Ultimate uganda luxury safari - 14 days

Overview

Embark on the adventure of a lifetime with the Ultimate Uganda luxury safari. This safari features all the wonderful attractions that attract travelers for their own Ugandan experience.

You will visit places like Murchison Falls, Kibale, Queen Elizabeth, Bwindi, Bunyonyi, and Lake Mburo among others. You will get to see animals like giraffes, hippos, elephants, lions, leopards, zebras, chimpanzees, and gorillas among others.

This safari offers great opportunities to experience the African wilderness, but with a balance of luxury to make your trip truly memorable.

Take a closer look at the detailed itinerary and get a better idea of how this safari package would out for you. Keep in mind that all our safaris can be customized to fit your specific needs.

Detailed Itinerary

Day 1: Airport pickup

Our driver/guide will be waiting at Entebbe International Airport to pick you up and then transfer you to your accommodation for the night.

Accommodation: Hotel Number 5

Meal plan: Dinner

Day 2: Drive to Murchison Falls National Park

Your day will begin with a scenic drive to Murchison Falls National Park. The journey will take approximately 8 to 9 hours, with a stopover at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary for rhino tracking. From Ziwa, you will stop for lunch in Masindi Town.

After your lunch, you will continue to Murchison Falls National Park, and have a chance to stop by the ‘top of the falls’ where you can see the Nile’s beauty perfected. This is where the Nile compresses from a width of 50 meters into a 7-meter canyon that forms the waterfall after which the park is named.

From here, you will continue to your accommodation where you will rest for the night.

Accommodation: Nile Safari Lodge

Meal plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Day 3: Wildlife game drives in Murchison Falls National Park

Early in the morning, your guide will take you for a wildlife safari game drive on the northern bank of the Nile. Here, you will spot elephants, lions, Cape buffalo, Rothschild’s giraffe, hartebeest, waterbuck, oribi, bushbuck, bohor reedbuck, hyena, and, if you are lucky, the leopard.

You will return to your lodge for breakfast, rest, and lunch before heading out for the afternoon boat cruise. 

The boat cruise takes you upstream on the calm Victoria Nile to the base of the falls, stopping just a few meters from the “Devil’s Cauldron."

While on the boat cruise, you will have a chance to marvel at the hippos floating in the water, and the crocodiles, as well as the elephants, waterbucks, Uganda Kob, and many other animals over this 19-kilometer stretch of the Nile.

For bird-watching enthusiasts, there are many chances of seeing bird species like the Goliath heron, Egyptian goose, brown pelican, red-throated bee-eater, various kingfishers, fish eagles, cormorant, and the rare shoebill stork. 

After the boat cruise, you will return to your accommodation.

Accommodation:  Nile Safari Lodge

Meal plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Day 4: Drive to Kibale National Park

After your breakfast, you will be driven to Kibale National Park via Hoima and Fort Portal. This drive will take a total of around 6 hours with interesting landscapes, green countryside, traditional homesteads, tea plantations, and much more.

You will have lunch in Fort Portal and then continue to your accommodation, where you will relax and await the next day’s activities.

Accommodation: Papaya Lake Lodge

Meal plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Day 5: Chimpanzee Tracking in Kibale National Park

After early morning breakfast, your driver/guide will drive you to Kibale National Park office where you will be briefed about the activity of tracking chimpanzees in the wild.

You will then go on a guided primate walk in search of chimpanzees and 12 other primates including l’ Hoestes, red colobus monkeys, blue, red-tailed monkeys, brown monkeys, and grey-cheeked mangabeys.

The park rangers will provide detailed explanations, not only on primates but on all the forest fauna and flora, and will ensure that your walk is informative and enjoyable.

After finding the chimps, you will spend 1 hour with them before heading back to the park offices.

You will go back to the lodge for lunch and refreshments.

After lunch, you will visit the community and take a walk in Bigodi Swamp, which is the home of the great blue turaco bird. The swamp is home to around 200 bird species and 8 primate species.

Have an evening tour of the crater region and visit the “top of the world," the natural bridge. On a clear day, you will be able to see the snow cap on the Rwenzori.

Accommodation: Papaya Lake Lodge

Meal plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Day 6: Drive to Queen Elizabeth National Park

After breakfast, drive to Queen Elizabeth National Park (approximately 3–4 hours), viewing the mystical Rwenzori Mountain range for much of the journey. Check in at your accommodation facility as you wait for your lunch.

After lunch, you will go for an afternoon boat cruise along Kazinga Channel and into Lake Edward. This boat cruise will take you through possibly the highest concentration of hippos. Many animals may be seen drinking at the water’s edge.

This launch cruise offers a great opportunity for photography, bird watching, and game viewing. The prolific bird life is colorful and stupendous with more than 600 different species.

Accommodation:  Mweya Safari Lodge

Meal plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Day 7: Wildlife viewing in Queen Elizabeth National Park

Rise very early with your packed lunch and take on a morning wildlife game drive to catch up with the early risers and predators returning to their hideouts.

