Uganda tours can take you through different national parks like Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Murchison Falls National Park, Queen Elizabeth National Park, Kibale National Park among other national parks for different tourism activities such as gorilla trekking, game viewing, cultural tours, chimpanzee trekking and many other activities. You can also have an excursion trip around Kampala city and visit various places such as shopping malls, markets, recreational centers, religious places among others. Below in this article is how I enjoyed my tour in Uganda with the help of Nature Adventure Africa Safaris team.
My tour started in Murchison Falls National Park. Murchison Falls National Park is located in North Western part of Uganda covering areas like Masindi, Buliisa, Amuru, Pakwach among other districts. This park is the largest national park in Uganda with an area of 3840sq.kms.
Through a game drive and a boat cruise on the Nile River, I was able to encounter the Big 5 mammal species like elephants, leopards, lions, buffaloes and the rhinos in Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary. I also got an opportunity to view the Nile crocodiles, Hippos, Giraffes, Uganda Kobs, Bush bucks, Hartebeests, Orbis, waterbucks, warthogs, hyenas and various bird species like black bee eater, rare shoebill stork, weavers, grey crowned cranes, Abyssinian ground hornbill, Black-headed lapwing, Senegal thick-knee among others.
Upon my arrival at Entebbe International Airport, I was picked up by a driver guide from Nature Adventure Africa Safaris who briefed me about my safari and then transferred me to Serena hotel for a simple breakfast and check in since I arrived very early in the morning.
After breakfast, I went for an excursion tour in Kampala city tour where I explored some of the historical places such as Kabaka’s palace, Kabaka’s lake, Uganda National Museum, Ndere cultural center, Idd Amin chamber, Kasubi tombs (One of the UNESCO’S recognized site) among others.
I also visited Owino market for some shopping. Owino market was very cool and it had nice things such as clothes, jewelries, bags and so many products. I enjoyed my delicious lunch from 2K restaurant located opposite the old taxi park. After a long day of visiting various places, I returned back to Serena hotel for dinner and overnight stay.
In the morning, I woke up on a cup of coffee, checked out the hotel and met my driver to begin my panoramic road drive to northwest of Uganda through the famous Luwero Triangle with an en-route stop at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary. Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary is the only place in Uganda where you can find these peaceful members (Rhinos) of the big five family in the wilderness. On the arrival at Ziwa Rhino sanctuary, I went for white rhino trekking adventure and here I was able to explore the rhinos close to their feet. During trekking, I was alert with my camera so that I don’t miss anything on the trek and indeed I didn’t mis any moment.
After trekking, I had a lunch break and later continued with my journey to Murchison falls national park. I was told by my driver guide that Murchison falls national park is one of the Uganda’s ancient protected areas and recognized for getting immense number of international visitors. Upon the arrival in Murchison Falls National Park, I checked in at Pakuba Safari Lodge for dinner and overnight stay.
I woke up for an early morning breakfast, prepared for another exciting encounter which started with an early morning game drive through different trails of the park like Albert trail, buligi trail and the Victoria trail. Here, I was lucky to meet eye to eye with different mammal species like Buffaloes, elephants, lions, leopards, bush barks, giraffes among others.
After the game drive I returned to lodge for relaxation as I was waiting for lunch. Later in the afternoon, I embarked on an afternoon boat cruise upstream to the bottom of the falls and while on the cruise, I spotted the Nile crocodiles resting on the shores, herds of hippos while in water, bird species like the black bee eater, grey crowned crane, marabou stork and many others. I also saw the magnificent Murchison falls roaring and pouring its waters through a narrow gorge.
After the cruise, me and the guide hiked to the top of the falls for another breathtaking moment. Later I proceeded for a unique evening game drive with an armed park ranger and spotlight torches which enabled us to view the predators as they hunt like hyenas, leopards, lions, bush babies, hippos among others. After all that I returned back to the lodge for dinner and overnight stay.
In the morning, I started my day with hot breakfast and then met my driver to start my journey to Kibale Forest National Park the primate’s capital of the World. The drive took us about 6 hours. Kibale Forest National Park provides a home to over 13 primate species such as chimpanzees our closest relatives with 98.8% of human DNA, olive baboons, Red tailed monkeys, L’Hoest’s monkey, Ugandan red colobus, Grey checked mangabey, De Brazza’s monkey, Bush babies among others. We arrived in Kibale National Park in the evening and checked-in at Isunga Lodge for dinner and an overnight.
I rose up early in the morning to have breakfast and then transferred to the park information center for briefing by the park ranger who explained to us the rules and regulations governing chimpanzee trekking. Then we went on a trek to start looking for chimpanzees. During the course of chimpanzee trekking, we saw a lot of primate species like chimpanzees, black and white Columbus monkeys and others and many bird species, reptiles as well as a colorful variety of butterflies. After meeting chimpanzees, we spent an hour with them and later returned to the Lodge for lunch.
After lunch, I went for a visit a t Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary for a guided walk and on this walk I was able to see beautiful flora and fauna. Later returned to lodge for dinner and overnight stay.
