Day 1: Day of arrival
When you arrive at the airport, you will find a tour guide from AA safaris and tours waiting for you and he will transfer you to the hotel of your choice in either Kampala or Entebbe. You can always go for a Kampala city tour but this depends on what time you arrive and this tour leads you to some historical sites in Kampala and some of the Kabaka’s trail and some of these places include. The museum, mosques, churches, markets while the Kabaka ’s trail will take you to Buganda ’s rich heritage and you will get the opportunity to learn about the hidden history of Buganda Kingdom and also experience an authentic, traditional culture through their dance, music, craft-making, spiritual healing and story telling among others. You may check out the Kasubi Tombs, Wamala tombs, Namugongo Martyrs Shrine, Buganda Museums, The Kabaka ’s palace and craft centers, among other places although, this does not mean that you will visit all these places. Dinner and overnight at
Budget – Holiday Express Hotel / Tourist Hotel/ Hotel Ruch
Standard – Imperial royale/ Speke Hotel / Cassia Lodge
Luxury; Kampala Sheraton Hotel / Kampala Serena Hotel / Grand Imperial Hotel
Day 2: Transfer to Murchison falls national park
You will have breakfast from your hotel and then go meet your guide and then drive to Murchison Falls National Park to start your Uganda and Rwanda safari. You will drive through Luwero or Hoima then to Masindi and then connect to Murchison Falls National park. Before connecting to Murchison, you will visit the Ziwa Rhino sanctuary which is the only rhino sanctuary you can find in Uganda set up to help in the restoration of Rhinos in Uganda after they were poached to extinction the 80s.to meet them, you will have to take a nature walk, look for them and then afterwards you will go have lunch outside the sanctuary and afterwards continue with your journey to the park. You will check in at your hotel when you get to Murchison, rest a little bit before you have your dinner at
Budget – Sambiya rive bandas/Red Chilli
Standard – Sambiya River lodge/ Budongo Eco lodge/ Murchison River lodge/ Fort Murchison lodge
Luxury – Chobe safari lodge/ Paraa Safari Lodge/ Pakuba safari lodge/ Nile Safari Camp
Day 3: Chimp tracking in kaniyo pabidi and visit the top of the falls
You will have breakfast early and then go for briefing before 8 am as by that you will be starting Chimpanzee tracking in Kaniyo Pabidi Forest which is an untouched piece of natural forest situated just within Budongo Forest Reserve and so you will be walking where under mature mahogany wood trees. The main tourist activity is the Chimpanzee tracking but also bird lovers can have the best experience as there is various forest bird species in that forest like the chocolates-backed Kingfisher, the chocolates-backed Kingfisher as well as the puvel’s illadopsis and these are hardly found any where else in East Africa but there will also be so many other primates like monkeys/ Red -Colobus, Blues, Red-tailed and grey cheeked Mangabey, among so many others. You will be out of the forest to have lunch and then later you will visit the top of the fall to have that best view of the falls as the water forces its way through the tight rocks to form fountain before flowing down the Nile.
Day 4: Game drive and launch cruise
You will get a cup of coffee to warm up your body and then be transferred to the northern part of Murchison falls National Park for a game drive. Your guide will help you with all the necessary explanations you may need about the different animals you may meet like the Giraffes, Elephants, Buffaloes, Bush bucks, Lions, and a variety of bird species. At mid morning you will go back to the lodge for your full breakfast and then later in the afternoon have your lunch and afterwards go for launch cruise which will take you to the bottom of the falls of the Murchison falls. During the cruise you will have the opportunity to see a lot of hippos, crocodiles, water birds along the river banks and this makes the place good for a birding safari too. Overnight and dinner will back at your lodge.
Day 5: Travel to Kibale national park
After breakfast that morning, drive to transfer you to Kibale National Park, a journey which takes about 8- 9 hours passing through the Albertine escarpment. You will have a lunch break somewhere along the way and then later continue with your journey and on a very clear day, you will have the chance to view the top of the Albert rift which looks so beautiful. You will be in fort portal in the evening and you will have no time to do any activity on that day which means you will head straight to the hotel for dinner and overnight at;
Luxurious; Kyaninga lodge/Ndali Lodge/ Primates Lodge
Mid range; Chimps nest, Mountains of the moon
Budget; Primates cottages/ Rwenzori view guest house/ Kanyankyu Ecological Bandas/Chimpanzee guest house
Day 6: Chimpanzee trekking safari
You will have to take breakfast very early in the morning and then go to Kanyankyu tourists centre for registration as well as briefing from the park guides just before you enter the forest for Chimpanzee tracking. This is the most popular walk among all Kibale walks which takes about 2-3 hours but this time depends on where these Chimpanzees will find the food. There will also be other primates like the Black and white Colobus Monkeys, other living creature which are also very interesting to watch as they wrangle and play. Later on you will go back to the lodge you’re your lunch and then in the after noon, you will go for Bigodi swamp walk where you will find a number of bird species. Later in the evening, you will go have dinner and overnight at your lodge.
