ITINERARY

DAY 1 ARRIVE AT ENTEBBE AIRPORT

You will be picked up by a Native expeditions representative and dropped off at your accommodation of choice. Depending on what time your flight arrives, you may have an option for a day tour.

Dinner and overnight stay at accommodation of your choice

DAY 2 MURCHISON FALLS NATIONAL PARK & ZIWA RHINOS

After breakfast on the second day, you will be driven to North-Western Uganda on our way to Murchison Falls National Park. Our first stop will be the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary. The rhino sanctuary is 7,000 hectares with Savannah and wooden vegetation species. Apart from white rhinos, the sanctuary is a habitat for many other animals that include bushbucks, reedbucks, monkeys, oribis among others, countless birds that include a shoebill stork, and reptiles.

The sanctuary experience will last for a maximum of 3 hours and thereafter we will proceed to Murchison Falls National park.

Dinner and Overnight Stay at an accommodation of your choice.

DAY 3 GAME DRIVE & THE MIGHTY FALLS

After breakfast on day 3, you will depart for an early morning game drive across the rolling plains of Uganda’s largest National Park.  The Murchison Falls National Park, covering 3,893 sq km park is home to a range of animals, and you will have a chance of viewing some of the lions, giraffes, hartebeest, buffaloes, and elephants.  If you love birds, be sure to look out for the rare secretary bird, the black chested snake eagle and many other surprise residents at this park.

You will enjoy this game drive until it is time for lunch and a little relaxation. Later in the afternoon, we will head out for the boat cruise.

During this 3-hour boat trip, you will be encircled by luscious greenery and rugged rocks, peppered with holes created by the rough waters of the falls, and witness the power of Murchison as water surges through a narrow 7-meter gorge. Carry a camera or at least have your phone battery fully charged because you would not want to miss the photo opportunities during this amazing cruise experience.

Dinner and overnight stay at an accommodation of your choice.

DAY 4 TRANSFER TO KIBALE NATIONAL PARK

On the fourth day, after breakfast, we will head to Kibale Forest National Park. Kibale Forest National park, this fascinating primate capital of the world is 766 sq km and is located near Fort Portal and Kasese towns in Western Uganda.

Kibale Forest National park can be visited all year round and is one of the last remaining expanses to contain both lowland and montane forests and forms a continuous forest with Queen Elizabeth National Park. It is a bird watcher’s paradise and the Green-breasted pitta which is one of the highly thought after birds, is here. The park is most popularly known for its Chimpanzees but apart from chimpanzees, there are about 13 other primate species which include the black and white colobus monkeys, red colobus monkeys, red-tailed monkey, L’Hoest’s monkeys among others.

Dinner and overnight stay at an accommodation of your choice.

DAY 5 CHIMPANZEE TRACKING, BIRDING AND NATURE WALK IN THE BIGODI SANCTUARY.

After your breakfast on Day 5, you will be transferred to the park headquarters for a briefing about chimpanzee tracking. Most tourists will argue that a Ugandan safari is not complete without tracking the chimpanzees that are the closest to man in relation to DNA sharing of 98.7%. Chimpanzee tracking is literally a visit with our biological equivalents. After your Chimpanzee tracking experience, we will proceed to the Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary.

The Bigodi is a paradise for bird watchers and skilled birders can spot up to fifty new species on a bird list. Today, 138 species of bird have been recognized within the Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary. Among the major bird species within the sanctuary is the grand Blue Turaco.

You will have the opportunity of visiting and interacting with the local communities in the bigodi area as well as learn about the different conservation and livelihood projects that visits like yours are making possible for both the animals and the locals.

Dinner and overnight stay at the accommodation of your choice.

DAY 6 TRANSFER TO QUEEN ELIZABETH NATIONAL PARK

The morning of day 6 will see us leave Kibale forest National Park to embark on the journey to Queen Elizabeth National Park. Queen Elizabeth National park is one of the most popular national parks in Uganda and is home to over 95 mammals and 600 bird species, with a background of the Mighty Rwenzori Mountains.

This is a National Park where you can enjoy many safari activities all through the day from sunrise, afternoon and night safari game drives on the great savannah plains in the northern and Ishasha sectors, boat safaris on the Kazinga channel that attracts lots of big and small game like elephants, buffalos, crocodiles, hippos, monitor lizards, and lots of birds more than you can possibly imagine. The birds include the pied and malachite kingfishers, African fish eagle, spoon-billed stork, yellow-billed stork, pink-backed pelicans, marabou stocks and saddle-billed storks. One can also go for chimpanzee tracking in the Kyambura gorge or just a guided walk to the bat cave in Maramagambo Forest.

We will arrive in time for lunch and an afternoon cruise along the Kazinga Channel. If you are still up for it, you can also enjoy an evening game drive on this day.

