11 days Uganda and Rwanda primate’s safari.  

11 days Best of Uganda and Rwanda, giving you an opportunity to see mountain gorillas both Uganda and Rwanda and also to see plenty of wildlife in Queen Elizabeth national park. In additional the 11 days trip takes you to explore Kibale national park, the home of Man’s closest relatives the chimpanzees.

Brief itinerary

  • Day 1: Drive to Volcanoes National park.
  • Day 2L Gorilla Tracking
  • Day 3: Tranfer to Uganda Kabale
  • Day 4: Transfer to Bwindi
  • Day 5: Gorilla Tracking
  • Day 6: Transfer to Queen Elizabeth
  • Day 7: Game drive / Boat ride
  • Day 8: Transfer to Kibale park/ Chimpanzee tracking in the afternoon.
  • Day 9: Transfer to Murchison falls
  • Day 10: Game drives / Boat ride.
  • Day 11: Drive Back to Kampala.

Detailed itinerary.

Day 1 – Drive to Volcanoes national park.

Our guide will pick you up from your hotel or the airport from Kigali and drive you to Kinigi, the start point of gorilla tracking in Volcanoes national park. Overnight will be at the hotel of your choice.

Budget; Muhabura Lodge / Kinigi guest house

Budget; Five volcanoes lodge, Mountain Gorilla View Lodge, Ingagi Parkview lodge, Le Bambou Lodge

Luxury; one &only gorilla nest lodge, Volcanoes Lodge , Sabyinyo Silver back lodge ,

Super luxury; Bisate lodge, Sangita lodge

Day 2; gorilla trekking in Rwanda

You will have your breakfast very early, you have to carry packed lunch because you can never know how long you be out in the jungle and then go for the gorilla briefing at the park headquarters at 7 am. Gorilla tracking begins at 8 am and a ranger will ranger guide(s) will be allocated to every group to lead you along the trails as you search for these gorillas. He will help you locate them and once you meet them, you will be given an hour with them, you can take pictures and videos before you walk back from the forest.  If there is still enough time, you can visit the beautiful twin lakes called Lake Bulera & Ruhondo. And from there, you can head back to the previous lodge for your dinner and spend the night.

Day 3; Transfer to back to Uganda-Bwindi.

After breakfast, you will drive across the border across into Uganda – Kabale. You should be in Kabale later afternoon, check in at the hotel of your choice before you go for the evening boat ride on Lake Bunyonyi.  You can check out a couple of small islands in this lake, there is also the famous Akampene Island and all these are islands are great birding sites that you can never miss out especially if you’re interested in birds.

You can spend a night at the lodge of your choice. This may be at either;

Luxury; Bird nest lodge, Habuharo island lodge 

Standard; Arcadia Cottages/ Bunyonyi Overland Camp

Budget; Bushara Island Camp

11 days best of gorilla tracking Day 4; Drive to Bwindi

After breakfast at the lodge. you will proceed to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park which is famous for being a home to hundreds of mountain gorillas. Bwindi Impenetrable is one of the ancient forests in Africa and is a home to close to half of the entire world’s mountain gorilla population. Bwindi national park is a home to more than 90 different species of mammals and these include 11 primate species. You will have lunch en- route but dinner will be at the lodge where you will spend the night; 

Budget; Buhoma Community bandas, Buhoma haven lodge, Bwindi View bandas, Kisoro tourist’s hotel, gorilla valley lodge

Standard:  Nkuringo gorilla lodge, Ichumbi lodge, Rushaga gorilla lodge, Lake Kitandara Lodge, Lake Mulehe safari lodge, Mahogany springs

Luxury: Buhoma Lodge, silver back lodge, volcanoes lodges, Engagi lodge/

Super luxury : Clouds Lodge, Gorilla Forest Camp, trackers safari lodge

Day 5; Gorilla tracking day

Breakfast will be served very early so that you can be at the headquarters by 7 am for briefing just like it was done in Rwanda. After trekking, you will start the trek up into the thick forested hills of Bwindi and may have to walk for hours before you finally get to meet the amazing mountain gorillas hiding in the thick vegetations.  This trek takes between an hour up to 10 hours which is why you need to carry packed lunch and requires you to be physically fit. Once you meet them, you will an hour to sit in the forest with these gorillas and listen to them complain, fight each other, the mothers care for their little ones while the dominant male called the silverback take care of the entire family. Your ranger/ guides will be  your source of information  and so you can ask him/ her about the different  flora and fauna  in  jungle that you may be interested in knowing about.

After the one hour with them, you will walk out of the jungle and head back to the lodge. Or, you can go for a guided walk at an extra cost of $10 along the Munyaga River trail. This trail takes you to three waterfalls with the most crystal-clear waters, you will find tree ferns in abundance and hundreds of beautifully colored butterflies. You can also expect to meet so many bird species and primates during your walk. Later on, you can return to the lodge for an overnight.

