The overview of chimpanzee trekking and wildlife safari

This four-day Chimpanzee trekking and wildlife safari offers you to explore two of the best of Uganda’s famous and visited parks, Murchison Falls National Park and Kibale National Park, as well as the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary. Kibale National Park is located in western Uganda, and visitors can interact with endangered chimps and other primates such as grey-cheeked mangabeys, vervet monkeys, red-tailed monkeys, and olive baboons in their natural habitat.

During the safari, you will also participate in an enthralling nature walk in the Bigodi swamp, where you will view a variety of bird species, butterflies, primates, and mammals, among other things. Hiking to the top of Murchison Falls, game drives, an afternoon boat ride in Nile River at Murchison Park, and all other options.

The highlights of the safari

• Boat cruise along the river Nile
• Hike to the top of the Murchison Falls
• Chimpanzee tracking in Kibale
• Rhino tracking
• Bigodi swamp guided nature walk
• Scenic drives

The detailed Itinerary

Day 1: Pickup from Kampala and drive to Murchison falls national park, a stop at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary to track the Rhinos

Our driver guide will pick you up from your Kampala hotel or apartment after breakfast and take you 315 kilometers northwest to Murchison Falls Park. The road trip will last 5 to 6 hours, taking you through ever-changing scenery, bustling roadside markets, and calm rural villages. Enjoy the scenic route across central Uganda’s flat terrain before branching off at Nakitooma to visit the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary. Arrive at the sanctuary headquarters, where you will be briefed on rhino tracking and how to behave around rhinos.

Take a thrilling 2-hour rhino tracking tour on foot on specified paths, accompanied by armed rangers, to see Southern white rhinos in their native habitat.

After the fascinating time at the sanctuary, carry on to Murchison Falls National Park, with a lunch stop in Masindi. Reach inside the park and climb to the top of the waterfalls for spectacular views of the Nile as it flows through the canyon. In the evening, check into the lodge for supper and a restful night.

All meals are included in the meal plan.

Day 2: Game drive and an Afternoon boat cruise

After breakfast, embark on a 3-4 hour game drive across the park’s northern sector, which has rolling savanna grassland intermingled with stunning clumps of Borassus palms, acacia trees, riverine woodland, a variety of animals, and rare birds. During the early morning game drive, you will be able to witness early morning risers and predators such as lions, leopards, and hyenas as they return to their dens after an overnight hunt.

While on the game drive, you are likely to see also warthogs, Uganda kobs, lions, leopards, cape buffaloes, bush pigs, bush duikers, sitatunga antelopes, Rothschild giraffes, and hyenas, among other wildlife. Rare bird species to look out for include Abyssinian ground hornbills, Secretary birds, Grey-crowned cranes, and Denham’s bustard, among others.

Return to the lodge for relaxation and lunch after the game drive. After lunch, take a 3-hour boat ride east along the Nile River via an archetypally African stretch dominated by Borassus palms, acacia forest, and mahogany stands. Look out for scores of Nile crocodiles skimming the water’s surface, along with pods of concealed hippos breaking the surface to get a better look at you. Waterbirds such as the magnificent, prehistoric-like Shoebill, the well-named Goliath heron, the Saddle-billed stork, the African jacana, the Squacco heron, and African fish eagles can be observed replenishing their thirst at the riverbanks.

You will return to the lodge after the boat cruise for dinner and a night’s stay

Meal plan: All meals are included

Day 3: Early morning transfer to Kibale national park and afternoon chimpanzee tracking

You will wake up early for breakfast before embarking on a 4-5 hour travel via Kyenjojo to Hoima route to Fort Portal to Kibale National Park. Make a stop in Fort Portal for lunch. Arrive in the afternoon in Kibale National Park and check into the lodge for a brief break.

Following that, you will be driven to the park’s headquarters for an orientation on chimp trekking rules and guidelines. A chimpanzee family to track, as well as an official park guide who is acquainted with the forest’s pathways. Then enter the Kibale forest to track the chimps, which may take 30 minutes to 4 hours depending on where the chimps spent the night before.

Throughout the journey, look for butterflies, birds, plants, primates, and mammals. Once the chimps have been found, you are allowed to spend one hour with them in their natural habitat, studying their behaviors and habits, breastfeeding, playing, hunting, fighting, resting, snapping photos, and recording videos with a flashless camera.

Meal plan: All meals are included

Day 4: Morning Bigodi swamp nature walk and transfer back to Kampala

Get up early for breakfast, then go on an amazing nature walk in Bigodi sanctuary, where you will see various primates such as black and white colobus monkeys, L’hoest monkeys, red-tailed monkeys, grey-cheeked mangabeys, mammals such as bushbucks and Sitatungas, and various bird species such as the great blue turaco, green breasted pitta, papyrus gonolek, and colorful butterflies.

Link up with the driver for a trip back to Kampala through the Fort Portal to Kampala route after the nature-guided walk. Lunch will be served at Fort Portal Town.

Arrive in Kampala in the evening, where you will be dropped off at the hotel or airport depending on your flight itinerary, bringing this safari to a close.

Meal plan: All meals are included