15-Day Uganda-Rwanda Birding, Primates and Big 5 Safari

Wake up, have breakfast, and then embark on a journey to Murchison Falls National Park. You’ll pass through Luwero Town, where you can decide to taste the very many fresh fruits like mangoes and pineapples. You’ll have lunch en route depending on the most convenient location. You’ll also stop at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary for rhino tracking; this is the only place in Uganda where rhinos live in the wild. After that, you’ll head to Murchison Falls National Park, check in at your lodge, and then hike to the top of the falls. You’ll see how the River Nile squeezes itself into an 8-meter gorge before spreading out with a powerful roar, a phenomenon many refer to as a “Devil’s Cauldron”. Later, return to the lodge for dinner and overnight.

• Dinner and overnight: Pakuba Safari Lodge or Paraa Safari Lodge (Upgrade)
• Meal Plan: Full Board

Have an early morning breakfast and set off for the game drive. It’ll take you through the savannas, where you will see profuse wildlife as you move slowly in the park at sunrise. Expect to see wild animals such as lions, leopards, elephants, hippos, buffaloes, warthogs, giraffes, and hilarious appealing warthogs. Some of the birds are the goliath heron and elegant grey-crowned cranes. Then break off for lunch at the lodge. After lunch you hit the road for a launch cruise up to the bottom of the falls, moving at a snail’s pace along the river bank viewing animals. Don’t miss seeing the herds of elephants cooling off, crocodiles enjoying an evening of sunshine, and hippopotamuses frolicking in the water. After going back to the lodge for relaxation and overnight

• Dinner and overnight: Pakuba Safari Lodge or Paraa Safari Lodge (Upgrade)
• Meal Plan: Full Board

Enjoy a morning game drive in another part of the park. The game drive will allow you to see animals that you might have missed the day before. After the game drive, you’ll have lunch at the lodge before heading out for a boat cruise to the Albertine Delta. The scenery is beautiful as the River Nile spreads before pouring into Lake Albert. You’ll see several animals like crocodiles, buffalos, hippos, and birds like white egrets, herons, and many others. Later, return to the lodge for relaxation.

• Dinner and overnight: Pakuba Safari Lodge or Paraa Safari Lodge (Upgrade)
• Meal Plan: Full Board

You will depart after breakfast, driving for about 6-7 hours toward Kibale Forest National Park. Kibale is highest at the park’s northern tip, which stands 1,590 meters above sea level. The lowest point is 1,100 meters on the floor of the Albertine Rift Valley to the south and covers 795 square kilometers of beautiful forest. You will have lunch from any hotel en route. This park is popular for its primates like chimpanzees, Colobus monkeys, red-cheeked monkeys, and red-tailed monkeys. On your chimpanzee trails, they are regularly seen swinging in the forest trees and others feeding on the wild fruits.

• Dinner and overnight : Chimpanzee Forest Lodge or Turaco Treetops Lodge (Upgrade)
• Meal Plan: Full Board

After early breakfast, drive to the park headquarters for briefing and then go for tracking. Tracking may take an hour or more depending on where the chimpanzees might have stayed overnight. It’s a breathtaking activity where you come into contact with humans’ closest relatives and see how they spend their daily lives. Kibale National Park is home to over 15 species of primates and it is registered to be one of the parks with the largest primates numbers, over 400 bird species with the great Rwenzori Turaco commonly found in this park, the park has endemic bird species like the green breasted pitta only found in Kibale National park. Over 200 butterflies and 55 mammals including the forest elephants, giant forest hogs, and many more. You’ll see some of these species while searching for the chimpanzees. After chimp tracking, drive back to the lodge for relaxing and then go for a community walk in Bigodi for birding and seeing primates. After the community walk, head to the lodge for dinner and overnight.

• Dinner and overnight: Chimpanzee Forest Lodge or Turaco Treetops Lodge (Upgrade)
• Meal Plan: Full Board

After breakfast in the morning, drive to Queen Elizabeth National Park, which is almost 3-4 hours drive from Kibale National Park, reaching the park at lunchtime, and having lunch at the lodge. After lunch and relaxation, you will do an evening game drive in the Kasenyi plains. During an evening game drive, you may encounter animals like kobs, savannah elephants, and warthogs among others, dinner at the lodge, and overnight.