The following morning, I was transferred to Queen Elizabeth National Park. I had my enroute lunch on the way and later embarked on my journey to Queen Elizabeth National Park. Queen Elizabeth National Park is one of the most popular national parks in Uganda because of its diverse ecosystems such as sparkling lakes, humid forest, sprawling savanna and fertile wetlands which attracts many wildlife species such as birds and mammals to it their home. It is also well known for tree climbing lions in Ishasha sector and the Kazinga Channel. Upon my arrival in Queen Elizabeth National Park, I checked in at Twin Lake Safari Lodge for relaxing as I was waiting for dinner.
Early in the morning after having breakfast I went for game viewing drive to catch up with the early morning risers. On the drive I was able to spot animals such as lions, leopards, elephants and buffaloes. Later went back to lodge for lunch. After lunch I went for a boat cruise along the Kazinga channel where I marveled at Nile crocodiles and hippos while drinking water.
After having my breakfast, I was transferred to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. Together with the team I was with, we passed through the Ishasha sector to see the rare tree-climbing lions. Luckily enough we were able to see them in the branches of trees. After spotting the lions, we embarked on our journey to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park a home to the endangered mountain gorillas and one of the oldest forests in Uganda and Africa.
The park is known for having almost half of the World’s population of Mountain Gorillas hence giving a thrilling experience. I was told that Bwindi Impenetrable National Park has a population of about 459 Mountain Gorillas with 21 Habituated families living in different sectors of the park like Nkuringo, Ruhija, Rushaga and Buhoma. I had my picnic lunch on the way and on my arrival in the park, I checked in at Gorilla Mist Camp for dinner and overnight stay.
I started my day with a hot breakfast. Afterwards, I met my driver guide for a transfer to the park information center for briefing about the dos and don’ts to follow during gorilla trekking.
After briefing, we started our guided forest walk to trek mountain gorillas which took us about 4 hours to locate a Gorilla family. During the walk, we encountered other wildlife species besides Gorillas such as black and white Columbus monkeys, vervet monkeys, bush pigs, forest elephants, bird species like African green pigeon, African harrier hawk, Cinnamon-chested bee-eater, Crowned hornbill, Giant kingfisher among others and butterflies.
Our guide was well conversant about everything we came across and he managed to give us detailed information about everything encountered and this made our forest walk wow. The moment we met the gorillas, we were given about 1 hour of watch these giants especially the playful juveniles, the silverbacks and other family members as they are carrying out their daily activities like feeding the little ones. I captured everything on my camera since it was stand by and up to now am still enjoying the memories.
Later, we returned to the park information center to pick our trekking certificates before proceeding to lodge for lunch and refreshments.
Later in the afternoon, I went for a Batwa community experience. This was a visit to the Batwa pygmy people proudly known as “the forest keepers” who used to leave in Mgahinga and Bwindi Forest but when all of these forests were gazette as national parks, they evicted out of the forest and given land outside forests such that they do not conflict with wildlife conservation mostly for mountain gorillas.
Here I learnt about these people’s ancient ways of life and the struggles they passed through to adapt to modern life outside the forest, how they feed and many more. These people were the original inhabitants of Bwindi, Mgahinga, the Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda and Virunga in Congo. After this experience visit, I returned to the lodge for checking out and prepare for a transfer to Lake Bunyonyi.
Lake Bunyonyi a place of many birds is in south-western Uganda between Kisoro and Kabale and it is close to the border with Rwanda. The place is absolutely gorgeous at the same time peaceful giving you nice sounds of the birds hence making memorable moments. The lodges on the lake offer comfortable accommodations with stunning views of the water and the surrounding landscape. There are plenty of activities to enjoy at Lake Bunyonyi including swimming, canoeing, hiking, and bird watching. At my arrive at Lake Bunyonyi, I checked in at Arcadia Lodge for dinner and overnight stay.
After breakfast, I went for some swimming. Returned to the lodge for refreshment and checking and embarked on my journey to Lake Mburo National Park with my picnic lunch. Lake Mburo National Park is one of Uganda’s smallest but most beautiful national park.
Lake Mburo is famous for having the largest population of Zebras and Impalas in Uganda. It is made of seasonal swamps, woody Savannah grassland that is dominated by acacia and Lakes. Upon arrival, I checked into Rwakobo Rock lodge to have some leisure and later in the evening I went for a night game drive where I spotted various wildlife species like Impalas, buffaloes, bush pigs, leopards, warthogs, baboons, and hippos among others. The game drive took about 2-3 and later returned to lodge for dinner and overnight stay.
On my last day after having breakfast, I went for horseback ride for about 2 to 3 hours. After I went back to the lodge to have lunch and check out to start preparing for a journey back to Kampala. Reaching in Kampala, I went straight to Entebbe International Airport to catch up with my evening flight back home and that was the end of my tour. Am very glad that Nature Adventure Africa Safaris served me well and I hope to work with the same team on my next trip in Uganda.
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