The 16 Days Uganda Primates, Wildlife and Culture Safari is an extraordinary safari that will start and end in Kampala Uganda. The safari will take you to the most exciting destinations in Uganda that is Kidepo Valley National Park, Murchison Falls National Park, Kibale National Park, Queen Elizabeth National Park, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Lake Bunyonyi which is the deepest lake in Uganda and Lake Mburo national park. During the 16 days Uganda primates, wildlife and culture safari, you will have great views of wildlife including the big five mammals (elephants, buffaloes, lions, leopards, rhinos), other animals like Uganda kobs, waterbucks, bushbucks, warthogs, hippos, crocodiles which will be viewed during the game drives and boat cruise. You will also engage in an adventurous chimpanzee and gorilla trekking experience where you will be able to spend time with the chimpanzees and mountain gorillas and cultural tours where you will interact with the local people in the neighboring communities.

Highlights of the 16 days Uganda primates, wildlife and culture

Day 1: Pick up and transfer to a hotel in Kampala

Day 2: Transfer to Gulu via Ziwa rhino sanctuary

Day 3: Transfer to Kidepo valley national park-afternoon game drive

Day 4: Full day game drive in Kidepo National Park

Day 5: Morning game drive and Karamojong cultural tour

Day 6: Transfer to Murchison Falls National Park

Day 7: Morning game drive and afternoon boat cruise

Day 8: Transfer to Kibale National Park

Day 9: Chimpanzee trekking and transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park

Day 10: Morning game drive/ lion tracking and afternoon boat cruise

Day 11: Transfer to Bwindi impenetrable national park

Day 12: Gorilla trekking in Bwindi impenetrable national park

Day 14: Transfer to Lake Bunyonyi – boat cruise

Day 14: Transfer to Lake Mburo national park-evening game drive

Day 15: Morning game drive and afternoon boat cruise

Day 16: Walking safari and departure to Kampala

Detailed Itinerary        

Day 1: Pick up and transfer to a hotel in Kampala,

Depending on your arrival time at Entebbe International Airport on day 1 of the 16 Days Uganda Primates, Wildlife and Culture Safari, you will be welcomed by our driver guide who will brief you about the safari and then transfer to a hotel in Kampala for dinner and overnight.

Day 2: Transfer to Gulu via Ziwa rhino sanctuary

After breakfast on day 2 of the 16 days Uganda primates, wildlife and culture, your driver guide will pick you up from the hotel, brief you about the safari and then start the journey to Gulu. On the way, you will have a stopover at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary for rhino trekking and then proceed with another stopover for en-route lunch. After lunch, you will proceed the journey and upon arrival in Gulu, you will check into the hotel for dinner and overnight.

Day 3: Transfer to Kidepo valley national park-afternoon game drive

On day 3 of the 16 Days Uganda Primates, Wildlife and Culture Safari, you will check out of the hotel and meet up with your driver guide to transfer to Kidepo Valley National Park. Upon arrival, you will check into the lodge for lunch where you will go for an afternoon game drive in the park where you will be able to spot different animals like elephants, Uganda kobs, giraffes, buffaloes, waterbucks, warthogs, oribi, elands among others. After the game drive, you will return to the lodge for dinner and overnight.

Day 4: Full day game drive in Kidepo National Park

After an early breakfast on day 4 of the 16 days Uganda primates, wildlife and culture, your driver guide will pick you up from the lodge with your lunch box to go for a full day game drive in the park where you will be able to spot animals like Jackson’s hartebeest, oribi, elands, Uganda kobs, side-striped jackal, Klipspringer, buffaloes, elephants, giraffes, zebras, predators like lions, leopards, cheetahs, hyenas among others. After the game drive, you will drive back to the lodge for dinner and overnight.

Day 5: Morning game drive and Karamajong cultural tour

On day 5 of the 16 Days Uganda Primates, Wildlife and Culture Safari, you will meet up with your driver guide to go for another morning game drive in the park where you will be able to view some of the animals that you might have missed the previous day. After the game drive, you will return to the lodge for lunch.

After lunch, you will go for an interesting Karamajong cultural tour where you will be able to interact with the Karamajong people, learn about their culture, tradition, and way of living, listen to their ancient stories, and enjoy their traditional entertainment among others. After the cultural tour, you will return to the lodge for an evening relaxation, dinner, and overnight.

Day 6: Transfer to Murchison Falls National Park

After breakfast on day 6 of the 16 Days Uganda Primates, Wildlife and Culture Safari, you will have breakfast, check out of the lodge and meet up with your driver guide to start the journey to Murchison Falls National Park. On the way, you will have an en-route lunch and enjoy spectacular views of the beautiful landscape, countryside, and farmlands among others. Upon arrival, you will drive directly to the top of the falls where you have great views of the waterfall, mammals, bird species, and beautiful scenery among others. After the top of the falls tour you will drive to the lodge for dinner and overnight.