• Dinner and overnight: Queen Elizabeth Bush Lodge or Buffalo Safari Lodge (Upgrade)
• Meal Plan: Full Board

Early in the morning, you will head out on another game drive in the Kasenyi Plains. On a lucky day, you’ll spot animals such as lions and leopards, as well as encounters of elephants, Uganda kobs, elands, and many others especially in the morning hours. Drive back to the lodge for lunch and relaxing. After lunch, embark on a boat cruise on the Kazinga channel, where schools of hippos are spotted along with a large numbers of water birds, and herds of elephants coming to drink in the channel. The boat cruise takes about two hours, and after the cruise drive to the lodge for dinner and overnight.

• Dinner and overnight: Queen Elizabeth Bush Lodge or Buffalo Safari Lodge (Upgrade)
• Meal Plan: Full Board

Have your breakfast, pack your bags, and then head out to the Ishasha sector, famous for being home to the rare tree-climbing lions. You’ll drive through the sector for these interesting carnivores, which climb trees to spot prey from a distance or hide from the scorching sun during the hot hours of the day. You’ll be having lunch at any convenient facility. Afterwards return to the lodge for dinner and overnight.

• Dinner and overnight: Topi Lodge or Ishasha Wilderness Camp (Upgrade)
• Meal Plan: Full Board

On the 11th day, you will drive from Ishasha, with an en-route game drive, to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. Bwindi National Park is home to almost half of the remaining mountain gorillas in the wild. Upon arrival, you will check in at your lodge and relax. In the evening, you’ll head to the Batwa community. They’re popular for their strong attachment to the forest, to the extent that they’re finding it hard to adjust to the lives of other people. You will watch them dance, make fire out of sticks, and exercise their hunting skills.

• Dinner and overnight: Rushaga Gorilla Havens Lodge or Four Gorillas Lodge (Upgrade)
• Meal Plan: Full Board

On this day you will have your breakfast with your packed lunch ready, drive to the park headquarters for registration, and join other trackers in a briefing about the dos and the don’ts while on your gorilla tracking adventure. You will trek through thick creepers and undergrowth with your ranger guides to find the gorillas, which can take you half an hour to three-quarters of the day. The steeply forested landscape is incredibly dense but accessible to tourists. It is an extraordinary feeling being with these beautiful yet endangered creatures. Once you find them you will spend one hour with them. You’ll have your packed lunch in the forest before hiking back to the park offices where you will be awarded a certificate as a souvenir after contributing to conserving for these great apes. You’ll then meet your guide and head to Lake Bunyonyi for relaxation and overnight.

• Dinner and overnight: Bunyonyi Overland Resort or Birdnest Resort (Upgrade)
• Meal Plan: Full Board

Have breakfast in the morning, and thereafter embark on a morning canoe cruise on Lake Bunyonyi. This will take you through the numerous islands on the lake, some of them with their history. One of them is Punishment Island, where girls who used to get pregnant before official marriage were taken to starve to death. After the canoe cruise, you’ll have lunch, check out, and then head to Volcanoes National Park.

• Dinner and overnight: Hotel Muhabura or Davinci Gorilla Lodge (Upgrade)
• Meal Plan: Full Board

On the 14th day, you will have an early morning breakfast before heading to the park headquarters. You’ll be briefed about the rules and regulations of golden monkey trekking. Then you’ll follow a ranger and guide to the forest in search of the golden monkeys. Once you find these beautiful primates, you’ll enjoy how playful they are, while you will be using this time to take pictures. After an hour in their presence, you’ll return to the headquarters, drive to the lodge for lunch, and relax for a while. In the evening, you’ll go for the Iby’Iwachu cultural experience. This community is made up of former poachers, who used to hunt and kill gorillas for meat and other purposes. You’ll watch their cultural performances. Visiting their community helps them earn through earning from tourism and it also helps them to learn the importance of conservation.

• Dinner and overnight: Hotel Muhabura or Davinci Gorilla Lodge (Upgrade)
• Meal Plan: Full Board

Today you’ll have breakfast, pack your bags, and then head to Kigali. The journey will take you through Rwanda’s terraced hills. Arrive in Kigali after 3 hours, where you can partake in a brief Kigali city tour before flying out. The city tour takes you to the Kigali Genocide Memorial Center, Kimironko Market, and other interesting places. Afterwards you’ll head to the airport for your flight,  marking the end of the 15-Day Uganda Rwanda Birding, Primates, and Big 5 Safari.

• Meal Plan: Half-Board