Upon arrival at Entebbe International Airport, you will be met by a Ngoni Safaris Uganda guide/driver who will welcome you to Uganda—the Pearl of Africa. Thereafter, you will be transferred to your booked accommodation. In case you have had an early landing in Uganda, you may opt to go out for a free city tour with our guide. You will stay in a nice lodge with beautiful views on Lake Victoria. The hotel is on the slopes of Buziga Hill, and featuring views of Lake Victoria. This informal hotel off Route 109 is 4km from Ggaba Beach and 10km from Kabaka’s Palace. The airy, relaxed rooms come with balconies, flat-screen TVs and minifridges, in addition to en suite bathrooms and free Wi-Fi. The amenities include a restaurant, a bar and a terrace with lake views, as well as an outdoor pool.
Your driver will pick you up from the accommodation and you will head out for Murchison Falls National Park. The highlights of this park include, the roaring rapids of the Murchison and the rolling plains of Uganda’s largest national park where you will have the chance of viewing lions, giraffes, hartebeest, buffalo, and elephants. Surely you will be fascinated by the concentration of hippos and the Nile crocodiles here. For birders, Murchison Falls boasts 450 bird species including the elusive shoebill stork, dwarf king fisher, the white-thigh hornbill, and the Goliath heron among others. En route, make a detour visit to Ziwa Rhino sanctuary. You will have at least one hour of rhino tracking while here. Another stop will be in Masindi in order to enjoy your lunch. Continue to the park and check into your accommodation to relax for the evening.
Have your breakfast then depart for an early morning game drive across the rolling plains of Uganda’s largest national park. Here you will have the opportunity of viewing lions, giraffes, hartebeest, buffalo, and elephants. For any birder among you, this area supports the secretary bird and the black chested snake eagle to name a few. Then return to your accommodation for lunch. After lunch, you will head out for the launch/boat trip to the base of Murchison Falls where you will also be able to catch sight of more animals including hippos, crocodiles and several water birds. Continue with a hike (if you like) to the top of the falls. The hike may be a strenuous one but the thrill on reaching the top is breathtaking. Miss it only if you must. Return to your accommodation and have a relaxed evening.
Have breakfast in the morning and depart for Kibale Forest National Park. Have lunch at Fort Portal and proceed in the view of the Rwenzori Mountains. You’ll also have a guided nature walk in the Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary to see various bird species, butterflies and primates. Dinner and your overnight stay are at Bigodi.
On this day, you will track the most famous inhabitants of Kibale National Park, the chimpanzees. Chimpanzees share 98% of human genes making them our closest living relatives. Today in Uganda, there are approximately 5,000 chimpanzees left in the wild. The chimpanzee trekking experience here is done on several well maintained walking trails. There is also a wonderfully diverse concentration of other primates, more than any other forest in East Africa. Besides our delightful cousins, the chimpanzees, you can find red Colobus, red-tailed guenon, white-nosed monkey, gray-cheeked mangabey, blue monkey, L’Hoest’s monkey, and the black and white Colobus monkey. In addition, you may see olive baboons, bush babies and nocturnal potts. After the tracking, you will have the opportunity for a guided walk through the swamps of Bigodi.
In the morning, you can relax at your lodge. You will then continue your journey to Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Queen Elizabeth 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 prolific game, including gazelle, Uganda kob, warthog and waterbuck. Lions are often sighted both in and at the entrance to the park. Be prepared for large numbers of hippos and elephants, and keep your eyes peeled for a leopard lazing in the sunshine. In the late afternoon, you will go for a game drive in the park.
Parkview Safari Lodge is located on a unique location and has been designed and handcrafted using local materials, fitted by artisans from the local community.
Today you will 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 elephants, buffaloes, lions, waterbucks, leopards, Ugandan kobs, and many warthogs. In the afternoon, you will take a boat safari along the Kazinga Channel which joins Lake George and Lake Albert. 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 buffaloes, crocodiles, bathing elephants, and a wide range of beautiful birds. This will undoubtedly be one of the highlights of your tour. After the boat safari, you drive back to the lodge through the park.
Have breakfast then set off for Bwindi Impenetrable National Park through the Ishasha sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park—famously known for its resident tree-climbing lions. The chance of spotting these lions is about 70% though sometimes they are really hard to spot (most especially when they’re down in the grassland looking for prey). Hoping you get the chance to spot them, the sight will be spectacular! Continue to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. Bwindi is a big habitat for mountain gorillas in Uganda (harboring an estimated 400 mountain gorillas–roughly half of the world’s population), including several habituated groups, which can be tracked. With a strenuous day ahead, you will do less on arrival but just check in your accommodation, relax as you prepare for the Bwindi gorilla trekking experience the following day.
After an early breakfast and a briefing by a ranger guide, you will enter the gorilla sanctuary for your adventure. The beauty of this rain forest is spectacular! The area offers dramatic steeply forested landscape and is incredibly dense, but crisscrossed by numerous animal trails allowing access to tourists. The time taken and the terrain vary with the movements of these great primates. Once you locate a gorilla group, you will be allowed an hour in their presence. The thrill of spending time observing these gentle and endangered giants is an awesome, exciting experience to be long savored. Return to your lodge. Have your lunch and thereafter, check out for a transfer to Lake Bunyonyi. Lake Bunyonyi is framed by lush, green-terraced hills that reach a height of (2,200 – 2,478m) but it’s the 29 islands of various shapes and sizes scattered across the water making it magical—you could admire them all day.
After your breakfast, check out and embark on your return journey to Entebbe Airport for your outbound flight. Remember to make a stop at the Uganda Equator line mark for some memorable photos while on your safari in the Pearl of Africa. Thereafter, proceed to Entebbe Airport where your driver/guide will gladly drop you off. We hope to see you (or any referral) when next you visit. Thanks for choosing Ngoni Safaris Uganda.