Reward yourself with a long combined safari experience with this 13 Days Uganda Rwanda Safari. This 13 days tour will let you enjoy the best of Uganda and Rwanda at very low affordable rates.
Day 1: Airport pick up
Upon arrival at the airport on the first day of your Uganda safaris adventure, our Rwanda tours and travel representative together with the guide will welcome you and transfer to your lodge. Depending on the time of your arrival, you might be able to do some optional activities in Entebbe like a visit to the Botanical gardens or the Ugandan Wildlife Education Center (UWEC). Please note that all activities today are at your own cost.
Day 2: Ngamba Island
After breakfast, you will take a short boat ride to Ngamba Island to visit the Chimpanzee Sanctuary, established in association with the Jane Goodall Institute. The island is home also home to monitors lizards and many species of birds and is a natural habitat for chimpanzees that have been orphaned or rescued from captivity.
You will watch these fascinating primates from a viewing platform. Later in the evening, you will transfer back to Entebbe and proceed to Kampala to break the journey and cut out the morning traffic jam for the next day.
Day 3: Transfer to Murchison Falls National Park via Ziwa Rhino sanctuary
Today after breakfast, your guide will pick you from Kampala to Murchison Falls National Park. En route, you will visit Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary where you will go for a game walk with an experienced ranger, which gives you a unique opportunity to view the rhinos from a close distance. Murchison Falls and Kidepo Valley National Park once had both black and white rhinos; however, widespread poaching during the Idi Amin era resulted in the disappearance of these majestic animals from the wild. Founded in 1998, Rhino Fund Uganda works to reintroduce black and white rhinos into Uganda and runs a breeding program.
Murchison Falls National Park is the largest conservation area in Uganda, covering an area of over 3,840 km². The park’s name derives from its famous waterfall: the mighty Murchison Falls, which are formed where the Victoria Nile powerfully forces its way through a narrow cleft before plunging 43m down with a thunderous roar
The mighty Nile River divides the park into its north and south sections. At the spectacular Murchison Falls the world’s longest river explodes violently through a narrow cleft in the Rift Valley escarpment to plunge into a frothing pool 43m below.
As the river attracts large numbers of game, a boat safari up the Nile provides the perfect opportunity to see and photograph the animals. Carefully watched by crocodiles, hundreds of hippos, buffaloes, water birds, apes and all the other thirsty wildlife that the Nile attracts; you go to the bottom of the Murchison Falls, which approaches you with a thunderous sound. By car or after a short hike you can reach the “Top of the falls” from where you have a perfect view of the impressive falls and the river snaking below. You will be staying at a great mid-range lodge. Here you can relax during the rest of your day.
Day 4: Morning game drive – Afternoon boat safari – Top of falls
Today after breakfast, you will depart for an early morning game drive across the rolling plains of Uganda’s largest National Park. The 3,893 sq km park is home to a range of animals, and you will have a chance of viewing some of the Park’s residents including lions, giraffes, hartebeest, buffalo, and elephants. For the birders among st you, these areas support the secretary bird and the black chested snake eagle, to name a few. In the afternoon, go for a boat trip to the base of Murchison Falls, where the Nile thunders through a small 7 meter gap plunging 43 meters into the Nile on the way to Lake Albert. The banks of the Nile are densely populated with crocodiles, hippopotamus, and a range of other wildlife that come to the river to drink. After the boat safari you will hike to the top of the falls. From here you have a wonderful view and fantastic photo opportunities.
Day 5: Transfer to Kibale National Park
Today you will begin your journey to Kibale Forest National Park. The long drive is incredibly scenic, passing through tea plantations and the lush green countryside which characterizes so much of Uganda. Kibale Forest National Park is located in west-central Uganda just east of the Rwenzori Mountains, near the town of Fort Portal. The 766 Km² Park predominantly covers evergreen rain forest and ranges between 1100 and 1600m in elevation. Kibale Forest is one of the last remaining expanses to contain both lowland and montane forests and forms a continuous forest with Queen Elizabeth National Park. You will have packed lunch en route, arriving in the evening for overnight and dinner.
