Epic Journey in the Green Heart of Africa

You will be picked by our driver/guide and take to Airport Guesthouse Entebbe for overnight. He will brief you about the tour and what time to pick you on day 2.

Budget Tour: Airport Guesthouse
Comfortable Tour: Airport Guesthouse Entebbe

Early morning after breakfast you will leave for Murchison Falls NP. Via Masindi we drive for 90 kms through the park before we reach Paraa in the late afternoon. For Budget Tour clients, “”We will stop at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary for tracking the Rhinos and also have Lunch here before contuining via Karuma Bridge to reach later in the afternoon at Fort Murchison just outside the park boundaries.”” Here we will stay and with a cool drink and a fabulous view over the river Nile the evening will come with all the noise of an African night.

Driving time: ± 7,5 hours

Budget accommodation (non-self-contained tents)
Comfortable accommodation (Self-contained tents/ rooms)

This day early in the morning we go for the game drive via Tanga gate; special here are the lions and giraffes. In the afternoon we have the impressive launch trip on the Nile to the Falls. Hippos, crocodiles, buffalo, elephants and many birds will be seen!!

Early morning the boat will take us downstream to the delta. The place where the Nile enters Lake Albert. This trip of 5-6 hours will show us all the beauty of this national park especially the delta with all the different birds. Here is a good chance to see the elusive Shoebill stork! In the afternoon is a visit to the top of the Falls, a wonderful view.

Early morning departure for the journey to Kibale NP. We will pass close to Lake Albert, on a clear day the view from the top of the Albert rift is spectacular. In the afternoon we will arrive at Kibale Forest Camp, sleeping with the noises of the tropical rainforest.

Driving time: ± 8 hours

Budget accommodation (non-self-contained tents)
Comfortable accommodation (Self-contained tents/ rooms)

At 08.00 we will start with the 4 hours chimp walk. Also 10 other primates can be seen!! Kibale NP is also known for all the butterflies and birds. In the afternoon a walk through Bigodi Swamp (community based project)

Early morning departure for Queen Elizabeth NP. Via Fort Portal we reach at around midday in Bush Lodge in Queen Elizabeth NP with a stunningly beautiful view over Kazinga Channel. In the late afternoon we will go to Kyambura Gorge. Here you can go for a 3-4 hour walk in to the Gorge for meeting the chimpanzees.

Driving time: ± 4,5 hours

Day 7 and 8

Budget accommodation (non-self-contained tents)
Comfortable accommodation (Self-contained tents/ rooms)

This day is for a game drive on the plains of Queen Elizabeth NP with thousands of Ugandan kobs, lions, elephants etc. Also on the program is a two hours launch trip on the Kazinga channel where we will see all the animals from the waterside.

Our second full day in this beautiful park! All Day Game Drive in Ishasha Sector in search of the tree-climbing lions. Other animals will be spotted especially herds of elephants and Ugandan Kobs.

Budget accommodation (non-self-contained tents)
Comfortable accommodation (Self-contained tents/ rooms)

In the morning we leave Queen for Kisoro. We stop in Kabale for Lunch. The road takes us through a beautiful landscape called the “Switzerland of Africa”. We pass mountains, hills and lakes with cultivated terraces and tropical rainforest and bamboo forest. On the last hill the landscape unfolds beneath us, in the vast plane of Uganda, Rwanda and Congo the Virunga volcanoes dominate the view. Down is Kisoro where we will stay in the famous Travellers Rest Hotel. Just outside Kisoro, this unique hotel offers a cozy stay for the tourists, who come to see the endangered mountain gorilla. The hotel, built in a somewhat colonial style, and entirely renovated in 1999, has a comfortable ambiance. In the sixties the famous American ‘gorilla-woman’ Dian Fossey visited Hotel Travellers Rest many, many times to do paperwork, to relax or to meet people. Fossey said about the hotel: ,,It was my second home.”

Driving time: ± 6-7 hours

Budget accommodation (non-self-contained tents)
Comfortable accommodation (Self-contained tents/ rooms)

The day is for Gorilla tracking, From Travellers Rest in Kisoro it is 1 hour by car to Nshongi/Nkuringo group in South Bwindi. At 7:45 A:M you will be at the staring point of Bwindi Impenetrable NP for pre-briefing and at 8:30 you will start the trek, after finding the Gorillas you will spend with maximum 1 hour. All visitors are expected back to the starting point by 7:00 P:M. the walks can take 3-9 hours depending on where you find the Gorillas.

