Main Highlights:
- Chimpanzee Tracking, Kibale National Park
- Queen Elizabeth National Park
- Tree Climbing Lions
- Murchison Falls National Park
- Gorilla Tracking, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
- Crater Lakes experience
- Local Community experience
- Bigodi Swamp walk
- Golden monkey tracking
- Kigali City Tour
- Akagera National Park, Rwanda
Detailed Itinerary
Day 1: Arrival at the Entebbe International Airport
Upon arrival, Africa Runners Company staff will greet you and provide transportation to your hotel in Entebbe.
Accommodation: Stay 1 Night at 2 Friends Beach Hotel
Meal Plan: Breakfast
Day 2: Murchison Falls National Park
After breakfast, transfer to Murchison falls National Park. (6-7hours drive)
Murchison Falls National Park. This is Uganda’s best-known and biggest nature reserve. Its most memorable feature is the Victoria Nile which cuts through the park, running along a series of rapids before shooting out of a narrow crack in an incredibly powerful waterfall. A boat safari during your stay will offer a closer look at the majestic falls while providing ample opportunity to see some of the incredible wildlife that the park is known for along the way.
Accommodation: Stay 2 Nights at Paraa Safari Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Day 3: Game drive and boat ride to the bottom of the falls
Enjoy a full day game drive exploring the beauty of Murchison Falls National Park. The park is especially known for its massive elephant population, wide array of bird species and big herds of buffalo. Giraffes, lions, antelope and waterbucks can also be spotted here and if you search the trees carefully, you may even spot one of the elusive leopards. In the afternoon, enjoy a boat ride to the bottom of the falls.
Accommodation: Paraa Safari Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Day 4: Transfer to Fort portal, Crater Lakes – Kibale National Park
Your journey to Fort Portal is possibly the most scenic. The drive will take you through tea plantations, lively village markets and over rolling hills of lush green countryside that is so characteristic of western Uganda.
Enjoy crater lakes drive as you explore the beauty of the numerous small lakes, surrounded by gentle hills, and stunning views. The area is ideal for sports fishing, nature walks, cycling, and a great opportunity to do intensive bird watching. Optional hike at Lake Nkuruba to encounter different species of primates or visit the hidden Mahoma Falls while you meet the local people as you walk through their villages and learn more about the customs of the Batoro tribe.
Accommodation: Stay 1 Night at Kibale Forest Camp
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Day 5: PM Chimpanzee Trekking, transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park
Kibale National Park is the best place for chimpanzee tracking because the forest has high population densities and sightings are most common here. This walk will take you through the jungles of rainforest in search of them for about 2-5 hours depending on their location. While your chances of encountering chimpanzees are high during your tracking excursion, it is never 100% guaranteed. These are, after all, wild animals with wills and minds of their own! Later after your lunch, transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Queen Elizabeth National Park is Uganda’s most visited game reserve and arguably the most scenic. The national park protects the vast savannah plains, bushland, wetlands and forests that lie at the base of the Rwenzori Mountain range. Kazinga Channel, which flows through the park and connects Lake George in the east to Lake Edward in the west, attracts a rich array of animals and birds, including the infamous Nile crocodile and one of the world’s largest concentration of hippos. On your first game drive you will explore the park along a 200-kilometre network of well-maintained game viewing tracks.
Accommodation: Stay 2 Nights at Kasenyi Safari Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Day 6: Game Drive and Boat ride on Kazinga Channel
In the morning we offer you an opportunity to do a game drive in search of one of the lion prides, Leopards, herds of Elephants and Buffaloes in the park.
Later in the day when the sun is high in the sky and the animals make their way to the river for a drink, we will head to Kazinga Channel for a private boat safari. You will spot more hippos today than you can possibly imagine. Herds of elephants and buffalo will also wander down to the shoreline to bathe in the cooling waters. A boat safari is a fantastic way to get close to wildlife and for many visitors the boat safari is the highlight of their visit to Queen Elizabeth National Park, Stay at the same lodge.
Accommodation: Kasenyi Safari Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Day 7: Bwindi Forest Impenetrable National Park
Your journey today will continue south-west toward Bwindi Forest. This is one of our favorite drives in Uganda. The serpentine roads wind through lush rainforests, skirting hill tops (keep your eyes open for the volcanos!)
Gorilla Tracking is the main highlight of a visit to the southern parts of Bwindi Forest, but you are also in the perfect place for volcano hikes, birding, nature and culture walks and canoe and paddle board excursions. The sunset scenes are unforgettable so make sure to find your way to the veranda in time for sundowners.
Accommodation: Stay 2 Nights at Ride 4 A Woman (Noel’s Cottage)
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Day 8: Gorilla Trekking
Encountering the rare and endangered Mountain Gorillas is an experience of a lifetime. Half of the world’s populations of gorillas live under the mist-covered canopies of Uganda’s oldest and most biologically diverse rainforest. In the company of an experienced park ranger you will be tracking the whereabouts of one of the nine habituated family groups who live in the park.