Day 7: Transfer to Semliki wildlife reserve.
After breakfast and you will drive to Semliki Wildlife Reserve for one great scenic drive which takes you down the eastern side of Lake Albert since Semliki reserve is in the basin of the Western Rift Valley and is among the most diverse habitats in Africa with magnificent and variety of borassus palm forest, Riparian forest, gallery rain forest as well as the short and high grass savannas. Semliki is said to be one of Africa’s most bio- diverse forest and it is also famous for the different bird species in high population as well as the fact that it also one of Africa’s most ancient Forests popular because of having survived the dry conditions so many years ago together with Bwindi when so many other forests shrank thus the reason why it managed to protect some species that like the arid apocalypse until they eventually managed to emerge to re colonize a better wetter parts of the country. You will go have lunch at the lodge and then rest a bit. After having your dinner, you will go for a night game drive to search for the nocturnal animals. Night game drives are only be done in Semliki and you will be able to see the animals that hide during day time like the big cats, the very small Genet as well as serval cats, there may be white tailed mongoose and slender mongoose, standard and pennant winged night jars , among others. After this, you will go back to your lodge which may be.
Luxury: Semliki safari Lodge
Day 8: Game drive and Chimpanzee
Immediately after having your breakfast, you will then go for chimpanzee trekking in the gorgeous rainforest and this should be done very early as they tend to disappear in the middle of the day. Besides the chimpanzees, you will be amazed by the number of bird species which are found in that forest. Later on, go back to the lodge to have lunch and then relax by the pool and enjoy the tranquility of the Lodge and then during the late afternoon hours, you will go for a game drive, you will watch the African sun dip below the horizon before you return to the lodge for dinner.
Day 9: Transfer to Queen Elizabeth national park.
On this day, you will drive to Queen Elizabeth National Park immediately after breakfast and you go through the crater Valley, a place famous for its beautiful crater lakes and rich grasslands. Queen Elizabeth blessed with variety of vegetation ranging from Savannah to Rain forest, dense swamps is a home to high numbers of wildlife, over 100 species of wild animals like the Hippos, Buffaloes, Lions, Leopard, Spotted Hyena and the elusive giant forest hog, there is more than 606 species of birds among which are the martial eagle, Verreaux’s eagle owl, black – rumped buttonquail and African skimmer, to mention but a few. There are also so many primates especially in the Kyambura gorge like Chimps, Blue Mangabeys, Black and white Colobus Monkeys, Black Faced Red Colobus, and Red Tailed monkeys and Olive Baboons. From the crater lakes, you will go have lunch and then drive inside the park for a game drive to search for animals like the Elephants, warthogs, water bucks, hippos, Uganda kobs, bush bucks and many others. After the game drive, you will drive to the hotel, check in and wait for your dinner and overnight at
Budget – Mweya hostel/ Simba safari lodge/ Albertine Camp
Moderate – Ihamba safari lodge/ Marafaki safari lodge
Luxury – Ishasha wilderness camp/ Katara safari lodge/ Mweya Safari lodge / Ishasha wilderness camp
Day 10: Chimpanzee trekking in Queen Elizabeth national park.
After a cup of coffee in the morning, the drive will take you for briefing that you are required to attend before the 08.00am chimpanzee trekking in Kyambura Gorge. You will have a ranger to guide you and you ca expect to see various primates most especially Chimpanzee, Black and white Colobus monkeys primates like the rd colobus monkeys, blue Mangabeys, black and white colobus monkeys among others. You will find very many bird species in this gorge too. You will be through trekking by midday and will go back to the lodge for lunch.