Day 6: Chimpanzee Habituation Experience (Full Day)
Have breakfast and report to the park headquarters for briefing after which you embark on the Chimpanzee habituation experience where you attend to the Chimpanzees as a care taker! You will enter the forest early and watch chimps leaving their overnight nests between 6:00 – 6:30 am before feeding, copulating, hunting, breastfeeding, resting, patrolling and displaying until it is time to build new nests around 7pm. Return for dinner and overnight as above.
Day 7: Transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park
Have breakfast at leisure and go for a guided nature walk in the Bigodi swamp after which you continue your journey to Queen Elizabeth National park. Queen Elizabeth National park is Uganda’s second largest park, located at the base of the majestic Rwenzori Mountain range, adjacent to Lake Edward and Lake George. The park has game including Uganda kob, warthog and waterbuck. Lions are often sighted both in and at the entrance to the park. Be ready to see huge numbers of hippos and elephants, and keep your eyes on the lookout for a leopard lazing in the sunshine. In the late afternoon you will relax at the lodge.
Day 8: Game drive & Kazinga channel boat safari
Today you wake up early. A little before sunrise coffee, tea and donuts will be served in the lounge before we head out for a long game drive in time to see the first rays of light. You will search for all the wildlife in the park and are likely to come across Elephant, Buffalo, Lion, Waterbuck, Leopard, Uganda Kob, and many Warthogs.
A well-deserved brunch will be served back at the lodge in the late morning. In the afternoon you will take a boat safari along the Kazinga Channel which joins Lake George and Lake Edward. Here, you will see a lot of hippos (more than you can possibly imagine!), as well as a variety of other animals which come to the waterhole to drink or bathe. You can expect to see buffalo, crocodile, bathing elephant, and a range of beautiful birds. This will undoubtedly be one of the highlights of your tour. After the boat-safari you game drive back to the lodge.
Day 9: Tree climbing lions – Transfer to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
Today morning, on your way to Bwindi, you will go for a game drive in the Ishasha sector for a chance to see the tree climbing lions. After lunch at Ishasha Wilderness Camp you will be transferred to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, home of the mountain gorillas.
Day 10: Gorilla Tracking
Today after early breakfast, you will be transferred to the park headquarters for briefing about gorilla trekking. You will encounter one of Bwindi’s endangered mountain gorillas. For most people this is the absolute highlight of their tour in Uganda. Bwindi Impenetrable national park boasts both mountain gorillas and chimpanzees – the only forest in Africa that can make this claim. It also hosts five other species of primates, 113 species of mammals, over 200 species of butterflies and 360 species of birds. The gorillas you track are habituated and can tolerate the presence of humans for a brief period of time, every day.
The time taken to track the gorillas can be as few as 2 hours to as many as 7 hours. Once the gorillas have been located, your group will be allowed a maximum of one hour with them. Coming face-to-face with a mountain gorilla is a truly humbling and emotional experience. This is a fantastic and privileged opportunity to get up close and personal with Uganda’s very own ‘Gorillas in the Mist’.
Day 11: Bwindi Impenetrable National park – Parc National des Volcans, Rwanda
Today, after early morning breakfast, you will cross the border into Rwanda with about 2 hours at the border. You will check into your lodge at Volcanoes National Park and in the afternoon, you will relax.
Day 12: Golden Monkey tracking – Transfer to Kigali
After breakfast, you will be transferred to the park headquarters for golden monkey tracking, which is a completely different experience but just as rewarding. These beautiful, lively creatures are on the endangered list, and are fascinating to watch as they leap through the vegetation. You will return to the lodge, have lunch and after lunch, you will be driven to Kigali, Rwanda’s capital city.
Day 13: Airport Transfer
Today, depending on your flight time, you can visit the Genocide Memorial and Education Centre. It’s a dignified tribute to the victims, including a poignant Children’s Memorial, and a detailed description of the darkest hour in Rwanda’s recent history. Later you will be transferred to Kigali airport for your out bound flight.
