The overview game drives safari in Uganda
This 5-day Gorilla tracking and game drives safari in Uganda takes you to two of the most visited national parks: Queen Elizabeth National Park, where you can spot elephants, buffaloes, Uganda kobs, waterbucks, hippos, warthogs, bushbucks, Nile crocodiles, tree climbing lions, and various bird species while on a boat cruise, and Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, where you can interact with endangered gorillas in their natural habitat then a trip to the Batwa community
The highlights of the 5-day game drives safari
- Game drives
- Viewing of the big five animals
- Boat cruise
- Gorilla trekking
- Batwa community exploration
5 Days gorilla and game drive safari Detailed Itinerary
Day 1: Pick-Up from Kampala and transfer to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park
After breakfast at your Kampala accommodation facility, depart on an 8-9-hour journey with our driver guide to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park in South Western Uganda. During the journey, you’ll make a short stop at the Equator for water experiments and to observe the point where the two hemispheres begin. Continue your journey via Mpambire drum village, also known as drum making village. Another stop in Mbarara for lunch before continuing on to the Park’s headquarters in Buhoma. Check into the lodge for dinner and an overnight stay upon arrival.
Meal plan: All meals are included
Day 2: Gorilla tracking and Batwa community visit
After a hearty breakfast, the driver will take you to the park information offices for a briefing about the rules and regulations of gorilla trekking. After that, you’ll walk into the forest with a UWA ranger guide to look for huge endangered mountain gorillas. Chimpanzees, black and white Colombus monkeys, vervet monkeys, bush pigs, forest elephants, many bird species, butterflies, and other animals may be encountered on the trek in addition to gorillas.
Depending on the whereabouts and movement of the gorilla family you are tracking, the mountain gorilla walk can last anywhere from 30 minutes to 6 hours. Once you find the gorillas, you have a maximum of one hour to spend watching them, taking photos, tracking their movements, and asking as many inquiries about them and their connections with the forest as you want. After the trekking excursion, return to the starting site to obtain a gorilla tracking certificate and then continue to the accommodation for some rest.
In the evening, you go on an escorted Batwa community walk in Bwindi to learn about the locals’ livelihoods. You also visit a traditional herbalist to learn how they prepare native medicine to cure a variety of human problems, a blacksmith to see how he makes everyday objects, and a brewery to see how local beer is made using traditional methods. Traditional village dances will keep you delighted as well. Dinner and an overnight stay at the lodge.
Meal plan: All meals are included
Day 3: Transfer to Queen Elizabeth national park with the game drive via the Ishasha sector
After an early breakfast, check out of the lodge and meet your driver guide for the journey to Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda’s second-largest protected area. The drive takes about 3 to 4 hours. Enjoy a wildlife game drives safari through the Ishasha sector, where you will observe tree-climbing lions lying up in acacia/fig tree branches, as well as elephants, buffaloes, Uganda kobs, hippos, and various bird species. After the wildlife drive in the Ishasha area, you will have lunch on the way to Queen Elizabeth National Park, after which you will check into the lodge for dinner and overnight.
Meal plan: All meals are included.
Day 4: Morning game drive and Boat cruise along Kazinga channel
After having a cup of tea, go on a wildlife drive into the savannah plains of Queen Elizabeth National Park’s Kasenyi region. Kasenyi is also one of the park’s most picturesque areas, especially before dawn, when the first rays of sunlight fall over the savannah.
An early morning wildlife drive boosts your chances of seeing nocturnal and predator species before they retreat to their dens. Lions, leopards, hyenas, buffaloes, elephants, Uganda Kob, warthogs, baboons, jackals, waterbucks, bushbucks, and grazing hippos are all possible sightings. After the game drive, return to the lodge for leisure and lunch.
After lunch, take a 2- to 4-hour boat ride over the 32-kilometer-long Kazinga strait, which connects Lake Edward and George. You’ll witness hippos, crocodiles, monitor lizards, and buffalos along the canal, which are all abundant in this area. Elephants and antelopes frequent the channel to cool off, drink, and eat the fresh grass.
The Channel is frequented by Pied and Malachite Kingfishers, African Fish Eagles, Cormorants, Skimmers, Saddle-billed Storks, and Pelicans. Enjoy the serenity and quiet of this magnificent African day as you sail by tiny fishing towns. Later in the evening, return to your lodge for supper, leisure, and overnight.
Meal plan: All meals are included
Day 5: Transfer back to Kampala for departure
After a leisurely breakfast, you begin the ride back to Kampala. The driver will drop you off to the hotel or airport, depending on the time of your flight departure, bringing this game drives safari and gorilla trekking to a close.
Meal plan: breakfast and lunch