6 Days Uganda Primates

Day 1 Entebbe Airport

On arrival at Entebbe Airport, you will be welcomed by our representative and transfer to your hotel in Entebbe. Check into your hotel and relax as you wait for your safari to begin.

After resting, you can opt-in for a first-day primates experience with a visit to the Zoo where you will see chimpanzees, monkeys like De Brazza's and vervet monkeys, baboons, and other wildlife like elephants, lions, cheetahs, tigers.

Enjoy local food at a local restaurant for your lunch.

If your safari starts in Kampala on this day, you will do a Kampala City tour where you will visit the Uganda museum, National theatre, religious sites, cultural centres, and downtown Kampala.

Dinner and Overnight at your hotel – Full Board.

Day 2 Entebbe - Kibale NP

After an early breakfast, checkout of your hotel with your packed lunch and your guide will drive you to Kibale National Park. You can either travel by domestic flight or by road.

If travelling by domestic flight

Transfer to the airfield in Entebbe and board your flight to Kasese Airfield where another guide will be waiting for you to drive you to Fort Portal City. You will enjoy wonderful aerial views of Uganda on this 3hr flight.

If travelling by road

This 5hr drive is an adventurous journey cutting through small towns where you will have a chance for close encounters with local people, and make stopovers to buy roadside fruits and items.
Enjoy on-board refreshments as your guide drives you to Fort Portal City.

Upon arrival at Fort Portal, check into your lodge and relax. Enjoy the cool environment of Fort Portal City – Uganda’s Tourism City and home to Kibale National Park. Spend the rest of the day at your lodge.

Dinner and Overnight at your lodge – Full Board.

Day 3 Kibale NP

After an early breakfast, checkout of your lodge with packed lunch and your guide will drive you to the offices of Kibale National Park for a 7am briefing on chimpanzee tracking.

At the park offices, you will be briefed by Uganda Wildlife Authority rangers on chimpanzee tracking, rules and regulations. After, you will head into Kibale forest with your UWA ranger to begin chimpanzee tracking. Your company guide will stay at the park offices waiting for you.

Chimpanzee tracking is done on foot and it takes 3hrs. Use that time to also take note of other forest life like insects, birds, butterflies, and plant species.

Kibale National Park, also called The Primate Capital of the World, boasts of 13 primates species that include chimpanzees, black and white colobus monkeys, grey-cheeked mangabay, red-tailed monkeys, blue monkeys, olive baboons, bush babies, pottos, among others. Some of these, you will encounter during your trek in the forest. The park also has elephants, buffaloes, bush pigs, duikers, and 375 birds species.

Encountering the chimpanzees

Upon finding the chimpanzees, you will stop to observe them. You will have 1hr to observe, and be with them. Use this opportunity to take as many photos as you wish. You’ll be amazed at how human-like chimpanzees are. These chimpanzees are used to seeing humans, so they will go about their business as you view them.

After tracking chimpanzees, you will head back with your ranger to the starting point where your guide will be waiting for you. You will have your packed lunch or drive to a local restaurant for local food. Take this time to relax as you wait for your next journey to Queen Elizabeth National Park.

After relaxing, your guide will drive you to Queen Elizabeth National Park making stopovers to buy roadside fruits.

Upon arrival at Queen Elizabeth National Park, check into your lodge and spend the rest of the evening resting at your lodge.

Dinner and Overnight at your lodge – Full Board.

Day 4 Queen Elizabeth NP

After an early breakfast, your guide will drive you to Kyambura Gorge for another unique experience of chimpanzee tracking, this time in a valley.

Kyambura Gorge, also called Valley of Apes, is an extensive valley 1km long and 200 metres deep, covered by forest and drained by a river at the bottom.  It’s a stunning work of nature and home to chimpanzees, hippos, a variety of birds and other wildlife.

Upon arrival at the gorge’s offices, you will be briefed by Uganda Wildlife Authority rangers where you will be given information, rules and regulations of tracking. You will be assigned a UWA ranger who will be your guide during the tracking. Your guide will stay at the gorge offices waiting for you.

After the briefing, you will begin descending into the gorge all the way to the bottom. In the process you will see chimpanzees in the trees below you, effortlessly swing from branch to branch, a good opportunity for photos from above. You will also see other primates like olive baboons, vervet monkeys, and black and white colobus monkeys; other wildlife like birds and hippos.

Trekking in the gorge takes 2–3 hours.

Encountering the chimpanzees

Upon encountering the chimpanzees, you will stop to watch them. They are used to seeing humans. So they will go about their business. When they move, you will follow them. When they cross to the other side of the river, you will also cross the log-bridge river to continue tracking them.  You will spend 1hr viewing them. So use this opportunity to take as many photos as you wish.