Accommodation: Ride 4 A Woman (Noel’s Cottage)
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Day 9: Transfer to Rwanda, Ruhengeri – Volcanoes National Park
Volcanoes National Park: “In the heart of Central Africa, so high up that you shiver more than you sweat,” wrote the eminent primatologist Dian Fossey, “are great, old volcanoes towering almost 15,000 feet, and nearly covered with rich, green rainforest – the Virungas.”
Situated in the far northwest of Rwanda, Volcanoes National Park protects the steep slopes of this magnificent mountain range – home of the endangered mountain gorilla and a rich mosaic of montane ecosystems, which embrace evergreen and bamboo forest, open grassland, swamp and heath. Volcanoes National Park is named after the chain of dormant volcanoes making up the Virunga Massif: Karisimbi – the highest at 4,507m, Bisoke with its verdant crater lake, Sabinyo, Gahinga and Muhabura.
Accommodation: Le Bamboo Gorilla Lodge / Mountain Gorilla View Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Day 10: Golden Monkey Tracking
Wake up for early breakfast and transfer to the park head offices in Kinigi by 7.00am. Join up with the other Golden Monkeys trekkers, meet the ranger guide for a few minutes talk about the activity and the park, and by 8.00am you get into the cars and transfer to the trail head just outside the park. Enjoy great views of the mountain scenery as you start your trek into the park to find the golden monkeys. The golden monkeys live near the edge of the park in the bamboo forests where the ground is relatively flat and easy to trek. Find the monkeys and follow them as they feed, notice how they skillfully pick the young bamboo leaves from the tip of the bamboo tree. They may also move out of the park into the potato fields and how they love the potatoes! After an amazing one hour with the golden monkeys, you will return to the trail head drive back to the lodge for lunch and thereafter leave for Kigali with a stop enroute at a local Market.
Accommodation: Flame Tree Village
Meal Plan: Breakfast & Lunch
Day 11: Kigali City Tour, drive to Akagera National Park
After your breakfast, enjoy a city tour to the genocide memorial museum, later drive to Akagera National Park.
Akagera National Park is a special wildlife destination in Rwanda, the only savanna park to see the big game in the wild and plenty of small mammal species and birds. The 2 days Akagera NP tour includes an unforgettable game drive to encounter bush elephants, buffaloes, leopards, lions, giraffes, antelopes, zebras, and other bird species. Akagera NP was created in 1934 and covers 1122sq.km, with its landscape characterized by sweeping savannas, rivers, and lakes.
Driving time from Kigali to Eastern Rwanda where Akagera national park is located – 2 hours and a half drive. Akagera National Park lies in the far Eastern Rwanda near the border of Tanzania and it is where you will come across all the big five game and other mammals, reptiles, 500 bird species and more. Arrive at the park early, and enjoy a short game drive through it while enjoying the sights of wildlife as you connect to the lodge for relaxation and lunch.
Accommodation: Akagera Game Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Day 12: Game Drive. Boat Ride
After breakfast, enjoy a 2-3 hours game drive journey through Akagera National Park. Akagera game viewing offers memorable wildlife encounters from impalas, buffaloes, elephants, leopards, lions, giraffes, rhinos, roan antelopes, and elands, to birds.
Lake Ihema boat excursion will be conducted in the afternoon. Expected encounters during a boat tour on Lake Ihema include hippos, crocodiles, aquatic birds (including fish eagles, kingfishers, cormorants and many more. After the 2-3 hours of boat cruise tour on Lake Ihema, retreat and relax at the lodge. You may also consider undertaking a night game drive (Optional) to see nocturnal species like hyenas, leopards, lions, and nightjar birds.
Accommodation: Akagera Game Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Day 13: Drive to Nyungwe National Park
Nyungwe forest National Park, home of chimpanzees and other primates. This park is found in the southern part of Rwanda almost on the border of DR Congo bordering Lake Kivu, this Park is like the Kibale National Park of Uganda with 13 primates including the chimpanzees which is the main attraction. While on your tour to Nyungwe, you are going to take part in two main activities that are; chimpanzee trekking which is one of the most done activities and the reason why most travellers visit Nyungwe and activity canopy walk which is 50 meters from the ground and it is swinging above the trees.
Accommodation: Top View Nyungwe Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Day 14: Chimpanzee Trekking and Canopy Walk
On this day for Chimpanzee trekking, wake up very early in the morning have breakfast then drive to the headquarters where you will meet the Park ranger guide, he or she will take you through a briefing shortly and without wasting any minute set off to the forest to look for chimpanzees. Chimpanzees live in groups or families and every group is trekked by a group of 8 people per day.
You will spend almost 5-7 hours looking for that one Chimpanzee family that is allocated for you to trek. When you successfully find that family, you will be allowed to spend one hour in their presence as you watch over their behaviors and take time and you interact with them. After moving back to the lodge for lunch head for a canopy walk in the evening. You will have a look at primates, and birds and also enjoy the breathtaking scenery.
Accommodation: Top View Nyungwe Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Day 15: Transfer back to Kigali
Enjoy your breakfast in the morning and pack your luggage and drive out from Nyungwe national Park to Kigali drop off at the airport to wait for your departure flight.
Meal Plan: Breakfast
End of Tour.
