16-days Uganda: All pearls of Uganda

Flying into Entebbe you already get wowed by one of the world’s most impressive natural wonders, since the city is located on the Victoria Lake peninsula. Upon leaving Entebbe International Airport your personal Africa Safari Trips guide greets you with a smile and a friendly “Ki Kati in Uganda!”.

On the way to your hotel in Kampala, Uganda’s capital, you get a feeling for the country’s hustle and bustle of everyday life and you might already have some questions about Uganda, its culture and lifestyle or the upcoming days. Don’t be shy: simply ask, you’re guide is happy to answer all of them.

After arriving at your accomodation you can unwind in its cozy and authentic atmosphere, take a nap in your comfortable room or enjoy a drink at the bar. A yummy dinner at the restaurant and a quick “I’m here and it’s so beautiful” to your loved ones at home (yay, Wi-Fi!) are the cherries on top of the cake aka your first day in Uganda.

Boy have we planned a great first day for you in the “Adrenaline Capital of East Africa” – welcome to Jinja!

And we can already tell you: yes, you’ll get wet. But that’s part of the fun! For your rafting tour on the Nile River you hop into a boat (after an introduction of course) and dive into the rushing white water sections of the world’s longest river – which by the way also starts its journey to the Mediterranean Sea here in Jinja and Lake Victoria. As a team you master the rapids and enjoy the calmer sections, either by watching the countless birds at the shore or in the air, by simply relaxing on the boat or by jumping into the water. Whatever you do, this activitiy is one of the top experiences in Jinja… even in the whole of Uganda to be honest. Ahoy skipper!

The drive to the three spellbinding waterfalls of Sipi Falls takes around three to four hours, which means: after a delicious breakfast it’s time to go. On this journey you will learn that a long drive from one wow destination to the other is nothing bad. Quite the contrary: it gives you the possibility to marvel at the diverse landscape of this stunning country and get a glimpse of what day-to-day life looks like.

After arriving in Sipi Falls you surely need a cup of coffee. And that one you get! A really good one, if we might add. During your tour through a coffee farm you can trace the beans’ way from the field to the cup and enjoy the latter afterwards.

Time for a change of scenery, in the most literal sense: from the lush and green surroundings of Sipi Falls you travel further up North to the rocky and mountainous Moroto District. This drive takes around six hours which means, you need a break here and there. Since the Pian Upe Wildlife Reserve, the second largest conservation area in Uganda, is on the way to Moroto, we thought a nice lunch here would be perfect. What’s better than eating some yummy veggies and fresh bread with the chance of spotting some elephants and giraffes nearby? Correct! Nothing.

Today also marks the day you met the ancient Karamojong Tribe, a semi-nomadic pastoral tribe living in perfect harmony with nature as well as for and on their cattle. In the most remote part of Eastern Africa you get to know the people, their culture and traditions. It feels like a journey back in time… but a really good one!

It’s time. Time for what you’ve dreamed of for so long. Time for your… drumroll please… your safari in Africa! After quite a long drive of around seven hours you arrive in Kidepo Valley National Park which is less touristy due to its remote location. This means you can expect fewer people and more animals as well as unspoilt landscapes in their purest state.

Despite its rugged nature, the park is perfect for a typical safari: from your 4×4 vehicle you can discover four of the Big Five (elephants, lions, leopards and buffalos) in Kidepo as well as other predators like cheetahs and hyenas. Of course plenty of antilopes, zebras and giraffes also pose for your pictures, just like countless bird species… if you are fast enough to capture them with your camera

Since Kidepo Valley National Park is such a rare and unique place, you dive even deeper into it on day two. During the jeep and walking safari your guide tells you everything about the park’s flora and fauna and answers any questions you might have. Discovering the park on foot adds a whole new layer to your Ugandan safari experience, since you meet the animals on eye level – or knee level when it comes to giraffes for example.

Today’s final highlight tops your Kidepo adventure off perfectly: the Kanangorok Hot Springs. The spring water is around 50°C hot and locals believe it to have healing powers. So don’t be surprised if you see some people taking a bath in there. Feel free to join them… do you dare?

After some days of rocky wilderness, it’s time to travel back to the heart of Uganda, to the Murchison Falls National Park to be precise. With six to seven hours it’s a pretty (and) long drive. But with everything you have experienced so far, you can use the time to reminisce, getting a glimpse of the city of Gulu and other villages you pass on your way and go through the pictures you have taken so far. Or you make some space for new ones, since your next day alone has plenty of scenes to offer.

Jeep safari, boat safari and a hike. Yes, this day is jam-packed. But let’s start from the beginning.

In Kidepo you already saw a lot of African wildlife, and here you see even more! Murchison Falls National Park adds animals like baboons, hippos and nile crocodiles to the mix. Especially the latter two are the stars of the boat safari when you sail along the River Nile, the lifeblood of the park. If you travel during the dry season, animal-spotting becomes quite easy since they all gather around water sources. Not just to drink, but also to take a nice and refreshing bath.

To top things off, you embark on a hike to the top of the falls. Simply follow your guide’s footsteps, listen to the interesting and fun facts they share with you and take in the various views which surprise you at the turn of each and every corner.

The drive to Kibale National Park takes around four to five hours and spoils you with sights so far unseen! On the way to this verdant paradise you can feel like in a movie by simply looking out the window: spectacular crater lakes, endless coffee plantations and small, authentic villages are the stars of this Ugandan biopic.