Day 7: Morning game drive and afternoon boat cruise

Morning game drive,

After an early breakfast on day 7 of the 16 Days Uganda Primates, Wildlife and Culture Safari, your driver guide will pick you up from the lodge to go for a morning game drive where you will be able to spot various animals like Uganda kobs, warthogs, giraffes, elephants, bushbucks, lions, leopards, hyenas, Jacksons hartebeest, view different bird species among others.  After the game drive you will return to the lodge for lunch.

Afternoon boat cruise,

After lunch, you will drive to Paraa landing site for an interesting boat cruise to the bottom of the falls which takes about 2 to 3 hours’ drive. During the boat trip, you will be rewarded with incredible views of animals like elephants, buffaloes, and antelopes which gather to drink water, hippos and crocodiles in water, view a variety of bird species like kingfishers, fish eagles, bee-eaters, and hornbills among others. After the boat cruise, you will drive back to the lodge for dinner and overnight.

Day 8: Transfer to Kibale National Park

After breakfast on day 8 of the 16 Days Uganda Primates, Wildlife and Culture Safari, you will check out of the lodge and meet up with your driver guide to transfer to Kibale National Park. It’s a whole day journey and on the way you will have en-route lunch and enjoy stunning views of the farmlands, Rwenzori Mountains, tea plantations, Lake Gorge, crater lakes among others. Upon arrival in Kibale national park you will check into the lodge for dinner and overnight.

Day 9: Chimpanzee trekking and transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park

Chimpanzee trekking,

After an early breakfast on day 9 of the 16 Days Uganda Primates, Wildlife and Culture Safari, you will meet up with your driver guide to transfer to Kanyachu Visitors Centre for a chimpanzee trekking briefing. After the briefing you will be divided into a group of 6 people where each group will be allocated a chimpanzee family to trek and a park guide who is well conversant with trails in the forest. Trekking of chimpanzees in Kibale Forest National Park takes about 30 minutes to 4 hours depending on where the chimpanzees are located because they like to move from one place to another in search of food. During trekking, you will be able to spot other primates such as grey-cheeked mangabey, black and white colobus monkeys, red-tailed monkeys, l’hoest monkeys, some bird species, plants among others. Once the chimpanzees are found you will be allowed to spend one hour with them in their natural habitat which helps you to learn more about their behaviors, watch them feed, breastfeed, fight, hunt, enjoy the juveniles playing up in the trees, take photos and record the moments. After the face-to-face encounter with the chimpanzees, you will trek back to the park headquarters where you will meet up with your driver guide to return to the lodge for lunch.

After lunch, you will check out of the lodge and meet up with your driver guide to transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park. On the way you will enjoy great views of the landscape, crater lakes, tea plantations among others and upon arrival you will connect to the lodge for dinner and overnight.

Day 10: Morning game drive/ lion tracking and afternoon boat cruise

Morning game drive/lion tracking,

You will have breakfast on day 10 of the 16 Days Uganda Primates, Wildlife and Culture Safari and meet up with your driver guide to go for a morning game drive or lion tracking experience in Kasenyi plains. During the game drive you will be rewarded with great views of large herds of elephants, buffaloes, Uganda kobs, bushbucks, waterbucks, warthogs which will be grazing in the open savannah plains view predators like lions, and leopards if you are lucky, and variety of bird species among others. After the game drive you will drive to Lake Katwe a crater lake where you will view animals that come to lick the salt, bird species, and interact with the local people who will be extracting rock salt from the lake. From Lake Katwe you will drive to the lodge for lunch.

Boat cruise on Kazinga channel

After lunch you will go for an exciting boat cruise on Kazinga Channel a water body that connects Lake George and Lake Edward. During the boat cruise which takes about 2 hours you will get a chance to view elephants, buffaloes, waterbucks, warthogs drinking water along the shores, view large concentrations of hippos and Nile crocodiles in water, water birds like martial eagle, papyrus gonolek, pelicans, hornbills, African skimmers, cormorants, African spoonbills, fish eagles, king fisher’s among others and also view fishermen organizing their fishing nets along the water banks. After the boat ride you will return to the lodge for an evening relaxation dinner and overnight.

