This 9 day Uganda culture and gorilla safari will offer you two prime experiences of Uganda i.e. mountain gorilla trekking and community engagement. Your first stop will be an experience with the rare mountain gorillas in Bwindi impenetrable forest. After this experience, you will visit a community to experience the life for everyday Ugandans in their community and remnants of the cultural practices.
Safari Highlights
- Game drive and Boat ride
- Cultural and community trail
- Gorilla trekking
Itinerary
Day 1: Arrival for your Uganda culture and gorilla safari
On arrival at the airport, you are welcomed by our Kagera safaris guide and transferred to your hotel for over night as you look to start the journey tomorrow.
Drive time – 20 minutes
Day 2: Journey to Bwindi Impenetrable national park
We start the journey to Bwindi impenetrable national park – the home of the ‘gentle giants of Bwindi’. This fulfilling journey takes us through the Kigezi highlands with great scenery of terraced hills. You will stop in Mbarara for lunch before proceeding to your lodge next to the impenetrable forest for great resting as you prepare for the next day’s trek.
Alternatively you can do a flight from Entebbe to Kihihi Airstrip or Kisoro Airfield where your naturalist guide will pick you up and transfer to the lodge.
Drive time – 9 hours OR Scheduled Flight – 1 hour 50 minutes
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Day 3: Gorilla trekking in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
Today you will enjoy the fullness of the impenetrable forest abounding with life, host to species of birds, butterflies, primates. After an early breakfast, your driver guide will transfer you to the briefing area where you will receive instruction on your gorilla trekking experience.
After the briefing, you will be allocated a group with a ranger ready to lead you into the forest. With help of your guide and park ranger, you will find yourself face to face with the enormous and rare mountain gorillas. The trekking experience takes anything from a few minutes to several hours depending on the gorilla group you have been allocated and where they nested the previous night.
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Day 4: Bwindi Cultural Trail & Transfer to Lake Bunyonyi
The best way to understand, appreciate and enjoy nature is through interacting with the people (communities) that co-exist with it, who contribute greatly to its conservation. After breakfast, we shall follow one of the cultural trails by the communities co-existing with the gorillas. Be ready to learn a new skill and participate in the day-to-day lives of these people.
Lunch will be the community after which we depart for Lake Bunyonyi in the afternoon. Lake Bunyonyi is a beautiful lake with various stories to learn about the place.
Drive time – 2 hours
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Day 5: Lake Bunyonyi Island tour
Lake Bunyonyi is known as the place of ‘many little birds’, this is the translation from the local Rukiga language. Today we will spend some time on the lake touring and learning about different Islands with a rich history of how some were used a damping ground of lepers and another known as ‘punishment island’ the place where young pregnant girls were left to die for conceiving outside of wedlock.
Have a tour of some of Lake Bunyonyi’s 29 Islands; engage in a cultural activity at an Island where you will have lunch with the community.
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Day 6: Transfer for the Ankore cultural tour
After the experience at Lake Bunyonyi, you will leave for a farm life in Ankore to experience their traditional way of living. Enjoy the rolling hills in the countryside and have a relaxed afternoon on this Uganda cultural experience.
Drive time – 4 hours
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Day 7: Traditional Homestead Experiences
You will spend the night with a family in this community. You will arise very early in the morning before daybreak and join the herdsman with milking the long horned Ankole cows, this is done before the cows are set off for the day. After this experience of milking and learning the tradition surrounding milking cows, we return home for breakfast.
We will take a take a short walk to the village visiting more homes and different stops for great views. Experience the lifestyle of these people, food, and other native habits. The trail leads through undulating hills that overlook the village.
We have an opportunity to stop by a local school so you get to interact with the children if this is of interest to you. Alternatively you choose to join the herdsmen as they go to the field to graze the cows.
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Day 8: Whispers of the wild in Lake Mburo National Park
After breakfast with our host family, we depart to Lake Mburo National Park with a stopover at a Igongo cultural Museum which tells of the history of the Ankore Kingdom. Lake Mburo is the smallest Savannah park in Uganda.
We arrive at our lodge and take an afternoon boat trip on Lake Mburo – where we are likely to see Hippos, Crocodiles, Zebras, and Buffaloes. The park has amazing bird life which you will enjoy while on the boat. After the boat ride, you have an option of a nature walk in the park with a an armed ranger guide for close experience with the animals.
Drive time – 2 hours 30 minutes
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Day 9: Transfer to Entebbe for departure
We depart Lake Mburo after a short morning game drive. Enjoy the magnificent view one more time before we embark on journey to Kampala. We shall have stopover at Equator for shopping and lunch. Arrive at Entebbe Airport that evening for travel back or overnight at your Hotel depending on your flight time.
Drive time – 4 hours
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