It is a real hiking and being physically fit is recommend

Here everybody can do individually ( or in a group) activities.

With local organizations and the National Park we have developed a number of very interesting activities:

1. Gorilla tracking in Mgahinga (1 day). NB: the gorilla in Mgahinga move around so the Uganda Wildlife Authority doesn’t sell permits in advance – you have to take your chance once you are in Kisoro.
2. Gorilla tracking in Rwanda. NB: if you are going for the 2nd gorilla trek in Rwanda you will be transferring to Rwanda on day 2 after trekking in Uganda, and spend a night there. After the trekking you will cross back to Kisoro (1 day).
3. Climbing Muhavura Volcano (± 8 hrs; distance 12km; height 4127m; elevation gain 1700m).
4. Climbing Gahinga Volcano (± 6 hrs; distance 8km; height 3474m; elevation gain 1100m).
5. Visit to Sabinyo Gorge (± 4 hrs; distance 6km, no elevation gain).
6. Climbing Sabinyo Volcano (Sabinyo has three peaks, you can climb all three in the same walk, but you need to be fit!! ± 8 hrs; distance 14 km; height 3669m, elevation gain 1300 m).
7. Hiking in Mgahinga to the viewpoint and Garama Cave (pygmy cave) (± 4 hrs; distance 1 and 4 km).
8. Bird walk in Mgahinga (start at 10am, it can last until 4-5pm).
9. Cultural village walk (with a local guide walking through the land of the Bufumbira tribe)
10. Walk to Lake Mutanda. Visit Python island and go canoeing on this beautiful lake.
11. Batwa Trail: It starts at the base of Mt Muhavura at 8.00 am and finishes by 3-4 pm. You’ll need walking shoes, hat, and raingear, and a packed lunch with sufficient drinks.The Batwa Trail runs across the lower slopes of the Muhavura and Gahinga volcanoes in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. The forest is home to a variety of wildlife but the Batwa Trail is far from being a conventional nature walk. With the help of Batwa guides, you’ll see the forest as a larder, pharmacy, builder’s yard, tool kit and, above all a home. Along the trail, you’ll fire a bow and arrow, check hives for wild honey, help repair a Batwa shelter, harvest plants for medicine and food, light a fire without a matches, listen to legends and learn about Batwa traditions.The highlight of the trail is a descent into the Garama cave, a 200m-long lava tube beneath Mt. gahinga. The Batwa are famed for their music and dance and their historic, subterranean council chamber in Garama Cave provides the setting for an unforgettable performance.The Batwa trail is celebration of the forest culture of the “‘first people.”It is impossible, however, to ignore the fact that Batwa life has greatly changed. The day’s events conclude with a discussion about the Batwa’s current situation; how it can be improved; and progress to date towards doing so.
12. Or just sit and relax or read a book in the garden of Travellers Rest Hotel!

Early morning departure to Lake Mburo NP. This is a small but nice park, the only park in Western Uganda with impalas and zebras. We will make an evening game-drive.

Driving time: ± 5,5 hours

Budget accommodation (non-self-contained tents)
Comfortable accommodation (Self-contained tents/ rooms)

Early morning we will make a game drive/walk. After a late breakfast the last part of the journey will bring us back to Kampala. We will stop in Mbarara for Lunch and then continue, after Masaka town we will stop at the Equator for Tea/Coffee break and buying souvenirs. We will bring you back to Airport Guesthouse in Entebbe for overnight.

Driving time: ± 5,5 hours

Return flight or an extra night in our Airport Guesthouse for just $70 a double / $60 a single (including BB and airport transfer)

Optional Activities

If departing in the morning the hotel has a shuttle to the airport but if departing in the evening then we take them for Kampala City tour before transferring them to the airport for check in. There are also other activities in Entebbe like visiting the Ngamba Island for the orphaned chimps ($ 88 per person), and it can be combined with Uganda Wildlife Education Centre (the former Zoo) There is also Botanical Gardens at $ 10 p.p.