Day 11: Transfer to Bwindi impenetrable national park

After breakfast on day 11 of the 16 Days Uganda Primates, Wildlife and Culture Safari, you will check out of the lodge and meet up with your driver guide to transfer to Bwindi impenetrable national park. On the way you will pass through Ishasha sector in the southern part of Queen Elizabeth National Park where you will get an opportunity to spot the tree climbing lions which will be lying up in fig tree branches. After the game drive in Ishasha sector you will have lunch where after you will continue the journey to Bwindi impenetrable national park and upon arrival you will check in at the lodge for relaxation, dinner and overnight.

 Day 12: Gorilla trekking in Bwindi impenetrable national park

Gorilla trekking,

After an early breakfast on day 12 of the 16 Days Uganda Primates, Wildlife and Culture Safari you will carry your lunch box and meet up with your driver guide to transfer to the park headquarters for a briefing about the rules, regulations and expectations of gorilla trekking. After the briefing you will be divided in groups of 8 people where each group will be allocated a gorilla family to trek and a park guide who is knowledgeable about the mountain gorillas. Gorilla trekking in Bwindi impenetrable national park takes about 30 minutes to 7 hours depending on their location and during trekking you will be able to view forest birds, other primates, plant and tree species among others. Once the mountain gorillas are found you will be able to spend one hour with them which gives you an opportunity to learn more about their lifestyle, behaviors, habits, take photos, watch them carry out their daily activities and record the fascinating memories to show people back home. After a breath-taking encounter with the gentle giants, you will trek back to the park headquarters where you will be awarded a certificate for participating in gorilla trekking and then meet up with your guide to return to the lodge for an evening relaxation dinner and overnight.

Day 13: Transfer to Lake Bunyonyi-boat ride

On day 13 of the 16 Days Uganda Primates, Wildlife and Culture Safari, you will have breakfast, check out of the lodge and meet up with your driver guide to transfer to Lake Bunyonyi in Kabale which takes about 3 to 4 hours’ drive. Upon arrival, you will go for an interesting boat ride/ canoeing where you will be able to explore some of the 29 islands, and view some bird species among others.

After the boat ride, you will go for lunch where you will relax at the lodge or engage in optional activities like cultural tour, nature walks or zip lining and in the evening you will have dinner and overnight at the lodge.

Day 14: Transfer to Lake Mburo national park-game drive

After breakfast on day 14 of the 16 Days Uganda Primates, Wildlife and Culture Safari, you will check out of the lodge and meet up with your driver guide to transfer to Lake Mburo. On the way you will enjoy great views of the scenery and upon arrival you will check into the lodge for lunch where after you will go for an evening game drive where you will be able to view animals like waterbucks, buffaloes, oribi, topi, zebras, impalas, giraffes among others. After the evening game drive, you will drive back to the lodge for dinner and overnight.

Day 15: Morning game drive and afternoon boat cruise

After an early breakfast on day 15 of the 16 Days Uganda Primates, Wildlife and Culture Safari, you will meet up with your driver guide to go for a morning game drive where you will be rewarded with great views of animals like waterbucks, elands, buffaloes, zebras, impalas, topi, giraffes among others which will be grazing in open savannah plains with due. After the game drive you will drive back to the lodge for lunch.

After lunch, you will go for an interesting boat cruise where you will be able to view hippos and Nile crocodiles in water, view buffaloes, waterbucks, warthogs drinking water along the shores, water birds like kingfisher, bee-eaters, fish eagles, cormorants among others. After the boat cruise, you will return to the lodge for dinner and overnight.

Day 16: Walking safari and departure to Kampala

After breakfast on the last day of the16 Days Uganda Primates, Wildlife and Culture Safari, you will check out of the lodge and meet up with your driver guide to go for a walking safari in the park where you will be able to get up close and personal with different wildlife species, birds among others. After the walking safari, you will meet up with your driver guide and drive out of the park to start the journey back to Kampala. On the way you will have an en-route lunch and a stopover at the Equator in Kayabwe where you will take photos, and buy craft items among others. From the Equator, you will continue the journey to Kampala arriving in the evening and upon arrival, your driver guide will drop you off at Entebbe International Airport for your departure flight or drop off at any place of your choice.

End of the 16 Days Uganda Primates, Wildlife and Culture Safari

Tour includes

• Gorilla trekking permit
• Chimpanzee trekking permit
• Park entrance fees/ game drives
• Boat cruise fees
• Rhino tracking permit
• Lion tracking experience
• Karamajong cultural tour
• Batwa cultural experience
• All activities included in the itinerary
• Services of a professional English-speaking driver guide
• Full board accommodation
• Pick up and drop off in Kampala/ Entebbe
• Vehicle and fuel
• Bottled drinking water

Tour excludes                                    

• Air flight tickets
• Visas
• Life insurance
• Optional activities not included on the itinerary
• Personal expenses like buying souvenirs, cigarettes, crafts, drinks, laundry services, hiring a porter, tips among others.