Overview
Uganda is an icon of safari adventure worldwide. Prime Minister Winston Churchill named it the pearl of Africa while visiting several countries on the continent. Uganda’s imaginary beauty seems too huge to be experienced in just days. However, on your 14 days Uganda safari, you ought to have a more prolonged insight into this great nation.
Expect to be blown away by incredible wildlife encounters from primates to savannah species like the 4 of the Big 5 to aquatic species on game drives, boat cruises, and game walking safaris. These will be encountered in their different destinations like Kidepo Valley, Bwindi, Mgahinga, Queen Elizabeth, Murchison Falls, Kibale, and Lake Mburo National Parks. However, your trip is not all centered on wildlife alone as you will interact with people during lunch en route and learn different cultures like those of the Karamajong and Batwa people.
Immerse yourself in nature while on this trip as you visit epic sites like the Bigodi wetland, Sipi Falls, and Sezibwa Falls with a coffee experience in Sipi. Follow your planned trip on the detailed itinerary below for a pictorial insight of how it will go.
Detailed itinerary
Day 1: Arrival and transfer to Sipi Falls via Sezibwa Falls
As you arrive at Entebbe International Airport, our driver guide will be there on time to pick you up. After a short briefing on how your 14 days Uganda safari will run, transfer you to Sipi Falls with an adventure stopover at Sezibwa. While at Sezibwa Falls, you will be met by the local guide and taken around the falls.
Explore the cultural traditional religions of the local Baganda people as you hike around the falls. Be sure to spot various water birds that inhabit the falls area. From this exploration experience, head for lunch in Jinja City as you interact with the locals. Later in the afternoon, proceed with your journey to Sipi Falls. By evening, you will arrive at your booked lodge for dinner and rest.
Meals: Lunch and Dinner
Day 2: Hike to the falls, cave exploration, and coffee tours
Early morning after your delicious breakfast, head to the falls for a hiking experience to the Sipi Falls. Your hiking adventure will present you with incredible views of the three waterfalls that make up Sipi Falls. Enjoy a panoramic view of the surroundings while on the top of the hike. Expect to encounter various bird species that call the falls area their home.
Descend to the base of the falls, for a cave exploration adventure. These caves are an important site in history as they once hosted early settlers as evident by the rock paintings that date back years. Return to the lodge for lunch later, after your adventures.
In the afternoon, head north to the coffee plantations for a tour. The areas around the falls are fertile with volcanic soils that facilitate the growth of Arabic coffee. While on a coffee tour, expect to learn the different planting styles of coffee and how it is harvested. Interact with the farmers for an insight into their passion for coffee and have a taste of this brown gold. As evening kicks in, return to the lodge for dinner and overnight.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 3: Drive to Kidepo Valley National Park
Wake up to a delightful breakfast served at your lodge and check out after your meal. Later, our driver guide drives you to Kidepo Valley National Park.
This long journey takes you over 8-9 hours with scenic views of the countryside. Thus makes your journey an interesting one as you experience the terrain of the area and have a local culinary lunch in Soroti City. At dusk, arrive in the park and check into your lodge for dinner.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 4: Game drive and Karamajong cultural tours
Start your fruitful day in Kidepo Valley National Park with an early breakfast. Immediately after here, begin your time in the park with a game drive experience in the Narus Valley. This is the hotspot for any game drive adventure as it hosts large concentrations of wildlife in the park.
The valley is drained by River Narus, meaning all species, aquatic and land, are catered for. While on your game drive, be sure to spot various species like Uganda kobs, savannah elephants, buffaloes, lions, hippos, giraffes, and many other species, primates such as chimpanzees and monkeys. This iconic drive will take you until evening when you return to the lodge for lunch. Visit the Karamajong homesteads for a cultural tour in the afternoon. The Karamajong culture is one of the last pure cultures that have stood the test of time without crumbling to civilization pressures.
Interact with the Karamajong people as they take you through their cultural practices like herding cattle and lifestyle. Talk to the warriors of this tribe as they are responsible for looking after the livestock, as the women look after the Manyatta homesteads. In the evening, hit the road to the lodge for dinner and sleep.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 5: Travel to Murchison Falls National Park
At cockcrow, have breakfast and prepare to check out of the lodge. Hit the road after to Murchison Falls National Park. This 7-8 hours’ road takes you through Uganda’s iconic countryside with views from a story book.
Make a stopover for lunch in Gulu city as you taste their local dishes. Continue with your journey to Murchison Falls National Park where you will enter the park from the Wankar gate and check into your lodge for dinner.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 6: Game drive and boat cruise
Enjoy an early breakfast at your lodge in the park before heading to the savannah for a game drive experience. While on your game drive, expect to spot wildlife species, the most notable ones are lions, elephants, buffaloes, antelopes, waterbucks, reedbucks, duikers, and giraffes. Head north for an iconic view of the strongest waterfall in the world, Murchison Falls. This jaw-dropping site will leave you speechless with imaginary scenes of the water as it squeezes through the rocks before plunging into the pool forming the falls.
After spending time here at the falls, drive back to the lodge for lunch. In the afternoon, head downstream to the Victoria Nile for a boat cruise experience. Sail on the Nile waters as you spot various species like hippos and crocodiles, the notable inhabitants of the Nile and other shoreline guests like elephants, buffaloes, and waterbucks. Witness scenic views as the sun sets behind the waterfall on the Victoria Nile. Travel back to the lodge for dinner and rest after your experience on the boat cruise.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 7: Transfer to Kibale Forest National Park and Banana experience
Halfway through your 14 days Uganda safari, eat breakfast at your lodge in Murchison Falls National Park. Drive out of the park after checking out of the lodge to Kibale Forest National Park.