Dinner and overnight stay at an accommodation of your choice.

Day 7 SAVANNAH PLAINS & QUEEN’S TREE CLIMBING LIONS

The Ishasha sector in the southern part of Queen Elizabeth National park is famous for tree-climbing lions. There are only two places in the world where lions climb trees i.e. in Ishasha Uganda and in Lake Manyara National park in Tanzania.

On day 7, Native Expeditions Africa safaris will treat you to a game drive in the Ishasha area for an opportunity to spot these lions. Apart from tree-climbing lions, other animals like topis, buffalos, and elephants can be seen on this day in Ishasha plains.

We will then retire to your lodge for relaxation, dinner, and overnight stay.

DAY 8 TRANSFER TO BWINDI IMPENETRABLE NATIONAL PARK

You will have an opportunity for an early morning game drive on day 8 before we bid farewell to Queen Elizabeth National Park and head out to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is located in the southwestern part of Uganda on the rim of the Rift Valley. Bwindi is one of the ancient and very biologically varied rainforests in the world that dates back to more than 25,000 years, comprising of about 400 varied plant species. We will check in at Bwindi on day 8 in time for dinner and overnight stay at an accommodation of your choice.

DAY 9 GORILLA TRACKING IN BWINDI IMPENETRABLE NATIONAL PARK

In Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, there are about eleven habituated gorilla families which include Mubare, Habinyanja and Rushegura (In Buhoma the Northern sector), in the Eastern Sector also known as Ruhija which is also the highest point of Bwindi impenetrable forest at approximately 2000 Meters above sea level are Bitukura, Oruzogo and Kyaguriro, and Nshongi, Mishaya, Busingye, Bweza, Kahungye in Rushaga and finally Nkuringo Gorilla Family all in the southern sector of the park.

After an early breakfast on this day, your Native Expeditions Africa guide will then transfer you to the park offices where you will be briefed about the dos and don’ts of gorilla tracking and what to expect on your gorilla tracking adventure

After the briefing, with ranger guides from Uganda wildlife Authority, you will begin your trek into the Impenetrable Forest. You will learn about the forest, the different wildlife and birdlife of the forest and of course about the mountain gorillas and how they are conserved.

Gorilla tracking can last anywhere from 1 hour to 8 hours depending on where they nested the previous night. Spending time with the gorillas will be life-changing, an adventure you will never forget. We advise you to take as many photos as you can, but to also spare a moment to just take in the moments. You will only be with the gorillas for one hour, at a distance of 7 meters to avoid contact.

After your gorilla experience, we will have lunch in the forest, return to the park offices later retire to your lodge for relaxation, dinner and overnight stay.

DAY 10 GOLDEN MONKEYS OF MGAHINGA

Mgahinga National park is one of the small national parks in Uganda and it is located far in South Western Uganda bordering Bwindi Impenetrable national park in the South, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Explore Rwanda and DRC. It is famous for gorilla tracking, golden monkey tracking and Batwa trail making it perfect for a traveler who is interested in seeing silverbacks, golden monkeys and a cultural experience of the forest people- the Pygmies.

Because you had a sufficient Gorilla experience yesterday, this day will be dedicated to the golden monkeys and the Batwa pygmy trail. Tracking golden monkeys is an activity that one should not miss out on while on an Uganda or East African safari. They will entertain you with their acrobat skills, jumping from one tree to the other through the bamboo forest. Also, tracking Golden monkeys is easier than gorilla tracking so you should be able to see very many of them in a very short time.

After the Mgahinga experience, we will transfer to Rwanda via kyanika border

DAY 11 DIAN FOSSEY TOMB TOUR

Trekking to the Dian Fossey Tomb is one of the most sought-after safari activities carried out while visiting Volcanoes national park for a gorilla trip. The walk from the park boundary to the research center where Dian’s grave is, takes about an hour to 1 hour and a half hours and affords good views of forest hogs, forest elephants, a variety of primates and bird species.

At the site, you will find the house from where Dian Fossey was mysteriously murdered in 1985 but the more peaceful is the place where she was buried just next to her favorite gorilla friend, Digit, and about 20 other mountain gorillas either killed by poachers or suffered death for other reasons.

Dinner and overnight stay at accommodation of your choice

DAY 12 KIGALI CITY EXPERIENCE & EXIT

On the final day of this tour, we will have a Kigali City excursion. On this day, you will get a tour of one of Africa’s fastest-growing cities. You will enjoy a trip to the top of Mt. Kigali for views of the city and the countryside, a milk bar, a neighborhood market, a mural walk, a great Rwandan lunch, the best coffee around, a ride on a water taxi, a neighborhood walk and ends at the Kigali Genocide Memorial.

Later on this day, you will be dropped off at the airport or other point of you own choosing.

**END OF TOUR**