12 Days Chimpanzees, Wildlife & Lake Bunyonyi Tour

Detailed Itinerary

Day 1: VIP Meet and greet at Entebbe International Airport and transfer to the hotel.

Upon arrival at the airport, you will be met by our representative who will help you through the checkout processes at the airport. You will be treated like a VIP right from the airport up to the last day of your safari.
After the meet and greet, our driver will then transfer you to the hotel in relaxation and overnight.

Accommodations:

Mid-range: The Boma Hotel, Lake Victoria Serena Resort

Meal Plan: Bed and Breakfast

Day 2: Transfer to Lake Mburo National Park

After Breakfast, you will embark on a south westerly journey to Lake Mburo for your 12 Days Chimpanzees, Wildlife & Lake Bunyonyi Tour . Lake Mburo National Park is located in Western Uganda approximately 240 kilometers (150 miles), by road from Kampala Uganda’s capital and largest city. The Park though the smallest in Uganda’s savannah vegetation, it has a variety of animals such as zebras, impala, buffaloes, and over three hundred (300) bird species.

Enroute to Mburo you will stop at the Equator (an imaginary line that divides the World into the Northern and Southern Hemisphere), where by way of a Water Experiment you will see the difference between the Southern and Northern Hemispheres. You will also visit the Crafts Shops.

You will have Lunch in the Park and do an afternoon Game Drive, then retire to your lodge for some rest.

Journey Time: 5 Hours

Accommodations:

Mid-range: Rwakobo Rock, Arcadia Cottages Mburo, Mburo Safari Lodge

Meal Plan:  Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Day 3: Morning Game Drive and Transfer to Lake Bunyonyi!

Have a very early morning Breakfast at 0630 hours and begin the journey into the park (together with packed lunch) to catch up with the early risers. This game drive will enable you spot some of the 68 mammal species, including the warthog, Buffalos, Oribi, Hyena, the impalas, Burchell’s Zebra the Eland etc.

Also, bird species like the rare Shoebill, red faced Barbet, saddle billed stork, brown chested lapwing among 350 others. You will have to settle somewhere in the wild for a picnic lunch before you start your journey to a beautiful island in Lake Bunyonyi, the “Lake of the little birds”. It’s one of the most beautiful places of Uganda. Being surrounded by hills, people call it “The Switzerland of Africa.

Lake Bunyonyi lies in south western Uganda between Kisoro and Kabale. It is one of the few lakes in the region that is rumored to be free of bilharzia and safe for swimming.

Journey time: 4-5 hours

Accommodations: Birds Nest Eco Resort Bunyonyi, Arcadia Cottages Bunyonyi.

Meal plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Day 4: Relax at the Lodge, do any optional Activity.

After a relaxed breakfast, you may decide to engage in one or many of the following activities Bird watching, Motor-boat trips with a guide, Canoe hire with or without guides, Canoe trekking, Fishing, Safe swimming in the lake, visiting Kisizi Falls, community visit with a guide, Visiting one of the many Islands among others.

Accommodations: Birds Nest Bunyonyi and Arcadia Cottages Bunyonyi.

Meal plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Day 5: Transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park

Have a relaxed breakfast and prepare for your journey to Queen Elizabeth National park. You enjoy the beautiful sceneries and terraces on the hills of western Uganda. Arrive at the lodge in time for lunch and spend the rest of the day at leisure.

Journey time: 3-4 hours

Accommodations:

Midrange: Kasenyi Safari Camp, Katara Lodge, Ihamba lodge, Enganzi Lodge & Parkview Safari Lodge.

Meal plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Day 6: Game Drive and Kazinga Channel Boat Cruise.

Along with your packed breakfast, you will go for a long morning game drive at 0630 hours. In time to see the sunrise on the amazing 12 Days Chimpanzees, Wildlife & Lake Bunyonyi Tour. You will search for all the wildlife in the park like the Elephants, Buffaloes, Lions, Waterbucks, Leopards, Uganda Kobs, Warthogs, among others. Then retire back to the lodge to rest and for anything to eat.

After lunch, you will take a boat safari along the Kazinga Channel. Be there by 2pm! Here, you will see a lot of hippos more than your expectation as well as a variety of other animals which come to the waterhole to drink or bathe. You can expect to see: Buffalos, Crocodiles, bathing Elephants, and a range of beautiful birds. This will undoubtedly be one of the highlights of your tour. After the boat-safari, you will do a game drive back to the lodge where you will relax and have your overnight.

Accommodations:

Midrange: Kasenyi Safari Camp, Katara Lodge, Ihamba lodge, Enganzi Lodge & Parkview Safari Lodge.

Meal plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Day 7: Game Drives in Queen Elizabeth National Park.

Because we want you to get more interactions with the African wildlife, you will again do game drives on this day so as to raise your chances of finding some of the wildlife species you could have missed during the previous game drives and also to get more time with those that caught your attention in the previous game drives.

