7 Days Kibale, Queen Elizabeth and Bwindi Safari
7-Day Uganda Wildlife Tour | Kibale, Queen Elizabeth & Bwindi.
Our 7 days Kibale, Queen Elizabeth and Bwindi safari combines three of Uganda’s best wildlife destinations in a perfectly crafted package.
This safari caters for those travellers seeking an experience beyond the conventional safari adventure. The first destination is the Kibale Forest for an exciting walk through the rainforest to see chimpanzees. You will move on to Queen Elizabeth National Park for the usual wildlife encounter, take a boat cruise on the Kazinga Channel and explore the Ishasha sector, which is home to tree-climbing lions.
Your adventure continues to the southern part, to Bwindi, where the highlight of the trip awaits – gorilla trekking.
Along the way, the safari also introduces you to the people living around the protected wildlife areas. A Batwa cultural experience offers an insight into the heritage of one of the region’s forest peoples, while a visit to Ride 4 a Woman in Buhoma allows you to meet local women, participate in community activities and support a women-led initiative.
It all comes down to making sure that the Uganda safari tour is well balanced and that there is something for everyone.
Kibale offers some of the best spots for viewing chimps, while Bwindi has about half of the world’s total mountain gorillas. A typical mountain gorilla tracking activity may last several hours, but when you locate the group, you will have up to an hour of viewing time.
Safari Overview
Day 1: Transfer to Kibale Forest National Park – Bigodi Swamp
Day 2: Chimpanzee Tracking and Transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park
Day 3: Morning Game Drive and Kazinga Channel Boat Cruise
Day 4: Ishasha Wildlife Safari and transfer to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
Day 5: Gorilla Trekking – Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
Day 6: Ride 4, a Woman and Batwa Cultural Experience
Day 7: Departure
Detailed Itinerary
Day 1: Transfer to Kibale Forest National Park – Bigodi Swamp
The safari starts with a pick-up in the morning in Kampala or Entebbe.
Travel west towards Kibale Forest National Park, enjoying different sceneries in Uganda as you move away from the country’s capital. The trip will pass through various towns, farms, tea estates, and beautiful sceneries near Fort Portal.
Arrive in the Kibale area, check in to your lodge, and continue to Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary for a guided community nature walk.
This is a gentle introduction to the region with opportunities to see monkeys, birds, butterflies, and other animals and learn about the communities living near Kibale.
After the walk, return to your lodge for dinner and some rest.
Day 2: Chimpanzee Tracking and Transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park
Chimpanzee Tracking
After early morning breakfast, drive to the chimpanzee tracking centre for registration and briefing.
Thereafter, trek into the forest under the guidance of a ranger in search of habituated chimpanzees.
The experience takes you beneath Kibale’s thick forest canopy, where you may encounter other primates and forest animals along the way. When chimpanzees are located, you will be able to watch their behaviour from a safe distance.
Kibale is also home to a remarkable variety of other primates and forest wildlife, such as the red colobus, black-and-white colobus, L’Hoest’s monkey, and grey-cheeked mangabey frequently spotted in the forest canopy. Animals like olive baboons, forest elephants, bush pigs, duikers, and rare antelope species. Bird enthusiasts will be equally delighted, as Kibale shelters a variety of bird species such as Nahan’s francolin, Cassin’s spinetail, and blue-headed bee-eater, among others.
UWA current guidelines provide morning and afternoon chimpanzee tracking sessions, with normal viewing time limited to 1 hour only after locating the chimpanzees.
After the trek, enjoy lunch before heading for Queen Elizabeth National Park.
The landscape gradually changes from rainforest into open savannah, wetlands and crater lake country.
Upon arriving at your lodge, relax and stay overnight.
If time and park conditions allow, an optional evening game drive may be arranged.
Day 3: Morning Game Drive and Kazinga Channel Boat Cruise
Begin your day early with a breakfast, after which you will head out to a morning game drive.
Explore the savannah and woodlands of the park and try to spot some of its animals such as elephants, buffaloes, Uganda Kob, waterbuck, hippo, lions and other animals. Hopefully you will be lucky enough to spot leopards too.
At a morning excitement with the wildlife return to the lodge around midday for lunch and relaxation.
Kazinga Channel Boat Cruise
In the afternoon, proceed to Kazinga Channel for the best experience on your Uganda safari.
