Compare 8 Days Uganda Cultural & Gorilla Safari by Kagera Safaris vs 3 Days Uganda Gorilla Trekking Adventure by Valiant Safaris

Day 1: Arrival for your culture and Gorilla safari

Meal: Dinner

Accommodation: Up market – Kampala Serena; Mid-range – Cassia Lodge; Budget – Casa Miltu

Journey time – 1.5 hours

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.

Day 2: Journey to Bwindi Impenetrable national park

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Accommodation: Up market – Buhoma Lodge; Mid-range – Buhoma Haven Lodge; Budget – Buhoma Community Rest Camp

Journey time – 8 hours

Flight time – 2 hours

We start 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.

Day 3: Gorilla trekking in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest

Enjoy the fullness of the impenetrable forest abounding with life, host to species of birds, butterflies, primates, mammals. Your driver guide will transfer you to the briefing area where you will receive further instruction on your gorilla trekking experience. With help of your guide and park ranger, you will find yourself face to face with the enormous and rare mountain gorillas after walking through the forest for a while. The trekking experience takes anything from on hour (rarely) to about 6 hours to accomplish depending on the gorilla group you have been allocated and where they nested the previous night. Suggested activities for those not interested in gorilla tracking is a community village walk or short guided forest walk.

Day 4: Bwindi Cultural Trail

Meal: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Accommodation: Up market – BirdsNest @Bunyonyi; Mid-range – Arcadia Cottages; Budget – Crater Bay Cottages

Journey time – 3 hours

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.

Day 5: Lake Bunyonyi Island tour and transfer to Ankole cultural tour

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Accommodation: Homestead

Journey time – 2 hours

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 more about the 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. After lunch we will start the journey to Ankole where we will be travelling to a rural homestead, to experience their traditional way of living. Enjoy the rolling hills in the countryside of the Ankole Kingdom.

Day 6: 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.

Day 7: Whispers of the wild in Lake Mburo National Park

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Accommodation: Up market – Mihingo Lodge; Mid-range – Rwakobo Rock; Budget – Eagles Nest

Journey time – 2 hours

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.

Day 8: 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.

Day 1:  Local Flight, Entebbe to Kihihi – Bwindi Impenetrable NP

Meals: Lunch and Dinner

In time at Entebbe airport by 07:30, your flight to Kihihi airstrip in Kisoro will set off. Look out the window, for Uganda is one of the most beutiful country in the world seen from above. You’ll definately catch sight of the beautiful Rwenzori mountain ranges, tea plantations, numerous lakes and rivers and the magnificent Virunga Volcano moutains just before you land in Kisoro.

In Kisoro, you’ll be picked and driven through Kisoro town up-to your lodge just outside the Bwindi Impenetrable NP. Check-in, have lunch and relax or take a walk around the African villages around the park, your choice.

uganda gorilla trekking safari Jungle adventure

Day 2: Gorilla Trekking Safari Adventure in Bwindi

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner + Drinking Water

Today is your Uganda Gorilla Trekking Safari D-day. Wake early morning and have you breakfast, get your packed lunch and get to the trailhead before 7:30 AM.

Gorilla trekking starts at 08:00 after a briefing at the park headquarters, you will hike through the dense steep forest searching for the gorillas depending on where they were seen making nests the previous evening.

The gorilla trekking can last 2-7 hours depending on how soon you find the gorillas, this is influenced by the location they stayed overnight. Trekking can be a tasking adventure, but coming to a facial closeup with these close relatives to human is a reward worthy to earn.

Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park is located in southwestern Uganda edge at the edge of the great east African Rift Valley. It is a home to over 400 species of mountain gorillas about half of the world’s population. Many of these are habituated in families that are daily visited by tourists. The forest is also a home to over 350 species of birds and 400 flora species.

Aerial Bwindi View Gorilla tour Uganda

Day 3: Fly Kihihi to Entebbe

Meals: Breakfast

The last day of your safari starts with a drive to Kihihi Airstrip, where you will board a return light weight flight to Entebbe, on the flight from Kihihi to Entebbe you will be able to see several stunning scenery from above. Upon arriving Entebbe international airport check in for your onward flight back home.

We believe you have enjoyed your holiday in the most hospitable country, the Pearl of Africa!