THE OVERVIEW

This 11-day birding and primate safari journey offers you to visit a variety of landscapes, from flowing river valleys to grassy savannas filled with wildlife. Enjoy birding in Uganda’s parks, tracking gorillas and chimps, boat cruises, and game drives in some of Uganda’s most iconic tourist locations, including Masindi, Kibale National Park, Queen Elizabeth National Park, and Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.

THE DETAILED ITINERARY

Day 1: Arrival and transfer to the hotel

When you arrive at Entebbe International Airport, our driver will welcome you and transport you to the hotel in Entebbe for leisure, dinner, and an overnight stay.

Meal plan: Dinner

Day 2: Transfer to Masindi and bird watching

After an early breakfast, take a 250km (4 hour) journey northwest via the famous Luwero Triangle, bird viewing on the way to Masindi, and then enjoy outstanding birding in the savannahs while seeking specialties. Check into your lodge for lunch and some rest. Relax in the afternoon and go bird viewing around Masindi.

Meal plan: All meals are included

Day 3: Birding and Primate viewing at Royal Mile

After a leisurely breakfast, head to Royal Mile for some birdwatching, where you can see Cassin’s Hawk Eagle, Nahan’s Francolin, Chocolate-backed, and Dwarf Kingfishers, White-thighed Hornbill, Narina Trogon, Blue-breasted Kingfisher, a plethora of Tinker birds and Barbets, Yellow-crested and Brown-eared Woodpeckers, Forest Flycatcher, Chestnut-capped among the primates expect to see the Blue, Valvet, Red Tailed monkeys, Olive Baboon, and the Chimps. Check into your lodge for dinner and an overnight stay after the activity.

Meal plan: All Meals are included

Day 4: Transfer to Kibale National Park

After an early breakfast, you will embark on a journey of at least 7 hours and 400 kilometers to Kibale National Park. Expect to see Olive Baboons, Black and White Colobus Monkeys, Red Colobus Monkeys, Red Tailed and Velvet Monkeys, and possibly some birds along the route. Kibale National Park is well-known for its 13 primate species, including man’s closest living cousins, the Chimpanzees. When you arrive later in the evening, check into a lodge for dinner.

Meal plan: All meals are included

Day 5: Chimpanzee tracking and Bird watching

Have an early breakfast and head to the park headquarters for briefing and guidance about the chimpanzee trekking experience. Then you head to the forest in search of wild chimpanzees on foot, Smaller than their gorilla’s cousins but no less charming, intelligent, or expressive, chimps live in communities of up to 250 individuals. The chimp trekking experience isn’t as strenuous as the gorilla trek since the terrain is relatively flat and not very rough and the chimps do not get so distant. You are allowed up to 1 hour to watch these delightful apes as they play and squabble in the fruiting trees and you won’t help to realize how closely related they are to us, humans. Trekking chimpanzees can take 1 to 6 hours and will be filled with all sorts of enchanting encounters. L’Hoest’s, Red Colobus, Red-tailed, Olive Baboon, Gray-cheeked Mangabey, and many other primates can also be spotted. After lunch, you will visit Bigodi Wetland, which is managed by the local people. Expect to see the elusive Sitatunga Antelope in the Papyrus as well as several other noteworthy bird species such as the White-winged warbler, Papyrus Gonolek, and Carruthre’s Cisticola before returning to your accommodation for dinner and an overnight stay.

Meal plan: All meals are included

Day 6: Birding at Kibale and Transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park

Wake up early for breakfast and head into the forest in search of the Green Breasted Pitta, as well as the Long Legged Buzzard, Red Capped Robinchat, Brown and Scaly Breasted Illadopsis, and Green Hylia. Transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park after lunch. The route takes you through Uganda’s finest scenic places, with a clear view of the Mountains of the Moon. You will arrive in the evening to check in the lodge for dinner and the night and Queen Elizabeth is Uganda’s second largest national park.

