Uganda: Chimps, Gorillas and the Source of the Nile

1. Day 1: Arrive in Entebbe

   Entebbe International Airport to your hotel in Entebbe

   • Drive about 15 min
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Entebbe
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Entebbe International Airport (EBB), on the northern shore of Lake Victoria about 40 km south of Kampala. A driver meets you in arrivals for the ten-minute ride to your hotel, so arrive when you like: nothing is planned before the evening. Entebbe is a quiet, green town on a peninsula, much calmer than the capital, and a gentle place to get over a long flight. If you land early, the Entebbe Botanical Gardens run down to the lakeshore, with black-and-white colobus monkeys and hornbills in the old trees. At about 6 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a briefing on the days ahead: how the chimp and gorilla permits work, what to wear in the forest, and how day 3's long drive is broken up. Then we sit down together to a welcome dinner, often with tilapia from the lake, matoke (steamed green banana) and groundnut sauce.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Entebbe International Airport (EBB)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner

   Optional experiences

   • Entebbe Botanical Gardens if you arrive early (small entry fee)

   Free time: Free until the evening briefing

2. Day 2: Jinja and the source of the Nile

   Entebbe to Kampala, then east through Mabira Forest to Jinja

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Jinja
   Day 2 details

   We leave at about 8:30 am and skirt Kampala on the Northern Bypass, the slowest part of the day, then head east past sugar estates and through Mabira Forest. After about 3.5 hours we cross the Nile on the new bridge into Jinja, a riverside town with a long, faded colonial main street. Lunch is a sit-down meal in town. At about 3 pm we board a small boat to the place where the Nile flows out of Lake Victoria, which John Hanning Speke identified as the river's source in 1862. The falls he saw were drowned by the Owen Falls Dam in the 1950s, but the current still pushes against the hull as you reach the spot. Kingfishers, cormorants and fish eagles work the banks, and the boat takes about an hour. The evening is free: your guide points you to restaurants along the river for dinner on your own.

   Included

   • Sit-down lunch in Jinja
   • Boat to the source of the Nile with a local boatman

   Optional experiences

   • White Nile rafting needs a full day: add a night in Jinja before the trip and we arrange it (price at booking)

   Easier option: Watch from the riverbank gardens instead of taking the boat.

   Free time: Evening free in Jinja

   Activity: About 3.5 hours on the road, most of it the Kampala traffic. The boat is open, so bring a hat and sunscreen.

   

3. Day 3: Across Uganda to Kibale

   Jinja to Kampala, then west via Mityana, Mubende and Fort Portal to Kibale

   • Drive about 7.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Kibale
   Day 3 details

   This is the long day of the trip, and we would rather say so now. Jinja sits east of Kampala and Kibale is near the western border, about 410 km apart, with no flight that saves much time: flying from Entebbe to Kasese still leaves about five hours on the road. So we leave at about 7:30 am and drive about 7.5 hours in all, on paved roads. We stop for coffee once we are past Kampala, then for a sit-down lunch at about the halfway point near Mubende, among hills of banana and tea. In the afternoon the road climbs to Fort Portal, where on a clear day the snow-streaked Rwenzori Mountains show to the west, and we stretch our legs before the last 35 km south to Kibale. We reach the lodge at about 4:30 to 5 pm, with time to shower before dinner and an early night, as the forest calls start up around you.

   Included

   • Coffee stop and sit-down lunch on the way
   • Stop at Fort Portal
   • Dinner at the lodge

   Activity: About 7.5 hours of driving, well over our usual 4-hour cap, broken by a coffee stop, lunch and a stop at Fort Portal. Bring something to read or listen to.

   

4. Day 4: Chimpanzees in Kibale and the Bigodi swamp

   Kibale National Park at Kanyanchu, then Bigodi village

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Kibale
   Day 4 details

   After breakfast we drive a few minutes to the Kanyanchu visitor centre for the 8 am briefing. Rangers split the group into small parties and lead you into tall, damp forest where the chimpanzees have been followed by researchers for decades. Finding them can take minutes or a couple of hours; you hear them first, a rising chorus of hoots and drumming on buttress roots. Once found, you have an hour with them, keeping your distance while they feed in fig trees or rest on the forest floor. Kibale has 13 primate species, and red colobus, red-tailed monkeys and grey-cheeked mangabeys are often seen on the way. Lunch is at a local restaurant in Bigodi village. At about 2:30 pm a guide from the community group that runs the Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary walks us around the papyrus swamp on boardwalks and paths, looking for great blue turacos and more monkeys. The rest of the afternoon is free at the lodge.

   Included

   • Chimpanzee trek in Kibale National Park with Uganda Wildlife Authority rangers (permit included)
   • Lunch in Bigodi village
   • Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary walk with a community guide
   • Dinner at the lodge

   Optional experiences

   • Chimpanzee Habituation Experience: a full day with the trackers, separate permit, limited places, price at booking

   Easier option: Skip the Bigodi walk and rest at the lodge after lunch.