Arrive in Fort Portal city by noon and have lunch before proceeding for the next adventure. In the afternoon, visit the rest in Banana for a banana experience where you will get to experience wine making from bananas and brewed to a waragi, a local beer.
Taste this iconic local beer that stretches for many generations as the skill of brewing is passed onto the next generation. Later, continue with your journey to Kibale Forest National Park and check into your booked lodge in the evening for dinner and rest.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 8: Chimpanzee trekking and Bigodi wetland tour
Wake up in the primate capital with loud melodies from the birds all over the park and enjoy your breakfast at your lodge deep in the forest. Our driver guide will henceforth transfer you to the park office for a briefing before the trekking. Pass through what is expected of you during trekking with the ranger guides and join a group of 6 people that will trek a given chimp community or troupe. A lead ranger guide will thereafter guide you through the forest of Kibale searching for the chimpanzees. Kibale is the primate capital of the world, as it hosts over 1,500 individuals, thus it will not take you long to encounter the chimps.
After getting to the chimp troupe, you will be given an hour with them as you take pictures and enjoy the moment as the chimps play, feed, and groom their young. Have lunch at your lodge after your chimpanzee trekking experience and drive to the Bigodi wetland for a tour. This wetland is a nature sanctuary hosting birds, primates, mammals, and amphibians. Be sure to be amazed by the natural abundance of this sanctuary as you tour it. Interact with the local guides as it is managed by the community.
You will spot primates like colobus monkeys, L’hoest’s monkey, and vervet monkeys among others. Return to the lodge for dinner at dusk after you explore Bigodi and rest for the night ahead.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 9: Transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park and boat cruise
Travel to Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda’s most popular park, immediately after your breakfast. Move through scenic landscapes of the green tea plantations that paint the horizon green and arrive at your lodge in the park for lunch. Head out to Kazinga Channel later for a boat cruise experience.
The channel is home to over 5,000 hippos, the most in the country, and countless Nile crocodiles. Therefore, expect to spot these species and also others like elephants, waterbucks, antelopes, and buffaloes that come to quench their thirst in the channel. As the sun sets, you will head back to the lodge for dinner and rest.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 10: Ishasha game drive and travel to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
Have breakfast early and drive to the Ishasha plains for a game drive. In here, get intrigued in adventure as you encounter the tree-climbing lions, which are the face of this incredible park. Resting in the high branches of fig and acacia trees, these lions will entertain you as they ascend and descend from the trees. Spot also other species like buffaloes, leopards, elephants, and antelopes while in the Ishasha plains. Our driver guide will later return you to the lodge for lunch and checkout. Hit the road for Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, a stopover at the tea plantations for a tea special experience as you learn how tea is planted, harvested, and later manufactured at the factory. Proceed to the park and check into your lodge in Bwindi and sleep.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 11: Gorilla trekking and drive to Mgahinga Gorilla National Park
At dawn, still dark in the forest, you will have breakfast so that you are in time for the briefing at the park offices. Arrive at the head offices and be briefed about the dos and don’ts of gorilla trekking. The rangers will thereafter group you in groups of 8 and give each group a family of gorillas. Henceforth, head into the forest searching for the endangered mountain gorillas through the steep terrain and muddy trails. Encounter the primates after hours of walking and spend an hour in their presence. Watch them as they go by with their chores, and after your hour head back to the offices.
Our driver guide will then transfer you to the lodge for lunch. Drive to Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, another iconic primate park immediately after your lunch. This distance is short and interesting with views of meandering roads rotating around the hills of Kigezi and Kisoro with terraced hills adding a touch of nature and culture to your road experience. Arrive in the park and have dinner at your booked lodge after checking in, and rest.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 12: Golden monkey trekking and Batwa encounter
Rush to the briefing center at the park headquarters for a briefing before the trekking of the golden monkeys after your breakfast. Revise the trekking rules and regulations, and head into the park with a lead ranger, following the bamboo shoot leftovers, reach the rare golden monkeys. In the whole country, golden monkeys are only located here in Mgahinga.
What a feeling it is spotting them as they play and rest their full bellies after feeding. Take pictures and utilize your hour in their presence before returning to the offices where our guide will take you back to the lodge for lunch.
The Batwa community tour will be next on your agenda, where you will learn the different skills these people used as they dwelled in the forest. Get entertained by their traditional songs and dances as you conclude your adventure with them. You will be transferred to the lodge by our driver guide in the evening for dinner and rest.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 13: Travel to Mburo National Park and boat cruise
Closer to the end of your trip, drive to Lake Mburo National Park after checking out of your lodge and having a delicious breakfast. Travel for over 3-4 hours and arrive in the park, check into your lodge, and eat lunch. Explore the aquatic life of the park on a boat cruise experience on the special Lake Mburo located west of the park. A guide ranger will then take you through this experience, where you encounter species like hippos, crocodiles, and other animals on the shore like impalas, buffaloes, and zebras.
The ranger will also take you through the history that surrounds the formation of this lake. In the evening, driver to the lodge for dinner and overnight.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 14: Game walking and departure
On the final day of your 14 days Uganda safari, have a delightful breakfast and be driven to the savannah for a game walking safari. You will be welcomed by the professional guide ranger who will take you on this safari.
The park has abundant wildlife species from zebras, buffaloes, leopards, impalas, giraffes, and elands to mention but a few. Be sure to spot most of these wildlife species while on this game walking experience. This experience allows you to get closer to the wildlife. Head to the lodge for lunch and check out to begin your journey to where it all started, Entebbe International Airport. In the evening, you will be at the airport in time for your departure flight.
Meals: Breakfast and Lunch
