Day 1 – Entebbe

Bed and breakfast

• On your arrival at Entebbe International Airport in Uganda our representative will welcome you and transfer for overnight in BB in Entebbe at Boma Hotel / Karibu Guest House.

Day 2 – Ziwa Reserve - Murchison Falls National Park

Full Board.

• After breakfast and a brief meeting with our representative, at 7.30 your adventure in Uganda will begin driving northwest to Masindi and Murchison Falls National Park.
• First activity along the journey is the nature walk in Ziwa Rhino sanctuary, the rhinos breeding project which has brought back to Uganda the endangered white rhinos and you will see them closely while walking freely.
• Lunch at a restaurant.
• Proceed to Murchison Falls, the largest national park in Uganda, that offers beautiful sceneries of grassland acacia and palm trees savannah in the north and tropical forests in the south. You reach the river Nile at the beautiful Murchison Falls and you will have a view from the “top of the falls”.
• Before evening you check in to your lodge for dinner and overnight, Twiga Safari Lodge / Pakuba Lodge / Bamboo Village Lodge.

Note: Today transfer is about 6 hours drive, part of it through dirt road within the park for a distance of about 350 km.

Day 3 – Murchison Falls National Park

Full Board.

• Early breakfast, at 6.30 am you will depart for an early morning game drive using our safari vehicle to explore the savannah, in the region of the delta of the Nile on Lake Albert, Northern bank. Among other animals in the wild, you might find elephants, lions, buffalos, giraffes, waterbucks, bushbucks, spotted hyenas and, very rarely, the leopards.
• Lunch at the lodge.
• In the afternoon, we organize a boat excursion along the river Nile to the base of the Murchison Falls. It is amazing the concentration of wildlife in the bank of the river Nile, including hippos, crocodiles, and a variety of bird’s species, like African eagles, pelicans, kingfisher, Egyptian geese and much more.
• Dinner and overnight Twiga Safari Lodge / Pakuba Lodge / Bamboo Village Lodge.

Day 4 – Albertine Rift Valley – Kibale National Park

Full Board.

• After breakfast you leave the National Park proceeding southwest along the Lake Albert and Rift Valley escarpment, which offers a lot of sceneries and view points. You pass via Hoima the capital town of Bunyoro kingdom and through tea, banana, coffee and cocoa plantations.
• Lunch en route in Bugoma forest at Bugoma Jungle Lodge where we also organize a short nature walk to appreciate this authentic site.
• In the afternoon proceed the journey to Fort Portal, the capital town of Tooro kingdom on the shadow of Rwenzori Mountains, the biggest mountain range in Africa.
• Dinner and overnight at Isunga Lodge / Kibale Guest Cottages / Guereza Canopy Lodge.

Note: Today transfer is about 5 hours’ drive for 350 km, through dirt road and the conditions are variable according to the rains. 

Day 5 – Chimpanzee trekking in Kibale Forest - Queen Elizabeth National Park

Full Board.

• After breakfast the activity of the day is the chimpanzee tracking experience in the forest of Kibale. The activity starts as early as 8am or in the afternoon according to the permit’s allocation with a briefing from the head park ranger. Kibale is one of the few remaining forests with a high concentration of chimpanzees, about a thousand out of the total population of five thousand in Uganda. The great apes were familiarized to eco-tourism thanks to the projects by the Jane Goodall International Institute, which worked on the conservation of Kibale.
• Hot lunch at the lodge.
• In the afternoon we propose visiting the eco-tourist site of Bigodi for community walk where you get closer to the inhabitant of the area surrounding the forest, meeting some of them and learning about history, traditions and customs. This experience is possible through the organization KAFRED, which provides local guides.
• It is also possible to “plant a tree” at the tree planting site under the project “One traveler, one tree, one forest”.
• In the evening transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park for dinner and overnight Ihamba Lakeside Safari Lodge / Enganzi Lodge / Marafiki Safari Lodge.

Note: The chimpanzee trekking can be done in the morning or in the afternoon according to availability of permits. Today transfer can be 2 hours’ drive.

Day 6 – Queen Elizabeth National Park

Full Board.

• In the early morning, at 6.30 am after breakfast, long game drive along the tracks of the national park, in the Northern sectors and towards Lake George and Kasenyi village, using our safari vehicle. You might see lions, elephants, buffaloes, spotted hyenas, waterbucks, Ugandan kobs, perhaps the leopard though is shy and rare to be seen.
• Lunch at the lodge or in a restaurant.
• In the afternoon, from Mweya peninsula you take the exciting safari by boat along Kazinga channel, one of the most popular sites in Uganda for its concentration of wildlife, bird’s life and opportunities for good photographs. Moreover, you will see plenty of hippos, buffaloes and elephants while drinking from the channel.
• By evening, there is a short transfer to the south of Queen Elizabeth Park in the Ishasha sector.
• Dinner and overnight at Ishasha Jungle lodge.

Day 7 – Ishasha – Lake Bunyonyi

Full Board.