Day 6; Transfer to Queen Elizabeth

This is a Savannah park and you will start on your journey to Queen after breakfast in Bwindi. You may need to carry packed lunch with you if you plan on spending most of the day in the park before you check in at your next lodge in the evening. You can drive through the Ishasha sector of this park which is located in the southern sector and known for being the only host of tree-climbing lions. More to the tree climbing lions are other wildlife species like large herds of buffaloes and elephants, closer to the waters you will find hippos, there are so many antelopes especially the Uganda kobs. There are topis, water and bush bucks too as well as so many other animals.

After the drive around the park searching for the different animals, you will proceed to your lodge where you will spend the night and also have your dinner. You might have some time to clean up and relax a bit before dinner time.   Dinner and overnight can be at either;

Budget lodge; Simba safari Camp, Bush lodge, Ishasha pride lodge

Moderate – Marafiki safari lodge, park view lodge, Ihamba Lodge, buffalo safari lodge or a similar lodge

Luxury; Mweya safari lodge, Ishasha wilderness camp, Kyambura Game lodge

Day 7; Go for a morning game drive and after noon Launch cruise

You will wake up very early in the mornings, have your breakfast or simply grab a cup of tea/ coffee and then go for the morning game drive before some animals run back into hiding after sun rise. You drive through the different trails along the Kasenyi track as you search for the different wildlife species living in this park including the animals including Buffaloes, different types of antelopes, there are Elephants, Warthogs and sometimes leopard are seen wondering around. The game drive usually takes about each may take 3-4 hours after which you return to the lodge at around mid-morning for your full breakfast if you didn’t have breakfast. Later, you will have your lunch and after lunch, you will go for the afternoon boat ride that takes you along the Kazinga channel. This ride gives you an opportunity to meet different water animals like hippos, crocodiles, among others when they visit the water source to quench their thirst.  You can also expect to see so many different bird species along the shores of the rivers or resting on the floating papyrus in the river.  After the boat ride, you will drive back to the lodge for your dinner and overnight.

Day 8; Transfer to Kibale and do the Chimps tracking

chimpanzee tracking Immediately after breakfast, you will drive to Kibale national park for the Chimpanzee tracking activity done from the Kibale forest. The Chimpanzee tracking starts with a briefing at Kanyankyu and the actual trek starts at 1400hrs. You will get your lunch earlier enough and then start the trek to find the great animals which are said to be Man’s closest cousin. You can always expect to meet a lot more than just the chimpanzees. This forest has got over 13 different primates including the vervet monkeys, the grey-cheeked mangabey monkeys, black and white colobus, the red-tailed monkeys, the L’hoest, among many others.  Bird lovers will find this walk really rewarding because this forest in also a home to more than 150 different bird species and a keen birder may be see more than 100 species during this walk.  This chimpanzee trek takes about 4 hours and when you meet them, you will be given an hour to stay around them. After that hour of taking pictures, watching them play and feed, you will walk out of the jungle and head to the lodge for dinner and an overnight. Accommodation may be;

Budget – Rwenzori view guest house, Kibale forest camp, Artaco cottages, Chimpanzee Forest lodge

Moderate – Mountains of the moon, Rubalika safari lodge, crater safari lodge,  Kibale Tourists hotel or any other of similar category

Luxury – Ndali lodge, Kyaninga safari   lodge, primates lodge Kibale or any other in that same category

Day 9; Drive to Murchison Falls National park

After breakfast in the morning, you will then drive to Murchison falls national park. You will have a lunch en route. And when you get to the park, you will go visit the top of the falls before  you check in at your lodge which may be;

Budget – Red Chillis Camp / Budongo Eco lodge

Moderate – Pakuba lodge, Murchison river lodge, Sambiya River Lodge, fort Murchison, among others.

Luxury:   Chobe safari lodge, Paraa Lodge 

Super luxury : Nile River Lodge. 

Day 10; Do a game drive and Launch cruise

You will have to wake up really early have tea or full breakfast before you head out for the early mo0rning game drive done on the northern Bank of the Victoria Nile River.  The park is a home to so many different wildlife species which is why you should expect animals like the Rothschild Giraffes which in the whole country are only found here and in Kidepo national park.  There are others like elephants, so many Uganda kobs, Jackson Hartebeest, sometimes Lions are spotted wondering around the park, water and bush bucks are also very common in the Savannah woodland birds.

By mid-morning, you will be through and return to the lodge for to rest and later on have lunch. After lunch, you will go for the afternoon boat ride along the Nile. This ride gives you the opportunity to meet the different aqua life especially the hippos, there are crocodiles, water birds and many other animals. Sometimes the rare but popular shoe Bill stork is spotted walking along the shores of the river and many more others. In the evening after the boat ride, you will return to the lodge to rest as you wait for your dinner.

Day 11; Drive back to Kampala.

This will be your last day on this safari. After breakfast at the lodge, you will start on your journey back to Kampala.  You will have a stopover at Zziwa Rhino Sanctuary to visit the rhinos while in their natural habitat.  After this nature walk, you will have lunch at Zziwa sanctuary and after lunch you continue with your journey to Kampala or Entebbe where you will spend your night until your departure time the next or the driver will drive you straight to the airport to catch your flight if you have to leave this very day. This marks the end of our 11 days best of Uganda and Rwanda safari.