After tracking the chimpanzees, begin your ascent back to the top of the gorge where your guide will be waiting for you. Drive back to your lodge where you will also have your lunch.

In the afternoon after relaxing, checkout of your lodge and begin your journey to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. You will drive through Queen Elizabeth National Park where you will spot elephants, waterbucks, Uganda kobs and other wildlife. It’s a wonderful journey through terraced hills and communities.

Upon arrival at Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, check into Nshongi Camp. Spend the rest of the evening at Nshongi Camp as you prepare for gorilla tracking the next day.

Dinner and Overnight at Nshongi Camp – Full Board.

Day 5 Bwindi Impenetrable NP

Wake up early and have your breakfast. Your guide will drive you to the offices of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park for the 7am briefing on gorilla tracking. This briefing is done by Uganda Wildlife Authority rangers who will give you information, rules and regulations on gorilla tracking. You will be assigned to a group of eight visitors under a ranger who will be your group’s guide during the tracking. Your group will track a particular gorilla family.

After the briefing, you will head into Bwindi forest on foot with walking sticks with your ranger, to begin tracking your gorilla family. Your company guide will stay at the park offices waiting for you.

Gorilla tracking takes place in the hilly terrain of Bwindi forest because mountain gorillas reside in the hills. So, tracking mountain gorillas requires a bit of physical fitness. Tracking takes at least 3hrs. In the process, you will see other forest biodiversity like birds, chameleons, waterfalls, and climbing plants.

Encountering the mountain gorillas

Upon finding the gorillas in your gorilla family, you’ll spend 1hr viewing them. Use this opportunity to take as many photos as you wish. You will be amazed at how gentle these giants are. Gorilla babies may, in excitement, run to you but stay calm. These gorillas are used to seeing humans, so they will go about their business as you view them.

After tracking, you will head back to the park offices where you will be given tracking certificates. This certificate ceremony is exciting and it’s ‘proof that you have conquered the impenetrable forest’.

After, your guide will drive you back to Nshongi Camp to freshen up and have lunch. Spend the rest of the day relaxing at Nshongi Camp.

Dinner and Overnight at Nshongi Camp – Full Board.

Day 6 Bwindi Impenetrable NP – Entebbe Airport

This is the last day of your safari. Take your time to wake up if you will be using the road option to Entebbe Airport. If you will be using the domestic flight option, you will need to wake up early in order to catch the flight.

Otherwise, enjoy a relaxed morning at Nshongi Camp while you take your breakfast. After breakfast, opt-in for a complimentary massage at the lodge to relax your body as you prepare for your journey back home.

After, check out of your lodge and say goodbye to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

If travelling by domestic flight

Your guide will drive you to the airfield. Say goodbye to your guide and board your flight to Entebbe Airport. The flight takes 1-3hrs depending on the airfield you boarded from - Kihihi, 1hr; Kisoro, 3hrs.

Enjoy spectacular aerial views of Uganda’s great geography.

If travelling by road

Your guide will drive you to Mbarara City where you will make a stopover at Igongo Cultural Center for local lunch and an experience of Banyankore culture. Buy yourself Banyankore crafts and other souvenir. On the hill nearby, called Biharwe hill, you will see the Biharwe Monument – a monument in memory of the 1520 AD solar eclipse called Biharwe Eclipse, that took place on that hill. You will be intrigued by the amazing story connected to that eclipse. You can visit the monument for an up-close experience.

After, drive to Masaka City – one of the popular provinces of the Baganda people and home to the 3rd Equator monument in Uganda. Stopover at the Equator monument for an equator experience. This experience will be your first, second or third Equator experience on your safari depending on whether you had encountered one in Entebbe and another in Queen Elizabeth National Park.

In the monument, stand with each of your legs in a different hemisphere; one in the Northern and the other in the Southern. This experience is magical – you will feel your weight reduce, and you will see water move clockwise and anti-clockwise simultaneously. Buy souvenirs and visit the nearby Equator restaurant either for an equator-restaurant experience or to buy a snack or a drink. Take photos at the Equator.

After, drive to Mpambire village and make a stopover to see the Royal drum makers of Buganda Kingdom. This is the best place to buy Baganda drums on this safari. Interact with the drum makers for an experience of Baganda culture.

Continue your drive to Entebbe Airport or Kampala (if your safari ends in Kampala) where you will arrive in the evening.

At Entebbe Airport, you will have an opportunity to buy more souvenirs.

If your flight is later:

If you arrived by domestic flight, upon arrival at Entebbe Airport, transfer to your hotel in Entebbe if your flight. Check into your hotel and relax as you wait for your flight back home. If you arrived by road, your guide will drive you to your hotel and check in. Relax as you wait for your flight back home.

If your flight is immediate: Head to the airport and board your flight back home.