• After breakfast, at 7 or 8 am morning game drive in the area of Ishasha which is famed with the tendency of lions climbing up in the acacia trees.
• Early lunch at the lodge.
• In the afternoon you leave the southern sector of Queen Elizabeth NP and proceed further south towards the area famed for its stunning dramatic beauty bearing one of Africa’s deepest Lakes. With the many islands on the lake, Lake Bunyonyi offers the peace and tranquility of a dreamer’s heaven. You reach by evening the Lake Bunyonyi after Kabale town.
• Dinner and overnight at Arcadia Cottages Bunyonyi /Lake Bunyonyi Rock Resort

Note: Today transfer can be up to 5 hours through mountain road for about 140 km.

Day 8 - Lake Bunyonyi – Bwindi Forest NP / Mgahinga Gorilla NP

Full Board.

• After breakfast, you will enjoy one of the most extraordinary wildlife and birding experience by boat crossing the Lake Bunyonyi. With its forested and green islands, the lake is home to species of endemic birds and the guide will help you to spot many of them.
• Lunch at the lodge.
• In the afternoon, the journey proceeds to the area of Bwindi Forest National Park or Mgahinga Gorillla NP.
• Dinner and overnight at Ichumbi Lodge / Lake Mulehe Gorila Lodge / Lake Chahafi Lodge / Bweza Lodge.

Day 9 - Mountain gorilla tracking - Transfer to Volcanoes National Park

Full Board.

• After breakfast, in the morning you will have the top primates’ travel experience: the gorilla trekking in the forest in search for one of the habituated families of mountain gorillas. After the briefing from the park rangers, at 8 am you follow them as they guide you through the forest’s trails. It is not predictable the time you will spend to find the gorillas. You have one hour for observing the primates and their behaviors, while taking photographs.
• Bring with you water and packed lunch.
• By evening, cross the border of Rwanda from Cyanika.
• Dinner and overnight at Mountain Gorilla View Lodge / Tiloreza Eco-lodge.

NOTE: the gorilla trekking may be in Bwindi or in Mgahinga according to availability of permits.

Day 10 – Golden monkeys trek in Volcanoes National Park – Transfer to Lake Kivu Kibuye

Full Board.

• After breakfast, at 7 am we organize a walk in the Volcanoes National Park, to see the golden monkeys, a species of primate endemic to the area.
• Lunch at the lodge.
• In the afternoon or after the trekking we recommend (included) visiting the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund Ellen DeGeneres Campus, with its photographic collection that tells the story of gorilla conservation since the time of Dian Fossey. In the center there is also the Azizi Life Gorillas Gift Shop, not to be missed. In the town of Kinigi there are also eco-tourism programs where you can watch traditional Intore dances.
• You will continue the journey towards Nyungwe National Park, in southern Rwanda along Lake Kivu and you arrive in the town of Kibuye in a lodge with a stunning view of Lake Kivu.
• Dinner and overnight at Cormoran Lodge /Inn on the Lake

Note: Today transfer can be up to 3 hours’ drive.

Day 11 – On the shores of Lake Kivu and Southern Rwanda

Full Board.

• After breakfast, we organize an activity on Lake Kivu, a boat excursion on the lake to see Napoleon Island and other naturalistic sites.
• Lunch at the hotel.
• In the afternoon you will continue your journey to Cyangugu, which is located on the south shore of Lake Kivu, near the entrance to Nyungwe Forest.
• We organize here the Rwandan “tea experience” through the IVOMO organization https://ivomo.rw/ a social enterprise that aims to promote culture and community tourism, to support local communities through responsible tourism in South- West of Rwanda. Activities include tea harvesting with farmers, traditional and modern tea making, tasting at the factory in Gisakura. You visit the tea museum and support the local communities by purchasing souvenirs in the local products shop.
• Dinner and overnight at Essencia Kivu Hotel / Emeraude Kivu Resort.

Day 12 – Primates Trekking in Nyungwe Forest National Park

Full Board.

• After an early breakfast, at 7am you will enter the Nyungwe forest for the Angolan colobus trekking and other forest primates. Nyungwe Park expands over 970 square km of verdant hills, the largest tropical forest in East Africa. It is home to 13 different species of primates, including the Angolan colobus, the red-tailed monkey, the velvet monkey, the owl-faced monkey and the silver monkey and is a habitat for chimpanzees.
• Return to the lodge for lunch.
• The afternoon is free at leisure and in the evening we organize the "canopy walk", the panoramic walk on a suspension bridge over the forest. This activity is about 1 hour and half, as you walk through the bridge for observation.

• Dinner and overnight at Essencia Kivu Hotel / Emeraude Kivu Resort

Day 13 – Butare – Nyanza - Kigali

Half Board.

• After breakfast, your journey proceed to Kigali. Along the way, you visit to Butare, the second largest city in Rwanda and the cultural capital of the country, home to the national university. In Butare there is the national museum and also a series of shops of small characteristic artisan producers, such as for basket making and inlaying with wooden materials.
• We will stop to visit the Royal Palace Museum in Nyanza, once the capital of the kingdom, entirely rebuilt for visitors but which reproduces original pieces of ancient furnishings belonging to the Mwami, the king of Rwanda. Behind the museum, there are examples of the royal long-horned cows, the Inyambo, which descend from the king's cows.
• Lunch en route in a restaurant.
• Arrival in Kigali in the evening and reserved for departure from Kigali International Airport.

NOTE: Today's journey is approximately 7 hours by road, for approximately 260 km. Please note that flights schedule should be not before 8 pm to allow time; If necessary, we will add an overnight stay in Kigali with the corresponding supplements.

POSSIBLE EXTENSION: