Best of Uganda's Wildlife

On arrival in Entebbe International Airport (EBB) you will be met by a Wayfairer representative who will escort you to your waiting car where you will undertake a short ten-minute drive to your first accommodation.

Your first introduction to Uganda will be at the lovely Guineafowl Guesthouse, a small boutique property located just 10 minutes drive from the international airport and situated in a quiet suburb or Entebbe Town.

Depending on your flight arrival time there are a few great optional activities to include whilst at this location. Perhaps a lovely sunset cruise on Lake Victoria, or a wander around the vast botanical gardens. A great favourite of ours is the behind the scenes tour at the Uganda conservation centre.   

Today your journey begins. You will be met by your guide with your private vehicle this morning at your accommodation. After finishing breakfast and loading up the car you will hit the road. Enjoy views of Lake Victoria and bypass the busy city of Kampala making your way through Uganda's stunning countryside.

After 5 hours of driving you arrive at Fort Portal, a town at the foot of the Rwenzori mountains and the base of the Kibale Forest. You will then make your way to your lodge, the small Kibale Forest Camp and rest up before a lovely dinner at the lodge with the forest providing the soundtrack. 

A lovely accommodation consisting of 12 en-suite canvas tents tucked right into the forest – the ideal starting point for your chimpanzee trek.

Today you will go chimp trekking in the forest. Kibale Forest National Park boasts the highest number of primate species in the world, including the chimpanzees. Approximately 5,000 chimpanzees live in the wild in Uganda, which makes it a perfect place to spot them.

 An experienced ranger will take you chimp tracking in the morning with the habituated chimp group and you might also see other monkey species that live here. Once you locate the chimps you will have a full day habituation experience of eye-to-eye contact with them.

Since they are wild animals, it is important to note that whilst this can be extremely interactive and make for some amazing face-to-face time with our closest relatives, they are wild and there is no guarantee of a close up sighting.

The forest is full of other primates and all forms of life with colobus monkeys and red tailed monkeys common sightings. This is also a hot spot for bird life so keep your eyes open!

We also recommend the 'Bigodi swamp walk' offered by the lodge. This 2 hour trek takes your through the swamps to a local community living in this hostile environment. There is stunning scenery and some incredibly rare wildlife to spot en-route.

After breakfast today you start to head south, your first stop is the Mweya sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park.

This stunning park is located at the base of Rwenzori Mountain range, adjacent to Lake Edward and Lake George. It is full of game and particularly known for its large elephant population. You will arrive in time to settled in at the lodge and head out for afternoon game drive and a sundowner before dinner. 

Lions are often sighted both in and at the entrance to the park. Be prepared for huge numbers of hippo and elephant, and keep your eyes peeled for a leopard lazing in the sunshine. The park also has prolific game, including gazelle, Uganda kob, warthog and waterbuck.

Your lodge is the lovely Mazike Valley Lodge, situated nearby the Kyambura Gorge and overlooking the park with sweeping views it’s a great lodge to base yourselves at for a couple of nights.

This morning you will join the lion conservation team as you go on a rewarding adventure to track some of the park’s lion population.

This new and unique experience allows visitors to actively participate in monitoring some of lions in the park, using locator devices and learn habituation calls, as well as monitoring weather, surroundings and behaviour. The results are added to researchers’ databases, contributing valuable information to the overall understanding of wildlife ecology - and helping to conserve this wonderful ecosystem.

The number of people on each outing is limited in order to reduce stress on the animals and to increase the quality of the experience for visitors.

After lunch you will head out on the water, for the Kazinga channel cruise. Here, you will see large numbers of hippos, as well as a variety of other animals which come to the waterhole to drink or bathe. You can expect to see buffalo, crocodile, bathing elephant, and a range of beautiful bird life. Uganda is a birder’s paradise. Over half of all bird species in Africa can be found in Uganda, making it the richest African birding destination.

Your journey south continues!

Today it’s a long drive through the southern reaches of Queen Elizabeth National Park. You’ll leave the Mweya sector behind and head to Ishasha – time permitting you will enter the park again here to search for the famous tree climbing lions of Ishasha!

For those interested and depending on time, there is some fabulous community projects on-going in this area that can easily be visited as you pass on by.

Your destination is the village of Buhoma, in the northern sector of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. Stay at the lovely Buhoma Lodge, the perfect end to your trip in the swiss style cottages perched on the edge of the forest.

Offering great service and comfort for the base of your gorilla trek Buhoma Lodge is a Wayfairer favourite. You will be briefed this evening for your trek tomorrow!

Today is a big day! Your final animal tracking experience, and it’s a big one!

Bwindi Impenetrable Forest boasts both mountain gorillas and chimpanzees - the only forest in Africa which can make this claim. It also hosts five other species of primate, 113 species of mammal, over 200 butterflies and 360 birds. The gorillas you track belong to one of nine habituated family groups who can tolerate the presence of humans for a brief period every day.

The time taken to track the gorillas can be as few as 2 hours to as many as 7 hours. Once the gorillas have been located, your group will be allowed a maximum of one hour with them. Coming face-to-face with a mountain gorilla is a truly humbling and emotional experience. This is a fantastic and privileged opportunity to get up close and personal with Uganda’s very own ‘Gorillas in the Mist’.

Today your amazing journey come to an end. This short trip round Uganda will have given you great insights into this beautiful country.

You will be driven to Kihihi airstrip to catch your light aircraft flight back to Entebbe. Here you will connect to your international flights home.

Although your incredible Uganda wildlife adventure has come to an end, we hope you’ll be leaving with many special memories and stories to tell. After 8 days of amazing wildlife, spectacular natural wonders, and some of the country’s great safari lodgings, we’re sure you’ll be hooked on the African continent. Where will you explore next?

As an alternative we can take off the flight and you can instead be driven across the border to Kigali in Rwanda and connect to your flight here – we can organize accommodation at an additional cost.

Please note the suggested price includes the flight return to Entebbe.