DAY 11: game drive safari and boat ride on Kazinga channel
You will be served with a cup of coffee and go for an early morning game drive in this park to search for animals like the Lions, Cape Buffaloes, Giant Forest Hogs, Leopards, Elephants, Defassa Water bucks, Uganda Kobs, Topi and Bush bucks among others. By mid morning, you will be back to the lodge to have your full break fast, rest a bit after and lunch will be ready in the afternoon. Later in the afternoon, you will go for 2-hour boat cruise along the Kazinga Channel that connects Lake Edward and George, you will see thousands of Hippos, crocodiles, water birds and many other animals along the banks during this boat ride. You can take as many pictures as you wish to take, bird watching and game watching will be very interesting. After this, you will head back to the lodge for your dinner and sleep.
Day 12: Transfer to Bwindi National park.
In the morning after breakfast, leave for Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, passing through the Ishasha Sector in the southern part of Queen Elizabeth, a region very popular for the tree climbing lions. You will drive around, searching for the well-known Ishasha tree-climbing lions, after that you will have lunch and then later drive out of the park and continue on to Bwindi, the home to the endangered mountain gorillas, lots of Bird lives and other primate life in Bwindi. You will have dinner at
Budget; Buhoma Community Bandas/ Bwindi view Bandas/ Virunga Hotel in Kisoro
Mid range; Lake Kitandara camp /Engagi lodge/ Nkuringo campsite /Ruhija safari lodge
Standard; Buhoma Lodge / Silver back lodge / Gorilla Resort Camp/ / Gorilla Safari Lodge.
Luxury accommodation – Gorilla Forest camp/ Clouds lodge
< h4>Day 13: Gorilla Tracking
You will have to wake up early for breakfast before you go for the gorilla trekking safari. You guide will take you to the ranger station at 08.00 am and also get a ranger to take you through the forest as you track gorillas. This trek can take from 1-8 hours therefore a reasonable degree of fitness is required as well as a sturdy pair of walking shoes and have to carry packed lunch with you when you ware leaving the hotel in the morning. You sit in the forest among the gorillas listening to them grumble at each other and marvel at the sheer size of the dominant male, the silverback and this will be for just 1 hour after you have found them. You can take as many pictures as you wish to take and then after that hour, you will walk out of the jungle and return to the lodge. And if you still have a few hours before its gets dark, you can go for a guided village walk in the Batwa community but this is t an extra fee of course. Dinner and Overnight will be back at your lodge
Day 14: Transfer to Rwanda
Immediately after breakfast, cross the border then you will be driven to Musanze which is also called Ruhengeri and the pedestal of Gorilla Trekking in Rwanda. Within Musanze, there are attractions like the Volcanoes National Park, Virunga Mountains with their four peaks- Bisoke, Muhabura, Sabyinyo and Karisimbi which is the highest peak and can take you 2 days to climb but can climb Bisoke can be done in one day. Other attractions include; the natural bridge, lakes Burera and Ruhondo. Dinner and over night at; Virunga lodge.
Budget;-Kinigi guest house/ Muhabura Lodge/ Virunga hotel
Standard; Gorilla NEST Camp / Mountain Gorilla View lodge/ Le bamboo Hotel / Hotel Gorillas
Luxury; -Volcanoes Lodge / Sabyinyo Silver back lodge
Day 15: Gorilla safari in Rwanda
You will have breakfast early in the morning before you can drive to Kinigi park headquarters for briefing, group allocation and orientation about gorillas tracking and then walk in to the forest along with your ranger who will be allocated to your group to help you search for these gorillas. Hiking, trekking and tracking gorillas may take 3-10 hours which is why you have to go with packed lunch as you will not have time to go back for lunch. Sight and stay with the Gorillas for one hour just the case is in Uganda and then after that hour, you walk out. Dinner and over night will be at your previous lodge
Day 16: Drive to L. Bunyonyi
After breakfast, you will transfer back to Uganda and head to Lake Bunyonyi situated in the hilly terrain and it is that detaches the towns of Kabale and Kisoro. This lake has got numerous small islands and so many types of birds thus the name Bunyonyi which means birds in the local language. Overnight at
Up market: Bird nest lodge/ Habuharo Island camps/
Mid range: Arcadia cottages/ Bunyonyi overland
Budget: Bushara Island Camp/ Byona magala island camp
Day 17: Canoe ride
After your breakfast, you will go for a guided nature walk during which you will see different animals, birds, butterflies and so many other wild features on the main land surrounding Lake Bunyonyi. At the end of it, what you will see will be worth the time will have spent and then go back to the lodge for lunch. After your lunch, you will do for a canoe ride on Lake Bunyonyi and this is the perfect opportunity you will have to see these different island in this lake which are home to variety of birds, birds will also be seen in the small swampy areas in the lake, there is the punishment island where girls that got pregnant before getting married where thrown in the ancient days and left there to die. After the boat ride, you will return to your lodge for dinner and an over night.