   More active option: Book the full-day Chimpanzee Habituation Experience in place of the standard trek.

   Free time: Late afternoon free at the lodge

   Activity: The chimp trek is 2 to 4 hours on mostly level but muddy, tangled trails. The Bigodi walk is about 3 hours. Long trousers and closed shoes for both; you cannot trek with a cold or flu.

5. Day 5: Down to Queen Elizabeth National Park

   Kibale to Fort Portal, then south past the Rwenzoris to the Kazinga Channel

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Queen Elizabeth National Park
   Day 5 details

   A slower morning: breakfast when you like and away at about 9 am. We drive back to Fort Portal, then south along the foot of the Rwenzori Mountains, a UNESCO World Heritage site whose peaks stay in cloud more often than not. The road drops off the escarpment into the Albertine Rift, past crater lakes and the old copper-mining town of Kasese, and crosses the equator just before Queen Elizabeth National Park. Watch for elephants and buffalo along the road as the scrub opens out into savanna. After about 3.5 hours we reach our lodge near the Kazinga Channel in time for lunch. The afternoon is free on purpose, after two big days: sleep, read, or sit with binoculars while kob and warthogs graze below. Late in the day your guide can take anyone keen out on a short drive nearby. Dinner is at the lodge.

   Included

   • Equator stop
   • Lunch and dinner at the lodge
   • Park entry for Queen Elizabeth National Park

   More active option: A short late-afternoon drive near the lodge with your guide.

   Free time: Afternoon free at the lodge

   Activity: About 3.5 hours on paved road with stops.

6. Day 6: Kasenyi at dawn, the Kazinga Channel by boat

   Queen Elizabeth National Park: the Kasenyi plains and the Kazinga Channel

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Queen Elizabeth National Park
   Day 6 details

   This is a sunrise day. We leave at about 6:30 am with coffee in hand for the Kasenyi plains, open grassland in the north of the park where Uganda kob gather on their breeding grounds and lions hunt them in the cool of the morning. Our 4x4 has a pop-up roof, so everyone gets a clear view. A Uganda Wildlife Authority ranger rides with us to read the tracks. We are back at the lodge by late morning, and lunch and the middle of the day, when the animals shelter from the heat, is free. In the late afternoon we board a boat for about two hours on the Kazinga Channel, the 32 km waterway joining Lakes George and Edward. Hippos crowd the shallows, elephants and buffalo come down to drink, and pied kingfishers and fish eagles hunt along the banks as the light softens.

   Included

   • Dawn game drive on the Kasenyi plains with a ranger
   • Kazinga Channel boat trip, about 2 hours
   • Lunch and dinner at the lodge

   Optional experiences

   • Chimpanzee tracking in Kyambura Gorge in place of the dawn drive (separate permit, price at booking)

   Easier option: Skip the dawn drive and join the group for the afternoon boat.

   More active option: Track chimpanzees in Kyambura Gorge, a sunken forest at the edge of the park, in the morning.

   Free time: Midday free at the lodge

   Activity: The one sunrise start: about 6:30 am. Boat launch times are confirmed with your final itinerary.

7. Day 7: Ishasha's lions, then to Bwindi

   Queen Elizabeth National Park to Ishasha, then Buhoma on the edge of Bwindi

   • Drive about 4.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Bwindi (Buhoma)
   Day 7 details

   We leave at about 8 am and drive about 2.5 hours south through the park to Ishasha, its remote southern sector on the border with DR Congo. Ishasha is known for lions that climb into the spreading fig trees to rest in the heat; sightings are common but not guaranteed. We spend about two hours driving its tracks looking for them, along with topi, buffalo and elephant, then stop for a sit-down lunch. In the afternoon the road climbs about two hours to Buhoma, the gateway to the northern sector of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, the last stretch unpaved. That makes about 4.5 hours of road, over our cap: no other road links the two parks, so we break it with the game drive and lunch in the middle. Bwindi is a UNESCO World Heritage site, a steep, ancient rainforest holding roughly half of the world's mountain gorillas. We arrive at about 5 pm for a gorilla briefing from your guide over dinner.

   Included

   • Game drive in the Ishasha sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park
   • Sit-down lunch in Ishasha
   • Gorilla briefing with your guide
   • Dinner at the lodge

   Activity: About 4.5 hours on the road, partly unpaved, broken by a 2-hour game drive and lunch.

