzia, crocodiles, and hippos and is 1,962 meters above sea level, making it Uganda’s deepest lake and Africa’s second-deepest lake after Lake Tanganyika.
Detailed Itinerary of this safari
Day 1: Pickup from your hotel in Kampala and transfer to Lake Bunyonyi
After an early breakfast, you will be picked up by our driver to embark on a 7- 9 hour journey to Lake Bunyonyi, with various stops along the way. Southwest Uganda features some of the nicest scenery in the country. The picturesque countryside, enormous wetlands, and Mpanga forest will take your breath away. Observe the locals tending to their gardens and caring for their Ankole livestock. There will be a chance to take pictures at the equator crossing in Kayabwe, as well as an opportunity to purchase local souvenirs. The Equator crossing enables you to place one foot in the southern and one in the northern hemispheres of the Earth. Have lunch in Mbarara before continuing on to Kabale and, eventually to Lake Bunyonyi. Check-in at the hotel afterwards you can opt to explore the lake, walk along the shores and simply enjoy the gorgeous scenery, take in the evening’s performances by local traditional dancers as you relax around a campfire and overnight stay at the hotel.
Meal plan: All meals are provided
Day 2: Explore the local communities, cave discovery, canoe excursions of the islands and birding
Have breakfast as you ready for an entire day of excitement, our driving guide will pick you up from the hotel to embark on a fantastic canoe ride in a dugout canoe with an experienced guide. During the canoe ride, you’re going to paddle along the lake shores to explore some of the islands, such as the punishment island, where you will learn about the Bakiga tribe’s cruel culture of abandoning all girls who became pregnant before marriage on this particular island, where they were left to die because most couldn’t swim. Males who had got them pregnant or bachelors who couldn’t afford the bridal price eventually rescued the majority of the girls. View mammals along the shores, water birds such as black herons, African kingfishers, fish eagles, great cormorants, Hadada ibis, bee-eaters, egrets, slender-billed baglafetch, sunbirds, and enjoy the gorgeous scenery of terraced farmlands, rolling hills, and meet locals who will be canoeing to their gardens or homesteads, and school children going to school. After the canoe excursion, return to the resort for lunch.
After lunch, you will go on an exciting cultural excursion with a local guide, during which you will have the opportunity to engage with the Batwa and Bakiga people who reside in the villages surrounding the lake. Throughout the cultural tour, you will be able to learn about the native people’s culture, traditions, and way of life, as well as visit their markets, and farmlands, and learn how to dig, as well as visit the traditional healer, primary schools, and health facilities, as well as learn how to make local beer from bananas, taste their local dishes, enjoy traditional entertainments, and listen to ancient stories. You will return to the lodge after the cultural tour for an evening of leisure, dinner, and overnight.
Meal plan: All meals are included
Day 3: Transfer back to Kampala and departure
After a leisurely breakfast, while listening to the pleasant sounds of birds and admiring the magnificent panorama of the fog rising off the lake, you will check out of the lodge and meet your driver guide for the ride to Kampala. On the journey, you will stop for lunch in Mbarara and visit the Buganda Royal Drum Makers before continuing on to Kampala, where you will arrive in the early evening. Depending on your schedule, your driving guide will drop you off at Entebbe International Airport for your departing flight or at a hotel in Kampala, bringing this safari to a close.
Meal plan: Breakfast and lunch