Day 18: Transfer to Lake Mburo
When you wake up, you have break fast and then depart for Lake Mburo National Park which is an extension of the Tanzanian plains with almost the highest number of zebra, impala, eland and others. There are also so many birds thus make a good spot fro the birders as well and the journey takes about 4 hours which means you will have lunch when you arrive in Mbarara. After that you will enter the park which is the one of the best places to find African fin foot, papyrus bush shrike and the legendary Shoe bill. We will check in at the camp and relax for a little while before going for a canoe ride on the lake. Dinner and overnight at
Luxury; Lake Mburo safari lodge/Mihingo Lodge/Mantana luxury tented
Moderate; Arcadia cottage/ Rwakobo rock
Budget; Rwonyo
Day 19: Game drive and nature walks to the salt lick
You will go for the morning game drive in search for animals and birds, you will find lots of zebras, impalas, bush bucks, water bucks and over 310 bird species in Lake Mburo National Park. It is probably the best place in Uganda from where you can see Acacia associated birds and also of special interest to birders, are the swamps. The swamps are home to the highly localized Papyrus Yellow Warbler recorded nowhere else in Uganda. You will later go have lunch, have a some time to rest a bit and then in the evening, you will take a guided nature walk to the salt lick area where most animals in the park go to lick salt and is one place you can find different animals together. Dinner and overnight will be back at your lodge.
Day 20: To Jinja
Immediately after your breakfast, you will drive back to Kampala and head straight to Jinja to do the afternoon White water-rafting along the Nile which starts at 2pm, which means you should be there by 1pm. Alternatively, you may be interested in, kayaking, quad biking or horse riding. You can visit the Source of the River Nile and Bujagali Falls if you have enough time, you can also visit a number of fishing villages. Dinner and overnight at,
Luxury: Jinja Nile Resort /King Fisher lodge
Mid range: Gately on the Nile/
Budget: Sunset hotel
Day 21: To Sipi falls
After having breakfast, you will drive to Mountain Elgon National Park. Mountain Elgon is an extinct volcano and it’s fourth highest mountain in East. You may go hiking and this will give you the chance to explore Mount Elgon’s diverse montane forest. The popular forest exploration center trail loop site can make one enjoy the cool mist at Chebonet falls, Kapkwai cave, the talking tree as well as a spectacular view point, which lies just beyond. Later before its dark, you will have to check in at your hotel which may be;
Luxury: Sipi River lodge
Mid range: Sipi river lodge moderate rooms
Budget: Sipi falls rest camp
Day 22; To Kampala -Entebbe
You will return to Kampala after breakfast. You will have lunch break and your guide will take you to your hotel in Entebbe when you arrive and that is where you will have your dinner too. But if you are interested, the guide will help you around some craft centre like the gallery at the National theater among others so that you can shop souvenirs otherwise, you will have to check in, clean up, rest a bit before dinner and wait for the next day’s adventure. This hotel may be;
Up market; Imperial Botanical Beach hotel
Moderate; The Boma Guest house
Budget ; Central Inn Hotel/ Lake Victoria Hotel/ J residence hotel.
Day 23: Ngamba Island
Having taken breakfast, you will be Visit UWEC (Uganda Wildlife Education Centre) the former Zoo. Later in the afternoon, you will board the afternoon ferry to cross to Ngamba which takes about 45 minutes. Ngamba Island staff will receive you and these care for the 39 chimpanzees, they given a short introduction about the history of the site. Then after, you will go to the feeding stand of where you will view the chimpanzees feed for the second time in the day and see them as they struggle to get food, a behavior totally similar to man! They will exhibit different personalities amongst the group, with some whistling for food and others clapping, others collecting food for their little ones, there will also be those that will be scrambling to get food that they will keep. In the evening, you will head to your lodge where you will you’re your dinner and overnight at
Luxury: G and C camp (FB),
Mid range: Ngamba Island tented camp
Day 24: The forest walk
When you wake up, you will have your breakfast and then go for w guided nature walk in the forest for another rare experience with the chimps. You will have time with the chimps, interact with them, they will climb on you, pull your hair, or just walk along holding your hand! But to able to interact with them, you need to have had a health examination to prevent transferring diseases from human to them. Later you will return to your lodge
Day 25: Departure
After breakfast, you will return to the main land where you will meet your safari guide who will transfer you to Entebbe. This will be the end of your trip with AA safaris and tours