On the boat cruise, you will be taken along the channel that connects Lake George and Lake Edward, offering a different perspective of Queen Elizabeth’s wildlife.
From the water, you may see large numbers of hippos in and around the channel, crocodiles resting along the banks, elephants and buffaloes coming down to drink, as well as numerous waterbirds along the shores.
The Kazinga Channel is one of Queen Elizabeth’s signature attractions and is recognised for close wildlife viewing from the water.
The relaxed pace of the cruise also gives you an opportunity to enjoy the scenery and take photographs without the movement associated with a game drive.
After the cruise, return to your lodge for dinner and your final night in the park.
Day 4: Ishasha Wildlife Safari and transfer to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
After your delicious breakfast, depart with lunch en route to the Ishasha section of the southern part of Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Enjoy an exciting game drive on the Ishasha plains in search of elephants, buffaloes, Uganda Kobs, Topi, antelopes, warthogs and lions.
Ishasha is famous for its tree-climbing lions. Although sightings are never guaranteed, finding these peculiar lions constitutes one of the safari’s unique wildlife experiences.
After lunch, proceed with the wildlife safari. Later, leave Ishasha and continue towards Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, a journey which takes about 2-3 hours, travelling through the amazing scenery of southwestern Uganda.
Upon your arrival, check in at your lodge for dinner.
Day 5: Gorilla Trekking – Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
Mountain Gorilla Trekking
This is the most exciting activity and main highlight of the safari.
Wake up early in the morning for breakfast at your lodge, meet your safari guide and proceed to the designated Bwindi trekking sector headquarters from registration and the morning briefing. Your trekking sector will correspond to the gorilla permit booked for you. Bwindi has four main trekking sectors: Buhoma, Ruhija, Rushaga and Nkuringo.
Your guide will give instructions and guidelines to follow in the forest concerning trekking and gorilla viewing responsibly.
At the briefing, guide rangers from the Uganda Wildlife Authority give information on how to trek with the mountain gorillas and how to behave once you have reached them. They will guide you on how to interact with the gorillas, keep safe distances from the animals, and also avoid any quick movements.
Following the briefing session, head to the thick rainforest and trek there. The time you spend in trekking will depend on the location of the mountain gorillas.
After reaching the family of gorillas, you can spend time observing them as they go about their normal business-like eating, grooming and sleeping. Once you are done with your observation of the mountain gorillas, start heading back through the rainforest.
It may take several hours to trek back depending on the location of the gorillas as well as the speed of the trekking, and you will reach back to where you started either for lunch or late in the afternoon.
Enjoy lunch and spend the remainder of the afternoon resting and relaxing after the demanding forest walk.
Day 6: Ride 4, a Woman and Batwa Cultural Experience
After breakfast, spend a day learning more about the people, culture and community projects of the Bwindi region.
Visit Ride 4 A Woman
Ride 4 a Woman is a community-based project located in Buhoma, which supports women and their families through various activities, including skill building, livelihoods, craft making and empowerment of the community.
Meet members of the community and learn about their work and the positive contribution that activities associated with tourism make towards community livelihoods.
Depending on the experience organised, visitors get an opportunity to learn about the local crafts, community activities and skills.
This is an excellent way to interact with the people who live alongside Bwindi and see how tourism can assist in developing their community.
Batwa Cultural Experience
Continue with a Batwa cultural experience where one learns about the culture, heritage and life of the Batwa people.
Learn about some aspects of their traditional knowledge, connection to the forest, music, dance and stories.
This cultural experience gives one a good insight into the cultures of the communities surrounding the Bwindi landscape.
Return back to your lodge for dinner and overnight.
Day 7: Departure
Depart after breakfast on your way back to Kampala or Entebbe.
You will get another chance to admire the beauty of southwest Uganda during the return journey through the beautiful landscapes of hills, slopes, and villages.
Depending on your schedule, you can take a break for lunch en route and make some photo stops.
Arrive at Kampala or Entebbe for your final drop-off.
End of 7 Days Kibale, Queen Elizabeth and Bwindi Safari – Chimpanzee and Gorilla Tracking, Big Game Safaris, Cruise along Kazinga Channel, Ishasha Tree Climbing, Lions and Community Experiences.