8. Day 8: Mountain gorillas in Bwindi

   Buhoma and Bwindi Impenetrable National Park on foot

   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Bwindi (Buhoma)
   Day 8 details

   After an early breakfast we walk to the park office at Buhoma for the ranger briefing at about 7:30 to 8 am. Each gorilla family takes at most eight visitors a day, so our group splits across two families, each with rangers and trackers who set out at dawn to find them. Tell your guide if you want a shorter walk, and the rangers try to match you to a nearer family, though nothing is certain. The trek can take under an hour or more than five each way, on steep, slippery slopes at about 1,200 to 2,600 m, through forest that earns the park its name. Each guest has a porter for the day pack and a steady hand on the climbs. Once with the gorillas you have one hour, keeping about seven metres away, as they feed, groom and play under the silverback's eye. Lunch is packed because return times vary. The afternoon is free, with a gentle village walk for anyone who wants it.

   Included

   • Mountain gorilla trek in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park with rangers and trackers (one permit per guest included)
   • A porter for each guest
   • Packed lunch
   • Buhoma village walk with a local guide in the late afternoon, if you want it
   • Dinner at the lodge

   Easier option: Ask at the briefing for a family closer to the trailhead; walks to these are often shorter, though the rangers cannot promise it.

   Free time: Afternoon free after the trek

   Activity: From under an hour to more than five hours each way on steep, muddy ground. Wear waterproof boots, long sleeves, trousers tucked into socks and gloves. Ages 15 and over. If Buhoma permits are sold out for your date, we trek from the Ruhija sector, about 2 to 3 hours' drive away, and tell you before you book.

9. Day 9: To Lake Bunyonyi

   Buhoma through Kanungu district and Kabale to Lake Bunyonyi

   • Drive about 4 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Lake Bunyonyi
   Day 9 details

   A later start at about 9 am, to rest legs after the trek. We drive about four hours south over ridges of tea, bananas and patchwork farms in Kanungu district, the first stretch unpaved and slow, with a break halfway. Past Kabale the road climbs to Lake Bunyonyi, a long, many-armed lake at about 1,960 m, its steep shores terraced to the waterline and dotted with small islands. Lunch is at our lakeside lodge on arrival. After a free hour, at about 4 pm a local guide takes us by boat among the islands as the light goes, past tiny Akampene, Punishment Island, and tells their stories, along with how the farming families on the shore live today. Bunyonyi is a quiet place to end the wildlife part of the trip: no game drives, no early alarm, and dinner at the lodge as the mist starts to gather on the water.

   Included

   • Lunch at the lodge
   • Late-afternoon boat trip among the islands of Lake Bunyonyi with a local guide
   • Dinner at the lodge

   Optional experiences

   • Paddling a dugout canoe on the lake (arranged locally, small fee)

   More active option: Paddle a dugout canoe or take a short hill walk above the lake before dinner.

   Free time: An hour free at the lodge before the boat

   Activity: About 4 hours on the road, the first part unpaved, with a stop halfway.

   

10. Day 10: Into Rwanda: Kigali and home

    Lake Bunyonyi to Kabale and the Katuna (Gatuna) border, then Kigali

    • Drive about 3.5 h
    • Breakfast and lunch
    Day 10 details

    Mist often lies on the lake at first light. After breakfast we leave at about 8:30 am and drive 30 minutes to the Katuna border, called Gatuna on the Rwandan side. Leaving Uganda and entering Rwanda usually takes about an hour, so keep your passport and visa handy. Clocks go back one hour and traffic switches to the right. From the border it is about three hours through Rwanda's terraced hills, past Byumba, to Kigali, where we arrive around midday local time for a sit-down lunch. At about 1:30 pm we visit the Kigali Genocide Memorial for about two hours with an audio guide. More than 250,000 victims of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi are buried here, and the exhibition explains how it happened and how the country has lived with it since. Your guide then sees you to Kigali International Airport (KGL). Book a flight leaving after about 7 pm.

    Included

    • Katuna (Gatuna) border crossing with your guide
    • Sit-down lunch in Kigali
    • Kigali Genocide Memorial with an audio guide
    • Drop-off at Kigali International Airport (KGL)

    Easier option: Skip the memorial and wait at a cafe in Kigali before the airport.

    Activity: About 3.5 hours of driving plus about an hour at the border. The memorial is a sombre visit; photographs are not allowed inside the exhibition. Book a flight leaving Kigali after about 7 pm.

Wildlife and weather: June to September and December to February are the drier months, with firmer forest trails and easier game viewing as the grass shortens. March to May and October to November bring heavier rain and muddy slopes, though chimps and gorillas are there all year and Bwindi, a rainforest, can rain any day. Entebbe, Jinja and Queen Elizabeth are warm; Bwindi and Lake Bunyonyi, higher up, are cool in the mornings and evenings. Tree-climbing lions in Ishasha are a chance, not a promise.

• Entebbe1 night
• Jinja1 night
• Kibale2 nights
• Queen Elizabeth National Park2 nights
• Bwindi (Buhoma)2 nights
• Lake Bunyonyi1 night