You will most likely meet grazing hippos, elephants, lions, spotted hyenas, bushbucks, waterbucks, stripped jackals, comical warthogs, and the elusive leopard.

Later, you will proceed to Maramagambo Forest, where many surprises await you. These include pythons, which are often observed in the cracks of the bat cave floor and using the bats as a source of food. You may also see forest birds such as bat hawks, brown-eared woodpeckers, and other primates.

Accommodation: Mweya Safari Lodge

Meal plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Day 8: Kyambura Gorge. Drive to Bwindi Impenetrable NP

With the previous day’s memories, enjoy your breakfast ready for a guided Chimpanzee/primate walk along Kyambura Gorge to look for habituated chimps.

After the primate walk, you will proceed to the Ishasha sector of the park. You will drive along the deep and wide dry craters that are occupied by savanna grasses and acacia.

The drive takes you through the unique western rift valley escarpment and into the Ishasha sector, where you will take on yet another game drive in search of the tree-climbing lions before proceeding to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

This is a 6-hour journey passing through the Kigezi Highlands, an area known as the “Switzerland of Africa." The journey takes you through terraced hills and winding roads to the Bwindi Forest. You will have a stopover along the way for lunch.

Accommodation: Nkuringo Bwindi Gorilla Lodge

Meal plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Day 9: Gorilla Trekking in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

Today is the big day! Prepare yourself for an encounter with the gentle giants; the rare mountain gorillas.

For most people, this is the absolute highlight of their trip. You will go into the forest in groups of not more than 8 in search of mountain gorillas. Enroute, your guide will point out previous signs of gorilla activity such as dung, nests, and chewed bamboo shoots.

Your trek will be an exciting journey along forested slopes, entwined vines, bushes and bamboo. Upon finding the gorillas, you will spend a maximum of 1 hour with them after which you will be led back to the starting point.

Each encounter with gorillas is different and has its rewards, but you are likely to enjoy the close view of adults feeding, grooming, and resting as the young gorillas frolic and swing from vines delightfully and playfully.

Time permitting, spend the afternoon on a community tour to explore the lifestyle of the people living around the park. 

Accommodation: Nkuringo Bwindi Gorilla Lodge

Meal plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Day 10: Drive to Lake Bunyonyi

fter your breakfast, you will be driven leisurely to Lake Bunyonyi in the Kabale. You will have a stopover in Kabale Town for lunch before continuing to Bunyonyi. Lake Bunyonyi is located in the Kigezi region and is also the deepest lake in Uganda, with more than 20 small islands.

Here you will get to enjoy swimming, dug-out canoeing, sunbathing, hill climbing or mountain bike riding, and cray fishing.

The afternoon is spent on relaxation and sightseeing around Uganda’s deepest lake.

Accommodation: Birdnest Resort

Meal plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Day 11: Relax at Lake Bunyonyi

The whole day is dedicated to relaxation and an afternoon boat ride to some of the islands on the lake.

Lake Bunyonyi is perfect for relaxing after more than a week of back-to-back safari activities.

Accommodation: Birdnest Resort

Meal plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Day 12: Drive to Lake Mburo National Park

After breakfast, you will drive to Lake Mburo National Park. The journey will take approximately 5 hours, including a stopover in Mbarara for lunch and a visit to the Igongo Cultural Center. Here you will learn about and experience the culture of the Banyankole people and thereafter proceed to Lake Mburo.

Accommodation: Mihingo Lodge

Meal plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Day 13: Wildlife game drives in Lake Mburo

In the morning, you will go for a game drive in the park where you will see many animals and birds. The park is renowned for zebras, impalas, buffaloes, hippos, topi, and elands.

The birdlife is abundant and more than 250 species of birds are found in Lake Mburo including Papyrus Gonolek, Brown-faced Lapwing, Carruthers Cisticola, the extraordinary White-winged Warbler, and Bare-Faced-Go-Away bird, and many water birds.

In the afternoon, you will enjoy a boat cruise on the lake amidst hippos.

Accommodation: Mihingo Lodge

Meal plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner 

Day 14: Wildlife bushwalk. Drive to Kampala

After breakfast, proceed for a wildlife safari walk in Lake Mburo National Park. An armed ranger will escort you to make sure you are protected. You may also come across a herd of zebras peacefully grazing alongside the long-horned Ankole cattle.

For those willing to get up a bit earlier, you may be able to see Lake Mburo’s hyenas in their cave.

You will return to the lodge for lunch, after which you will be driven back to Kampala.

You will have a stopover at the Mpigi Royal Drum Makers, where you will witness the making of ceremonial drums using methods passed down for many generations. There will also be time to stop at the equator for photographs.

We will reach Kampala in the early evening.

Accommodation: None. (Last day)

Meal plan: Breakfast & Lunch.

End of tour