Once arrived at your accomodation in Kibale, you end this day with a delicious dinner in a cozy atmosphere and catch a very good night’s sleep.

Get ready for a day full of “Wows” and “Do you see that?” and “I need to take a picture of this!”… we’re not even exaggerating. During your swamp walk through the Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary, which received an award from the UNESCO Wetlands Sustainable Tourism Projects, you can dive deep into the jungle’s flora and fauna.

This natural gem is home to more than 200 bird species, including the unique blue turaco and the fascinating hornbill. You can also spot a lot of different mammals like the semi-aquatic sitatungas, mongoose, bush bucks or otters. So keep your eyes open and your camera close!

The biggest highlight (yes, there’s more) are the primates though and mostly the chimpanzees. Besides blue monkeys, baboons, grey-cheeked mangabeys and many more it’s clearly the chimpanzees stealing the show. If you want to make sure to see our furry relatives up close, you can join chimpanzee trekking – a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience.

After a short drive of around two hours you arrive at Queen Elizabeth National Park. Here it’s royalty through and through. First, the name itself in reference to the late Queen Elizabeth II. Second, its size with 1,978 square kilometers (764 square miles). Third, its landscapes with the typical savannah, wetlands and lush forests.  And last but not least, its animals, the cream of the crop of African wildlife.

From your 4×4 vehicle you cannot only spot the Big Five here – elephants, buffalos, lions, leopards and the shy rhino – but also giraffes grabbing some food from acacia trees or various antelopes, like the Uganda kob, waterbucks and of course zebras. If you’re lucky, you even see the mainly nocturnal hyenas or witness other predators hunting for their lunch. Animal planet IRL so to speak. And should you have a thing for birds, your inner ornothologist’s heart will skip a few beats at the sight of more than 600 bird species.

Your next highlight awaits you in Uganda’s far Southwest, just a the border to the Democratic Republic of Kongo. The Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is one of the most famous parks in the country, mainly because one rare and fascinating animal calls this jungle its home: the elusive mountain gorilla. 459 individuals roam the grounds of Bwindi and you have the possibility of an exclusive meet and greet.

You start your two-day adventure in Bwindi with another encounter though: after a seven-hour drive you meet the Batwa people (Pygmies), also known as “Keepers of the Forest”. After the forest was turned into a national park, they were relocated into small villages at the edges of the park. This hunter-gatherer tribe has lived in this area for thousands of years in perfect harmony with nature. Today, they share a glimpse of what everyday life was like for them before they were relocated.

331 square kilometres (128 square miles), 160 species of trees, 120 mammal species, 300+ bird species, 25.000 years old, lush green mountains. In other words: welcome to the jungle aka the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

For one day you dive deep into this emerald wonder of nature and discover a unique vegetation, enjoy staggering views and marvel at unique African wildlife. Various monkeys like the black and white colobus or red-tailed monkey hop from one branch to another, with 200 butterfly species chances are high that one lands on your nose and some antelopes or the African elephant might peek through the bushes.

Even though Bwindi is also home to chimpanzees, the mountain gorillas remain in the park’s limelight. If you want to see them up close, you can join a gorilla trekking tour in the Buhoma Sector. Seeing them in their natural habitat, simply doing what gorillas do (eat, sleep, repeat), takes your breath away. But don’t worry: it will come back just in time to tell all your loved ones about what you were lucky enough to experience.

After two weeks you slowly make your way back to Entebbe – but no worries, your holiday is not quite over yet, there’s still one more pearl to go. And what a pearl that is! Lake Mburo National Park awaits you with fascinating wildlife, a capturing landscape (as you can see on your left) and stargazing at its finest.

First, however, you can dream about what you’ve already experienced during your Uganda trip and marvel at the green rolling Kigezi Hills again on your eight hour drive back from Mgahinga… in case you missed them on the way there or you just want to take in this breathtaking scenery once more.

Hippos and hills, antelopes and acacias, wetlands and wildlife: Lake Mburo National Park is a natural beauty you have to discover. And so you will! In your 4×4 vehicle you enjoy a classic safari with everything the animal-loving heart desires – elephants, rhinos, buffalos (bam, three of the Big Five), giraffes, crocodiles, eland … we could go on an on.

Another highlight is the impala, an antilope endemic to this park. And if you want to impress fellow travellers and your guide alike, jot down (or remember) the following: only the males have these beautifully ringed horns and they can be up to 75cm long. The older, the longer.

You want to go deeper? We thought so… that’s why we added a walking safari to your day in Lake Mburo 😉 Since this park is free of predators like lions or leopards, you can enjoy this tour without any worries. Should you rather explore the park by bike than on foot, we can organize a bike safari for you. The same goes for a night safari, if you’ve always wondered what the animals of Africa are up to after sunset.

Even if you don’t want to… you might have to leave Uganda now since everyday life and your job are calling. But maybe you don’t (yay!) and you can keep on travelling. Uganda has many more treasures for you to discover and we have some more highlights up our sleeves. From the lush Mgahinga Gorilla National Park just next to the Virunga volcanoes to the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary and the vibrant culture in Kampala, Uganda’s capital. Should you want to add any of these or other highlights to your Uganda experience after this 16-day tour full of nature’s pearls, just let us know and we’ll make it work.

And even if you go home after this adventure, you’ll stay in Uganda for a little longer… thanks to all the wonderful memories.