Accommodations:

Midrange: Kasenyi Safari Camp, Katara Lodge, Ihamba lodge, Enganzi Lodge & Parkview Safari Lodge.

Meal plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Day 8: Transfer to Kibale National Park

Have your breakfast and drive to Kibale National park. The Park is a home to a total of 70 mammal species, most famously 13 species of primate including the chimpanzee. On your arrival in the afternoon after lunch, you will go for a swamp walk, which will take you 2-3 hours through grassland, small communities and some beautiful scenery, where the locals are likely to greet you with enthusiastic waves. It is usual to spot 3 or 4 different primate species during this walk, though the highlight is catching a glimpse of the Great Blue Turaco!

Travel Time: 2-3 hours

Accommodations: Mid-range: Turaco Troops Lodge, Chimpanzee Forest Guest House,

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Day 9: Chimpanzee trekking and Drive to Semliki National park.

Today the forest opens its doors for a sensational chimp tracking. Kibale Forest is reputable for having the greatest variety and highest concentration of primates in East Africa with over 13 primate species.
You will have an early morning breakfast and be transferred to the briefing area for a briefing before you go out to look for the chimpanzees. Enjoy a guided nature walk in the tropical rainforest in search of the wild chimpanzee, red-tailed monkey, black-and-white Colobus monkey and many others.

After an hour of direct interaction with the chimpanzees in their natural habitat, retire to the lodge for lunch before you embark on a scenic transfer to Semuliki National Park.

Journey time: 3-4hours

Accommodations: Semuliki Safari Lodge

Meal plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Day 10: Visit the Sempaya Hot Springs and Transfer to Kasese Airstrip for a flight to Murchison Falls National Park

On this day, have breakfast and visit the famous hot springs. These are Semliki’s most famous attraction. The male spring known as “Bintente” measures 12m in diameter and is set in a lush swampy clearing. Whereas the female hot spring “Nyasimbi” meaning the female ancestors is a boiling geyser (103degrees c) which spurts bubbling water and steam up to two meters high, the steam cloud can be seen from as far as 2km away. Local people used to cook their food in these boiling pools.

You will also check out Mungiro falls near the hot springs. Return to the Lodge for an early lunch and transfer to the Kasese airstrip for a domestic flight to Bugungu airstrip in Murchison Falls National Park. You will be picked here and transferred to your lodge for relaxation, dinner and overnight.

Journey time: 4-5 hours

Accommodations:

Mid-range: Murchison River Lodge, Pakuba Safari Lodge, Heritage Safari Lodge

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 11:  Game drive and boat Cruise to the Bottom of the Falls- Hike to the Top of the Falls

Catch a very early morning breakfast and then go for a morning game drive before dawn to catch up with the early risers. This exciting game drive will enable you to spot animals like the jackals, hartebeests, Oribi, bushbucks, bohor reed bucks, hyenas, giraffes, lions, antelopes, elephants and the Uganda kob among the many. You will rest from the game drive for lunch at the lodge.

The afternoon time will be for the memorable boat Cruise along River up to the Bottom of the Falls. Enjoy the thrilling hiking experience at the top of the captivating falls. The top of the falls is an incredible scene indeed, because it’s where the Nile- The world’s longest river goes through a narrow crevice in the rock (only 7 meters wide), before violently dipping down 43 meters. Murchison Falls Park is a habitat for a large number of African wild animals, including Water buffalo, elephant, Crocodile, Lion, Leopard, Hippopotamus, Antelope, Giraffes, Uganda Kob, Oribi and other animals.

The Nile River, within the park, is a home to a variety of water birds, including the uncommon Shoe bill stork. Retire to your lodge after today’s wonderful experience.
A visit to Murchison Falls National Park, offers an experience that is better live than narrated!

The Park became one of Uganda’s first National Parks in 1952 and lies at the end of the north Albertine Rift Valley. Being Uganda’s largest and oldest conservation area, the Park hosts about 76 and 451 species of mammals and birds respectively. On its journey to the Mediterranean Sea; The River Nile, the longest River on planet Earth, passes through the Park where it plunges 45 meters down the remnant Rift Valley Wall creating the amazing Murchison Falls which is the Centre piece of the Park.

Accommodations:

Mid-range: Murchison River Lodge, Pakuba Safari Lodge, Heritage Safari Lodge

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 12: Vehicle transfer back to Entebbe with en-route Visit of Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary.

After breakfast, say bye-bye to Murchison Falls National Park and drive to back to Kampala through Masindi as you view the green flat landscape. Along the way in Nakasongola District, you will visit the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary for Rhino tracking. You will spend 2hours trekking Rhinos and also have lunch here before continuing with your journey.

Arrive at Entebbe International Airport in the evening hours for your departure flight. (Optional overnight in Kampala or Entebbe)

Journey time: 4-5 hours

Meal plan: Breakfast and Lunch

End of the Chimpanzees, Wildlife & Lake Bunyonyi Tour