Meal Plan: All meals are included

Day 7: Morning game drive and bird watching and an afternoon boat cruise

After a cup of coffee, you leave for an early game drive in Queen Elizabeth National Park at 7:00 a.m. An early start increases the likelihood of catching the elusive nocturnal predators before they depart to their hideouts. Expect to see Lions, Leopards, Hyenas, Buffaloes, Elephants, Uganda Kob, Warthogs, Baboons, Jackals, Waterbucks, Bushbucks, grazing Hippos, and many species of birds when bird watching.  Harlequin Quail, Blue Quail, Red Capped Lark, African Crake, Common Buttonquail, Broad Tailed Warbler, Martial Eagle, African Skimmer, Verreaux’s Eagle-Owl, and Amur Falcon are among the park’s special birds.

After lunch in the afternoon take a 2 to a 4-hour boat cruise on the Kazinga channel, a 32km long natural channel between Lake Edward and George the channel hosts Hippos, Crocodiles, Monitor Lizards, and Buffalos are common along the channel. Animals such as Elephants and Antelopes often come down to cool off, drink and eat the fresh grass along the channel. The Channel is literally a bird magnet! Among the common and conspicuous species include Pied and Malachite Kingfisher, African Fish Eagle, Cormorants, Skimmers, Saddle-billed Stork, and Pelicans among others. Return to your lodge for dinner and a night’s rest.

Meal plan: All meals are included

Day 8: Forest birding in Maramagambo forest

Pack a lunch and head to the Kyambura Canyon for more primate tracking, then to the Immaramagambo forest for birdwatching along the Crater Lake showers. Among the specialties at Imaramagambo forest are Yellow-bellied and Jameson’s Wattle-eyes, Black Bee-eater, White-tailed and Red-tailed Ant-Thrush, Brown and Grey-chested Illadopsis, Shinning Blue Kingfisher, Brown-eared Woodpecker, Narina Trogon, Least Honeyguide, Brown-chested Alethe, and African Finfoot. Return to the lodge for dinner and a night stay.

Meal plan: All meals are included

Day 9: Transfer to Bwindi via the Ishasha sector

After breakfast, depart for Bwindi Impenetrable National Park through the seasonal Ishasha sector, which offers a better chance of seeing tree-climbing lions. With stops in search of fascinating savannah birds such as the Black Lored and Arrow-marked Babbler, the Ovambo Sparrow Hawk, the Stout, Zitting, Wing snapping, and Trilling Cisticolas, the Violet-backed Starling, the Brown Snake Eagle, the Holub’s Golden Weaver, the Lesser and Greater Honeyguide, the Grassland and Plain Backed Pipit, the Black Cuckoo, the Fork-tailed Drong. Reach the lodge for relaxation and dinner.

Meal plan: All meals are included

Day 10: Gorilla tracking

Wake up to an early breakfast, get your trekking attire on, pick up your packed lunch, and transfer to park headquarters by 7:30 am. You’ll gather with the rest of the trekkers to assign gorilla families and briefing on safe gorilla trekking from the rangers. Bwindi is divided into three gorilla trekking regions, that is; Buhoma, Ruhija, and Nkuringo. Each region harbors a number of gorilla families. Our guides help you to secure your gorilla permit for a particular region and on the tracking day, the rangers divide and allocate the visitors to each gorilla family in that region, putting a number of factors into consideration such as the ability to track distant and challenging families. However, no more than 8 trekkers can be assigned to one gorilla family.

At around 8.00 am trek begins through the dense rainforest filled with rare monkeys, exotic birds, and butterflies. The gorilla trekking in this park can take 2 to 8 hours depending on the location of the gorillas; it can be fairly strenuous as the trails can be steep, with the humid air and the dense vegetation. But the effort is all worth it when you finally reach a family of rare and endangered mountain gorillas eating, playing grooming, and napping, their behaviors are so familiar to make you feel like you have known them all your life. It is an extraordinary and exciting moment to see the world’s largest living primates in their natural habitat. After an hour with the gorillas, enjoy your packed lunch and transfer back to the park center where you will be awarded a Gorilla tracking certificate, afterward check in at your accommodation facility for dinner and a night

Meal plan: All meals are included

Day 11: Transfer back to Entebbe for departure flight

On this final day, you wake up to have a relaxed breakfast, you will be driven back to Entebbe for a departure flight depending on its schedule bringing this birding safari to an end

Meal plan: Breakfast and Lunch

This safari tour highlights

• Game drives
• Gorilla tracking
• Chimpanzee tracking
• Boat cruise on Kazinga channel
• Unlimited birding activities
• Scenic drives
• Observing tree-climbing lions