7-Day Murchison Falls, Chimps & Gorilla Trekking

Hopefully, your flight is scheduled for an early (not past noon) landing in Uganda. Your guide/driver will pick you from Entebbe Airport and you will hit the road for Murchison falls. The highlights of this park include; the roaring rapids of the Murchison, the rolling plains of Uganda’s largest National Park where you will have the chance of viewing lions, giraffes, hartebeest, buffalo, and elephants. Then 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 Zziwa 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 in to your accommodation to relax for the Evening.

Have your breakfast, depart for an early morning game drive across the rolling plains of Uganda’s largest National Park, where you will have the opportunity of viewing lions, giraffes, hartebeest, buffalo, and elephants. For any birder, this area supports the secretary bird, and black chested snake eagle to name a few. Return to your accommodation for lunch. After lunch you will head out for the boat trip to the base of Murchison Falls where you will also be able to catch sight of more animals including Hippos and 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.

Budongo is astonishingly bio-diverse, with 24 mammal species, over 360 birds, 289 butterflies and 465 plants. Budongo is also known for its primate population, which includes around 800 chimpanzees. After breakfast, you will be driven through the Ugandan countryside which alone is worth a trip as you go for chimpanzee trekking in Budongo Forest. Also, look out for other primates like the black and white colobus monkeys, red tailed monkeys, baboons and grey-cheeked mangabeys. With over 360 bird species, you will have an absolute bird sighting experience while here. After your chimp experience, you will return to the lodge for lunch and relax probably enjoying the sounds and sights of the area. Else, you may opt to take some nature walk to feel the beauty of the forest firsthand.

Have a relaxed breakfast at the accommodation and then set off to Queen Elizabeth National Park. On arrival, you will be dropped off at the booked accommodation where you will have relaxation plus the overnight stay (awaiting next day’s trip to Bwindi NP).

Your guide/driver will pick you from the accommodation and then depart for Bwindi Impenetrable national park. Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is a big habitat for mountain gorillas in Uganda harboring over 300 of them, more reason as to why it should be your next safari destination. The drive takes you southwest Uganda, cross the Equator, and then to Mbarara for Lunch and through Savannah grasslands to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. The scenic drive through Kigezi Highlands, banana plantations and sight of herds of long-horned Ankole cattle – endemic to this area take you to the gorilla Sanctuary of Bwindi. You will arrive in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in the evening and will mainly do less but just check into your accommodation, relax as you prepare for the Bwindi gorilla trekking experience the following day.

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 that make it most magical — you could admire them all day.

Have a relaxed breakfast at the accommodation with spectacular view of the Bunyonyi little islands just right in front of you and thereafter embark on your return journey to Entebbe Airport. Expect enroute stopovers in Mbarara town for lunch and the Uganda Equator line mark in Kayabwe for some memorable photos (if you didn’t stop on the first day) and may be buying some art pieces of interest. Proceed with the journey arriving late afternoon/evening for drop off at the airport. We do recommend for a late afternoon/evening outbound flight schedule for this day (if flying out). We hope to see you (or any referral) when next, you visit and thanks for choosing Ngoni Safaris Uganda!